Interconnected Hearts Read online

  I sigh and climb into the passenger side. "It was worth a shot." I shrug over at him. "I'm gonna wear you down one of these days Scotty."

  He laughs and starts up the car, "Good luck with that one baby."

  I smile setting my hand on his knee as we drive down the unusually quiet L.A roads. I love this man, even in quiet moments like this he makes me feel safe, happy and loved. I can't imagine how different my life would be now if I were still in Georgia working in a small little school probably coming home to an empty apartment every night. I sneak a look at him and smile at his concentration on the road ahead of us.

  "I love you." I tell him squeezing his knee.

  He looks over at me with a wide grin on his face before turning back to the road. "I love you too, Krissy. Forever."

  "Forever and a day, baby."

  Chapter 5

  Once we arrive on set, there are already several crew members hustling around doing their jobs looking like they're on autopilot.

  "Hello Mr. Adams, Mrs. Adams," a young guy probably no older than 20 greets us, "Here is the latte you requested."

  "Oh great, thank you!" I smile at him and gently take it out of his hands. "You have no idea how much of a life saver you are."

  He blushes furiously before stumbling backwards and jogging over to help with some light fixtures.

  "I think you've charmed the intern." Scott smiles as he grabs my hand pulling me through the crowd.

  "I didn't do anything but take my coffee from him!" I shake my head and take a long gulp of the perfect vanilla latte he handed me. "He did a good job too."

  Scott laughs and tugs me against him. "Remember, stay either in my eyesight or one of the bodyguards. I know you'll be working while you're here, but I'll feel better knowing someone is around to protect you at all times."

  I roll my eyes and lean up to his cheek, "It is way too early to be paranoid, Scotty. I'll be fine. Now, point me in the direction of Ms. Zoie."

  He puts his hands on my shoulders and pivots me around. "See that trailer over there with all the teenage boys around it?"

  "Uh-huh"

  "That's hers."

  "Got it. I'll be there then."

  "Don't let those boys try anything...if they do, they can come have a chat with me." Scott glares in their direction.

  I hide an eye roll behind my coffee cup as I take another sip. "I'll be fine. I work with teenage boys every day." I walk closer to him and give him a quick kiss. "Have a good day baby. I won't be far." I point towards Zoie's trailer and start my way past all the workers and closer to the group of teenage boys vying for Zoie's attention.

  Zoie is dressed to kill in super short, skin tight jean shorts and a low cut black tank top, and her dark hair is pulled into a bun at the nape of her neck. She smiles flirtatiously at each boy on either side of her, rubbing a hand on one's arm and the other's chest and I've about had enough of watching it already.

  I push past a couple guys and come to stand in front of Zoie and clear my throat. "Excuse me, Zoie?"

  She raises an eyebrow looking me up and down. "Do I know you?" she asks in a bored voice.

  I cross my arms and step between her and one of her boy toys. "No, but you do know my husband, Scott." I turn and point in his general direction. "And you're going to be getting to know me soon enough, sweetie."

  "And why is that?"

  "Because Mitchell has hired me to figure you out." I grin handing her my business card.

  Zoie laughs shaking her head, "There's nothing to figure out about me. You can go now." She moves to go back to being the center of those boys' attention until I grab her arm and pull her towards me.

  "Listen honey, either you listen to me, and listen good...or you can kiss your career, and all these boys goodbye." I tell her firmly. "You've pushed Excite to their limit so they're pushing back. You can either listen to me or walk into that trailer and start packing to go back to wherever you came from."

  She rolls her eyes. "You're wasting your time. I don't know what Mitchell thinks is wrong with me, but if he's sending in some blonde Barbie to deal with me then he can just fire me for all I care." Zoie glares and spins on her heel to stomp into her trailer.

  "Zoie, wait." I take a deep breath to settle myself down; this girl really gets under your skin fast. "All I'm asking for is a couple hours of your time while I'm here this week. That's it. If by the end of the week I don't see a way of making things better for you and for Excite then you'll never hear from or see me again, ok?"

  "Fine, but that's all you get. Will 2 hours a day make you happy?"

  I sigh and close my eyes a second before nodding my head. "Perfect, 2 hours of chatting to each other and then I'll be out of your hair."

  She looks back at me and then nods as she steps into her trailer and slams the door behind her.

  I shake my head and make my way back to where Scott is standing and put my empty coffee cup into his hands. "I'm going to need a lot more caffeine to deal with that girl."

  He laughs as he grabs my hand. "I told you babe, you don't have to do this if you don't want to."

  I sigh leaning into him. "I know, but I do want to do this. She's a tough chick, but I think I'm just a little bit tougher." I smile up at him, "She's promised me at the very least a couple hours a day every day this week. I just hope it's enough."

  Scott pulls me to him while wrapping his arms around me. "You let me know if it ends up being just too much to deal with, ok? I mean, it's your Spring Break baby, you're supposed to be relaxing on your week off, not dealing with a teenage brat."

  I sigh resting my head against his chest. "I know. But hey, it’s an excuse to get to watch you do your thing, right?" I ask smiling up at him.

  He leans down kissing me softly as he smiles back at me. "That it is. I like having you here with me."

  "I'm glad you do." I pull him down for another kiss. "Just warn me before you have to do any love scenes, k?"

  "You got it."

  Chapter 6

  I spend the next couple of hours watching Scott do his scenes and sometimes re-doing them while also silently observing Zoie. When she's in character, it’s like watching a seasoned actress, she owns the place when she's in that zone. As soon as she's done though, she slips back into diva mode. I don't blame Excite for being annoyed with her.

  I slide out of my chair and make my way over to where she’s standing during a scene break. "So...do you wanna tell me why you can be so amazing on that set but so awful otherwise?"

  She raises an eyebrow and crosses her arms. "Excuse me?"

  "I just don't get it. As soon as you step away from the cameras you turn into a spoiled brat."

  Her mouth drops open but before she can say anything a woman in a skin tight red dress and hair dyed to match comes waltzing over. "Zoie, aren't you ready to go yet?" the woman says glancing at her cell phone for the time. "We have things to do you know."

  I notice Zoie roll her eyes before she nods her head. "Mother, this is Scott's wife, Krista. Krista, this is my mother Diane Reese."

  "Nice to meet you, Mrs. Reese." I smile reaching my hand out.

  Diane's eyebrows furrow before she puts her hand out and just takes the tips of my fingers, "Nice to meet you as well, Mrs. Adams...now come along, Zoie."

  Zoie sighs and dutifully follows behind her mother and I frown to myself. If that woman is who she has grown up with, then it's no wonder she acts out. Diane Reese seems like the exact opposite of my warm, caring mother that would have and has gone above and beyond for me. I think I just caught a small glimpse of why Zoie is the way she is.

  Shaking my head as they disappear out of sight, I walk back over to my designated fold out chair. Before I can do much thinking, I feel familiar arms and smell Scott's musky cologne before he even says a word to me and I grin pulling his arms tighter around me. "Well hello there..." I tilt my head back to look at him. "Please tell me you're done for the day."

  "As a matter of fact, I am. I'm all yours for the rest
of the night babe."

  I smile and turn the rest of the way in my chair to snuggle into his arms for a moment, my favorite place to be, especially among all the madness of this place. "So...where are you taking me to dinner?" I tease him and reach up to kiss his cheek.

  Scott chuckles and tugs me to my feet but keeps his arms around me, "How about Chateau de Adams Kitchen?"

  "You're gonna cook for me?" I ask raising an eyebrow up at him.

  "You say that like I would burn it. I'll have you know I make a mean plate of Alfredo."

  I giggle hiding my face in his arm as we walk towards our car. This should be a fun experience. We live off of a lot of take out and my occasional attempt at making us a good home cooked meal. I may look just like my Mama, but I sure didn't inherit her cooking skills.

  "I'll tell you what, Scotty....if you make dinner, then I'll whip us up a dessert. Something that is impossible for me to screw up."

  He laughs and walks around to his side of the car and folds his arms on the roof. "And just what would that be?"

  I give him a look and open my passenger side door, "Some good old fashioned banana pudding. I don't think even I can mess up just pouring some stuff out of a box, mixing in milk then chopping up some bananas. Oh, and the cookies! You can't forget the nilla wafers!" I point my finger at him before sliding inside and pulling the door closed behind me.

  "You're forgetting the most important part." Scott smiles at me when he gets in and starts the engine.

  I frown at him as he looks back to start backing up. "No...That’s all I need."

  "Nope. Whipped cream baby, to top it all off....and so I can put just a drop there." He smirks pointing to my lips. "And then kiss it away."

  I bite my lip and smile over at him. "Only if I get to return the favor."

  He gives me a flirty grin and drives us to the little Mom and Pop store we've discovered not too far from our neighborhood. It's so much easier to go shop incognito there, at least if Scott's with me. Not many people care about seeing me since I'm "just the wife" as one photographer pointed out to me one day when I came out of our gated community without Scott. I'm not complaining though, I'll just voluntarily get in front of the cameras at special events. I like my as-normal-as-it-can-be life as it is.

  As we walk inside the store, Scott grabs a buggy and waves at the little old lady who is one of the owners. She always smiles and waves when she sees us and despite living in L.A she doesn't seem to have a clue who Scott is besides being my husband, and that's good enough for us.

  "How about I get my ingredients and you get yours?" I ask walking beside Scott.

  "I don't know....can I trust you to come back with only your ingredients and not other junk we don't need? Like more of your make-up?" He asks giving me a knowing look.

  I gasp putting my hand to my chest. "I don't know what you're talking about Scott Adams, because I don't get distracted THAT easily."

  "Uh-huh...so you aren't going to take the long way around so you can take a look at that homemade jewelry stuff you like that Ms. Rosalie's daughter makes?"

  I put my hands on my hips and narrow my eyes at him. "No. Not at all. I'm...going to get banana pudding ingredients." I inform him pointing in the general direction I think that stuff is.

  He gives me a knowing smile and laughs shaking his head at me. "You are a terrible liar."

  I stick my tongue out at him as I start backing away. "Well you're the actor in the house, sweetie, not me."

  I hear his chuckles as I turn back around and wind around the displays in the middle of the aisle and to the display he knew I would end up at. I know that I could probably grab any jewelry catalogue and have Scotty order any pretty little thing I set my eyes on, but I love this kind of jewelry even more. Things like these you can see the love and hard work the person put into it and there's not a chance that anyone else is going to have the carbon copy of it laying around.

  I look at each piece longingly until I catch a glimpse of a necklace that draws me in. It has a simple black cord and on it is a pair of interconnected hearts made out of what looks to be hand bent thick wire and in the place where the hearts intersect is a beautiful smooth turquoise stone. I have to have this.

  "That would look beautiful on you, baby." I hear Scott's voice behind me and I spin around.

  "You scared me!" I shake my head looking back at the necklace. "It's perfect isn't it?"

  I feel him smile against my neck before he presses a kiss there. "Get it. Think of it as your "Surviving the first day of Zoie" present."

  I grin spinning around and wrap my arms around his neck. "Thank you! I'll go ask Ms. Rosalie if it’s ok if I wear it out!"

  Just as I turn to do just that, Scott reaches out wrapping his arm around my waist, "Better plan, how about you go get those pudding ingredients and I go talk to her?"

  I raise an eyebrow up at him, "Why? You know Ms. Rosalie loves to chit chat with me."

  "Exactly, we'll never make it out of here in enough time to get home and eat before we need to get to bed. So...you get ingredients, I'll talk with her about the necklace and have it all ready for you when you meet me at the check-out."

  I sigh rolling my eyes and turn on my heel to march down to where I know the pudding mix is at least, snatch a few boxes to be on the safe side, just in case I mess up on the first go round, and then make my way to grab a bunch of bananas and silently thank whoever stocks this place that they have Nilla Wafers conveniently sitting just nearby.

  With my arms full, I make my way towards the check out and smile seeing Scott chatting animatedly with Ms. Rosalie. Ms. Rosalie has owned this store for 15 years and will gladly tell anyone who listens all about how her and her husband made it the way it is now and gush about her daughter being successful making jewelry and how there have even been a couple big wigs who have been interested in that jewelry. Those big wigs would be lucky to take her on.

  "Hey there Ms. Rosalie" I grin making my way over to set my load onto the check out. "How are you doing today?"

  "Oh wonderful" She smiles widely tucking a stray white hair behind her ear. "Is there anything else I could help you two with?"

  Scott shakes his head, grabbing my hand as she rings everything up. "We're all set I think Ms. Rosalie, thank you. You are the most helpful as always." He sends her that killer movie star grin that anyone else would melt over and she just lightly laughs waving her hand in the air.

  "You Hollywood men..."

  "Why Ms. Rosalie, have you had your fun with some of these Hollywood men?" I tease as Scott lifts up our grocery bag.

  She laughs and gives me a secretive smile. "Sweetheart...I've lived in L.A for my whole life...I've met one or two of the men at the top of their game. I've had my moments."

  I grin squeezing her arm as Scott and I make our way out, "The stories that woman could tell..."

  "M-hmm. I'm almost scared to ask who she uh-met...it might make me not think of her the same."

  I giggle popping open the door and climbing into the passenger seat. "We'll just leave that up to the imagination."

  Scott grins sliding in and starting the engine. "Sounds like a plan."

  Chapter 7

  Once we got home we got right to work on making dinner, side by side.

  While Scott was boiling water and breaking noodles, I was pouring in the pudding powder and milk to mix together and chopping bananas. Every once in a while we'd bump into each other and laugh and then I'd get distracted watching him concentrate so hard on making sure he was putting in the right amount of spices as he made his own sauce from scratch and I can't help but smile, all of this is so very......domestic.

  A laugh bubbles out of me and Scott quirks an eyebrow at me, "What's so funny?"

  "Us. This. Making dinner together after a long day at work, like any other couple."

  He walks over to me and dips his finger in the pudding and quickly pops it into his mouth before I can smack his hand away, "We are like any other couple...just not every oth
er couple is special enough to get a power couple nickname like Krisco from the media."

  I scrunch my nose up at that, "My mama is never going to let me forget that they gave us that name. The day after your movie premiere, she was watching one of those gossip shows and she said they kept going on and on about how "Krisco made their red carpet debut!" and when she called me after work she asked me, "Don't they know yours and Scott's names, sweetheart? You aren't shortening!" and I wanted to crawl under a rock!"

  Scott laughs deep from his chest and that dimple shows itself again and I don't hold myself back from standing on my tip toes to kiss it and am rewarded with a big grin.

  "I love your Mom. How are she and your dad doing?"

  I shrug leaning back on the counter. "I think they're suffering from "empty nest syndrome" now that I'm way out here. When I was at college, I wasn't far enough off their radar for them to miss me too much. But now I think Mama worries more, and so does Daddy, I hear it in his voice when he can get the phone away from Mama long enough to talk to me. After everything that's happened they worry about me more."

  He frowns pulling me into his arm, "I know, and I hate that. I swear baby, I'm going to make this year way better than the last."

  I smile softly and lean more into his chest. "It's already been better. I have a job that I love, I'm married to you now so those paparazzi people can't come up with stupid stories about me being some skank you met in a bar." I roll my eyes thinking about the stories that would pop up online and even on those gossip shows that Mama loves so much. I never heard the end about that. "The whole...incident with Alexia doesn't define me. I'm moving forward, and leaving all that behind."

  "That's my girl" He bends and kisses the top of my head. "Now, are you ready for the best alfredo, garlic bread, and salad you've ever had?"

  Laughing I nod my head and step around him with my now complete bowl of banana pudding. "If you're ready for what's probably the worst banana pudding you've ever had." I frown looking down at the yellow mess.