Finding Mr. Right (18 page)

CHAPTER t
wenty-nine

Dear Diary,

London is a magnificent city. And the people are soo friendly. Who knew? I expected them all to be Lords and Ladies with sticks up their asses. But they are all so much nicer than that. And the shopping is terrific. I’ve been given so many free gifts in the stores, and people are waving at me in the streets. I’m starting to think I should talk Blake into moving to London. I could get used to this kind of life.

I was really disappointed when we got to the hotel in Knightsbridge. Not because it was shabby; no, not at all. By all means, it was the most luxurious hotel I had ever stayed in, in my life. I was upset because Blake had gotten us two separate rooms. I didn’t understand why, but what guy invites a girl on a trip overseas, asks her to be his girlfriend, and then gets separate rooms? Was he not attracted to me? I knew I was still a few pounds overweight; okay, I could easily lose another 25 pounds, but he knew that before he asked me to come with him. I was getting fed up with the chaste kisses he gave me each night before bed, as well.

“Ready to go down for breakfast, Maggie?” Blake knocked on my door and called out to me.

“Yes.” I opened the door and smiled at him sweetly. I figured the best approach was one of sultry sweetness, and I was determined that he would be beating down my door by the end of the week.

“Morning.” He ruffled my hair, and I tried not to sigh. I reached over to him and gave him a big hug and a kiss on the cheek, pressing myself close to him.

“Good Morning, Blake.” I then pressed my lips to his and was delighted to feel him kiss me back with an urgency I had never felt from him before. Well aside from the night we spent together a couple of months ago. He finally stepped back from me after a good long French kiss. And I beamed at him. Score one for me!

“Well, that certainly woke me up.” Blake laughed. He took my hand and we walked down to breakfast. I smiled at everyone we walked past and clung on to Blake’s hand with happiness.

“And what would madam like for breakfast?” The waiter looked at me without a smile. He reminded me of a butler and I felt like royalty as I ordered my food.

“Well, what do you recommend?” I tried to smile at him and make him feel uncomfortable.

“Many people enjoy a good ol’ English fry-up for breakfast, ma’am. Eggs, bacon, sausages, beans, and toast. We can add tomatoes and mushrooms as well, if you want.”

“Oh, that sounds good.” My stomach rumbled just thinking about the food. “But I’ll just have some cereal, the Weetabix please.” I smiled half-heartedly, not really wanting the weird sounding cereal for breakfast. But I knew that if I wanted to seduce Blake, I had to be in my best shape.

“Are you sure that’s all you want, Moo-moo?” Blake looked at me with concern. His wavy dark hair was flopping over his forehead, and I reached over and brushed it out of his eyes. I felt giddy with excitement that I was now able to touch him at my will.

“Yes. I’m not that hungry,” I lied to him, and my face flushed red as my stomach grumbled once again, but even louder this time. “I think that was thunder.” I gave a weak smile, and the waiter walked away.

“You need to eat, Maggie.” Blake started his lecturing again. “I don’t want you fainting from malnutrition.”

“I’m sure I’ll be fine.” I smiled at him while looking down at my stomach. There were five extra pounds around my waist that I wouldn’t mind burning away as fuel. I knew Perky Tina from my gym back home would tell me that wasn’t how weight loss worked, but I could always dream. Maybe if I meditated hard enough, I could will away some of my pounds. That is what Gayle always told me: “Mind over matter.” In fact, that was one of her selling points for me to go to yoga with her. “Do you know if they have yoga here?” I asked Blake casually.

“Yoga?” Blake looked at me with an odd look on his face. “I’m pretty sure they have yoga here. Why?”

“Oh, I’ve been thinking of going. I want to get my mad-dog on.” I beamed at him.
And I want to lose an extra 20 pounds,
I thought to myself.

“Mad-dog?” He raised an eyebrow at me. “This is a term you use regularly?”

“Well, you know. Flying monkeys and mad-dogs.” I had no idea what I was talking about. I had tried a few yoga poses once on Gayle’s Wii and had fallen over after five seconds of trying to hold the pose and had decided to have some cookies instead.

“I’ll take your word for it.” Blake grinned at me. “Though I wouldn’t mind you showing me what a flying monkey looks like after breakfast.”

“Oh, I can show you a flying monkey and a tinky winky after breakfast.” I batted my eyelashes up at him and winked. It seemed that my kiss had done the trick and we were about to get down and dirty.

“Sounds good.” He winked back at me and poured himself some coffee. I was drinking my orange juice and thinking about whether I should let him be the aggressor or not, when I suddenly remembered that I hadn’t shaved in a couple of days.

“Oh shit,” I mumbled under my breath as I casually lifted up my jeans to run my hands up my leg. I felt stubble, and I knew there was no way I was going to have my first roll in the sack with Blake occur when I was as hairy as a baboon.

“What’s wrong?” Blake looked at me in concern.

“Nothing.” I paused. “Well, I was thinking we could take a pass on the yoga after breakfast. Maybe we can go into the City and shop, Um, I mean write and research. I write and you research.” I beamed at him. “That sounds good, right?”

“Uh huh.” Blake’s eyes were twinkling at me. “Sure, Mags.”

“This way, I can get good use out of the iPad you got me. I know it cost, like, 500 dollars.” I smiled at him gratefully, though I would have preferred a Visa gift card to have done what I wanted with.

“Oh, Maggie,” he sighed. “I don’t want you to feel pressured into writing when you are not in the mood. I just want you to have an easy way to write whenever the mood hits you.”

“Okay.” I looked at him blankly.

“Don’t you remember when you were a kid?” He smiled at me fondly. “I remember when I would sleep over and Chad and I would play videogames and you would come running out of your room begging us for a pen and paper so you could write down a great idea for a book you had.”

“Oh, I remember that,” I smiled. “I once wrote a book about two of my favorite teddy bears falling in love.”

“Yeah. So this way, you never have to run around looking for a pen and paper when inspiration hits.” He looked at me impishly. I felt an overwhelming sense of emotion for this handsome man who had bought me an iPad based on a childhood memory, and I leaned over the table and gave him a big kiss on the lips.

“You are the best, William Blake.”

“That’s what I was hoping you would say.” He kissed me back hard, and I felt a shiver run down my spine. That was not the kiss of a chaste man. I stared into his eyes and they were twinkling. “Maybe tonight you can show me how great you think I am?”

“Oh, yeah I can.” I grinned at him and felt butterflies in my stomach. Finally, Blake and I were going to take our relationship to the next level, and I hadn’t had to beg. All of a sudden, I wished that I could spend the day at a spa so I could get ready for him. I needed everything to be perfect. Oh damn, I needed to get a bikini wax. Maybe even a Brazilian wax, even though I had never gotten one before. I’d have to figure something out. “I sure can.”

“Oh great, our food is here.” Blake smiled at the server, and I stared at his plate longingly. The food looked delicious. Much more delicious than the dry pieces of wheat I had in my bowl. I faked a grin and poured some milk into my bowl and munched away, trying to look satisfied. I knew
I would have to find a doughnut shop and stuff my face when Blake wasn’t looking. Weetabix certainly wasn’t going to carry me over for a full day of shopping. Well, shopping and writing!

***

We were in a store called Marks & Spencer when I first noticed all the stares and smiles. Two younger women were smiling at me, and I gave them a wave. “Howdy,” I said as I walked by. I had heard that the Brits thought that all Americans spoke like we were from the South, so I didn’t want to disappoint them.

“Hi!” One of the girls beamed at me and then whispered to her friend and giggled. I looked at them kindly before raising my eyes to Blake. We were Americans, not visitors from Mars.

“I guess the English are a lot friendlier than I thought,” I whispered to Blake as two more girls nodded at me when we were in Woolworths. “People say they are reserved and stiff, but I’ve never had so many people smile and wave at me before in my life.”

“Indeed. It is quite curious.” He looked at me with a puzzled expression. “I’m not really sure why so many people seem to be so excited to see you.”

“Yeah, me either.” I frowned. It was odd. Unless they were all a bunch of recent escapees from a local mental institute. “Have there been any breakouts recently?” I asked Blake curiously.

“Breakouts?” He looked at me in confusion.

“Yes, you know, from mental institutes or something. Whatever they call them here in England.”

“Um, not that I know of. Though that isn’t something I really keep track of.” He paused. “Why, is there something you want to tell me, Maggie? Did you escape from an institute recently?”

I hit his arm and pouted at him. “No need to be rude, Blake.”

“I’m not trying to be rude, Maggie, but where did this question come from?” His look showed me that he did think I was from a loony bin, but two girls interrupted us before could answer him.

“Excuse me, sir.” They spoke directly to Blake. “Do you think we can talk to her, please?”

Blake and I exchanged a glance. This was too weird for both of us.

“Um, you can ask her.” Blake looked at them like they were aliens.

“Sorry, but we thought it best to ask the bodyguard first.” They smiled at me nervously. “We didn’t want you to body-smack us to the ground or anything.”

“What?” Blake sounded confused, and I started to feel a weird feeling in my belly.

“As Maggie’s bodyguard, we thought it best to ask you. Some stars don’t like being talked to directly.” They gushed while sneaking peeks at me. I feel my face start to flush, and heat was rising through my body. I looked at Blake in pretend confusion, but I felt like I was going to faint.

“What star?” Blake questioned them and then paused. “And wait. How did you know her name?”

“She’s all over the Internet,” one of the girls gushed. “She was on the front page of the Hollywood Enquirer today.”

“The what?”

“The local gossip mag. It’s got all the latest news on the stars and who’s dating who.” The girl then turned to me. “What’s it like being with Bradley Cooper? And when will the movie be out?”

OMG! I thought I was going to die. I wasn’t sure what went wrong, but my little lie shouldn’t have spread this quickly or publicly. I wasn’t sure what to do. I knew Blake wouldn’t understand, and would likely dump me if he realized what happened. I couldn’t have my first boyfriend in years dump me before we even slept together. How pitiful would that be?

“Let’s go, Blake.” I grabbed his arm quickly and pulled him away from the girls. “Please go back to the institute, girls,” I shouted back to them and then pulled Blake out of the store. The girls were looking at me in confusion, and I felt a sense of regret that I had to treat my first fans that way, but that was preferable to Blake finding out the truth.

“What’s going on here, Maggie?” Blake pulled me to the side of the store and looked at me sternly.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” I swallowed and tried not to melt as I stared back into his deep blue eyes.

“Maggie Lane, I swear I do not need any drama on this trip.” He sighed. “This is an important case for my firm, and you need to actually finish a book.”

“I know, Blake.”
Please don’t dump me.

“I’m going to let that weird encounter go for now. But you had better fix whatever mess you have yourself in, Maggie.”

“Yes, Blake.”
How the F am I meant to do that?

“Do you want to go and grab a coffee now?”

“Yes, please.” My voice was low and quiet, and I knew that all I really wanted to do was go back to my room to veg and watch TV and hope that this all blew over soon. “But can it wait for about ten minutes? I just need to pop back into the store for something.” (Like some clothes.)

“Sure.” He sighed. “Just make it quick.”

“Okay.” I ran into the store and grabbed two pairs of jeans, some tops, and a sweater. As I was walking to the counter, I saw a cute dress and quickly grabbed that as well. I just hoped that Blake didn’t ask me why I was always wearing the same clothes. I paid quickly and without incident and ran back outside, where Blake was waiting for me with a huge scowl on his face.

We walked to the coffee shop in silence. Blake was striding ahead of me, and I could tell he was mad at me. I felt my heart beating fast, and I was really worried. I wanted to call Gayle, but I knew she would say it was my own fault. And I started to think that maybe it was. Maybe it was time for me to grow up. As I walked to the coffee shop, I thought about all the drama in my life in the last few months: being signed up for a marathon because I lied about going to the gym, pretending I had written a book when I hadn’t even written a word, countless bad dates from online dating, and thinking Blake was in the CIA coming to recruit me. Even I wouldn’t recruit me for the CIA. Maybe my imagination was too active, and I didn’t have enough of a backbone to say no. And maybe I had a problem with white lies. I resolved to myself that I was going to change.