Surely they would not let him go unnoticed.
There were quite a few drivers waiting for arriving passengers near the exit. My eyes quickly scanned the names on the cards that each one of them was holding but I did not see my name. I looked again. Surely I must have missed it the first time. I reread each card looking for Ryan’s name.
That’s when I saw “Bailey” written on a card. Underneath it was Shell-B Enterprises. A smile broke on my face when the driver asked if I was Mrs.
Bailey. Not yet, but maybe one day?
I definitely felt like an outsider in this foreign land called Los Angeles… palm trees and expensive cars were on every street. The hotel where we would be staying was beyond anything I had ever experienced as well. It exuded wealth.
“Good afternoon. I’d like to check in please,” I said to the man behind the marble counter.
“Bailey?” I stated sheepishly, unsure if that was the name of the reservation or not. He typed into his computer.
“Card please,” he requested.
Familiar panic welled in my chest. I had no identification with Bailey on it. I handed him my driver’s license and wondered how long it would take Kelly to drive here and rescue me when this guy kicks me out of the lobby for false impersonation.
He handed it back to me with a smile. “I need your credit card please, for verification,” he corrected.
The key card he handed me in return didn’t unlock just any old hotel room. That wouldn’t be Ryan’s style for treating me well. This room was a huge suite dressed in shades of burgundy and cream with a rich mahogany wooden floor. Elegant wooden doors separated the grand living room from the bedroom, and there were two separate sets of French doors that opened up to the private balcony. The suite even had its own dining room.
I set my bag down on the billowy beige and burgundy striped duvet that covered the king-size canopy bed and sighed out loud. Mr. Christensen would surely be treated like a king in this bed later.
I turned on the light in the bathroom and was surprised to see a plasma television mounted on the wall, in perfect view from the large soaking tub. And then there it was - the final touch – the glass encased shower with the shower panel of many pleasures. I had to give him credit; he was a simple man with simple needs, but when it came to providing luxury, he surely did it right.
Kelly picked me up at the hotel an hour later and proceeded to take me to the swankiest stores in L.A.
“Two things before we go in there,” Kelly announced, parking her car. “One, you’re going to go into sticker shock, so don’t look at the price tags, and two, Ryan said you have a fifty grand credit limit on your card so we have to behave.”
“Fifty thousand?” I felt faint. I reached for the air conditioning dial in her car and turned it up. She laughed at me.
“There’s no way in hell I’m spending…” I had to swallow. My throat felt tight. “I don’t care how much money he has!”
“Relax!” she told me. “We won’t spend all of it.”
“I just need a dress for the party and something nice to wear for our dinner meeting with Mr. Follweiler. That’s it. I even brought my black heels from home.”
She spent the next several hours dressing me like one of her daughter’s Barbie dolls.
“Kelly, four thousand dollars for two dresses?” I whispered nervously in her ear. Apparently these prices were no big deal to anyone living on this side of the country.
“We’re going to take all of this,” Kelly informed the girl behind the counter. She had stacked up the jeans and tops and even the totally sexy black leather ankle boots that I fell in love with. “Oh and the Dior handbag as well.” She piled that on top.
“Kelly!” I grit through my teeth. Everything that I said I loved was on the pile. The purse alone was over a thousand dollars.
“No!” I stated adamantly to the cashier. “Only the two dresses and these shoes. I don’t want to buy any of these other things.”
Kelly smiled and then whispered privately in my ear. “You are going to be photographed the entire week. You need to look the part. This isn’t some wanna-be actor we’re talking about here. The public expects his girlfriend to be stylish and sexy.”
I turned around and spoke quietly. “I don’t care. I’m not spending his money on things that are unnecessary.” I pushed the extra items to the side.
“Can you give us a minute?” Kelly asked the cashier, pulling my arm for me to follow her. “Taryn, he told me to make sure you get whatever you want.”