Chapter 3 The Party

I pick up the pace and make it past the second block.

"Same. Although I'm not going to call it a diet. I've decided my only resolution this year is to make better choices." She snickers.

"Hopefully, I can help you with that. Callum has a guy from work coming over tonight to meet you. Since you don't like any of his friends, we figured it was time to change it up." I shake my head and laugh.

"When are you two going to give it up?"

"When you find happiness again," she retorts.

"Callum works with some nice guys at the station. I could see you getting it on with a police officer. Just think of what you could do with those handcuffs."

"Oh my God, Em. You need help, you know that?" I've never dated a police officer before, but it could be pretty interesting. I have to give her credit. Emerson's a good friend.

"That I do," she agrees, "but you love me. Oh, and speaking of loving me, do you mind doing me a huge favor?"

"Sure, what's up?"

"We need more beer, Callum didn't get enough the other day, but I do have our wine. Do you mind picking some up since you pass the store on your way here?" I see the store up ahead, and luckily, it's open.

"No problem. I'm almost there. Do you know what you want?" She sighs.

"No clue. You know I don't drink that crap. I'm a wine and vodka girl." So am I.

"All right, I'll see what I can find," I say, "but tell Callum if the beer sucks it's his fault he didn't get enough."

"Will do." She giggles again.

"Be careful out there and I'll see you when you get here." We hang up and I trudge the rest of the way through the snow to the store.

I open the door and it's vacant, but the heat feels amazing against my face. I'm too frozen to push my hood back so I keep it on my head.

There's a young guy at the customer service desk and he nods at me as I walk past him. Everyone else was smart enough to stay inside during a snowstorm.

I walk over to the beer aisle and a worker is buffing the floors and another man standing by the beer, looking at the different brands. He's just as bundled up as I am.

Taking a deep breath, I glance over all the different beers. I try to look at the selection in front of the man, but I don't want to invade his space so I stick to what's in front of me.

Callum likes different types of beer and not the usual Budweiser or Corona. That's what makes this so difficult.

He always picks out unusual flavors. One time, he had a fixation on peanut butter and jelly beer. I tried it and it did have a peanut butter taste.

"All right, let's see," I say quietly, perusing all the different specialty beers.

The man beside me tenses as if he's standing beside a lunatic talking to herself. Oh wait, I was. I'm pretty sure it's not the craziest thing he'll be witnessing tonight.

Closing my eyes, I reach out and grab two packs of beer. Callum's just going to have to deal with what I get. I open my eyes and look at what I picked.

One is an apple cider beer and the other is an IPA. I turn to the man and clear my throat. I can't see his face because it's hidden by the hood of his coat.

"I am so sorry to bother you, but have you by any chance tried any of these? I just want to know if they're good or not." He freezes and steps slowly away from the beer as if I scared him.

He doesn't move or reply, which is strange and makes me regret asking him in the first place. Now, all I want to do is get away from him. But everything changes when his face comes into view.

My eyes go wide and my breath hitches in my lungs. A set of familiar brown eyes meet mine and it's as if everything around me disappears.

"Oh my God," I whisper, trying to catch my breath.

My arms go weak and I can feel the beers slipping from my grasp, but the man in front of me saves them. He sets the packs of beer on the floor and stares right into my eyes.

"I thought I was imagining things when I heard your voice." My heart skips a beat. It's been years since I've seen him.

Brennan McLean. I knew him as my high school boyfriend, but the world knows him as a superstar. I never thought I'd see him again, certainly not after he rose to fame.

Letting him go all those years ago was the hardest thing I've ever done. But, he needed to follow his dreams, and they all came true for him.

"What . . . what are you doing here?" I stutter.

"I figured you'd be in New York City or somewhere like that for New Year's." He lowers the hoodie and now I get a good look at his face. He hasn't changed a bit.

All the memories from our past come flooding back. "My flight got canceled," he says, his voice low. The intense way he looks at me makes me tremble.

"Did you visit your parents?" He nods and his lips pull back into a smile.

"Yeah. They don't want me to leave." That makes me grin.

"I bet not. They probably don't get to see you much. I've been keeping up with your career and reading up on you. You're always on the road." He snorts.

"Don't believe everything you read. There's a lot of shit said about me." The tabloids love following him around, and I've seen all the pictures of him with all sorts of famous women.

"Is it everything you always wanted?" I ask. He takes in a deep breath and lets it out slowly.

"Yes and no. What about you? Did you get everything you always wanted? In high school, you wanted to be a nurse." I nod.

"Looks like we both followed our dreams. I work at the hospital now. I was lucky enough to get the night off."

Picking up the two packs of beer from the floor, he tucks one under his arm and holds the other so he can grab another pack off the shelf.

"And how are you celebrating this New Year's?" he wonders. He looks at me curiously and I smile.

"I'm going to a party at my friend's apartment. Her husband forgot to stock up on enough beer, so they asked me to stop here."

Brennan glances down at the beer I picked out.

"Oh, and to answer your question, I've had the apple cider beer before. It's pretty good." We walk up to the guy at the service desk and the poor boy's mouth flops open.

"Holy shit, you're Brennan McLean," he gasps. Brennan's face is known around the world. The guy pulls out his phone and looks sheepishly at Brennan.

"Do you mind if I get a selfie? My friends aren't going to believe this." Brennan smiled and obliged.

"The Party" I try to pay for my beer, but Brennan pushes my card away. The cashier bags it all up and hands it to Brennan, still staring at him as if he's a god. Once we're outside, I stare at Brennan and he acts as if none of that happened.

"It has to be weird having strangers fawn over you all the time," I say.

Brennan's smile fades.

"It is. Took me a while to get used to it. I can't go anywhere without someone recognizing me."

"The price of fame," I state. He shrugs.

"Yeah." Silence fills the air, but there's so much I want to ask him. He nods toward the sidewalk.

"Which way you headed?" I point to the high-rise just a couple of blocks away.

"There." Brennan's eyes widen.

"I'm going there too. I'll walk with you."

He walks slowly through the snow and I'm glad. I'll probably never see him again after tonight and I don't want it to end.

Our arms brush against each other as we head toward the building.

"How's life treated you, Nat? I've wondered how you've gotten along these past few years."

His words make my heart flutter. No one has called me Nat since him.

"Well," I begin, "there's not much to tell. I graduated nursing school and got married, only for us to get divorced two years later." I look over at Brennan and he shakes his head.

"Damn fool. What'd he do?" I shrug.

"He cheated on me with another nurse. I'm just glad it's over. We've been divorced a year now." Brennan bumps me in the shoulder.

"He's an idiot."

"What about you? I saw pictures of you and Rayna Reynolds together."

The woman is gorgeous and one of the highest-paid female actresses in the business.

I bet she has men lined up to be with her.