It felt good to hear that, but it was a promise she couldn't keep. Days went by and no one was able to locate Kayla. Her agent hadn't seen her, nor had her lawyer, nor even the people at R.E.B. It was like she had completely disappeared off the face of the earth.
"You sure you haven't seen her, Mrs. Brandt?" my voice was practically pleading as I spoke to her mother over the phone.
"You know I'm grateful for your help with Tommy, and I think you're a terrific man, but my loyalty has to be to my daughter," she said regretfully, and I felt my heart fall. Then she said something that made me sit up straight. "You must have had heartaches before. Have you ever stopped by to visit your ex, Gwyneth Manzranni?"
"How would you know about her?" I was instantly suspicious.
"Well, you know ex-girlfriends sometimes talk. In fact, if I was in a city all alone, looking for a place to stay, I might team up with someone I had an ex in common with; but I honestly can't tell you a word about where Kayla might be staying. She's my daughter, and I would never betray her trust."
"No, of course not. Sorry you couldn't help, Mrs. Brandt." I was grinning widely.
It was late at night after a long day at work and I knew I should wait until morning to go talk to her, but I knew I wouldn't be able to sleep. So, I threw on my jeans, boots, and my leather jacket over my white tee-shirt and hopped on my bike. It was a racing motorcycle and the fastest thing in my garage.
Gwyneth lived across the city up on the hills overlooking the ocean, but I got there in a matter of minutes. I was so excited; I was out of breath as I rang the doorbell. I caught my reflection in the window and quickly ran my fingers through my short-cropped hair, trying to clean up my appearance.
I heard the sound of yapping dogs as someone approached and as I heard the locks being turned. I tried to think of exactly what I could say to Gwyneth to get her tell me where Kayla was. To my surprise, it was wasn't Gwynn who opened the door, but Kayla herself.
She looked absolutely stunning, with no make-up on her freshly washed face. Her blonde hair was pulled back into the braids she liked to sleep in, and she was wearing a short, white, silk nightgown beneath a matching robe with her feet bare. I thought I'd never seen a more beautiful sight in my entire life and I longed to pull her into my arms and kiss her.
"Ethan! What are you doing here?" she gasped in surprise. For just a moment, her eyes flew open wide and her pupils dilated, like she was happy to see me, too; but it only lasted for a fraction of a second before they narrowed into a suspicious frown. "How did you find me? Did my mother talk? I'll kill her."
"Nobody talked. I actually just came here to talk to Gwynn."
"Well, she's not here, so you can leave." Was that a look of disappointment on Kayla's lovely face?
"The only thing I wanted to talk to her about was if she knew if you were alright."
"I'm fine. I quit R.E.B. Jay is such a sleaze, he wouldn't stop hitting on me; but that doesn't mean I'm coming back to you. I have my career to think about, and I won't just give up on my ambitions to lay around living off of your money."
"I know. I respect that. Please, can I come in? I just want to talk for a little while."
She hesitated for a moment, so I gave her my best puppy-dog eyes, and she finally let me in.
"You can only stay for a few minutes," she warned as I followed her into the kitchen.
"Is Gwyneth coming home soon?" I guessed, but she shook her head.
"No. She's moved to New York city with Vick, so I'm leasing the place for a month until I figure out more permanent arrangements."
"So, you're positive you don't want to move back in with me." I couldn't keep the hurt out of my voice.
"One day, when we get married, we can buy a place together that is all ours; but until then, I need some space of my own. I need to be independent and live within my own financial means."
"You still want to marry me one day?" All my hope had been restored.
"Of course, I do. We're committed to each other, and I still love you with all my heart. I just needed some space to get my priorities straight, and I figured you needed some perspective, too. Now that we have that, we can start talking about dating again."
"I'd like that. I'd like that a lot," I said and meant it. I moved in to kiss her, and when our lips met, it was even better than I remembered it being. She tasted so sweet and her lips were so soft, like the petals of a delicate flower. I wanted to make love to her right then, but we had more important things to discuss. "So, what are your conditions for dating? I'll do anything you want."
"I like the way things were. You live at your place, and I'll live at mine. We'll each work our separate jobs during the day and then meet up at night. Sometimes you can sleep over at my place, and sometimes I can sleep over at yours, and when we're both ready, we can make the step of moving in together and getting married."
"What if we worked together?" I asked with a mischievous grin, and she looked startled.
"I'm a model. I'm not going to take a job as an office secretary or steal some executive’s position based on nepotism."
"No, of course not; but what if Speed Motorcycles hired you to model for us again?"
"I already posed for the cover once. I know your magazine hires a new girl every month."