Chapter 22 Some Explaining to Do
The fragrance of flowers filled her lungs before Andrea even opened her eyes. A smile lit her face as she remembered that Chase had filled her entire room with beautiful white poinsettias the day before. When she finally opened her eyes, thousands of snow white pedals glistened in the morning light. Andrea couldn’t remember ever being so happy. Not only was her grandpa doing well after his surgery, she’d met a wonderful man who had reminded her what it was like to be cared for by a sweet, caring man.
And then she picked up her phone.
Andrea had several missed calls from her assistant Kelsey, as well as some of her best friends in LA, including two other well known actresses, Taylor Christianson and Nikita Urban. All of their voicemails demanded to know what was going on, why she never told them. Her texts were the same, and from even more people.
Even before she opened her social media sites, Andrea knew what this had to be about. The photographers at the hospital the night before must have released their pictures! Sure enough, photos of her and Case leaving the hospital together were all over her newsfeeds on all of the popular sites. In a few of them, it looked as if they were holding hands since she had slipped on the wet floor, and Case had caught her.
Andrea’s stomach rolled over. How in the world could she explain all of this? It truly looked like they were a couple! While she didn’t necessarily mind being linked to such an attractive man, she knew there would be all sorts of ramifications when Sarah saw these pictures. Not to mention it seemed as if her friends were upset that she hadn’t told them anything. Was there really even anything to tell?
She decided to call Kelsey first and set her straight. They’d have to consider how to respond in the media. Of course, she wanted to talk to Case first. For now, she told Kelsey not to respond but to come up with a few potential posts she could use to explain what had really happened. Then, she called her friends and assured them she wasn’t keeping secrets before answering all of her texts, which took forever.
Keeping her phone in her hand, she went next door and knocked on Case’s bedroom door. He didn’t answer. “Case? Are you in there?” Still nothing. Checking the time, she saw that it was almost 10:00. She’d accidentally slept in. It was odd her mother hadn’t woke her up to go to the hospital to see Grandpa.
Andrea decided to take a quick shower and then go downstairs and figure out what was going on. Dressed in jeans and a sweater, she headed down to the kitchen. Her mother’s voice carried down the hall. Why were they still here?
“Oh, honey. You’re up. How did you sleep?” Karen asked, sitting at the table with Tim drinking coffee.
“Fine. Why aren’t you at the hospital?”
“Grandpa is being released today,” her mom explained. “We’re going to pick him up in an hour or so. He said not to worry about coming to visit until then.”
“He’s coming home?” That was great news. “But... he’s not going back to the farm, is he?”
“No, he’s not strong enough to take care of himself yet. He’ll come here.”
“We’ve set the den up as a bedroom for him,” Tim said. “That way he won’t have to go up the stairs.”
“Great idea.” Andrea hadn’t even noticed a bed in that room, but then, she hadn’t been on that side of the large house much either. “Where’s... Case?”
“He went in to town for a bit. Should be back soon. Your sister’s still sleeping. Did you know she sent Brent home last night? An Umber came and picked him up around midnight.”
“I think you mean Uber, Mom.” Andrea fixed herself a cup of coffee. Why was Case in town?
“I sure do like that Case,” Karen continued. “He’s so handsome and sweet. You could do a lot worse that Case Meyer.”
Andrea ignored her, sipping her coffee and staring out the window.
“Have you asked him about Christmas again yet?”
“No, I haven’t.” Andrea didn’t want to tell her mom about the pictures. It would just upset her. She thought she heard a car pulling in outside. Setting her coffee down, she went to see if it was Case.
He stepped out of the SUV carrying a few small bags. She figured he ran out of some essentials since he’d been traveling longer than expected. Andrea could hardly wait for him to get into the house to ask him about the photographs.
“Hi,” Case said, walking inside. “Is everything okay?”
“Did you see them?” she asked as he set the bags down and hung his coat by the door.
“See what? Your parents? Yeah, I saw them.”
Knowing he was teasing, she rolled her eyes. “The pictures, Case. Did you see them?”
“Oh, that. Yeah, I did. I didn’t really care for the angle. I looked a little older in that light than usual....”
“Will you be serious? What are we going to do?”
“Do? Why do we have to do anything?” He picked up his bags and stepped around her, going toward the stairs.
“What do you mean? Of course we have to do something, Case. People think we’re a couple.”
“And that bothers you. I get it. I guess I just don’t mind being linked to you, Andrea, that’s all.” He turned and looked at her, his green eyes bright but a little sad, as if she’d hurt his feelings.
“It’s not that.” Her hand brushed his on the stair rail. “I don’t mind either. It’s just....”
“If you don’t mind, and I don’t mind, why should we let anyone else tell us what we should or shouldn’t do?”
He had a point. Andrea dropped her head, debating whether or not she should remind him that his ex-girlfriend hated her.
“It’ll be okay.” Case smiled at her and climbed the rest of the stairs, leaving Andrea looking after him, hoping that he was right.
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