Love You Moore (10 page)

“
Maggie,” he said stepping to the side
with his arm still around her shoulders, he introduced his
houseguests. “This is Abby Moore and her very best friend Holly
Applebee. Abby, Holly, this is Maggie.” He leaned in and pretended
to whisper, “She prefers to be called Margret but I call her Maggie
to keep her humble.” He joked.

Margret hit Jimmy with the dish towel she had
tucked in the strings of her apron.

“
Nice to meet you Margret,” Abby said
and reached out to shake her hand.

“
It’s very nice to finally meet you
Miss Abby.” She grasped Abby’s hand with the both of hers. “When
Mr. Riley called to say he would be coming home and bringing
company with him, he just went on and on about this wonderful young
lady he had met.” Abby blushed. “I don’t recall a time when he
gushed so much about a lady friend.” She confessed. It was Jimmy’s
turn to blush.

Margret welcomed Holly and then excused
herself and hurried away to check on something in the kitchen. By
this time, Charles had brought in their luggage from the car and
placed them on the dark wood floor next to the grand winding
staircase. Jimmy grabbed the two large suitcases and headed up the
stairs. Abby noticed the beautiful crystal chandelier that hung in
the middle of the ceiling. When they reached to top Jimmy turned
right and headed down the hall. He stopped half way down and opened
the door to one of the bedrooms. It had light rose colored carpet
and white walls. A fireplace was on the far wall and a four poster
bed on the opposite side of the large room. There was a private
full size bathroom located off to the right of the room.

“
Oh please tell me this is where I will
be staying.” Holly assumed and plopped herself on the bed covered
in a goose down comforter.

“
It is actually is where I had planned
for you to stay, if you like it that is.” Jimmy kidded

“
Good luck getting me to leave.” Holly
kidded back.

He set down her suitcase and walked towards
the door.

“
Are you ready to see your room?” Jimmy
asked Abby

“
My room?” she repeated sheepishly.
“I’ll have my own room?”

“
Unless you prefer to share with Holly,
which is completely up to you, I want to make sure you are both
comfortable.”

Holly was in the bathroom at this point
gushing over the Jacuzzi bathtub and large marble countertop.

“
No I don’t mind having my own room,”
she said quietly, “I just thought, ” she trailed now embarrassed
over her assumptions.

They walked out into the hallway and Jimmy
stopped in front of a large wooden door.

“
I promised your parents that I would
treat you with the up most respect. You are only 17 and it would be
horribly vulgar of me to invite you to stay in my room with me. I
did choose this room for you,” he continued. “It is right across
the hall from mine if you need anything, but honestly,” he
confessed, “I will not invite you into my bedroom until you are
18.”

Abby started to tear up. She could feel them
welling in her eyes and roll down her cheeks. Jimmy put down her
suitcase and took her in his arms.

“
I’m sorry, we should have talked about
this before. I don’t want you to think I don’t want you because I
do.” He was now looking her in the eyes. “It would just be wrong to
betray your parents trust and take advantage of you when you were
3000 miles away from home.” He said apologetically.

Abby wiped her tears away.

“
I’m not upset that you put me in
another room, well I am, but that’s not the reason I am crying. It
is just so sweet that you are being so honorable.” Abby put her
face in her hand and choked back the sobs.

He took her in his arms again and told
her,

“
Trust me, honorable is the last thing
I am feeling right now, but it is the right thing to do. When I do
invite you into my bed Abby, it will be at the right time in the
right place.” He bent down and gently kissed her lips, moving
across her face to her cheeks wiping her tears away. “Ready to see
your room?”

He opened the door and she walked into
another large bedroom, it had light green carpeting and the same
white walls as Holly’s room. There was a fireplace and French doors
that led out onto a balcony that overlooked the back yard. She
could see the balcony extended all along the backside of the house.
She walked to the left to another set of French doors.

“
That’s my room.” Jimmy admitted. Abby
tilted her head and looked at him coyly. “No hidden agenda, I
swear.” he held up his right hand.

Abby laughed and walked back into her room.
She went into the private bathroom and looked around. There was a
bear claw cast iron bathtub. A separate shower and duel sinks. Abby
loved it. “This is so pretty.” She said out loud but mostly to
herself. She stepped out of the bathroom and walked towards the
bed. It was a queen sized bed with a pillow top mattress. There was
a down comforter that matched the one on Holly’s bed. There was a
vase on the end table that had at least two dozen apricot roses in
it. He knew they were her favorite. He had found that out about her
that first night at the University. She looked at him and took out
the card,

“
Thank you for coming into my life. You
are more than I could have ever expected. Yours Truly,
Jimmy”

Abby wiped another tear away and turned to
Jimmy.

“
It’s me that needs to thank you.” she
whispered, “You have given me more in these last few weeks than I
could have dreamed for in a lifetime.

“
Well I guess that settles it then, we
were meant to be together and I am not going to do anything to
tempt fate and ruin it, no Ma’am.” Jimmy hugged her
again.

Holly came into the room.

“
Awww this is so pretty too and what a
view.” she gasped looking out over the balcony. “Oh I am so going
in that pool.” She declared. “Do we have time for a swim?” she
asked.

“
Not right now.” Jimmy answered as he
looked at his watch. “We have reservations at 7:00 and it’s now
almost 6:00. We should probably leave in about 30 minutes. We can
finish the tour of the house in the morning. I will leave you
ladies to get ready and I will see you down stairs at
6:30.”

He kissed Abby again and quickly left
the room. Abby and Holly looked at each other, squealed and started
to get ready. Abby had chosen an A line deep burgundy satin dress
with a chiffon overlay. She had curled her long brown hair and let
the curls fall loosely on her shoulders and down her back. She
applied her make-up a little more heavily than she did when she was
just getting ready for school. She put on a matching satin choker
and the 1 carat total weight diamond earring studs she had received
from her parents on her 16
^th
birthday. As she was slipping on the patent leather heels
Holly walked into the room,

“
Oh Abby, you look beautiful.” Holly
complimented.

Holly was wearing a form fitting, low cut,
emerald green taffeta dress that came down to just above her knees
and open toe, black strappy heels. Her curly blonde locks were
loosely pinned back from her face with crystal accented clips.
There were some stray hairs that fell to her face but it didn’t
matter. She was breathtaking. Abby remembered when they bought the
dresses. It was for the school’s Winter Formal last year and Holly
looked just as gorgeous then. They were a little fancy for a night
out in Thomaston, Maine but they seemed to be appropriate for a
dinner out in LA. They grabbed their handbags and went to meet
Jimmy downstairs. As they descended the staircase, Jimmy looked up
from checking his Blackberry and stared in awe.

“
Oh my God.” He mouthed silently and
dropped his phone as he tried to put in back into his suit jacket
pocked, not taking his eyes off of Abby.

“
Is this ok?” she asked not sure if she
may be a little over dressed.

Jimmy was wearing a black suit. A navy blue
tie was very striking against the bright white shirt.

“
More than ok.” He answered “You look
amazing and Holly, wow, we are making the papers tonight.” He said
matter-of-factly. “Everyone is going to be asking who these cover
girls are.” He winked, “Shall we?” he offered his arms to Abby and
Holly and walked out the front door to the limo.

Charles was waiting by the side of the car
with the passenger door open. He had come to work for Jimmy right
around the same time Margret had. Charles Dugan appeared to be in
his early sixties. Abby thought he looked distinguished with his
deep hazel eyes and his white hair trimmed neatly under his
chauffeurs cap. He wasn’t married but Jimmy suspected he had a
crush on Margret. Charles was always asking Margret if she needed
anything when he was heading in to town. He even offered to take
her with him a few times. She always declined but assured him she
were grateful for the offer. Since Charles and Margret both lived
on the grounds they saw quite a bit of each other. Jimmy figured it
was only a matter of time. Charles tipped his hat to Abby and then
to Holly as they got into the car. Abby caught Jimmy giving Charles
a high five before he got into the car and closed the door.

“
You’re pretty close with everyone here
aren’t you?” Abby asked sincerely.

“
They are my family.” Jimmy replied. My
Mom and Dad are thousands of miles away in Mississippi and I think
Margret and Charles took pity on me and became my pseudo parents.”
He said with tenderness and admiration in his voice.

Abby took his hand and held it in both of
hers.

“
You completely take my breath away.”
He said to her with absolute conviction.

Abby smiled at him and turned to look at
Holly, who was busy gaping out the window hoping to see a movie
star or two. Abby and Jimmy both let out a chuckle and they rode to
the restaurant.

Abby had eaten the most incredible meal she
had ever eaten at London West Hollywood. She had started with the
risotto. That in itself was a treat, but the dry aged beef
tenderloin, horseradish pomme purée, roasted cippolini onion,
garlic confit, truffle Madeira jus, was Heaven on a plate. Holly
had Dungeness crab tortellini, Holland’s leek, shell fish bisque,
tarragon oil while Jimmy opted for butter poached Maine lobster,
fresh pasta linguini, vegetable julienne, blue foot mushrooms,
porcini cream sauce. Abby was surprised he ordered lobster. He had
eaten so many of them during his visit to Maine, she was sure he
had helped in boosting the flailing lobster industry. Abby and
Holly were sitting down at the table after returning from the
ladies room when the chef came out of the kitchen to say hello.
Jimmy stood up,

“
Hello, it’s good to see you again.”
Chef shook his hand and patted Jimmy on the back.

“
I heard there was a lovely young lady
out here and wanted to come and see for myself. How are you Madam?”
Chef asked and leaned down to kissed Abby on both cheeks and stuck
out his hand to shake hers.

Abby stared at him, mouth open, trying to
speak but nothing came out. She did manage to raise her hand to
shake his, but still wasn’t able to say anything legible. He and
Jimmy smiled at Abby. Holly came to her rescue and pulled her out
of her trance, she stood up and reached for Chef’s hand.

“
Abby is a huge fan of your show Sir.
She never misses a season, isn’t that right Abby?” She gave Abby a
gentle nudge and Abby responded,

“
Oh yes that’s right,” Abby stammered.
“I watch it every time it’s on. I never miss it.”

“
Excellent, that’s good to hear, can
never have too many fans isn’t that right Jimmy?”

“
Too true.” Jimmy agreed and they both
laughed.

“
Well have a wonderful time while you
are in LA and make sure you come back to see us. Good to see you
again Jimmy, take care all” Chef waived and went back into the
kitchen.

Abby looked at Jimmy, still having a shocked
and disbelieving look on her face. “How….He….You…What?” was about
all Abby could muster.

“
I’m just full of surprises.” He said
to her.

“
I hope there aren’t too many surprises
Jimmy, I’m not sure how many she can take.” Holly laughed. ”Abby
looks like she is about to pass out.

Jimmy paid the tab and they all left the
restaurant. The paparazzi were there taking pictures of the people
coming and going. Abby laughed to herself when she thought of their
reactions when they realized they had just wasted their film on
her. They got into the limo and headed back to the house.

The next morning, Jimmy finished giving them
the tour of the house. The dark wood flooring covered the entire
downstairs. They walked from room to room. Abby noticed there
wasn’t much furniture. They went into the kitchen where Margret was
preparing breakfast. It was an old style kitchen with a
wood-burning hearth, it created a warm aura with its massive brick
arch above the range's recess and an antique island evoked the look
of a log worktable. Jimmy kissed Margret on the cheek while she was
standing at the stove.

“
Morning Maggie, what have you made for
us this morning?” He took a seat at the island. Abby and Holly
joined him.

“
I have made scrambled eggs, bacon and
homemade toast. There is freshly squeezed orange juice, coffee and
tea. Which do you care for Dear?”