6

The doorbell rings as I sit on the couch reading the contract that Brian sent over. I drop it on the coffee table and head for the door.

“I got it,” I say, yelling so Gina doesn't bother.

I open the door and smile as I see Spencer.

“Hey.”

“Hi,” he says.

He steps through the open door and wraps his arms around me. Spencer presses his lips against mine and I feel myself melting in his arms as we kiss. Every single time. He breaks the kiss and smiles at me.

“Did you get the contract?” he says.

“Yeah… a courier dropped it off like ten minutes ago. I was just looking over it.”

“Do you want me to check it out?”

“Would you mind?”

“No,” he says, shaking his head, “of course not.”

We walk into the living room and sit down on the couch. Gina walks into the living room just as Spencer picks up the contract and leans back to get comfortable.

“Can I get you anything to drink?” Gina says.

“I'm fine,” I say, “Spencer?”

“I'm good, thanks.”

“Let me know if you change your mind… I'll leave you kids alone.”

I smile at Gina and she winks at me. I can feel myself blush, but luckily when I turn to see if Spencer noticed he is already reading the contract.

He nods a couple of times over the next few minutes, but he's relatively quiet and doesn't even look up from the papers. Spencer sets the contract back on the table and turns to me.

“What do you think?” I say.

“Everything looks good… it seems pretty standard to me. I didn't notice anything out of the ordinary… and I'm sure Brian looked over it, too.”

“So you think I should sign it?”

“Absolutely.”

“What about… the location?”

“You mean going to Chicago for six weeks?”

“Yeah… I mean… I've never been there… and what about….”

“It's fine,” he says, scooting closer to me.

Spencer takes my hand in his and squeezes it. I look down at our intertwined fingers. I just can't imagine not seeing him for six weeks while on location. I swallow and look up at him.

“Six weeks isn't that long,” he says.

“I know.”

“Plus… I can fly out whenever we both have a free day.”

“Are you sure?”

“Amy… you're eighteen and a Hollywood studio sought you out and is willing to pay you a million dollars for six weeks of work. Let that sink in.”

I open my mouth, but quickly close it. He's right. It's surreal. I never imagined things like this happened in real life. It's almost too good to be true, but the contract is sitting right in front of me. Maybe Spencer is right… maybe I need to seize this opportunity and just run with this whole acting thing. I just didn't imagine I would get another film offer this quickly… plus I can't start college at least until summer session, so there's plenty of time to do this film.

“All right,” I say.

I grab the pen sitting next to the contract, flip it open to the last page and sign. I set the pen down and turn back to Spencer.

“Thanks for encouraging me.”

“Of course.”

“So,” I say, “what did you want to talk about that would be better in person?”

“Where's your purse?”

“Upstairs… why?”

“Go grab it… we're going somewhere.”

“Where?” I say.

“It's a surprise.”

I smile and stand up from the couch. I feel so spoiled by him… he's always doing such amazing things for me. The old me would have been skeptical of a guy treating me so well, but it just feels different when I'm with Spencer. It feels right.

I glance over my shoulder as I walk out of the room. He's on his phone and doesn't notice me watching him. I guess I have to just trust that life has a plan… because every morning when I wake up it's hard to believe where life has taken me since the day I got the rejection letter from State.

I fetch my purse and head back downstairs. Spencer is already at the door waiting for me. In his hand is the manila envelope that the contract came in.

“I just need to let Gina know we are leaving,” I say.

“I already told her. We can drop this off for Brian on the way.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah… it's not that out of the way.”

We head outside and Spencer closes the door.

“Where are we going?” I say.

“I told you… it's a surprise. I'm literally not going to tell you until we get there.”

I feel like my once crippling fear of the unknown has started to fade… a little. Somehow it feels like nothing can go wrong when I'm with Spencer. It's an amazing feeling… one I never want to be without. I know it's silly to think about that, but I can't help wondering if we were meant to be together.

I get in the passenger seat and turn to Spencer once I get my seat belt on.

“So, am I going to like this place?”

“It's cool.”

“What makes it cool?”

“Everything about it is cool.”

I wrinkle my brow, but he just shakes his head and smiles as he starts his car. I can already tell he's not going to let slip where he's taking me.

Spencer takes the same route that Ricardo did as we head for Stars Unlimited. I reach for the door handle as he pulls in front of the building, but I look out my window and I see Molly walking toward the car. I roll down my window as she reaches the car and leans her head close to me.

“Amy… how are you?”

“Good, thanks… how are you?”

“Fine… you have the contract?”

I hand her the contract and she quickly flips to the last page to check my signature.

“Good,” she says, “Brian will be in touch.”

She turns and walks back toward the building.

“How did she know?” I say, turning to Spencer as I roll up the window.

“I called Brian… I got his number earlier today and said that we would be stopping by with the contract… but that we would be in a hurry and wouldn't have time to come in with it.”

I shake my head and Spencer pulls away from the building.

“You thought of everything… didn't you?”

“Let’s hope so… I’ve been setting this up for the last couple days.”

I look out the window as I wait for the mystery of where we are going to unfold. We take a left hand turn and a minute later I recognize where we are—the private airport that we flew in and out of to go to New York.

“Is Dex here?” I say.

“No… this is all me.”

Spencer parks the car, pops the trunk open and takes out a duffel bag. He easily throws it over his shoulder and locks the car before walking toward a plane that is being pulled out of one of the hangars.

“But… I have no clothes or anything.”

Spencer stops and turns around, a big smile on his face.

“You won’t need them where we are going.”

“Wait… what?”

Spencer laughs and shakes his head.

“Sorry,” he says, “that sounded… wrong. What I meant is that you don’t have any clothes appropriate for where we are going… and L.A. isn’t exactly the best place to shop for what you need. We’ll just buy it there.”

He turns and starts to walk toward the plane again. I catch up to him and he takes my hand in his.

As we board the plane all I can think about is where we could possibly be going that I need clothes that aren’t sold in Los Angeles.

---

“Look out the window,” Spencer says, “we’re about to land.”

I glance down at my phone… it’s been two hours since we took off, which is about how long it took when we flew to Denver to see Spencer’s mom. I drop my phone back in my purse and look out the window expecting to see the white capped peaks of the Denver airport… but they aren’t there. Instead all I see is real snow covered mountains. Two of the mountains have strips of white, where the trees have been removed, running from the top all the way to the bottom.

“Are those… ski runs?”

“Yep,” Spencer says.

I’ve never been skiing or seen a ski area for that matter, but I had a decent idea what it would look like from a movie I saw a few years ago about a girl who learns to snowboard. I always thought it looked like fun… but there weren’t any mountains where I grew up. That kind of trip would have never happened with my parents.

“Crazy.”

“What?”

“It’s… beautiful.”

“It is. Wait until you feel the powder underneath you as you glide across it and down the mountain.”

“Wait… what?”

Spencer smiles and squeezes my hand.

“That’s why we’re here,” he says. “I assume you’ve never learned to snowboard… so I’m going to teach you.”

I blink twice, thinking that I must be hearing Spencer wrong. It’s one thing for him to bring me here… which is really sweet… but is he actually expecting me to learn to snowboard?

“What?”

“Don’t look so worried… not yet.”

I glance out the window again as the plane starts to approach the runway. I close my eyes as the wheels touch the ground and the pilot rapidly slows the plane. It’s a feeling I’m still not comfortable with… and I doubt I ever will be. Spencer puts his other hand on my thigh and I feel like I can finally breathe. I hope he doesn’t think I’m lame for closing my eyes during landing and takeoff.

I open my eyes again as I feel the plane come to a stop and the engines start to power down. We take off our seat belts and stand up from the plush seats of the private jet. It really is something I could get used to… I know it’s not practical, but it’s really a nice way to travel.

“Are you really going to teach me to snowboard?”

“Yep… if you want to learn… of course.”

“I… I think I do. It looks like fun… but I’m a little nervous about it.”

“Don’t worry, I’m an excellent teacher.”

Spencer walks to the front of the plane, near the cockpit, where he opens a door to what must be a closet. I watch as he takes out a large shopping bag and walks back to me. He sits back down and hands the bag to me.

“Open it,” he says.

I open the bag and see a beige cashmere throw. I take it out and wrap it around my shoulders. It’s not as warm as wearing a coat might be, but it’ll keep me warm once we head outside. There’s a shoe box in the bottom of the bag that I pull out next. I take the lid off and see a pair of blue UGG boots. A smile crosses my face—I know about them, but I never needed boots… not to mention I think they are pretty expensive. I kick my shoes off and slide my feet into the boots. I already feel warm as I wiggle my toes inside the boots. They fit perfectly.

“Thank you… they are amazing.”

There seems to be no end to his talents. He smiles at me, picks up his bag and we head for the door as it opens. I grab my shoes and toss them into the UGG box. We walk down the small stairs and I’m regretting getting off the plane before my feet even touch the ground. A strong gust of wind blows across my face and I’m certain I’m about to die. I’ve never been this cold in my entire life… and I’ve been standing outside for all of three seconds. I can only imagine what it would be like if I didn’t have the throw or the boots.

“Holy crap! It’s cold!”

Spencer takes my hand as I step onto the ground and we hurry toward the black limo waiting not far from the plane. The driver opens the door as we get close. He takes Spencer’s bag and we dive in. A blast of heat hits my face, but I still feel chilled to the bone. How can people live here?

“Welcome to Aspen,” Spencer says.

The name sounds familiar… I've heard it somewhere before, but I can't place it other than I'm pretty sure it's in Colorado.

I hear the trunk of the limo close and the driver gets back in. He rolls up the tinted partition as he starts to drive.

“This is crazy,” I say, “I can't believe we’re here.”

“Are you surprised?”

“Yeah… you could say that. When you told me we were going somewhere… I certainly didn't think we would be getting on a plane and coming here.”

“Good… I know it's cold, but I thought it would be fun for me to bring you somewhere that I used to go when I was growing up.”

“Did you used to come here to snowboard?”

“Yeah….”

Spencer trails off and I decide not to ask him about it. I have a feeling he probably came with his family… and the last thing I want to do is dredge up painful memories.

“Well,” I say, “now I get why you said L.A. would be a bad place to buy clothes for where we were going.”

Spencer looks over at me and smiles. He's such a good guy… and he really seems to like spoiling me. I don't think he does it in a way that makes it seems like he is trying to impress me, but it's as if he just wants to share with me some amazing experiences. He's not like anyone else in L.A., but I guess that's probably because he isn't from there and he managed to stay true to himself.

“Yeah… there's some great places to buy gear here. Do you want to shop now or do you want to go check out the house first?”

“The house?”

“I rented a house while we’re here. When I booked the limo I gave that address, so maybe we should go there first and then go out. It's already too late in the day to hit the slopes, so there's really no rush.”

“Sounds good.”

It's only a few minutes later when the limo pulls up in front of the house and my jaw drops. I was expecting something nice, but not this nice. It looks like something out of a dream… not something that a regular person would live in. The roof is dark green metal, much of the house looks like it is hand placed stone and the rest is steel beams and glass. It’s modern, but still fits perfectly into the wooded surroundings.

“What do you think?” Spencer says.

“I… it’s amazing.”

The only thing that I can think about, other than the sheer beauty of the house, is how much it must have cost to rent. I try not to think about it… it’s his money and he can choose to spend it however he wants. Heck, it might even belong to a friend or something.

“It really is. I stayed here once before and I knew you would love it.”

The driver climbs out of the car and opens the door for us. Spencer gets out first and takes my hand to help me out and steady me as I step on the snow. My boots sink in a half an inch and I wonder if my feet are going to be wet in a matter of a few seconds.

Spencer slips the driver a tip and we walk toward the front of the house. The wooden doors with iron accents dwarf us as we walk up to them and they swing open as Spencer reaches for the handle. Standing in front of us is a stunning blonde woman. I can’t help wonder what she’s doing here… she’s slim and looks like she belongs on the cover of a magazine.

“Welcome, Mr. Thomas.”

“Thanks.”

She smiles at him, but it seems to fade some as she looks to me. She quickly opens the door the rest of the way and waits for us to step through before she closes it.

“Is there still a car included with the rental?” Spencer says.

“Yes… but if I remember correctly you were here two years ago… right?”

“Yeah… I guess it was.”

I watch her as she keeps her eyes locked on him. She’s trying to be cute as she brushes her bangs away from her eyes and laughs.

“Well… we have a new vehicle since then.”

She walks closer to Spencer and drops a set of keys into his hand. I bite my lip as she lets her hand linger on his for far too long. I’m glad she lives far away from us… because she strikes me as the kind of woman who would try to wedge herself between us without a second thought.

“Right,” Spencer says unaffected, pulling away from her and taking a step back.

“It’s in the garage. Do you want me to show you?”

“No… I’m sure we can find it.”

“Of course,” she says, laughing again. “If there’s anything else you need… I left my business card on the island in the kitchen… my personal cell number is on there. Call day or night.”

Spencer nods. She opens her mouth as if she’s about to say something, but quickly closes it as Spencer turns his attention away from her and to me.

“I’m sure we’ll be just fine,” he says.

She nods, turns and walks out of the house. Spencer turns to me and plants a quick peck on my cheek once the front door is closed again.

“Want to check out the house?”

I smile and nod. It’ll be fun to see if the interior can compete with the beautiful exterior… that and it should help me to forget the weird interaction we just had with that woman. If I never seen her again it’ll be too soon.

Spencer drops his bag on the floor as we leave the entry way and walk into the living room. The ceiling is vaulted and supported by exposed wooden beams. Iron accents give it a more modern look that ties it in with the rest of the house. The L-shaped couch in the middle of the living room is gray with orange throw pillows. There’s a gas-burning fireplace on the far wall that’s lit and I can feel the heat radiating from it as I walk by.

“This is really nice,” I say.

I follow Spencer into the kitchen. Granite counters, a large island with a stove and a breakfast bar on the far side. This is certainly one of the nicest houses I’ll ever be in. I already know my least favorite thing about the house is going to be leaving it at the end of our trip.

“How long are we staying here?”

“Three days,” Spencer says. “I know it’s not that long, but I just wanted to get away for a little bit. Plus you’ve got your film coming up and I know you need to be back to get ready for that.”

I nod and look out the living room windows as we walk out of the kitchen. There’s a stunning view of one of the ski areas across the valley from where the house sits. I walk up to the glass and sigh. I feel so happy right now.

“Thank you,” I say, as Spencer walks up to me and puts his arm around my waist. “This is… it’s amazing. It’s a wonderful surprise.”

“You’re welcome.”

He kisses the top of my head and I close my eyes to savor everything I’m feeling in the moment. For the rest of my life I’m going to remember every second of the next three days… I already know that.

“Should we go shopping?” Spencer says.

I nod. I’m on such an emotional high right now that I would do almost anything that Spencer suggested. He drops his arm and I open my eyes again. I take his hand in mine and he leads me to the garage. The lights come on automatically and he pulls the keys out of his pocket.

I’m not that surprised when I see the SUV sitting in the middle of the two-car garage—it’s a Mercedes, which looks brand new and has shimmering silver paint. I get in the passenger’s side and put on my seat belt as Spencer climbs in. I sink into the soft leather seat and sigh. It feels more like something you find in a living room… not the front seat of a car.

Spencer starts the SUV and opens the garage. He smiles at me as he turns his head around and backs out. Within moments of leaving the garage I can feel warmth coming from the seat. I quickly scan the dash and see it—a button for seat warmers that has been turned to high. I’ve never been in a car that had them before… and it’s amazing. Probably overkill for somewhere like Los Angeles, but it’s perfect for this kind of weather.

Snow is starting to fall as we head into town. It certainly makes for a pretty scene—the buildings are covered in snow as people go about their business… it’s almost like watching a Christmas movie. The whole scene makes sense, but I’m still not so sure about spending the next couple of days out in the cold on the side of a mountain. I know Spencer wants to teach me to snowboard… so I’m going to give it my best shot, especially after how much money he spent on the chartered plane and the house he rented.

Spencer stops the SUV in front of The Terrain Park, a snowboard shop, and smiles at me.

“Why don't you head inside,” he says, “I'll find some parking.”

“Sure.”

I unbuckle my seat belt and hop out. Cold air dances through my hair and across my face. I'm already shivering as I dart between two parked cars and up onto the sidewalk. I glance over my shoulder as Spencer pulls away and the traffic behind him starts to move again.

A man walks out of the snowboard shop as I reach the door and he holds the door open for me.

“Thanks,” I say, as I duck inside.

I quickly brush the dusting of snow from my hair and take a deep breath once I'm inside. I seriously have no idea how anyone could stand living here—it's so freaking cold. It makes me want to climb into bed with a cup of hot chocolate. Kind of a far cry from shopping for clothes.

“Can I help you?”

I look up at the guy as he walks toward me. He sweeps his shoulder length brown hair out of his eyes and smiles at me.

“I… I'm not sure.”

He smiles and nods.

“You're not from around here… are you?”

“No… is it that obvious?”

“Well, I know pretty much every chick from around here that snowboards… so I figure you must be from out of town.”

“Oh… yeah… I am.”

“Goofy or regular?”

“Huh?” I say, having no clue what that means.

“Do you ride goofy or regular?”

“I… I don’t know… is that some snowboarding term?”

He nods and I can tell he’s doing his best to not laugh as a smile forms on his face.

“Sorry,” he says, “it’s just… interesting… that you found your way into my shop, but you’ve never been snowboarding before.”

I want to say something, but I remember where I am. I’m not in Los Angeles anymore… the city where everyone has an opinion they are ready to share, even if it is hurtful. The more I think about it this guy seems like he’s just trying to figure out what I’m doing… and that’s a fairly legitimate thing for him to wonder.

“I… my boyfriend… he’s parking the car.”

He takes a step back and nods as the smile fades. Was he flirting with me? I didn’t even realize it. It feels weird to call Spencer my boyfriend… I feel like it’s still so new that I don’t want to jinx it or anything. We both turn to the door as it opens and Spencer walks in.

“Hey,” he says, to me.

“Hi… did you find a parking spot?”

“Yeah… it’s two blocks down and across the street, but I found it.”

I smile at him and he takes my hand in his. It’s so sweet that he always seems to want to hold my hand when we are out in public. It puts me at ease and distracts me from the fact that people are watching me wherever we go.

“I’m Jerry… let me know if you need anything.”

We both look as he turns and walks back to the counter he was standing behind when I first walked in.

“Did you find anything yet?” Spencer says.

“No… I’m not even sure what I’m supposed to be looking for. That guy… Jerry… came up to me and started asking me questions about regular and something else….”

Spencer smiles at me as we walk toward a rack with jackets. Some of them are violently bright and almost hard to look at. Yellow and orange… pink… colors that should never exist.

“Wow,” I say, “one would certainly stand out wearing one of these.”

“Not your style?”

I catch the playful tone to his voice and I roll my eyes while squeezing his hand. We move to the next rack, one populated with a much more sensibly colored selection of jackets. Spencer takes a jacket off the rack and holds it out.

“How about this one?” he says.

It’s plaid, but the squares are teal, orange, gray and violet. It stands out, but not in a bad way. I kind of like it. It’s not something I would wear walking around on the streets, but I feel like I would fit right in if what I’ve seen so far is any indication of what people wear while snowboarding.

“Yeah… I kind of like it.”

I take the jacket off the hanger and try it on. It fits comfortably over my clothes and it instantly takes away the lingering chill I was feeling. I decide to leave the jacket on as we move a few racks down to where the pants are.

It takes forty minutes, but we manage to carry the pile of gear to the counter and Jerry starts to ring everything up. Spencer helped me pick out some green camo pants, black gloves, a snowboard that already had bindings on it and boots. Spencer picked out a board and bindings for himself. He told me had a board at home, but that he hadn’t used it in a couple of years and kind of wanted a new one anyway.

“I almost forgot,” Spencer says, as he pulls a pair of goggles off a display on the counter and holds them up to my face.

I watch the cash register display as Jerry finishes ringing everything up. The total climbs over a thousand dollars. I'm still having a hard time coming to terms with how much money a Hollywood lifestyle costs. I go to open my purse, assuming I should pay for my own stuff… but Spencer puts his hand on mine and stops me. He reaches for his wallet and I smile at him.

“Are you sure?”

“Of course… this was my idea… let me take care of it.”

“Do you want to wait while we put the bindings on the boards?” Jerry says.

“How long will that take?” Spencer says.

“About an hour… maybe a little less.”

“Can you deliver them?”

“Eh… no. You can come back and pick them up… but we don't deliver.”

“How much would it cost for you to deliver them?”

Jerry hesitates, looks at me and then back to Spencer.

“Two hundred.”

“Fine.”

I wander toward a display of beanies next to the counter. I hadn't really thought about my head staying warm, but I'm guessing it would be kind of an important piece of equipment for snowboarding. I quickly pick out a plain gray beanie and set it down on the counter just as Jerry hands Spencer his change for the other stuff.

“I want this, too,” I say.

“It's on the house,” Jerry says.

I smile as he starts to bag up my new pants and hat. I wonder if he's giving me the hat as a kind gesture or just because he's charging Spencer so much to deliver the snowboards. It seems kind of crazy… we could have waited or even come back, but Spencer didn't blink an eye at what amounted to a delivery charge.

Spencer takes the two bags containing my gear as I zip the jacket back up. He holds the door open and we walk into the snowstorm that has intensified since we went inside to shop. I'm very thankful for the warm coat.

“Thanks,” I say, “you didn't have to pay for all this stuff.”

“I know… but I wanted to. I like spoiling you.”

Spencer smiles at me and winks. It's a nice feeling, being spoiled… one I don't think I will every tire of. For me, it's not even about how much money he spends on me… it's about him caring for me and wanting me to be happy. Nothing more… nothing less.