chair. “Have you always been so cynical?”
“Let’s talk about Georgia Tech. It’s a great school. So is Tulane.”
“I couldn’t think of going to either place without a school visit,” she said.
“Not a problem. Stella can make all the arrangements—flights, hotels, whatever.”
“I guess I could get Mom to go with me.”
“Now you’re talking,” Sam said cautiously. Somehow, this seemed too easy.
“On one condition.” Her green eyes went steely. “I’ll go to the college visits if you go to Old Explorer’s Bay to meet Annie.”
And there it was.
“Who’s Annie?” Sam asked, playing dumb.
“You know perfectly well who Annie is,” she shot back.
“Yeah. Not happening.”
“But you have to meet her. Even if it’s just to talk her out of breaking up with her boyfriend. You don’t want that on your conscience, do you?”
“My conscience and I sleep like a baby every night. This Abby person isn’t my problem.”
“It’s Annie, not Abby,” she said.
“There is absolutely no way I’m going to Florida to meet some crazy woman who’s written a letter to a complete stranger.”
Before Becks could lob back a response, they were interrupted by a rap on the door. Stella marched into the office and slapped a sheet of paper on top of the letters strewn over his desk. “Here you go, Lover Boy. These are the names of some PR companies you might think of hiring to handle that mess down in the lobby. Maybe they can field your calls. By the way, I’m taking an extra-long lunch tomorrow. And I’m charging it to the company account.”
“Is it really that bad?” asked Sam, even though he already knew the answer to that.
Becks and Stella exchanged a look. “Oh yeah,” Becks said, showing no sign of remorse. Considering this was mostly her fault, the least she could do was act sorry. “I could barely get in the elevator.”
“I called security, and they’re handling the situation in the lobby, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t going to be waiting for you when you walk out the door to go home,” said Stella.
“You’ll have to sneak out the back of the building,” Becks said gleefully. “It’s what all the rock stars do.”
He glanced at the list on his desk. PR wasn’t his forte. “Have Glenda look at that,” he said, referring to Glenda Johnson, the company’s VP of operations. “She’ll know who to hire.”
Stella nodded, relieved. “Meanwhile, what are you going to do about all those people out there?”
“I think he needs to get far away,” said Becks. She gave Stella the crinkled letter. “Read this and tell me she isn’t perfect for him.”
“What’s this?” Stella asked suspiciously.
“Her name is Annie Esposito. She saw Sam on the morning show and wrote to him. I think he needs to meet her in person. She lives in some small town in Florida called Old Explorer’s Bay.”
Stella’s eyes narrowed. “You mean she’s another one of those deranged groupies who’s been tying up the phone lines?”
“Just read it,” Becks pleaded.
“She won’t stop until you read it, so you might as well get it over with,” he said.
Stella pulled on the reading glasses she kept on a chain around her neck and perused the letter. As she read, her expression began to soften. She glanced up to meet Sam’s gaze. “She does the New York Times crossword puzzle?”
“And her favorite show is The Office,” Becks added triumphantly.
Sam loosened his tie.
“Oh my … she’s going to break up with her boyfriend? Sam,” Stella said, flinging the letter under his nose, “Becks is right. You have to meet this girl.”
Becks smiled in satisfaction. “Told you so.”
Sam shook his head. “Et tu, Stella?”
“The way I see it, you’re partly responsible for this mess. No one forced you to go on that show. And now this poor girl, who sounds perfectly wonderful by the way, is going to break up with her boyfriend on account of you. Are you going to just sit back and let her do it?”
“Yep. He is,” said Becks.
There was a knock on the office door. Hank, one of the security guards for the building, came in looking grim. “Sorry to bust in like this, Mr. DeLuca, but no one answered the phone. I’m going to need some extra help down there. Some lady who said she worked for that show you were on insisted on getting on the elevator without an appointment.”
“Where is she?” asked Stella.
“I have no idea. I got Mickey looking for her, but he’s threatening to quit if we don’t hire another guard.”
Stella turned to Sam.