She threw on the robe Nick had been wearing the night before and smiled as she stepped over her police uniform on her way to the door. She held the robe tight as she opened the door and stepped aside,
�Good morning, ma�am.� She smiled, ran her hand over her tousled hair and whispered,
�Good morning. You can leave it right there. I�ll take care of it.� She dug through the pockets of the robe, hoping that possibly there was a few dollars there but of course there wasn�t.
�Don�t worry about it ma�am.� She shook her head and signed for the room service, adding the tip before handing the small leather binder back to him,
�There you go. Thanks, have a nice day.� He seemed a little thrown off by her well wishes. She shook her head as she closed the door. Rich people must really be self-absorbed and uncaring of other�s feelings. You�d think no guest had ever told him to have a nice day. She sat at the table and uncovered the dishes that were on the tray.
Her plate was piled with French toast, a Western omelet and Canadian bacon when Nick began to stir,
�Morning sleepyhead.� It only took a moment before he realized where he was and what they had done, she could see it in his face,
�Morning officer.� She giggled,
�Liked that huh?� He groaned as she stretched,
�Loved it.� She watched him as he swung his legs until they were flat on the floor,
�So, when am I going to get arrested again?� He could never get enough of a good thing,
�Never, I�ve quit the law enforcement business. Too dangerous.� He was so excited last night when she allowed him to use the handcuffs on her he forgot she was attached to the bed and couldn�t move in all the ways he wanted her to. Her arms felt like they were about to pop out of their sockets.
He stood up, hair all over his head, and joined her at the table. She smiled and shook her head as he sat at the table, completely naked, and began to eat. She wasn�t surprised, Nick wasn�t embarrassed about his body around her. He always walked around their house naked and when he got in the pool at home for a swim, he was naked.
�What do you guys have planned today?� He was in the middle of chewing on an English muffin when he answered, food visible she noted,
�Some fan event or something. You coming?� Was he serious, she thought. There was no way she wanted to be around those chicks. She had tried that before. To share in the wild, larger than life experience that was his life when he was on but it made her so uncomfortable. If she wasn�t receiving the evil eye she was being stared at like they were taking notes so they could be her. Of course she had run across a lot of normal sweet girls, and women, but the negative weighed on her mind much more than the positive did.
�No, I�m taking Kristin to the airport.� She was going to miss Kristin. She always made things so nice and relaxed for her. Kristin was an old pro at this lifestyle and she took her under her wing. From telling her the best times to enter and exit a concert if she didn�t want to be seen to simply talking to her to keep her from feeling left out.
She looked up to see him concentrating more on his food than anything she had to say. No surprise. Typically nothing came before his food when he was starving.
�Are you sure you can't stay on tour?" Kristin laughed as they traveled towards the airport,
"Yes, I'm sure." She just wasn�t comfortable being on an entire tour with Nick. If Kristin was going to be there it wouldn�t be so bad.
"Can you at least come out from time to time and give me a pep talk?" She laughed,
"You bet but it�s not that bad Shayna. It�s all in what you make of it. It�s not going to be bad. Sure, there are major inconveniences. Fans, early mornings, late nights, tight schedules but you�re going to be with Nick. You�re going to spend more time together than you think. And," She placed her hand on Shayna�s shoulder,
�Great shopping. Whenever things get really hectic Kevin sends me off on a guilty conscience shopping spree. You�re going to be giving Nick�s credit cards a good workout.� She had already started that and she had to admit it was fun.
�So what are you going back to LA for?� Kristin�s eyes lit up,
�I�m reading for a pilot. It�s a drama; one of those shows about rich attractive people who somehow have such a hard time.� She nodded, she didn�t want to say anything but she hated those shows. Kind of like the Dawson�s Creek thing. Good looking kids with their overdramatic lives.
�That�s great Kristin, good luck.� Her phone rang and she dug through her tiny purse in search of it,
�Hello?� There was no one there and she answered one more time,
�Hello?� Then she heard the click. She hated when people did that. If it was a wrong number people should just apologize instead of simply hanging up, that was so rude.
�Who was that?� She shook her head,
�Wrong number. So, is anyone famous going to be in this TV show with you?� As soon as that left her mouth she felt lousy. That probably came out so wrong and she hoped Kristin wasn�t offended. Truth be told, Kristin was a good actress. A lot better than say, Leighanne. Leighanne was just awful. She really had no talent and she wasn�t just saying that because Leighanne treated her like crap.
�They are in talks with Justine Bateman and Annie Potts.� She feigned interest but she had no idea who those people were. That was way before her time. Kristin was almost ten years older than her. The things she liked and the things Kristin liked often times didn�t match up.
�I loved Family Ties. I always felt Mallory was so misunderstood. Remember the episode where her IQ test was higher than Alex�s? That was my favorite episode.� She smiled and moved her head, but not necessarily in an affirmative way. She didn�t[t want to make Kristin feel old and that�s exactly what happened anytime Shayna had to admit to her that she didn�t know what she was talking about.
�And Courteney Cox was so good in that show. Her abilities as an actress are definitely underrated. Jennifer Aniston is too.� Courteney Cox was on this show Kristin was talking about? Monica? She thought Friends was the first television show she was ever in.
�Hey, you know what you should do? You should invite your sister and mom out to one of the shows. Pick a good city they�ve never been to and that they would like and have a blast.� That was a good idea. She didn�t want to be alone the entire time and lately she had been missing her family more and more. She had tried many times to get her mom and sister to move to Tampa but her mother was happy in small town Pensacola, Florida. She had even been trying to get her sister to attend her alma mater but her sister had been dead set on becoming a University of Florida gator since she was twelve years old. Carrie had already applied and was waiting on her preordained letter of acceptance. Her little sister wasn�t just some airhead cheerleader, she wanted to be a doctor.
�That�s a good idea. My mom needs a vacation anyway. I don�t think she�s left the panhandle more than five times since I was ten years old.� Kristin smiled,
�See, you get familiar faces and you get to do something nice for your mom. Remember,� she looked at Shayna and with a look of semi-seriousness,
�You control this thing. Don�t let this tour and all this wackiness control you.� She nodded her head and smiled.
Chapter 17a