Love comes knocking

Money? What money?

My jaw dropped in surprise at Christine’s words. Me, working with my celebrity crush? I wanted to say something really smart, but could only stutter “What.. How.. Who…?”

Christine laughed so hard that tears started coming down her cheeks and she snorted. “If only you could see the look on your face,” she managed to say before laughter took her again.

I looked at her perplexed while absentmindedly twisting my hair, waiting for her to continue her story. There had better be a good explanation here. Maybe they needed me to do some filing for them, I thought to myself.

Christine finally stopped herself laughing and got a serious look on her face. “I’ll be working on a new project he’s producing and he’s coming down for at least a few weeks to work with me and make sure I am the right person for the job. We need an assistant and you just lost your job, so I thought…”

“Really? I can be your assistant?” I was so excited that I involuntarily clapped my hands and had to stop myself from jumping up and down in joy. At least there was some good news this morning!

You see, my reading friend, I had a ridiculous crush on Will Grimes, or WG as I would call him in my dreams. I lost my dad in a car crash about the same time that WG lost his wife and daughter in a similar accident. And ever since, I’d felt this weird connection to him.

Before you ask: Yes, I know the connection existed in my head only and that he had no clue I even walked around in this world. I just loved watching his interviews, where he had snappy and funny replies to silly questions. I loved the fact that he did his own stunts. And I enjoyed drooling over his sexy image.

Carl hated what he referred to as my “Will insanity“. His eyes would narrow in jealousy just by the mere mention of WG. WG usually starred in action movies, the only movie genre Carl would ever watch, but Carl would refuse to watch WG movies with me. Oh well, I guess I could watch as many as I wanted now.

Suddenly I was struck with horror: How would I be able to act normally around the personification of my daydreams? Christine seemed to have the same idea, as she had a worried look in her eyes and said quietly: “Sally? Please don’t go all fangirl on me!”

I felt a faint smile on my lips as I shook the thoughts of WG off my mind. “I‘ll be on my best behavior! I need the job more than I need his attention!”

“Umm, it’s not going to be the most interesting of jobs. You’ll probably do a lot of coffee rounds, making lunch and perhaps entertaining his girlfriend.”

His girlfriend. He was dating the gorgeous Jenna Robs, who would of course come with. The thought of her perfect long light ash blonde hair, ice blue eyes and petite body with curves in just the right places made me crash down to earth. There would be plenty of time to compare the two of us once she arrived and I would not be winning that competition.

I sighed. “It’s OK, I’ll even cook for the gorgeous Jenna Robs.”

Christine giggled. “Your cooking skills will definitely help her get some meat on those bones!”

The thought of fattening the actress up made me giggle, too.

“Can I get you any more tea?” Christine was getting up from her armchair and reached for my cup.

“Umm, no thanks, I’m good.”

“I’m afraid I have a Zoom meeting coming up, but you must of course make yourself comfortable while I’m busy.”

My eyelids were heavy and I felt as if I’d been awake for days. “I could use a nap,” I managed to say before a gigantic yawn escaped me.

“You can use the green guest room. Bed is already made,” was the reply as Christine made her way to the kitchen with our empty cups.

I made my way to the guest room and fell into the soft lovely bed. Maybe I’ll just close my eyes for a short nap, I thought. Then I fell asleep.

“Sally? Sally?” A soft voice was dragging me from my dreams. I could not understand who was speaking or where I was when I opened my eyes. Then reality hit me with a bang and I remembered vividly the morning that had passed.

“What time is it?” I was still a little dazed as I looked at Christine by my bed.

“It’s almost 6 pm already! Luke is bringing us Chinese food for supper. He’ll be here any minute.”

Luke was Christine’s handsome boyfriend. He was a lawyer downtown and I was hoping he could give some advice on getting my stuff out of Carl’s apartment.

“Why don’t you freshen up while I pack up my laptop for the day?” Christine smiled at me as she left me alone in the room.

I quickly went to the attached bathroom and threw some water in my face. The mirror exposed my pale face, dark lines hugging my eyes. I decided to not waste more time looking at myself, straightened my clothes and remembered that I had no toiletries or extra clothes. I made a mental note to ask Christine if she had anything I could borrow.

As I went back into the bedroom, I realized that I had not checked my phone since this morning. I found it on the bed stand and looked at it. I had multiple missed calls and messages from Carl. I should probably call him back. Let’s just get some food in me first.

Christine and Luke was having a whispered conversation by the dining table, going quiet as I sat down. The table was already set and there was a nice selection of food boxes from the local Chinese restaurant scattered on the table.

“Hi,” said Luke, attempting to smile but looking worried.

“Nice to see you again, Luke, though I’ve had quite the morning.”

“So I’ve heard,” he mumbled while opening the food boxes.

The smell of fried rice and noodles hit me and my stomach suddenly let me know it was empty. I grabbed a box, shoveled some food onto my plate and wolfed down fried rice with chicken. It was absolutely delicious!

“You’ll be staying with us, I hear?” Luke was actually trying to keep the conversation going.

“Just until I get things sorted out. Christine, you wouldn’t happen to have some toiletries lying around?”

“I keep a stash of travel kits with toothbrush and toiletries, you can get one of those tonight and then we can go shopping tomorrow.”

“Umm, yeah, I don’t really have much money at the moment. Would it be possible to borrow some money until I find out what to do?”

“Sure,” Christine said, but I could see she was exchanging looks with Luke.

“Of course, I don’t need much and I’ll pay you back. It’s just that my salary usually goes into Carl’s account to help with rent. And he transfers the rest to my account, but I already spent most of it this week.”

Christine drew a sharp breath and exchanged another worried look with Luke. “So, you don’t get your salary into your own account,” she said a bit too casual in a strained voice.

“N-no, it’s just that Carl is so much better than me with money,” I explained.

Luke cleared his throat. “And what about your money?”

“My money? What money? I have a small sum I can use every month and I even manage to save, but it’s note a huge sum.”

“No, I mean your inheritance money. After your parents?”

“Carl took care of the estate after my dad died and there was a lot of bills. Nothing was left after Carl paid off the debt.”

“Sally, there should have been millions of dollars!”

I could feel my jaw dropping and my eyes staring at Luke in disbelief.