“Done,” Pippa says.
Alice takes her phone out of her bag. “I’m calling my cook to tell him to make us a fresh batch.”
“Alice!” I admonish. “Your cook’s shift starts in one hour.”
She smiles sweetly. “It’s a sisterly emergency. And he knows better than to say no.”
Oh man, some sisterly love is just what the doctor ordered. I love them to the moon and back for spending this day with me.
They drop me back at home late in the afternoon, and I fiddle some more with my business plan. When the alarm on my laptop rings, I scramble for my remote. Alex’s segment on one of the top national late-night shows begins in a few minutes.
My heart rate picks up when Alex appears on screen. He takes my breath away every time.
“Alex, you’ve caused quite a stir,” the host, David, says. He’s one of my favorite presenters, with a spot-on humor and old Hollywood type of charm. “You’re the fans’ golden boy again.”
“So everyone tells me.” He turns to look straight at the camera. “I hope it gets back to the studio.” Turning to look straight at the live audience in the studio, he holds his hand in front of the mouth, mimicking an amplifier. “Spread the word, guys. Spread the word.”
“Still giving you trouble, eh? I’ve heard there is a petition for your spin-off to be approved. Received three million votes.”
Alex holds up his finger. “And counting! Thank you for all your support, folks.”
The presenter leans forward, clasping his hands together, a crooked grin on his face. “I’ve got to ask. You’ve been mysterious about it, but I still have to ask. America is dying to know. Who won Alexander Westbrook’s heart?”
Alex turns to the audience again, fake whispering. “Who will tell David I can’t say? He won’t invite me again if I tell him to his face to mind his own business.”
The audience roars with laughter.
“Do you think she’s watching?” David asks.
“Come on, man. You’re putting me in a rough spot. If I say yes, she’ll think I’m a self-absorbed you-know-what. If I say no... well, I actually don’t know what she’d think.”
David leans back in his chair, crossing his arms over his chest, a thoughtful look on his face. “True. I don’t know what my wife would say either, and I’ve been married for twenty years. Women’s minds are a mystery, huh?”
“The struggle is real, David. But hats off to them for keeping us on our toes.”
I grin, clutching a couch pillow to my chest. Surely that’s a good sign?
David tilts his head. “I’ll try another angle. You can’t tell us who she is, or where you met. But tell us about her. What made you fall for her?”
Oh, oh, oh! I shift to the edge of my couch, swallowing hard once, twice, hoping to overcome the rhythmic thumping in my ears.
“She’s fun and stubborn. I don’t know exactly when I started to fall in love: when I realized how sweet she is, or how fierce. But I haven’t stopped falling since.”
David whistles, clapping his hands. “I think if we opened the window now, we’d hear America release a collective swoon.”
Yes, yes, they would! I’m swooning loud enough for the entire country.
“What would you tell her if you knew she’d be watching?” David asks.
The camera focuses on Alex’s handsome face, and he flashes my favorite smile. The one he shows only when we’re alone. I grip the pillow tighter, my ass nearly sliding off the couch as I lean forward in anticipation.
“I’d tell her that she has my heart. I can’t wait for this tour to be over so I can head straight to her. I miss her every day. And I’d be the luckiest guy if she married me.”
Messages pop up on the screen of my phone before I even have time
to react.
Alice: Have you just been proposed to on national television?