19

I’m feeling a little tired of walking after an hour, so I decide to sit down at an outdoor table in front of a cute little café. It’s situated on the corner of a good sized square that has been blocked off to car traffic. There are people everywhere, both tourists and locals, as they go about their day.

A smile forms on my face as I watch a little girl, who is probably three, as she holds her mother’s hand and walks across the square. The smile on her face makes me miss being a kid… and not having to worry about anything.

“Preso?”

I turn my attention to the girl standing next to me. She brushes the blonde hair away from her face and taps her pen on her order pad as she waits for me to respond.

“Sorry… English?”

“Yes… what do you want to drink?”

“Um… coffee?”

She nods quickly and then disappears back inside. I look around the square to see if the happy little girl is still around, but there’s no sign of her. The server comes back a few seconds later and sets down a cup in front of me and smiles.

“Do you want anything else?”

“No… I’m fine, thanks.”

She turns and heads back inside, presumably to take care of the customers in there. Surprisingly, I’m the only one sitting outside. It’s not that warm out, I’d probably normally be inside, but the walk here was long enough that I don’t mind the cool breeze that’s sweeping across the square.

I lift the cup to my lips and take a sip. There’s no milk or anything in it, but it’s not quite like drinking regular coffee. Even though I’m not a coffee connoisseur, I can tell it was made with care and the flavors are subtle… and definitely not overpowering like drinking an espresso would be.

My phone chirps as I receive a notification. I pull it out of my purse and open my text messages. There’s one from Spencer, which is kind of surprising because I figured he would be busy.

Thanks, I hope you have a great day, too. I had to sneak away to my trailer and send you another text… and tell you that I love you and I can’t wait to see you in a few hours. Back to work for me!

I smile and take another sip of my coffee. There’s no point in texting him back because he really should be on set right now and I don’t want to be responsible for him getting in trouble with the director.

I close my eyes and let the sun warm my face as I sit in front of the little café. Life is amazing. I’m so fortunate to have had so many wonderful experiences over the last year… things just keep getting better all the time.

“Amy Thomas?”

Startled by someone saying my name, I open my eyes and look around. There’s two girls that look to be about my age… both with smiles on their faces.

“Hi,” I say.

“O… M… G! It’s her!”

I smile and nod as they move closer.

“Can we take a picture with you?”

“Sure.”

I stand up from the table and walk over to them. They move to either side of me and hold out their phones at arm’s length to snap a quick picture of the three of us.

“We just saw your movie the other day… it was so good.”

“Thanks… I’m glad you liked it.”

“Is Spencer here?” the shorter one asks.

“He’s in Prague, but not with me.”

“Oh.”

“He’s shooting his new movie, Pandora, and I thought I’d come visit for a couple of days.”

“That’s cool,” the taller girl says. “We saw your post of the picture… and we couldn’t believe we were here at the same time as you… and then we saw you across the square. Such a crazy coincidence.”

“Where are you from?” I ask.

“Texas… just outside of Austin.”

“Nice… I’ve never been to Texas.”

“It’s okay.”

“What are you doing here?”

The glance at each other and then turn back to me.

“Our Grandpa… he… he died. He was from Czechoslovakia… so our dad brought us here to spread his ashes.”

“Oh… I’m sorry to hear that,” I say.

“Thanks. It was a couple of months ago… we had to wait for Dad to get time off work.”

“That makes sense.”

I’m not sure what else to say. It’s a hard thing to lose someone you love, but I don’t know them and anything I say isn’t going to really mean all that much to them. It’s sort of strange that even here, thousands of miles from home, I ran into people that actually know who I am. So ridiculous.

“It was really nice meeting you,” the taller one says.

“Yeah… it was nice to meet you, too,” I say.

They smile and wave before walking off toward the far side of the square. I sit back down at my table and take a sip of coffee as I watch them. It was a nice interaction because usually fans are clamoring for Spencer. I’m not jealous or anything… it’s just nice to have someone tell me they enjoyed the movie that I really poured my heart and soul into.

“Anything else?”

I look down at my empty cup as the server walks up to my table and collects it.

“No… I’m okay, thanks.”

“It’s forty koruna.”

I open my purse and fish out a one hundred-koruna bill. I’m still not that sure of the exchange rate, but I think it’s around twenty-five to one… which means the coffee was like two dollars. That still seems incredibly cheap.

“I’ll get your change,” she says, as I hand her the bill.

“It’s fine, keep it.”

The girl pauses and then smiles before heading back inside. I’ve heard about European’s not being that big on tipping before, but it just seems like such a small amount of money for the coffee that I don’t mind leaving her the rest of it… plus, I don’t want to go home with a bunch of coins that I’ll never be able to use unless I come back here.

I sigh and stand up from the table. I’m feeling better now and not really ready to head back to the hotel yet, so I decide to keep walking and explore the city a little more.

I’m nearing the far end of the square when I see it—a tower with the most intriguing looking clock on the side of it. I stop and just stand there, staring at it for the next few minutes. It’s made up of two dials, the bottom one is gold and red… but the top one looks closer to a real clock. It has blue hands and gold numbers around the outside. The strange thing is the numbers go from one to twenty-four. There’s also a smaller dial inside of that one with the signs of the zodiac. I take out my phone and take a picture of the clock. It doesn’t do it justice, but it’s still a cool picture that’ll remind me to do some research into it.

I smile and give my head a slight shake before turning and walking out of the square. It’s amazing… human beings are capable of creating such beautiful things that last for hundreds of years. The clock itself and the statues around it are older than any building I’ve ever seen… and yet it still stands tall. Will anything I do in this life last that long? It’s hard to imagine someone four hundred years from now watching a movie that I was in. I guess it’s possible… but unlikely.

With that thought, I exit the square and start walking down a random street in Prague. I haven’t really been paying attention to where I’ve been walking, plus most of the streets look the same, so I’ll probably have to use the GPS on my phone to get back to the hotel when I’m ready.

A few blocks later, I round a corner and see large orange-red building with white trim and accents that makes it look old, even though it’s obviously new. The clear sign on the side of the building has white letters that read 200 Shops… and then some stuff in Czech. I do recognize they have food and bars, but I’m not sure what else could be inside. If there’s two hundred shops, there must be some clothing and that kind of stuff. I decide to head inside, even though I don’t need any clothes right now. If nothing else, it’ll waste some more time and I’ll get a glimpse at the kind of place where people in Prague might shop.

I walk inside the building and instantly I’m shocked by what I see—the inside is massive. The inside is completely modern looking with four floors of shops… and people everywhere. It’s hard to imagine this kind of place being in the heart of such an old city. People like to shop, though, so it kind of makes sense.

I randomly choose to head to the left and I start to look through the windows of every store. This place is dangerous. There’s all kind of stores ranging from clothes and shoes to home goods… and there’re dozens of people streaming in and out of the stores with arm loads of bags. Crazy.

After a few minutes of walking, I spot a sunglass store and decide to head in. I’ve been wearing the same pair of cheap sunglasses for the last couple of months and they are starting to fall apart.

I walk into the store and I’m instantly greeted by the two enthusiastic girls working there.

“Vítejte!” one says.

I just nod and smile while making my way to the closest wall to start looking at glasses. One of them walks over to me and stands there, silently as I take a pair off the rack. I tuck my own glasses into the collar of my shirt and try on the ones from the store. They are a little big and don’t quite fit my face.

“Zde.”

She takes a pair off the rack and hands them to me. I give her the ones I just tried on. The pair she handed me is not the style I would normally pick, they look very Jackie O, but I guess I’ll give them a shot. I slip the glasses onto my face and turn to the mirror on my left. They actually look surprisingly good and super cute. I take them off and look at the price tag. Four thousand koruna… which should be like a hundred and something dollars. I guess some things aren’t any cheaper here.

“Ano?” she asks.

“Sorry… no Czech.”

“You’re American?”

“Yes.”

“Why didn’t you say so?”

She smiles and puts the first pair back on the wall.

“I think I’ll take these.”

“Good. Anything else?”

“Do you have more in the same color and style?”

“Eh… I need to check.”

I nod and she heads toward the back wall of the store. She pushes open a panel in the wall and walks through the hidden door. I take the glasses off and walk over to the counter, where the other girl is standing. She takes the glasses from me and puts them in a clamshell case.

“Where are you from?” she asks.

Apparently everyone here speaks English. I guess it’s not that crazy… I’m in a European capital city after all, but I did expect to encounter some kind of language barrier. It’s quite possible that it also has something to do with the fact that everyone I’ve talked to is close to me in age.

“California.”

“Ah… I’ve always wanted to go there.”

“Really?”

“Yes… to Hollywood… and to Disneyland.”

“I’ve never been to Disneyland,” I say.

“What?”

She seems shocked by the very idea.

“I just moved to California last year.”

The other girl, who picked out the glasses, comes back with a second pair and places them on the counter.

“Anna… she’s from California.”

“Ahh… have you been to Disneyland?”

I almost start laughing. It must have some significance to people who live elsewhere because the thought of going there has never even crossed my mind. Sure, when I was younger, I always wanted to go… but a trip across the country to go there would never have been feasible for a family like mine.

“Sorry to disappoint you, but I’ve never been there.”

“What?!?”

Anna is even more shocked than her co-worker. I smile and shake my head slightly.

“I was just telling your friend… I moved there last year… and I’ve been busy.”

It’s weird to be explaining why I’ve never been, considering I just met them… because I’d never even considered going. Maybe it’s something I’ll go do at some point, like when Spencer gets back from filming. I’m not sure he’d even care about going, but I might be able to convince him… although it seems kind of silly because I doubt he’d want to go.

“Ah… well… it’s supposed to be amazing.”

“Maybe I’ll go… I’ll ask my husband to go with me.”

Anna smiles and nods. They ring me up for the glasses and I hand over my credit card. Anna raises an eyebrow as she looks at the card and then runs it through the register before handing it back.

“How long are you in Prague?” Anna asks.

“Just for a couple of days. I have to get back to work, but I missed my husband and wanted to see him for a few days.”

“He is in Prague for work?”

“Yes.”

“Are you doing anything tonight?” she asks.

“Um… no… I don’t think so. Just having dinner with my husband.”

Anna glances over at her co-worker and they both nod.

“We are going to a club, tonight. You and your husband should come… it will be fun.”

I nod. That could be kind of fun. It would certainly be a different experience compared to going out to a club in L.A., plus we could just have fun and people wouldn’t be mobbing Spencer to get an autograph.

“Sure. I’ll have to ask him… and see how tired he is.”

“Yes. We’re going at about… ten.”

Anna takes one of the business cards off the counter and writes down the name of the club, along with the address, on the back before passing it to me. I pick up the card and read the name—Láska k Tanci. The address means nothing, but I’m sure a taxi driver could find it.

“Thanks,” I say, as I put the card in my purse. “We will try to make it.”

“Good,” Anna says, “see you later.”

I nod and smile as I turn and walk out of the store. They were so friendly and they seemed like they were honestly interested in hanging out with us and showing us a good time in their city. I hope Spencer isn’t too tired because I would love to go, but I’m not going to push him if he’d rather just chill and have an early night.

---

By the time I leave the mall several hours later, the name of which turns out to be Palladium, I’ve got five bags of clothes and shoes. Whoops. Every shop I ventured into had something I felt like I couldn’t live without and before I realized it, I had more stuff than I could possibly hope to carry back to the hotel.

I head outside and find a main road, where I manage to flag down a taxi. It’s a bit of a struggle, but I manage to cram the bags in the back seat next to me.

“Hi… Hotel Snít, please.”

The driver nods in response, but doesn’t say anything. He’s older, probably in his sixties, so it’s entirely possible that he doesn’t speak English. I keep an eye on the meter in order to avoid him having to try to explain to me how much the ride is costing.

Getting back to the hotel is much faster than walking, that’s for sure. The driver stops his taxi in front of the hotel fifteen minutes later and I hand over enough cash to pay for the ride and a generous tip for him. He smiles and nods his head as I climb out of the car. Even the guy who speaks no English is friendly… it’s quite a change from being in Los Angeles. It’s strange because Prague, from what I understand and what I’ve seen, isn’t exactly a small city. The people here just seem to have a different way of being in the world and it’s really quite refreshing.

The doorman pulls open the door as I walk up to the hotel.

“Welcome back, Mrs. Thomas,” he says.

“Thanks.”

“Do you need help with your bags?”

“No… I’m fine, thanks.”

Word has apparently gotten around the hotel and the rest of the staff now knows who I am. It’s a nice touch, which I’m sure has more to do with the quality of hotel that Spencer is staying in than anything else. I’m definitely a fan of fancy hotels… the one I stayed in while filming in Chicago was amazing, but it’s also really nice to get to go home at the end of the day and sleep in my own bed. Well, my bed at Dex’s house.

I glance around the lobby as I walk toward the elevators and don’t see the weird guy anywhere. At least now I know that running into him repeatedly has been an unfortunate coincidence. I’m still trying to decide if I should mention it to Spencer or if I’m better off forgetting that it ever happened.

The elevator door opens on the seventh floor and I step out. I drop my bags on the floor next to the couch, grab my phone and plop down. So much for taking it easy today. It wasn’t hard, but I’m feeling tired from all the walking and shopping… and a nap is sounding pretty good.

I unlock my phone and go to text Spencer, just to let him know I’m back at the hotel. My eyes suddenly feel very heavy and I can’t even manage to stay awake long enough to send him a text.