Love You Moore (15 page)

Abby sat in the chair. She wasn’t sure how
she should react to that. She was glad that he had a song that
could become a hit, but would that limit even more of the time they
would have together. Could the song he wrote for her be the thing
that kept them apart?

* * * * *

Chapter 14

The holidays were over and everyone was
getting ready for mid-terms. Abby was pretty confident she had
studied enough to pass her tests. The only distraction she had now
was the radio. Jimmy’s song
Love You
Moore
was on a very big rotation. All the radio
stations were playing it. Abby and Holly would be walking to class
and they would hear the girls going ga ga over Jimmy. “Oh he is so
cute, it’s as if he were singing just to me” she could hear them.
Abby would just smile. She knew who he was really singing too and
if the girls wanted to dream, let them dream. Jimmy was her
reality. Although, she did at times feel as though, with
the more and more female attention he was getting, would he
forget about Small Town Maine girl? She would shake off that
thought just like she would shake off all the other bad thoughts,
the “what ifs” and the “could it happens." Valentine’s Day was just
around the corner, she hadn’t seen Jimmy since his visit at
Christmas but they talked every day. Her parents had added
nationwide calling and more minutes to their cellular plan so there
were no worries of going over and having a large cell phone bill.
He had told her he wouldn’t be able to be with her on Valentine’s
Day but he was sending her something. She had told him it wasn’t
necessary but he wanted to give her something very special. The
morning of the 14
^th
she was
sitting in class and was called to the office.

“
Ooooohh” the whole class
teased.

She was given a hall pass and went to the
office. There she saw a delivery man with a vase full of apricot
roses and a flat box.

“
Abby” the secretary addressed her,
“this man is here to see you. I told him he could just leave the
things here and you could collect them in between classes but he
said he couldn’t do that. Please take your items and go back to
class” she huffed.

Abby took the vase and box from the man
and thanked him. She walked to her locker, she did admit it was
easier to maneuver the large vase and flowers without a hallway
full of people. She set the flowers in the bottom of her locker and
opened the box. It was a copy of the Billboard 100.
I Love You Moore
was number 1. Abby
was jumping up and down and silently screaming to herself. Jimmy
must be so happy she thought. Still in the box was a small card
from him.

She unfolded the card and began to read.

“
Abby, without you none of this is
possible. You are the reason for all of this. I love you. Happy
Valentine’s Day.

Yours Forever, Jimmy

“
Mine forever.” she softly said out
loud, put everything in her locker, closed the door and went back
to class. Time continued to crawl. She missed Jimmy. It had been
three months since they were face to face and her birthday was
approaching. She vaguely remembered telling him the date that first
night they met and stayed up all night talking but was not planning
on mentioning it to him now. Her parents were after her to tell
them what she wanted for her 18
^th
birthday. The only thing she could think of was a trip to LA
to see Jimmy. She didn’t know how ask Jimmy if she could come out.
He was getting busier as the CD kept climbing the charts. The title
song
Love you Moore
was still
at number 1 going on five weeks and they CD itself was closing to
the top spot. He was on morning talk shows, evening talk shows and
syndicated radio shows promoting the album. He always remained
vague when asked about the inspiration for the song. He had spoken
to Abby about it one night while they were talking on the
phone.

“
Abby, they are going to ask who I am
singing about, now I for one, want to shout it from the roof tops
but it can cause issues for you. Your classmates will treat you
different. The press potentially can start to hound you. I will
leave it up to you.”

Abby thought for a minute, “I think it will
be better to keep it to ourselves, like our own little secret. It
makes it more special, don’t you think?”

Abby didn’t want any added attention. Once
you get in the spot light things from your past can start to arise
and she didn’t need the accident coming to light.

“
If that’s what you decide Babe then
that’s what we’ll do.” Jimmy assured her.

So, the song kept climbing and the album
keeps climbing, all the while the press and public speculating on
who he was referring too.

The morning of her birthday Abby woke in
fairly good spirits. She was finally 18. It seemed like the one
major obstacle standing in the way of she and Jimmy being intimate,
was her status as a minor. That was no longer the case and if her
parents gave her airline tickets like she wanted, then Jimmy would
have no reason to deny her the one thing she wanted from him. But
what if her age was just an excuse for him and he really didn’t
want to be with her in that way. She knew deep down that wasn’t
true but she always had a way of thinking the worst. She got ready
for school, half expecting Jimmy to call and wish her a Happy
Birthday but she didn’t count on it, she still want sure he even
realized it was her birthday. After picking up Holly and having her
serenade her with the Happy Birthday song they arrived at school.
The day dragged. It wasn’t a bad day, just slow. She wanted to go
home to see what her parents had bought for her. They told her they
were going to present it to her at dinner. They had planned on
taking her and Holly out to celebrate as they had always done since
she was eight. Finally the last bell rang. It was Friday so she and
Holly were not only going to dinner but could also stay out a bit
later without the worry of school the next day. She was walking
down the hall and saw a bit of a commotion down by the office, she
didn’t think anything of it, it was Friday the masses tended to
gather the talk about plans for the weekend. Abby had to pass by
the offices to get to her locker. She by passed the crowd and
that’s when she heard it, her song, but it didn’t sound like it was
coming from the radio. As if in slow motion, she turned her head to
where she heard the a cappella version coming from. He was there
smiling at her surrounded by clamoring students and office staff
wanting autographs and pictures. He excused himself and walked
towards her.

“
Happy Birthday.” he said when he
finally made his way to her. She stood there motionless, was he
really here or was she dreaming. She could have dozed off during
last period and be completely asleep. She knew she wasn’t she
dropped her books and jumped into his arms.

“
That’s my girl.” he whispered in her
ear. “Are you surprised”

“
That’s an understatement” she replied
and kissed him. She didn’t care that everyone was staring, she
didn’t care they were in the middle of her high school, he was
there and she wasn’t letting go.

“
Are you ready to start your birthday
celebration?” he asked.

“
No.” she told him, “I am happy to stay
like this all night.”

Jimmy laughed and stood her back on the
floor. “Get your things, we have plans.”

Holly was standing at Abby’s locker
smiling.

“
Did you know about this?” Abby cried
and hugged her BFF.

“
Of course I did.” Holly giggled and
hugged her back. “He called me two weeks ago to get this all
planned out. Can I have your keys so I can get home?” Holly reached
out her hand.

“
I can still drive you.” Abby
explained

Holly pointed out the window. There was a
long black shiny limo parked out front.

“
I think I will need your car, you will
be in that”

Abby looked at the both of them speechless.
The commotion of the students was coming back into focus for her.
She had been able to block them out for a few minutes.

“
Oh my God, you are the Moore in Love
you Moore?” Carmen Monroe yelled all aghast.

“
She is” Jimmy affirmed smiling at Abby
and taking her hand.

“
But why? Look at her, who could
possibly be inspired to sing about her unless it was about the cow
in the song Old McDonald” She laughed.

Was this the moment he realized Abby’s worst
fear, was hearing it out loud going to confirm he really was with
the wrong person. He let go of Abby’s hand. It was, she thought, he
was embarrassed to be with her he is going to leave and find the
type of girl he should be with. He put his arm around Abby’s
waist.

“
Abby is everything I want in a
girlfriend. She is kind and loving and the most beautiful woman I
have even seen. Any man would be lucky to get a person like Abby
and would be a fool to lose her.” Jimmy was looking at Billy. He
had seen a picture of him at her parents’ house. Billy looked like
he was going to be sick. “Now if you don’t mind, Abby and I have a
birthday to celebrate.” He led her to the limo.

The driver opened the door and Abby and Jimmy
got in. She couldn’t believe what was happening. This was the best
birthday ever, even if it ended right now.

“
Here, put this on.” Jimmy reached
around her to place a blindfold over her eyes.

Abby let him put the blindfold on without
question.

“
Well this is interesting.” she said,
“Kinky” she purred “I am 18 now you know.”

“
I know, settle down there Tiger, this
is totally innocent.” Jimmy chuckled.

“
Bummer.” Abby sighed.

“
Where are we going?” she questioned.
“My parents are expecting me home. I should call them.”

“
If I wanted you to know that there
would be no reason for the blindfold. They are not expecting you
home. Everything is arranged, don’t worry about
anything”

“
Ok then.” She sat back trying to
figure out where they were going by the turns and stops.

“
You’ll never figure it out so stop
trying.” Jimmy teased.

“
How did you know I was trying to
figure it out?”

“
Holly told me you would
try.”

“
Remind me to thank her” Abby said
sarcastically.

When the car came to its final stop, the door
opened. She was helped out of the car and Jimmy reached to take off
the blindfold. Abby squinted through the glare of the sunlight.
They were at the Samoset. She looked at Jimmy through questioning
eyes, he smiled at her and led her to the front lobby.

“
Good afternoon Mr. Riley.” the
concierge welcomed them. “Everything has been arranged as you
requested. We hope you enjoy your stay. Please let me know if there
is anything else you need.”

“
Thank you I will.” Jimmy led her down
the hall to an awaiting room.

Actually it was a section of rooms the hotel
had blocked off just for him. He opened the first door. Inside it
was transformed into a salon. Make-up, hair stylists, a nail
station.

“
What is going on?” Abby asked in a
whisper.

“
This is all for you, a day of
pampering. When you are all ready we will go to dinner at Marcel’s
here at the hotel. Ok?” Jimmy asked as if she would
decline.

“
That’s more than ok. Jimmy really this
is too much.” She started to protest, he stopped her.

“
It’s never too much.” he bent down to
kiss her. “I am going to leave you in their very capable hands and
I will come back for you when it’s time to go.”

Abby started to protest again but he quickly
left the room and Abby was whisked away to the beauticians chair
for a makeover. She had every treatment she could think of. Her
hair was washed, conditioned, blown dry and set in large curlers.
Her nails were trimmed and polished. She had a facial and mask
applied while her shoulders and arms were massaged. Once her hair
was styled and makeup applied a man brought in a rack of clothing,
shoes and accessories. She was told to pick out an outfit for the
evening. The rack held some of the most beautiful dresses she had
ever seen. They were all in her size, another tip from Holly Abby
guessed. Abby looked at each dress holding it out in front of her
while staring in the mirror. She finally decided on a t length
black satin A-line dress that was covered in black chiffon. There
were tiny crystals that formed a sweetheart neckline across her
chest. There was a pair of black satin heels with a ribbon that
tied at the ankle to form a bow. It also had a small crystal accent
in the center of the bow. The accessory rack took Abby’s breath
away. Every colored stone in every style of necklace and earring
she could think of. Abby chose a diamond and onyx set. The pear
shaped drop earrings sparkled under her curled hair. The necklace
with the same pear shape was the perfect accent to the dresses
neckline. Abby turned to look in the full length mirror. She did
not even recognize the person looking back. Jimmy’s team was
amazing Abby thought. She hugged all of them trying not to cry and
ruin her makeup. There was a knock at the door. Abby was persuaded
to open it. There stood Jimmy with roses in hand dressed in a black
suit. He just started at her. After what seemed like an hour Abby
broke the silence,