“I probably haven’t said this lately, but I love you.”
We pulled apart, and I felt tears in my eyes and saw my dad had the same.
“I love you too,” he said. “I’ll talk to Lexi and get the flight information.”
There was more I wanted to say, but I had to get back to work.
◊◊◊
We got to the airport barely in time. Mr. Otsuki took advantage of every minute I was there. We’d managed to film all but the scenes of Haru and me on our actual date. We would shoot those on Saturday.
Dad had worked his magic and somehow gotten Brook a ticket. Manaia had taken her to the house to pack, and she’d come back with Fritz. He was traveling with us, while Manaia would watch over my mom and dad while I was gone. Lexi was also joining us. Frank, my publicist, would be on call.
Somehow, we got lucky with traffic and made it on time. If you’ve never lived in LA, you have no idea how bad traffic could be. What would take me fifteen minutes to drive back home could take upwards of a couple of hours here. I’d come to appreciate why Lexi had asked to move in with me to avoid the daily commute.
Lucky for us, LAX had valet parking. That was something the rest of the country should check into. Fritz had arranged it so he would be with us the whole time instead of having to deal with parking. It was probably good that he did because even on a Sunday night, the airport was busy, and paparazzi were lurking.
When we were about to board, Brook showed me how much her ticket must have cost. She’d pulled up a travel app, and it said that a coach ticket purchased last minute was over twenty-five-hundred dollars. When I saw how much first class was, I about fainted. I’d spent less on a flight to London.
We boarded the Airbus A320 and looked back at the coach seating. I was glad I’d spent the money on the upgrade. Our flight would take off at 9:20 p.m. and land in New York at 5:45 in the morning. The airplane was packed, mainly with business types. My goal was to catch some sleep on the way, and I was sure that even Brook wouldn’t have been comfortable in the back.
Once we got seated, she handed me two pills.
“Take this,” she said.
“Why?” I asked suspiciously.
“It’ll help you get to sleep. If you don’t, you’ll be a mess tomorrow.”
She grabbed a water bottle that the flight attendant had left and took two pills herself. I shrugged, trusting she wasn’t trying to kill me. I downed them like a good boyfriend without further comment. By the time we taxied towards takeoff, I was starting to feel the effects. As soon as we got to altitude and I could recline my seat, I was out.
◊◊◊
Chapter 14 – How is Canada? Monday December 19
As soon as we landed, we were driven straight to NBC studios to do their morning talk show. Whatever Brook had given me still had me feeling a little goofy as we drove over. Lexi shoved her tablet at me, and I saw it had Frank’s talking points. I quickly scanned through them to prepare.
While I loved New York, driving through the narrow streets always put me on edge. It didn’t help that the taxi drivers were certifiable. They said the best thing that ever happened to Chicago was that it burned down. That allowed them to make the streets wider. I was glad that Lexi had distracted me with the talking points. I could do without being nervous as we white-knuckled it through our taxi ride.
We had a whirlwind schedule this morning as we attempted to do three shows. When we walked in, I was grabbed and pulled into makeup. Seated next to me was Linzy, the pop star. Yep, only one name, like Adele or Drake. Linzy had sung the theme song for our movie, and the studio planned to release it as a single tomorrow. I assumed that they had combined our appearances to promote both the film and her song.
“This gig is about as good as an anaconda up your ass,” she announced, not looking happy.
I glanced over and gave her the one-raised-eyebrow look.
She then launched into a monologue about the hassles of traveling from LA to New York to make it in time for this press junket. I put my earbuds in and turned on music while the guy did my makeup. This girl was crazy town.
When everyone was ready, they wanted Linzy and me to do a casual interview with their whole morning cast. We were introduced, and we discussed the movie and her song release. Everything was great up to that point.
“How is Canada?” I asked Linzy.
She’d famously announced that if a particular person won the election for president, she would move out of the country. If I’d thought about it for even a moment, I might never have asked because it was probably something she’d said in the heat of the moment. My somewhat sleep- and drug-addled brain had wondered how she liked it up north.
She glared at me.
“When I was there to shoot
“That’s right. You did announce you would be moving,” the female host interjected. “Have you done it yet?”
