Falling Into You (32 page)

“
Chris!
You know I’m not good at
surprises.”

It’s true. She wasn’t
good at gifts, either
. I tried to buy her a little
snow globe
from the Statue of Liberty, but she had refused to allow me to do so. The same thing happened at the Empire State Building, and in Chinatown. She had even insisted on paying for her own ticket to
Rent
, which she
had loved and I had tolerated.

“Think of it more as a gift for both of us. And what good is my new, gigantic contract, if not t
o spoil the people around me?”

“Fine. Fine.”

“P
ack your things.”

“Are we going somewhere?”

I kiss the tip of her nose. “Yes, we are most ce
rtainly going somewhere, lazy.”

“Lazy? Me lazy? Mr. ‘I
just want to stay here, in bed, all day?’”

“Pack. You’re not getting out of this one, no matter how much you hate surprises
.”

“Chris…” Her voice is soft. “You should talk to your dad before we go.
”

“
Hallie
.” My voice is a warning.

“It was worth a try.”

Two days before, I had walked out of my room to find her on the couch, holding my father’s hand and speaking to him in low tones. I had grabbed her arm and yanked her away.

“You don’t talk to her,” I told him, my voice
loud
and angry. “You
do not ever look at her again.”

I had dragged her back into my room. “You will not speak to my father again. He is an evil man who never gave a damn about anyone in his entire life. I’ve showed you the scars, right? He used to throw bottles at me when they were empty,
Hallie
. In his deranged mind, he thought I was responsible for emptying
the bottles. When I was seven.”

Her eyes flashed at me. “I know, Chris. I know that. But he’s dying. Do you understand? Not in the future, no
t in the near future, but now.”

“Do you t
hink I give a shit about that?”

“I know you don’t
care
about that. I know
that you’re
angry
, and you have a right to be
. But he’s an old, sick man who wants to make amends with his only son before he goes. And if you don’t do this now, you’ll never get another opportunity. You’ll never get to talk to him again. I know what that
’s like, remember? I don’t have a dad anymore. Do you even know what I would
give
to talk to him again?
”

“Your dad was nothing like my dad!”
I want to comfort her, but was angry and I didn’t want him talking to her, poisoning her like he did with everything and everyone else in her life.

“I’m so sorry, Chris.”

I didn’t want the pity. “You know nothing about it. Nothing about having a father who gives up on you. Nothing about what I went through.” I could tell that the words hurt her, and I wanted to take them back, but my anger overwhelmed me. And it was true.
Her stories about her
father were filled with love. You could practically see it shimmering
on the surface of her memories
of golf dates and trips to Dis
ney World and Washington, D.C..

“I know that, Chris. But he’s the only father you’ll ever have. I’m just afraid that you’ll throw this away, and you’ll never get another shot at it, and th
at breaks my heart. And Diana…”

“
Hallie
, let it go.”

“But..”

“I said, let it go.” I threw the glass I was holding against the wall then, and she jumped back in terror. “Please, don’t mention it again. An
d don’t talk to him. Or Diana.”

I had scared her then, and I try to keep my voice even now.
“I appreciate what you’re trying to do here, but you really don’t know what it was like. You can’t know. And I can’t do it. I’ve tried, again and again, to talk to him, but I can’t.”

She takes my face in her hands and kisses me
. “
I’m sorry. I know I’m meddling in your business and I shouldn’t.”

“No, you shouldn’t.” I’m finished with the conversation, and she bites her lip and nods at me.

“
So, what do I need on
this trip? What should I pack?”

“Absolutely nothing,” I say, laughing at the expression on her face. “
Maybe
some clothes for tomorrow
so you don’t have to run around the city naked
.
But
I’m not planning on letting anyone else see you
tonight
.”

She throws a pillow at me as I try to slip my hand under her shirt. “It’s already 4 o’clock. I’m never getting out of here unless you le
ave me alone for five seconds.”

“You like it.”

She grins. “I do. Now,
get out.”

I’m sitting with Diana in the living room as
Hallie
gets her things together.

“She
’s pretty fucking great, huh?”

“
I never thought I would have to say this to you
about any girl
, but she is pretty fucking great. Let me give you some sisterly wisdom.
If you were smart,
you would use all of that God-given charm that you seem to have been blessed with and use it for holding onto her as tightly as you can.
Trust me, baby brother, that
kind of girl doesn’t come along twice.
”

“I’m in love with her.”

I haven’t said the words
aloud
, not to
Hallie and
not to anyone
else
.

I’ve known
it
since that first day in the park, when she expounded on her not believing in love at first sight thing by talking about the importance of history, or shared experience. I sat and stared at her and thought,
w
ell, that’s bullshit, because I am alrea
dy hopelessly in love with you.

With each day that passes, each time I look at her in the morning or at night, or when we make love, or laugh over dinner, or argue about movies, I’m more and more sure that there will never be anyone for me but her, that this is the girl that I will spend the rest of my
life trying to make happy.

“I know
you are
.”
D
iana pats my arm comfortingly.

“That’s all you got to say, D? I fall in love with someone for the first time in my life, and all you have to say is that you know? I’ve only known this girl for a week, and I tell you I’m in love with her, and there’s no sisterly advice, no talking me out of it, nothing?”

I’m teasing her, and she knows
it, but she’s shaking her head.

“There’s no talking anyone out of falling in love,” she says,
looking
years older than her 26. “You just have to hope that you found a good one. You did. And I think she may be one of the al
l-time greats.”

She tweaks
my nose. “So,
now all you need to do is tell her. Try to make it romantic. Girls like stuff like that. Is that what the hotel suite and the room service and champagne are for?
”

“I don’t know. That was part of the plan, but…” I bury my head in my hands. “She has this hang-up about the future, and I don’t want to scare her off.  I thought that the room service and champagne might be a nice start
on that. Thanks for helping
, by the way.”
Diana
had
helped me arrange everything—the suite at the Waldorf-Astoria, the flowers, the
limousine
.

“No problem. I live to serve. The l-word is a big step, though. You’re going to need an ace in the hole. Jewelry
. Something sparkly.”

I’m a step ahead of her, for once.
I pull the black box from my jacket pocket and hand it to her.

“
Whoa, there. I didn’t mean that you
had to go off and get married
.”

“It’s n
ot a ring
.” I
laugh and open the box for her
.

I chose a simple diamond set in platinum with a
thin white gold chain. It looks
like a falling star.
I know that she
was going to
protest and moan and groan tha
t it was too much, but I couldn’t help myself
.
It belongs around her neck.

“Well, if you’re going around giving diamonds away, you should have at least gotten
something for your old sister.”

I whip out the other black box from my pocket and present it to her. “Ex
actly the response I expected.”

“Chris.” Diana gasps as she opens the box. I bought her a pair of diamond drop earrings along with
Hallie
’s necklace. Conveniently,
she,
Hallie
, and
Sophia
had gone out to
lunch
the day before, so I had managed to steal a few minutes to shop
. “You shouldn’t have.”

“
What I
should have
done is gotten you the necklace, too
.”

“No, it’s too expensive, Chris.”

“
Trust me, D. I can afford it.”

“In that case, every girl needs diamonds.” She
wraps her arms around my neck. “You know, you might be one of the all-time greats, too.”

“Ah. Now she tells me.
Maybe
I should buy you diamonds every day. Might be the only way to get you to be nice to me.
”

“If y
ou’re just buttering me up for a lifetime of
being known as Chris Jensen’s sister,
I’m
definitely
goin
g to need more diamonds
.
My brother, the movie star. The press conference is tomorrow?
”

“Yeah. Marcus thin
ks the press will be all over the announcement
for a couple of days, and then they’ll pretty much leave me alone until the movie comes out.
I’ll head to LA after the holidays for rehearsals and stuff, and then the movie’s shoot
ing
in Europe. You can come visit
in Prague
.”

“Obviously
I will be visiting you in Prague
.” She shoots me a sideways look. “Judging from the
ridiculously
loud
noise
s coming from your room, I might have to intrude on your little love fest, though
.
I’m assuming that she’s coming with you.
”

“I
haven’t asked her to come yet.”

“But you’re going to
.”

“
I’m going to. She has to say yes.” I say it more to convince myself than Diana. Hallie’s
little rule about
ignoring the past and
the future has been weighing heavily o
n my mind
, but it’s given me plenty of time to think about a way to ask her to come to Prague that will ensure
she won’t be able to say no.

“Oh, I think she’ll say yes.”

“She has school and everything, so I don’t know wheth
er or not she’d be willing to…”

“S
he can go to school in Prague!”

I had arranged that, too. Greenview had a study abroad program
in Prague, and
I had
called the school in Prague and the Greenview office the day before to ensure
that
Hallie could take classes while we shot the movie
.
So, a
ll she
would need to do is to say yes to Prague and yes to me
.

“Okay, I’m ready,”
Hallie
says, coming out of my room and tossing her bag over her shoulder. “Ooh, Diana. Let me see.”

Diana’s taken her new earrings out of the box and she
puts them on and
models them for
Hallie
, who is touching them and admiring.

“You lovebirds have fun tonight,” Diana says, basically shoving us out the door. She kisses
Hallie
’s cheek. “Go easy on him. He has a soft heart.”

Hallie
kisses her cheek back. “I will. I promise. And those earrings are absolutely
fabulous
on you.”