After a particularly long day at work, Cassidy made her way into the house, plunked all her things on the kitchen table and took off Kyle’s jacket. She turned on cartoons for him to watch then went back into the kitchen to start dinner. Just then the phone rang.
“I’ll let the machine pick it up. I’m not in the mood to talk to anyone right now.”
The answering machine came on, but soon turned off when the caller hung up.
“Damn answering machines”, AJ said hanging up the phone. “I don’t want to leave a message if I’m not even positive this is the right number.”
He stared down at the paper in his hand with her phone number scribbled on it, or at least he HOPED it was her phone number. He had gone through a list of numbers already, ruling them out when they told him no Cassidy lived at that address. His only clue was the postmark on her letter. He only hoped she had mailed it from the city she actually lived in.
“Cassidy James,” he said aloud. “Why didn’t you give me your address?? It would have made this a hell of a lot easier.”
He heard the front door open and slam shut, followed by footsteps stomping through the house. He buried his face in his hands.
“Damnit.” He ran down the stairs and spotted Ashleigh sitting at the kitchen table sobbing. He immediately went over to her.
“What’s wrong Sweetheart?” he asked as he put his arm around her.
“I went to the mall and ran into some of your beloved FANS..they were mean to me, Alex, they hate me.”
AJ sighed. He didn’t know what to say, if she wasn’t so bitchy to the fans, maybe they’d give her a chance.
“I can’t stand them! I hate this. I wish they would leave us the hell alone!”
“It’s part of my job, I love my fans. Maybe you could try being nice to them,” he said getting up.
He felt himself starting to get mad, he was sick and tired of her always complaining and talking bad about the fans. She was silent for a minute.
“Why do you always chose their side over mine? They don’t give a shit about you, they don’t even know you. They just like you for your fame. I’m the only one that knows and loves the real you.”
He thought for a minute, she was probably right, his fans didn’t know the real him. Then he thought about Cassidy’s letter. ‘Well, maybe one does..’ he thought to himself.
“I don’t want to argue with you Ashleigh, they are my fans, they are the reason I am who I am and we have the things that we do. I love my fans and I thought by now you would understand that. They are a part of my life and if you can’t handle that then maybe you should..” he stopped himself.
“Maybe I should WHAT, Alex?” she asked, folding her arms across her chest. “Leave? Now you know you don’t mean that.”
He thought for a minute then realized that she was right, he didn’t want to be alone, but he also couldn’t live like this, she was making him miserable. This wasn’t love, this was Hell. He went over to her and knelt down so he was eye level with her.
“Listen Ash, maybe you should go on a little vacation or something, just get away for a little while and relax. The fans aren’t going to go away, but maybe you’ll figure out a way to deal with them.”
She thought for a minute then sighed.
“Maybe you’re right. I’ve been wanting to go to Cancun for some time now. Why don’t you come with me?” she purred.
“I can’t. You know that. I have a lot to do.”
“Fine, maybe I’ll ask Kasey to go with me then.”
“Go ahead, I’m sure she’ll go. She’ll go anywhere if I’m paying for it.” He started to walk away.
“Alex,” she whined, “I’ll need new clothes you know. My wardrobe will NOT fit in in Cancun.”
AJ stopped and sighed. “You have all the credit cards, you know how to use them.”
She jumped up and ran after him.
“Thank you so much! I love you!” she said as she kissed him on the cheek. She grabbed her purse, car keys and headed for the door. “I’ll be back later”!
AJ threw himself on the couch and watched her pull put of the driveway through the front window.
“Yeah, you love me, whatever,” he shook his head.
When he saw her car disappear around the corner, he pulled the familiar blue envelope out of his pocket. It was wrinkled and torn. He carried it around with him everywhere, he would read it at strange times, whenever the mood struck him.
He brought the letter up to his nose and inhaled the light perfumed scent he had come to know as Cassidy. He could barely smell it, the scent was almost gone. He then pulled out the small white piece of paper that he had her number scribbled on. He prayed that this was her number, he was out of other choices.
He looked at his watch. ‘9:00,’ he thought for a minute, “let me try again,” he said as he picked up the phone and dialed the number.
Cassidy had just put Kyle to bed and was getting ready to take a bath when the phone rang.
“Whoever this is better be there when I answer it. I’m sick of these hang ups. I have an answering machine for a reason,” she said as she picked up the phone.
“Hello?”
“Um, hello, is Cassidy James there?” a raspy male voice said on the other end.
She could swear she had heard the voice somewhere before.
“This is Cassidy, who is this?”
There was silence on the other end. He couldn’t believe he had finally reached her. She had the voice of an angel. He had spent so much time trying to figure out HOW to reach her, he really never thought about what he would day when he finally did. He couldn’t remember the last time he was at a loss for words.
“Hello?” her voice snapped him out of his trance.
“Who is this?”
“Cassidy..it’s Alex”, he was able to finally choke out.
“Alex? Alex who? I don’t know any Al..oh my god..” she said, almost dropping the phone, all the color draining from her face. “How did you get my number?”
“Well, it wasn’t easy, considering you didn’t put a return address on your letter,” he teased.
“There was a reason for that. I didn’t want anything back from you.”
“I know you didn’t, that’s why I wanted to contact you..” his voice trailed off.
“Wait a minute, how do I know you’re who you say you are?” she challenged.
He couldn’t help but like her personality already. Without hesitation, he started reciting back to her what she had written in her letter without even looking at it. He had read it so many times, he had it memorized.
“I’ve never met you and probably never will, but that makes no difference to me. I wish you every happiness in life and I sincerely hope that you are truly happy. I also hope that you have someone in your life that you can confide in and truly loves you for who you are. She would be the luckiest woman in the world..”
“Okay, okay!” she cut him off. “God, how embarrassing!” she laughed.
“Why would you be embarrassed?” he asked, “I loved it.”
“I just don’t normally spill my guts to people, especially to people that I barely know.”
“Well, you seemed to know me pretty well.”
She was silent, she didn’t know what to say.
“How did you get my address anyway?” he inquired.
“If I told you, I’d have to kill you,” she joked.
They both laughed, he liked her sense of humor. He couldn’t believe how comfortable he felt talking to her.
“Actually, I go to Florida a lot on business, that’s all I can divulge.”
“Hmm, what do you do?
“I’m a lawyer. Just graduated from Law school last year.”
“Wow, where do you stay when you’re here?” he asked.
“Umm, usually the hotel at the corner of that one street..”
“Ha ha,” he said, “so, you’re not going to tell me which hotel, are you?”
“The one on the corner of Vine Street,” she answered without thinking.
A smile crept across his face, he knew exactly where she was talking about.
"So, why didn’t you put a return address on your letter?”
“I already told you, I didn’t want anything back from you.”
Her persistence drew him in even more.
“I know, but I’d like to meet you.”
There was silence. Finally, she spoke.
“Um, I have to get going.”
“Oh, okay,” he said disappointed. “Can I meet you when you come down here?”
“I don’t think that would be a good idea Alex.”
“Why not?” he asked surprised.
“It’s just not. Listen I have to go. Thanks for calling.”
With that she hung up the phone, leaving AJ to sit and wonder what he did to make her hang up on him.
“Did I say something wrong?” he asked himself, confused.
As much as he knew he should let it go, he just couldn’t. There was something about Cassidy, something real, something he wanted. He was so drawn to her, he couldn’t explain it. Ever since he had received her letter, he had been unable to think of anything else but her. He just knew that he had to meet her, he had to explore this. He was terrified, but he knew that he owed it to himself, and to Cassidy, to find out if this was what he thought it was..the one thing that he was afraid of finding, but that he desperately wanted more than anything...

Chapter3
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