Capturing the Moment

Chapter 11

Ryan

I'm the world's biggest pushover, a real chump.

That's all I can think as I wait near the bottom of the escalator at Rock County Airport, I just flew into over an hour ago but have not yet been allowed to leave.

Don't mind me. Baggage claim is my new home.

I've been planning to travel out here for months, way before I met the infamous Sidney Weston. I had reasons for coming - good reasons that have nothing to do with Hollywood or playing pretend.

There are places I should be and people I should be with. Real work I should be doing. Except I'm not Ryan Chase anymore, I'm not even a wildlife photographer or fake paparazzi. I'm Sidney Weston's glorified errand boy, sent to pick-up some woman named Cecelia. I've never met her before, because Sidney can't go anywhere without the whole world recognizing who she is.

How convenient.

"She's small, but fierce; a warrior of a woman. Dark hair, angry eyes."

That was all Sindey gave me to go on when she texted me to ask for a favor. Her idea of a good physical description that is oddly specific, yet so vague. It would make any police sketch artist groan. Then, she sent Conner into the airport to help. More quality time with my brother. This is solid proof that Sindey must secretly hate me.

It's a lost cause - searching for a dark-haired warrior in this sea of grouchy travelers - but then I spot her: a petite woman in motorcycle boots and ripped jeans. Her dark hair is a wild mess that looks put up artfully somehow with the reddest lips I've ever seen.

When she catches me watching, her scowl deepens. Then she spots the hasty CECELIA sign I made in a fit of desperation. Her name scribbled on a spare piece of notebook paper with a drying-out Sharpie; her angry expression eases a little as she heads over. Doesn't disappear, mind you. Just eases, as if her face doesn't know how to look happy.

"Ryan?" she asks, and I nod. Beyond proud of myself for not cracking even a tiny smile. That voice of hers is something else, a real auditory experience. High-pitched, but low at the same time, and so raspy it sounds like someone rubbed her vocal cords with sandpaper. She sounds like a magical woodland creature who smoked too many cigarettes. The world's toughest talking chipmunk. And Conner is mesmerized.

I catch him watching from his hiding place behind one of the long concrete pillars near baggage claim. Peering out at her with a half-dazed smile.

She glances at him, and I wait for the good old Conner Chase charm. Prepare myself for his too-big smile and too-sweet words to hit us like a cloud of cologne in a department store. But nothing happens.

My brother stands there, dumbstruck by the sheer wonder of Cecelia Barnes. The hair and makeup artist who Sidney swears is absolutely necessary for our little scheme.

Apparently, taking fake candid pictures of Sidney and Conner already isn't good enough. Now we have to take perfectly styled, fake candid pictures.

I wait for my brother to recover, but he can't seem to pull himself together. He's dead quiet and staring like an idiot, so I make the introductions.

"This is my brother Conner. In case you didn't recognize him in his amazing disguise."

He looks ridiculous today. Drowning in fabric and accessories in a desperate attempt to not get noticed at the airport. He's wearing a gray hoodie under his jacket, the cotton hood pulled up over his ball cap. A look so strange only his giant sunglasses could make it worse. Don't get me started on his beard.

He's growing one now. Five days worth of stubble that looks so patchy and uncomfortable, I want to shave his face right there in the airport. I don't, though. Assaulting him with a razor - no matter how pure my intentions are - seems like a bad idea. One that could get me tased and dragged out by security.

"Conner Chase?" Cecelia almost smiles. Almost. And then her eyes darken and her scowl deepens.

She's an enchanted, woodland creature who's gone to the dark side, jaw set like she's about to perform some seriously questionable magic. Like it's Dark Incantations of Doom time at the airport, and she doesn't care who notices. Heck, she wants them to notice.

"Conner Chae, like THE Conner Chase?" Her tone gives everyone in the airport chills. Mothers and children on the other side of the world probably have goosebumps right now. They don't even probably know why.

But we know. Conner and I stare at her, transfixed, Conner swallows hard.

Cecelia cracks her knuckles as she moves toward him, like a bully in an after school special. "You're the one who slept with his own brother's fiancé?"

Conner doesn't know what to say. She's so close, he can't escape. His back is against one of those concrete pillars, and all he can do is flinch.