I feel a hand on my shoulder gently shaking me. I slowly open my eyes and look around. Spencer is leaning over me and smiling. He pulls his hand away and sits back in his seat.
“Good morning,” he says.
“Hi….”
“Sorry to wake you, but we’re getting ready to land in Dublin.”
“Oh… that was quick.”
“Yeah, you didn’t move after you passed out.”
I nod and smile as I stifle a yawn. It’s still weird to go to sleep early and wake up and it’s morning on the other side of the ocean.
“What time is it?”
“It’s,” Spencer says, looking down at his watch, “just about eight.”
“Crazy.”
Dex is at the back of the plane with Brenda and they are looking at something. I smell coffee… maybe that’s what they are doing. I look over at Jess and Logan—they are both looking out their window as the plane starts to descend.
“Do you want coffee?”
“No… I’m OK.”
“Water?”
“Sure.”
Spencer touches my arm and then gets up from his seat. He walks to the back of the plane and joins Brenda and Dex. I pull the shade up on my window and look outside just as we fly over part of Dublin. Suddenly we are out over the water again and turning around while still descending. The water is a beautiful greenish-blue that is most like the color of an emerald. A smile crosses my face… I feel so relaxed and happy to be here.
I turn to my right as I hear Spencer sit down next to me. I take the bottle of water from him and take off the cap. It’s refreshing… I didn’t realize how thirst I really was.
“Have you been to Ireland?” I say.
“No… I’ve been to England a couple of times, but I’ve never made it to Ireland… but I’ve always wanted to visit.”
“What made you think this would be a good place to get married?”
“Well,” he says, “honestly… I thought about London, but there are all kinds of weird regulations and you had to be there for a certain number of days before getting married and stuff like that. Ireland is a bit more relaxed… and even though we have some time… we don’t have the weeks it would take to get married in England.”
“You’re cute… I can’t believe you set this whole thing up.”
“Anything for you.”
I glance up and smile at Dex and Brenda as they sit back down and quickly put on their seat belts.
I look out the window right as the wheels of the plane touch down. I brace my hands against the seat as the pilot puts on the brakes and slows us down more quickly than I was expecting. The landing is the part of flying that still makes me the most nervous, I’m not sure why… and facing backward made the whole thing feel even more nerve-racking. Spencer puts his hand on my knee and I close my eyes while I focus on keeping as calm as possible.
The plane comes to a stop a few minutes later. We aren’t at the main terminal of the airport, instead the plane is parked in front of a smaller hangar that looks barely large enough to hold it. The engines start to power down and I finally feel safe again. I’m looking forward to having my feet on the ground. I think this is the longest flight I’ve been on… and even though it’s nice to travel on a chartered flight I’m certainly ready to be done with it.
We get out of our seats and head for the door, which the flight attendant is still in the middle of opening. She lowers the stairs and steps aside.
“Have a good day,” she says.
“Thanks.”
I go down the stairs first, followed by Spencer. I move aside and wait for him when I reach the bottom. He takes my hand and leads me toward the limousine. The driver steps out and holds the door open as we all climb in. It’s not massive inside, but we manage to squeeze into the back. I glance out the window as the driver shuts the door and starts to takes the luggage off the plane, putting it into the trunk of the car. He finishes with the luggage and climbs back into the car. He pulls away from the plane and I turn my attention back to everyone else.
“So,” I say, “am I the only one who has no idea what’s going on?”
Everyone laughs and I smile. There isn’t a group of people in the world right now that I would rather be with.
“Do you really want to know what the plan is?” Spencer says.
“I guess….”
“Well, today is going to be a relaxing day. I was thinking you ladies could go shopping… find clothes for the ceremony and us guys could do the same.”
“And tomorrow?”
“Tomorrow we are getting married.”
“Where?”
“That… I want to be a surprise.”
“I can live with that.”
“I figured we should head to the hotel first… everyone can change, shower, whatever… and then we go our separate ways and just meet back up for dinner.”
Everyone seems in agreement. I’m not sure I love the idea of not seeing Spencer for the rest of the day, but it’ll be good to spend some time with Jess and Brenda… and I’m sure the guys will want to do their own thing, too. It’s exciting to be somewhere new… and I’m really going to do my best to just enjoy every second we’re here. I’m sure in the back of my mind I’m going to be thinking about getting back to Chicago and finishing the film, but I’m really going to do my best to not let it consume me.
The limo stops a short time later and the driver gets out. I guess we’re already at the hotel. I reach for the door handle, but he opens it before I get the chance. I step out and wait for everyone else. We climb the steps and a doorman pulls the door open for us.
“If you want to wait,” Spencer says, “I’ll go get the room keys.”
We congregate around the elevator as he approaches the front desk. The lobby of the hotel isn’t as large or as nice as the hotel I’m staying at in Chicago, but there’s something about it that makes it feel cozy. It's a place I wouldn’t mind spending a rainy afternoon in front of the massive fireplace with a good book.
“Amy,” Dex says, “how is your film going?”
“Good… I guess. Jim is… it’s not the same as working with you.”
Dex smiles and nods his head.
“I could see that. He’s a good guy though… I’ve known him for twenty-something years.”
I’m glad I didn’t say anything more… I had no idea that they knew each other, but it would make sense considering Dex was able to convince Jim to let me leave for a few days in the middle of shooting.
I glance toward the front desk just as Spencer starts walking toward us. He hands a key to Dex, one to his mom and one to Jess.
“Ready?” Spencer says.
We all head toward the elevator. As soon as the doors close, Spencer hits the button for the fifth floor, which is the highest floor at the hotel.
“We’re all on the same floor.”
The doors open as we reach the fifth floor and we all get off the elevator.
“Should we meet downstairs in say… thirty minutes?” Brenda says.
Jess and I both nod. It’s not a lot of time, but I’m anxious to get out and explore the city since this is the first time I’ve been out of the country. I follow Spencer as we turn to the right and start to walk down the hallway. We reach the end and he slides the key card into the lock and pushes the door open.
We walk into the room and Spencer closes the door. I’m drawn toward the window, which wraps around the room as it covers two entire walls of the living area. There’s a separate bedroom and bathroom to my right, but I want to check out the view before I do anything else.
“Mind if I hop in the shower?” he says.
“No… go ahead.”
I walk over to the window and look out. The view is stunning… there’s really no other way to put it into words. I figured since we aren’t that high up there wouldn’t be much to see. I couldn’t have been more wrong. The windows straight ahead look out across the water, which is no more than a few hundred feet away. To my left is the city, which looks older than anywhere I’ve ever been before… but even from here I can tell it’s full of life.
Spencer gets out of the shower a few minutes later, while I’m still admiring the view and he walks up behind me. He puts his arms around me and kisses the back of my neck.
“Are you excited?”
“Yes… about everything.”
“Sorry that this was kind of a spur of the moment thing,” he says.
“It’s amazing… it really is.”
“Good, I’m glad you’re as excited as I am.”
I lean my head back into his chest. I know I should probably get in the shower… I’m supposed to be downstairs in like twenty minutes, but I want to savor this moment for as long as possible.
“Ugh… I better shower.”
I turn and give him a quick kiss before heading toward the bathroom.
“Hey,” he says, causing me to stop and turn around, “I know we never talked about it… but I figured with everything that happened with your mom that you wouldn’t care for her to be here.”
I shake my head. I really hadn’t given it that much thought, but I also wasn’t expecting for him to show up and whisk me away to Ireland to get married.
“No… I’m not ready to forgive her yet. I’m not sure that I’ll ever be… not to mention, I have no idea if she would even care that I’m getting married.”
He nods and I smile before turning and walking into the bathroom. I take a quick shower and when I get out I hear voices coming from the room. I frown when I see the door is closed, which I didn’t do. Who is Spencer talking to? I walk over to the door and press my ear against it, but I’ve missed them and the only thing I hear is the door leading out of our room being closed. I wrap my towel around myself and walk into the room.
Spencer is standing next to a rack of clothes with a goofy smile on his face.
“Are those my clothes?”
“Yes.”
“From Chicago?” I say, as I walk toward him.
“Eh… no. They are new.”
“Where did they come from?”
“There’s a boutique next door… I just had them send over a selection in your size. Just pick out whatever you want to wear today and I’ll send the rest back.”
“You’re too good to me.”
“I try.”
I start to look through the clothes on the rack. Every single piece is stunning and I want them all. I pull out a pair of jeans that catch my eye and set them aside. They are a dark gold and black, with a sort of metallic sheen to them and faint black paisleys. The fabric is soft and they don’t look like any pair of jeans I’ve ever seen.
“I like those,” Spencer says.
“Yeah… me too.”
I start to look for a top and Spencer walks over to the door. I glance in his direction and see the stack of shoe boxes by the door… I missed them when I walked into the room. There has to be at least twenty boxes… all of them designer brands as far as I can tell.
Spencer walks back toward me with a box in his hands as I pull a top off the rack. It’s a black mock turtleneck and the fabric feels like the cross between a cloud and a dream.
“Here.”
I set the top down on the jeans and take the shoe box from Spencer. I take the lid off, toss it on the couch and lift out one of the sneakers. The white sole is topped with a metallic gold shoe with touches of black. It matches the jeans nearly perfectly, being perhaps a little bit brighter… I love them, even though they would never be good with anything else I own.
“What do you think?” Spencer says.
“Very cute.”
“Yeah… they don’t exactly go with everything, but I think they should look good with those jeans.”
I nod as I turn the shoe over in my hand. He’s right… they aren’t something I would wear on an average day… but today is special. I smile as I put the shoe back in the box and set it on the floor next to the rest of my outfit.
“Thank you,” I say, putting my arms around his waist.
“You’re welcome.”
“Is this really happening?”
“What do you mean?”
“I don’t know… it just feels surreal right now… all of it. I was expecting to get done with my film and then we would settle back into our life in L.A. as we planned the wedding.”
Spencer sighs and nods. I realized as soon as the words left my mouth that the way I said it made it sound like I was having second thoughts about getting married tomorrow.
“Is it too fast?”
“No… sorry… that came out wrong. It was just a surprise… an amazing one. I was feeling so alone in Chicago, without you… and now at least the rest of filming will be a little easier because at the end of each day I will feel a little more whole.”
Spencer kisses my forehead and looks into my eyes. I know I have to get dressed… and I wish we could just sit in our room all day. I know it's selfish considering there's a group of people waiting downstairs for us, but I miss Spencer enough that I would do it if he proposed it. I know it's silly, especially since I need to find a dress for tomorrow.
“I wish we could spend more time together, but it's part of what we do for a living. There's going to be times when we can travel and be with each other when one of us is filming… but there's also going to be times like now… when one of us is filming and one of us is auditioning… or there might be times when we both are filming in different locations. I know it's not ideal, but it's something we have to deal with.”
As he continued to speak the tone of his voice changed—Spencer sounded much more serious by the time he was done. I'm somewhat responsible… that I sparked this in him by what I said.
“I know… and I'm OK with it,” I say.
“Are you sure?”
“Yeah… I totally get it. It's a part of what we do. I feel like together we can do anything. It's something that might not always be easy… but at the same time it gives us the freedom to do things like this… or to experience amazing things in life that not everyone can.”
He nods and smiles at me. I can tell he's a little calmer just by looking at him. I kind of expected him to be his normal calm and collected self, but it's not necessarily a bad thing considering we are about to get married tomorrow… which is a big step for both of us.
“Should we get ready and head down?” I say.
“Yeah… I'm sure my mom is already down there… she's probably wondering where we are and what's taking so long.”
We get dressed as quickly as possible and I forgo drying my hair just to save a few extra minutes. It's cloudy outside… hopefully it won't start raining or I'm going to quickly regret that decision if my hair never has a chance to dry.
“I almost forgot,” Spencer says, “I have something for you.”
“Oh yeah?”
“Yeah.”
He takes out his wallet, pulls out a credit card and hands it to me. It's black… not to mention noticeably thicker and heavier than any credit card I've ever held before. I brush my fingers across it and flip it over in my hand. My name is stamped into what feels like metal.
“What… I've never seen anything like this.”
“That's because not many people have them… it's made from anodized titanium and you have to be invited to even get one.”
“You're giving me it?”
“Yeah… I figured since we are going to be married soon it made sense.”
“Thanks….”
I'm not really sure what to even say. I mean, I have money of my own… especially after this new film I'm shooting, but it's nothing like what I'm sure Spencer makes every year. It's a sweet gesture.
“I figured it would make it easier to pay for whatever you want to buy today for the wedding… and that way you can pay for outfits for Jess and my mom, too. I mean it, too, when I say whatever you want… don't even think about it. There's no limit on the card, either.”
I shake my head and smile. I feel so blessed. Since I started dating Spencer every single day has been like a fairy tale and it just keeps getting better.