Falling into Forever (Falling into You) - By Lauren Abrams Page 0,75
before you can even get to the lobby.”
He’s right. I dig in my part for my hardcore disguise, the horn-rimmed glasses and fake mustache and hat. A few seconds later, I look like a middle-aged creep.
“Good enough?”
“Good enough.” He tosses me a set of keys. “I think you need security, but I know that you’re not going to be able to wait for that. There’s a red Corolla in the garage. I had one of the girls rent it as soon as I heard about this shit, in case you got any bright ideas about leaving the hotel without a bevy of armed guards.”
“Thanks.”
Without another word, I dart out into the hallway. Unwilling to wait for another goddamn elevator, I sprint to the stairs and take them, two at a time, down to the lobby. I see a sea of photogs waiting across the street, aiming their lenses inside the hotel. So far, the security staff’s managing to hold them off, but I know that it can only last for so long. I was going to have to make this quick.
I’m slightly out of breath when I lean over the counter to make eyes at the stout woman in her mid-forties who’s manning the front desk.
“Hi. I wonder if you can be of some help to me. I’m looking for one of your guests, Hallie Caldwell. It also might be under Hallie Ellison.”
The woman gives me a long look, up and down, and when she finally finishes her inspection, she avoids meeting my eyes. When she speaks, her voice is ice cold. “I’m sorry sir, but we’re very protective of our guests’ privacy.”
“I’m a friend of Ms. Caldwell’s. I think she may have checked out earlier this morning. I was hoping she might have left some information about where she was heading. Maybe someone spoke to her?”
I give her my best smile, the one on the latest James Ross poster, the one that had, as Marcus put it, boosted box office by ten percent.
She just looks disgusted.
“Sorry, sir, there’s nothing I can do to help you.”
I’m losing patience. Quickly. That smile has sold millions of movie tickets. Shit. I must be losing a step. I move my hand to run my fingers through my hair, and as I touch the soft folds of knit wool, I remember. No wonder.
I don’t have time for this. I yank the hat off my head, push the glasses up on my face, and take a quick glance outside the glass doors. I lean over the counter.
“Look. Do you know who I am?”
It always works. It will work this time. It will.
The woman’s eyes are as big as saucers. “You’re…you’re…”
“Chris Jensen. Yes, I am him. I need to know where Ms. Caldwell is. Those people outside? They’re waiting for me. And Ms. Caldwell. I need to find her before they do.”
She gives me a hard glare. “I don’t have any information for Ms. Caldwell, no matter who you are.”
Curious onlookers are starting to look our way. I pull the glasses down over my face and yank the cap back on. I’m contemplating a frantic dash to scour the airports when I feel a long finger tapping my shoulder.
“Hello, Christopher.”
I spin around.
Apparently, it is possible to freeze time.
I know this because Claire Caldwell looks exactly the same as she did when she stood in her living room, glaring at me, seven years before.
Chapter 21
HALLIE
My eyes dart around the hotel’s parking garage nervously. What was it my mother had just said? Keep the sunglasses on and the windows up. Drive home and don’t stop until you get there. I’m still hanging on to the faint shred of hope that the vultures haven’t discovered where I live, but I know that it’s just a matter of time. Unfortunately, I don’t have anywhere else to go, not with a sleepy four year old.
Just minutes earlier, I had been poised at the door of Chris Jensen’s hotel suite. I still wasn’t sure of what I was planning to say, but I knew that I couldn’t let him think that what I said to him in London, that I didn’t love him, was true. Then and now. I was going to tell him about Grace, about me, about my life, and I was going to see if there was any way he was willing to take me on, all my messes and fumbling. Because none of it mattered if he still loved me. And I think he did. Does. Did.