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“Few months?” I questioned, trying not to sound too nosy. “I actually wasn’t aware he was staying here.”
“I know, right? I logged him into the system under a fake name. Totally what Hollywood actors do, you know.” He winked my way as if he pulled a fast one on me. “I never thought I’d get to do that. Pretty cool, huh?”
“Yeah, totally neat,” I muttered, pretending that my panic wasn’t rising with each passing second. “He can’t really be staying for months, though, right? He’s a busy actor. He must have to go back to California at some point.”
“Who cares? As long as he’s here, it’s great for us.” He looked toward the front window of the inn, where a crowd was still stationed due to the arrival of Aiden. “We’ll need to make sure his stay is safe, with all the fans around. Do you know what this could do for our business? Having an Oscar-winning actor staying with us?”
“Oh, I don’t know, give me a heart attack,” I muttered.
“What was that?”
“Nothing, Mr. Lee. I’ll make sure everything goes as smoothly as possible for Mr. Walters’s stay.”
He smiled, pleased. “Great. I’ll let you get back to work.” He glanced back over his shoulder toward me and narrowed his eyes. “By the way, for future reference, we do have vacuums. You don’t have to dust the carpet with your body.”
“Right. Vacuums. Funny how I didn’t think of that.”
“You’re a smart girl who just had a dumb moment. Happens to the best of us.”
He walked away, leaving me alone with the silent storm forming in my head. Aiden Walters was staying in town for the next few months at the Starlight Inn.
How was I supposed to avoid him when I was also in charge of making sure he was comfortable?
24
Aiden
Playingthe role of the social butterfly outside completely drained my energy. The moment I reached my room at the inn, I collapsed onto the bed. Shockingly, the mattress was one of the most comfortable beds I’d ever laid on, and I’d slept on a lot of beds. Especially during my last worldwide tour press conference.
I rubbed my hands over my face and sighed. Being back home felt odd. I hadn’t visited my hometown in over five years. Some would say I made it a mission of mine not to make it back home. By “some,” I meant my mother, but I saw her often enough. I spent pretty much every day with my father since he was my manager. Mom would’ve been out in Los Angeles with us, but she had her restaurant in Chicago to tend to. Still, she flew out often for visits.
A part of me never wanted to come back to Leeks. I felt like a complete asshole when I arrived in town with all the fanfare shown to me by the townspeople. My face was plastered all over the town’s shops, and there were celebratory decorations across our downtown. The streets were blocked off for a huge festival happening that night to welcome me home for the next few months.
My father hated that I wasn’t staying at their place, but the idea of being in town and sleeping in my childhood bedroom seemed like a personal nightmare. Especially if Hailee was right next door at any point in time.
Hailee.
Just being in town made her come to my mind often. I couldn’t walk down the street without a collection of memories shooting through my brain.
A knock on the door broke me out of my thoughts, and I was thankful for the interruption. I opened the door to find Henry, the bellhop, standing there with a huge welcome basket in his hands. He wiggled his nose and tossed his head back a bit to try to push up his falling glasses.
“Hey, Mr. Walters. Sorry to bother you, but I wanted to bring you a welcome basket for your stay. I read online that you’re allergic to tree nuts—just like me—so I checked and double-checked all the ingredients in each product. If you want anything else, I can run to the grocery store and pick it up for you, no matter what. Day or night, sir. I mean, school is starting back soon, so I’ll mostly be here at night, but I can skip classes if you need me to.”
I took the basket from him. “No need to skip school, but thanks, Henry. I appreciate it.” I set the basket down on the nearby table, then reached for my wallet to give him a tip.
“Oh, no, Mr. Walters. It’s fine, truly. I just wanted to drop it off. You don’t have to pay me a cent. Honestly, just being able to be in your presence is a gift. I don’t know if you know this, but”—he pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose—“I’m your biggest fan. I’ve seen every movie you’ve done and watched every interview. I don’t think anyone out there could be a better Superman than you, and I know you’ll do the next trilogy justice. I know people can say a lot of negative crap online, but I hope you don’t let it get to you. I know you’ll kill those roles in the best possible way. Internet trolls are just jealous jerks.”
I liked this guy.
He had heart.
“Thanks for the reminder, Henry.” I handed him a couple of twenty-dollar bills. “And you can call me Aiden. I’ll be here for quite a few weeks, so we might as well be on a first-name basis.”
Henry’s eyes bugged out of his head as if I’d just asked for his hand in marriage. He nodded rapidly. “Of course, Mr. Wal—er—Aiden. Thank you. Also, there are two people downstairs who were hoping to see you. Mr. Lee made it clear that no one should be able to bother you, but—”
“I figured your parents were worth breaking those rules for,” a familiar voice said, walking up the staircase down the hall.
I smiled wide as I saw my mother coming my way, with my dad not far behind her. Henry excused himself, leaving me with my greetings.
