Ryan’s hand gently cradled the back of my head, his fingers slipped into my hair. He kissed me softly on my forehead; his lips lingered for an extra second or two before he released our embrace.

“I’ll see you soon,” he whispered softly, took a few steps back, and slipped out the back door.

Chapter 5 – Connections

“So, did he try to kiss you last night?” Marie breathed in my ear.

“No.” I shook my head, annoyed that she even asked. “You promised!” I reminded her.

“Yeah, I know. I’m not pushing! I just wanted to know if that’s the reason you’re finally smiling. So he didn’t try to kiss you?”

I opened a new case of bottled beer. “No. He didn’t kiss me… on my lips.” I trailed the last part of my sentence hoping she wouldn’t catch it.

She started to jump up and down. “Come on! I’m dying here!”

“He gave me a hug, okay?” I quietly muttered. “And he sort of kissed my forehead.” I shrugged it off and continued to put more bottles into the cooler.

“Remember, you can’t say anything to anyone about them being here. I’m not going to have my pub and my friends involved in any media circus.

Got that? Not one word!” I said to her privately.

She twisted her fingers over her lips and then cracked a cocky smile at me.

“I’m warning you! I’m pretty sure I can shove your entire body in this cooler. No one will find you in there!”

Marie ignored me and turned the TV channel in time to catch the seven o’clock entertainment news. Her excuse was to see if our pub made it to the television version of celebrity gossip, but I knew better. My attention was diverted to the screen when I heard his name mentioned.

“We got Ryan Christensen arriving at LAX this afternoon...” some guy on TV said.

Ryan was filmed as he hurried through the airport. I was thankful that he had several security guards around him; the photographers and people bugging him for his autograph were relentless. I wondered if those leeches did nothing all day but lurk around the airport waiting for celebrities.

“What’s he doing in L.A.?” Marie asked out loud. She seemed just as surprised as I was.

“Shh, I want to hear this,” I whispered.

Ryan’s face toggled between a blank stare and moments of annoyance as the cameramen who chased him asked him stupid questions. To me, he looked tired. They managed to film him signing an autograph or two before he jumped into an awaiting car at the curb.

I was surprised that he was on the West Coast. He didn’t mention anything last night about getting on a plane today - but then again why would he.

It was soon after that when my phone buzzed in my pocket. My thumb hit the buttons to retrieve a new text message. To my amazement, someone sent me a beautiful picture of red and white flowers. I immediately smiled. I had never received virtual flowers before.

The text message read: “Greetings from LA”

Butterflies instantly fluttered into my stomach.

I texted him back. “Who is this?”

I didn’t want to let on that I knew where he was, even though I had only found out a few minutes ago.

I read his reply. “Knight who says Ni?”

I laughed out loud from Ryan’s movie reference. “You are funny. Why ru in LA?”

“Interview n meeting with my agent n producer b back thurs”

“R u having fun?” I sent back.

A few moments later, he sent another message: “not really”

“Sorry to hear that” I replied, adding a sad face emoticon.

“Can I call u later tonight?”

“Sure” I quickly typed.

It was almost three in the morning when I crawled into bed. Since Ryan and his friends had been in the pub on Saturday my customer count seemed to rise. I laughed to myself considering most of the new crowd was female. As I lay there, I became quite absorbed in my thoughts of how pathetic some of his fans were. One girl was even wearing a T-shirt with Ryan’s face on it tonight.

I wondered how Ryan felt about that. Most men would probably love the attention and get huge egos from it, but I couldn’t see Ryan being into that at all. He was much too modest. I guessed things like that probably made him very uncomfortable.

Marie and I hustled again tonight, and it was only a Tuesday. I was thinking about asking Tammy if she wanted to work weekends to help out while the celebrities were still in town. Once they were gone, things would go back to normal. But there were too many customers for just Marie and me to handle on our own. Maybe I should hire some additional help? I could use a third bartender.

I started to yawn; my eyelids were very heavy. I pulled my comforter higher over my shoulder, snuggling even deeper. I felt myself drifting when I was startled by my cell phone rattling on my nightstand. I looked at the number, but the screen showed “NO NUMBER.”

“Hello?” I whispered. My voice definitely sounded groggy when I spoke.

“Hi. Sorry to call so late. Were you sleeping?” Ryan whispered.

“No… almost. How are you?” Another big yawn slipped out from my chest.

“I’m tired too. It’s been a long day,” he said glumly.

“What time is it there?” I glanced over at my alarm clock but I was too out of it to do time zone math.

“It’s almost midnight,” he breathed out with a sigh.

“Thank you for the flowers!” I whispered. “That was cute. You definitely took me by surprise.”

He quietly laughed. “Good,” he uttered. Considering he called me, his response was oddly brief.

“So what are you doing?” I could only imagine the glamorous movie star stuff he must be up to.

“I’m in my hotel room. I just got back.” By the way his cell phone crackled, it sounded like he was busy getting settled in.

“Hmm. Did you have a good day?” I murmured, trying to make conversation. I snuggled deeper into my blanket.

“It was all right, I guess. I’m glad it’s over.” Despite his response, the tone of his voice was off - way off. I could tell he was troubled.

“Ryan, what’s wrong? Are you okay?” My eyes popped open and I sat up in bed, overwhelmed with concern about his well-being. “Something is wrong.”

He sighed. “How can you tell?” He sounded surprised that I could read him like that.

“I just can. I can hear it in your voice.”

“I’ll be all right. Sometimes my life gets freaking insane. Today was one of those days.” His voice trembled and he sniffed a few times. I could tell he was lying. He wasn’t all right.