Away From the Spotlight (37 page)

We exited the plane,
retrieved
our luggage
,
and
passed
through customs more quickly than we
anticipated
although I was chomping at the bit the whole time.  As we exited the terminal, I
didn’t quite know what to expect.  Would Will be there?  Would he send someone?  I didn’t think to ask beforehand.  As I
considered
this, Pam and I
weaved our way
through
the crowd and I caught sight of him, standing there with a big welcoming smile.  I almost ran.

He put his arm around me and gave me a hug and a kiss and then gave Pam a hug and a cheek kiss.  He
took
my suitcase
from me
and tried to grab Pam
’s
, but she said that she had it, so he put his other arm around me and we
quickly
walked out the terminal toward the
car park
.  We headed toward a Range Rover that looked
,
from the outside
,
almost identical to the one he had in the U.S., but for the right-hand drive.

As we approached, I asked, “Yours?”

“Yes. 
M
y parents
keep it
when I’m in America.”

After
Will
lifted
Pam’s
luggage in
to
the back
of the SUV
,
Pam walked around to
climb
in
to
the back seat. 
A
s
Pam
was
settling
in
, Will
grabbed me and
kissed me hard.

“I missed you.  I’m so glad you’re here.”

“Me too.”
  I didn’t want to let go.

Pam expected to be driven to
meet
a train that would get her to
Jane
’s home
s
outh of London,
but
Will wouldn’t hear of it and we therefore drove Pam
directly
there. 
P
am had told
Jane
that she knew Will MacKenzie and that the friend she was traveling with would be staying with him,
but
I d
oubted
Jane
expected him to show up
on her doorstep. 
She stammered in response as Pam introduced him.
 
Jane
asked us to stay for a drink, but Will declined, s
tating
that we had plans.  He added that he hoped that they would come join us in town over the course of the next several days.

The ride into
C
entral L
ondon from the
s
outh was slow with traffic.  Will held my hand intermittently when not having t
o
shift the manual transmission
gears
.

“So what do you have in store for me tonight?”

“Actually, we don’t have anything that we have to do, tonight anyway.  I just didn’t want to share you today.  I’ve missed you a
nd I want to be alone with you.
”

As we drove through London, I traded off between looking out the window at the sights and looking at Will.  Between the excitement of being in London for the first time in three years and at being with Will again,
it was hard to contain myself.

While we were stopped at a traffic light, Will held my hand, t
urned to look at me and smiled.

“W
hat are you thinking about?”

“I’
m excited to be here.”

“I
’
m excited you’re here.”  He squeezed my hand before letting go to use the gearshift and drivi
ng off after the light changed.

We made our way expertly through th
e streets of London to the
Hampstead area.  It was a beautiful area, full of red-bricked buildings and
with
a
fairly
busy
central shopping area.  We pulled up alongside a long row of red-bricked row houses with beautiful white stone accents. We
found
a spot along the curb and parked.  Before I could lean back up after grabbing my purse on the floor, Will was around to my side
of the door opening it for me.

As I stepped out of the car, I threw my arms around him and kissed him with more enthusiasm than I had planned.  He pulled away after a few moments and chuckled.  He leaned in toward me, kissed my neck, and whispered in my ear, “We’ll be insid
e shortly.”  He chuckled again.

Will lived in a top floor flat
at the end
of one of the longer row houses
that had been subdivided
.  It wasn’t
a really
large place, but I knew that, in London, it was all about location and this location was no doubt
extremely
expensive.

Entering the flat, I realized that there could not have been more of a dichotomy between the inside and the outside.  The outside was dark, red-bricked
with white stone embellishments
and out of another time.  The inside was light, airy and modern.  The flat was beautifully furnished, with light hardwood floors and pale tones, but was still masculine as a result of accents involving sports
and music.

There was a whole wall of built-in bookshelves along the far side of the room from the front door and
a
sofa, loveseat and chairs with end tables were set around a large square coffee table in the middle of the room, facing the wall opposite the bookshelves.  I found the contrast
with
the bachelor pad in the Palisades striking, but for the o
ne similarity in the large flat-
screen television along the wall opposite the bookshelves, on t
he same wall as the front door.

“It’s beautiful in here,” I said as Will returned to the living room
after placing
my bags in his bedroom and I returned from the ba
throom.  “Did you do all this?”

“Not really.  It was mostly my m
other
.  She was trying to make it nice so I wou
ld spend more time in England.”

“
H
ave
you?”

“Not really.  I’ve only owned this for about a year.  Between filming and other commitments
,
and not wanting to leave you
,
I haven’t been here much.”

“Can you give me the tour?”

“Of course.”  He grabbed my hand and led me around with a look of pri
de on his face.

There was a long row of windows along the wall perpendicular to the bookshelves with a built in bench along them.  On the opposite side of the room, past the front door was a dining
area
with a light wood and glass rectangular table and ch
airs with a modern flair.

Behind that was a separate kitchen with windows facing the rear of the building.  It was
fairly
large,
and
appeared to have been recently modernized.  I had been in some older buildings in London in the past and had seen some of the mini
ature appliances
.  The appliances
here
were more of the size of those see
n in U.S. homes.  It surprised me.

Will then took my hand and led me t
hrough a hallway to the right of the front door that connected to the bedrooms
.  There were t
hree
bedrooms and
two
bathroom
s
back there
, one attached to the Master Bedroom
.  Like many of the older buildings, the
main
toilet and bath were in two separate rooms adjacent to each other.  The first bedroom was a smaller guest bedroom that had windows facing the rear of the flat.  It appeared to be a little more feminine in
decor
.  I
gave Will a questioning look.

“My mum decorated it to suit her so she’d have a pla
ce to stay when she’s in town.”  He
looked down,
a little embarrassed.

I
giggled
as I thought that
was cute.

The room with the bath
in it
had a vanity area and a large shower tub, all done in black, white and chrome.  The toilet area was similarly appointed wit
h very modern-looking fixtures.

The second of the bedrooms was furnished as an office of sorts
, its only windo
w
being a
relatively
small skylight, and
furnished with modern-
looking office furniture and framed posters of classic English films.
  The master bath must have been carved out of the portion of this room that
included
the windows.

Will’s room was quite a bit larger
than the other two
, with large windows facing the front
and side
covered in wooden blinds.  The color scheme was navy and
khaki
, which gave the room a more masculine feel than the rest of the house.  Instead of a closet, there was a large armoire and an even larger dresser on the far side of room to the side of the large bed
located
on the wall with the door
.  The bed faced toward the windo
ws
on the opposite
side of the large room
.  Near the windows, in the corner, there was a table, with a closed laptop on it,
and two chairs surrounding it.

I turned around and
looked toward
the bed.  On either side
of it
were small tables with lamps
on the
m
.  The table on the far side also contained
an i
P
hone
dock and
a
clock
.  The table on the near side housed a
framed picture.  I walked up to take a look at it and realized that it was a picture of
the two of us at my graduation.

“How did you get th
is
?” I asked, holding it, with what was sure
ly a surprised look on my face.

“I asked your sister.  She e-mailed it to me
,
”
he said nonchalantly.

“
I
don’t even ha
ve copies of the pictures yet.”

“Well, you’ve
been a little too busy to ask.”

“And you haven’t?”

“Well, I was motivated.  When I came over here for the
premiere
s back in June, I wanted to
be able to see you.”

I
returned the
picture
frame to its place
and turned around to face Will.  I looked at his face and wondered how he could look at me like that.  He looked at me the way I probably looked at him.  It never ceased to amaze me.
I kissed him and, while continuing to kiss me, he walked me backward
the
few steps into his bed.

I noticed that it
was after eight in the evening by the time we thought of dinner
.

“Are you up for going out or do you want to
stay home and rest?” he asked.

“Define ‘rest.’”

He smiled in resp
onse, looking purposely guilty.

“Rest then.”  I smiled back.
“I also could use a shower
after the long flight.”

“Why don’t you take a shower and I’ll go grab take-
away
.  There’s a place nearby wi
th good curry.  Any favorites?”

“I’m easy.”

“I’ll keep that in mind
-
later
.”  He kissed me.

“Nice.”  I p
ushed him.  “See you in a few.”

The shower felt
wonderful
as it washed away the grime from traveling
, but i
t also was making me sleepy.  I turned the water a little colder to wake
me
up because I didn’t want to waste the evening away sleeping.  I also wanted to make sure I stayed up late enough to reset my internal clock to British time.  If I didn’t, I woul
d suffer from jet lag for days.