Chocolate Kisses and Love Filled Wishes: Kissing Bridge Mountain - Book 3 (5 page)

Chapter 11

Climate Awareness Day – Kissing Bridge Mountain

             
T
he big day arrived, more dazzling and bright than Kacey had ever imagined. Tanner had called in a team to erect giant screens jutting up out of the slopes. Advertisements for
Billabong
and
Power Bar
and
Go Pro
flashed across them, then illuminated Tanner’s handsome face.

        Even zoomed in times a million, he was flawless. Those dark eyes seemed to reach out of the screen and into her very soul.

The event was to be simultaneously broadcast from the East and West coast events.

“Welcome!” he said, and the crowd around her burst into cheering. She caught sight of Dodie helping out with the kids from the children’s home, and felt a warm glow surround her.

          The whole of Kissing Bridge had turned out.

Tanner grinned; his smile so much larger than life. He sure knew how to work a crowd.

         “Do you wanna change the world?”

              The crowd cheered.

              “I need you louder than that,” Tanner said. “I need some passion! I need dedication! Now, do you wanna change the world?!” The crowd roared back at him and he burst into beautiful laughter. “Now that’s more like it! There’s a few other people who want to say a big hello to you all—people who would love to be here today.”

              The big screens suddenly were lit up and connected with the party from the West coast.  The West coast party was a full-on red carpet event; filled with celebrities, producers and rich philanthropists. The California sun shone bright and cheerily, in direct contrast to Kissing Bridge’s snowy mountains and parka-wearing crowd.

Summer Landers suddenly appeared on screen. She looked beautiful. She was in a silver, shimmering short dress that exposed her long tan legs and shoulders. Her blonde hair cascaded down her back and her blue eyes sparkled as she raised her sunglasses to address the crowd.

The reporter held a mic up to her and gushed, “Summer Landers, welcome!”

Brad had told Kacey, not too pleased, that Summer was away on a modeling job. He had not mentioned any star-studded events, but this, of course, was a great cause. Kacey glanced over to him by the VIP tent, escorting a couple toward the champagne. He froze and looked up at the screen at the sound of Summer’s voice.

              “Hey, Kissing Bridge!” Summer came through loud and clear on the speaker systems. “I so wish I could be there because there’s nothing I love more than my hometown.”

              “It’s Summer Landers!” Tanner said, his voice bursting with enthusiasm. “Tell us, Summer, can you see the crowd?”

              “I sure can,” Summer said, waving like crazy. “Hi everyone! I’m coming to you from the
West Coast Climate Event
! It’s a huge success and every star in Hollywood is here doing their part to combat climate change!”

              The perky reporter chirped in next to her, “We’ve got good people here. People really care about the environment. About the world.”

         Summer smiled “I’m so proud to be a part of this.”

All of a sudden, Drake Mason, movie star extraordinaire, jumped in the shot, topless and bronze, and all the young girls in the crowd went wild.

          Kacey smiled at the big screen.

Wow, this was certainly turning into a star-studded event! She thought how wonderful the event was turning out to be, and helping climate change grow in awareness.

              “Hey, Kissing Bridge.” Drake drawled. His voice was undeniably sexy. “Miss you all.” With that, he winked with a sly smile and squeezed Summer affectionately.

There were many giggles from the ladies of Kissing Bridge who had gotten kisses from Drake under the mistletoe and felt on intimate terms with him.

              “Whoah,” Tanner said with a laugh. “Put a shirt on, Drake!”
             

Drake laughed. “It’s hitting like a hundred degrees out here. I’m not putting on a thing.”

With that, he squeezed Summer again. “Except maybe her.”

The crowd cheered again.

Tanner cleared his throat.

              “So, you guys have a message for all of us here?”

              “Sure,” Summer said. Drake draped his arm over her shoulder as she spoke. Summer pulled away discretely, obviously uncomfortable and forced a smile. Even from her place at the front of the crowd, Kacey could see Brad tense up as he stared at the screen.

“Remember that the earth is all we’ve got,” Summer said. “We need to protect it for our children and our children’s children. God bless you all for being part of this.”

              “That’s right,” Drake said, with a superstar nod.

              The girls in the crowd squealed, but Kacey guessed they’d squeal if he snorted like a pig, or maybe even if he just stood there, breathing.
Wow, look at the way he inhales!

              “Well, thank you Summer Landers and Drake Mason!” Tanner said. “You guys go have a good time. We’re going to keep this live stream going so we can all be a part of this sister event in California!”

              The blond perky reporter from
Entertainment Tonight
was nodding to Tanner from her spot at the event, and bubbling and cooing over all the celebrities.

“Well, everyone’s turned out for this event, Tanner! There’s Ben and Jen. . . Sean Penn just came in with his lovely date. . .”

The blue Skype screen took over, showing the beautiful people of L.A. stardom—dappled with perfect tans and diamonds—milling about the red carpet event.

Suddenly, Kacey spotted a blonde god in the background.

She felt herself go weak.

It was Brody.

He was smiling from ear to ear, like he used to do whenever she said something funny.

          Kacey felt a wave of sadness come over her.

Brody.

Her communication with Brody had become almost nil. She could blame his traveling, or the shoddy reception on the mountain, but the truth was, since her return to Kissing Bridge, she had been reluctant to talk to him. Each time they spoke, it seemed as if they fell further and further apart. Instead of the usual easy banter and comfortable warmth between them, it had become odd and filled with untruths. 

Her
untruths.

She cringed inwardly, recalling their last conversation.

She had had to lie to him about what her days were like. He thought she was home healing, and instead she was training harder then ever. 

           Kacey watched him on the screen moving through the crowd like a lion with his golden mane. Kacey couldn’t take her eyes off of him, but also dreaded seeing some beautiful girl draped over him, like Drake had been over Summer.

       The reporter suddenly brightened to another perkier level, if that were possible.

“Oooooo..” She cooed, “I see superstar Gold Medalist, Brody Jenkins, in the crowd. Let’s see if we can get him free from all his fans here to give us some words!”

              “No, no, not yet!” Tanner said, charming as ever as he laughed.

          “First, I wanted to bring the focus back here to Kissing Bridge and introduce a celebrity that we are blessed to have within our midst at our
East Coast Climate Event
! I am pleased to introduce Olympian, and Gold Medalist hopeful, Kacey Anderson!”

              All of a sudden, cameras were swinging around to point at Kacey, and her face was blown up to gigantic proportions on the big screen. She was in sky attire and had her goggles carelessly pushed off her face. She was still dusted with snow from riding and teaching the children earlier. Her grey eyes looked large and luminous on the big screen.

The crowds on both coasts were applauding and screaming. Kacey tried to control her shyness and pulled up her confidence. Her pulse hammering in her temples, she managed a small smile and a wave.

“Isn’t she something,” Tanner smiled. “I’ve only been here a few days but I’ve had the pleasure of personally witnessing some of Kacey’s signature outrageous tricks and maneuvers. I’m betting on this little beauty from Kissing Bridge to take the 2018 Olympics by storm!”

The hometown crowd took up the cheer. “Kacey, Kacey, Kacey!”

Tanner, always one to know how to milk a moment, suddenly lit up with a great idea.

“Well, how about a little demonstration Kacey? Perhaps you could give the crowd a hint of that new big air trick you showed me that you’ve been working on to take the Gold?”

              Kacey squirmed modestly, wishing he hadn’t told everyone. Suddenly a voice boomed out of the speakers.

“WHAT?!!!”

         Kacey froze.

         She recognized that voice instantly.

         Brody!

         Suddenly, Brody’s face flashed up on the big screen as he moved in to frame and everyone’s attention was drawn back to the screen to see what had occurred.

Brody Jenkins was now standing next to the perky reporter looming over her small frame and looking tanned and angry. He glared at the screen and bore his green eyes straight into Kacey’s straight through the camera as if there were not 4,000 miles between them.

Kacey gulped.

           This wasn’t exactly the way she had planned to break the truth to Brody about her training.

In all fairness, she actually had not really come up with a plan for that yet. But this definitely was
not
it.   

Tanner switched gears quickly to pander to the crowd.

“Oh, well hey there, Brody!” Tanner said, with a glare toward the technician tent, as they swung back to the screen with their cameras.

“It’s Brody Jenkins, three-time Gold Medalist, folks!”

The crowd went wild. All the young girls, and old girls were swooning.

Tanner continued with a smooth smile. “So Brody, thank you so much for stepping up to do your part against climate change! Any words?”