Unforgettable (8 page)

“Paul, this is Brittany. How are you?”

“Hey, girl! Where you been hiding all week, brat? You haven’t been down here to see me in ages.”

“I know. I’ve been trying to behave myself lately.”

“Somehow, I doubt that’s even possible,” Paul snorted.

“Did you just snort at me?”

“Yeah, I did. Just the thought of you staying out of trouble is redonkulous!”

“Well, I do need to ask you for a favor, sweetheart. Have you got a few minutes?” Brittany asked coyly.

“Sweetheart? It must be bad. I knew you were up to something, kiddo. Hold on a sec,” he said. After a long pause and a few clicks in the background, he returned to the phone. “You’ve got ten minutes. What kind of mischief are you getting me into this time?”

“Well, you know the letter you read tonight from SD…”

“Oh, no! Not you, too? This guy could be dog ugly and dirt poor. Just because he can string a few words together, every skirt in town wants to hear his dedications again! I swear if…”

“Paul! I do not want to hear them again! Geez! Clam down! Jealous much?” Brittany knew Paul was just teasing her. If there was one romantic man left on the planet, it was Paul. Except, of course, the mysteriously intriguing Sean.

“No!” Paul sulked. Brittany laughed at his petulant answer.

“Paul, I want…no, I
need
to know who wrote that letter and where it came from.”

“Why do you need to know? You know I can’t give out that kind of information; it’s against company policy. However, considering it’s you, I’d still need a darn good explanation as to why I should tell you. Tom would have my head on a platter, otherwise.”

“Darn! You would have to make this difficult, wouldn’t you?”

“Sorry, babe. Them’s the rules and my job is on the line. Makes no difference that you’re the boss’s friend. What’s up?”

“What would you say if I told you I was Earth Angel?”

“I’d say, start talking. You’ve got eight minutes left.”

Brittany explained as quickly as she could what had happened between her and SD. “So you see, Paul, I just have to find him. I owe him my life, so this is important to me. Tom and Susan will both tell you the same story, if you want to call them first.”

“No, I believe you, Brittany. I think Tom would be okay with me telling you who he is, too. The only problem is the guy never signed his name to the letter. I hate to burst your bubble, babe, but I don’t see how I can help you.”

“What about the envelope? Does it have a return address or a postmark date…anything?” Brittany asked. After another long pause, Paul returned to the phone.

“Nope, he faxed it from Islip airport in New York. He signed it SD…nothing else,” Paul replied.

“Oh! Thank you, Paul! You’re a saint!” Brittany squealed. Sean said he was flying home. If he left Indiana and landed in New York, there was a good possibility New York was his home.

“Saint Paul, huh? Just remember those were your words, not mine.”

“One more thing, Paul, darling,” Brittany said, before hanging up.

“Uh-oh! Here it comes!” he teased.

“Now, darling, be a good little boy and give me the name and address of WKRN’s sister station in New York.”

After another long pause, a few more teasing remarks and a promised lunch one day soon, she finally had the beginnings of a plan. With Paul’s help, and a whole lot of luck, Brittany would find her guardian angel by Saturday.

The next week and a half seemed to fly by. At times, Brittany wondered if she would ever get everything done in time to realize her plan. She had to fill an order for one of her customers, finish making the items she needed for the shop in town, work on her Halloween costume, as well as arrange reservations for the airport and hotel, plus appointments at the radio station in New York. The list seemed never ending. On top of everything, and the hardest thing of all, she had yet to figure out what to say to Sean and what song to choose.

Since the night she’d called Paul, she hadn’t heard anything more from Sean. No letters, no songs, no flowers, no balloons…nothing. He’d disappeared from her world faster than he’d entered it but she wouldn’t and couldn’t accept that. The fact that she hadn’t heard from him only made her more determined to find him and follow through with her plan. She did wish she had more time, though. It was already Tuesday and, if she left early Wednesday morning, she would be in New York within a couple of hours. That would only give her Wednesday and Thursday to get her message on the air and sit back and wait to hear from Sean. She would have to be back early Friday morning to help Susan with Halloween decorations for their party that night.

With Susan, Tom and Paul all lending a hand, Brittany was completely ready by late Tuesday afternoon. Her suitcase was packed, the carry-on bag held all the addresses and reservations she would need, and her plane ticket was on the table. There was still one problem. What did you say to a man you didn’t know, who had given you the greatest gift of all…your life?

***

The next morning, settled in her seat on the plane, Brittany finally worked out what to say to her guardian angel. All she needed to do now was put it down on paper. She owed a lot of people a lot of favors for helping her with this plan, especially Tom Graham. Without him, none of this would have been possible.

Tom owned WKRN radio in Indiana and had single handedly made it into what it was today. Having a radio station of his own was Tom’s dream come true and it was a huge success. Once he’d heard Brittany’s story about her encounter with SD and her reasons for trying to find him, Tom had agreed to contact his New York affiliates, skillfully persuading them to have her message for Sean played every hour, on the hour, on WZYN radio. He’d also gotten their agreement to play her message and dedication until midnight Friday night. They had a plan in place to filter out all the crank calls so, when the real Sean called in, they would forward the call to Brittany’s hotel room. If she hadn’t heard from him by Saturday, she would either have to give up or try something else. She was sure he’d get in touch with her, though. He just had to. It was her only hope.

As Brittany put the finishing touches on her message to Sean, the pilot announced they would be landing in New York in a few minutes.

***

That afternoon, Susan was getting ready to go out shopping when her phone rang.

“Hello?” she answered.

“Hi, hon! Are you busy?” Tom’s smooth voice came through the receiver. Susan’s husband was a strikingly handsome man, standing a little over six feet tall with a slim, yet muscular build. His deep summer tan wasn’t likely to fade or show much since he was always wearing a suit and tie. Even in a crowd, you couldn’t help but notice his thick, dark blonde hair and deep, Southern flavored voice.

“No,” Susan replied. “I was just on my way out to pick up some groceries and a few more things for the Halloween party, but I’ve got some time. What’s up?”

“Well, you’ll never guess what I got today.”

“What?”

“Remember the kid from high school and college I always used to talk about; the one I considered my best friend?” Tom asked.

“You mean the boy you always got into trouble with? What was his name, again?” Susan asked. She remembered all the wild stories Tom had told her about his friend. He sounded exactly like the kind of kid Tom would hang out with in school…wild, crazy, totally unpredictable, fun, life of the party and class clown. They were always getting caught and received numerous reprimands but never for anything serious, just your usual, mischievous “boys will be boys” type of trouble, with a little extra kick to it.

“Yeah, he’s the one. His name is Patrick and he sent me a telegram today saying he’ll be here some time Thursday morning. It seems his company is opening a new business here and he wants to make arrangements to advertise through my station. If it’s alright with you, I’d like to invite him over for dinner Thursday night.”

“Sure, I’ll pick up something special for dinner while I’m out. It’ll be fun to see you with an old friend, especially one just as crazy as you are.”

“I don’t know honey. We had some damn good times together back then but he changed a lot in the last few months of college. After his fiance’ dumped him for another, extremely wealthy man, it changed him dramatically. He stopped being any fun at all and avoided all his friends, including me. He threw himself into his school work, which he didn’t need to do. Hell, Patrick knew all the answers after just one glance at the book, anyway. Half the time, he never even looked at the book. Still, I wasn’t at all surprised to learn he graduated in the top five percentile of his class.

“Until today, I never saw or heard from him again. I don’t even know for sure what he does for a living these days. I do remember his father and uncle had plans for him to go into the family business but whether or not he did, I have no idea.”

“It’s been over ten years since your college days, honey. I’m sure your friend has gotten over his college girlfriend by now. He may not be the same class clown you once knew, but I’ll bet he’s still a fun-loving guy.”

“I sure hope you’re right, Susan. I’d like to remember him as that wild kid instead of a brokenhearted workaholic. I guess we’ll find out tomorrow. See you later, hon. Bye.”

“Bye, Tom.”

Chapter 6 “Looking for an Angel”

“You’re listening to WZNY New York, New York, bringing you the best music all the time,” the DJ announced in a sultry voice.

By early Wednesday afternoon, Breezy was curled up on the couch in her hotel room listening to the program and waiting to hear her message to Sean again. So far, the DJ had played it every hour, on the hour, since 11:00 a.m. The coffee she’d ordered from room service was still hot and, sipping it carefully, she shook her head in amazement at the productive morning she’d spent at the station. All her plans were now in place and Dave Burrows, Tom’s friend and WZNY’s station manager, had been particularly helpful. It was his suggestion that Breezy record the message in her own voice rather than have the DJ read it each time. “It’s more personal that way,” he’d explained. Initially reticent, she allowed herself to be persuaded and the results were astonishing! Her voice sounded soft and gentle over the radio and Breezy was quite pleased with the effect it gave her dedication. It sounded good, even if she did say so herself.

Before she left the station, Dave had explained that New York was home to a lot of unscrupulous people, not to mention your everyday crazies, crackpots, weirdos and losers. There was a chance someone might pretend to be Sean in an attempt to swindle her in some way…money, or God only knew what else, so they refined the plan to weed out the fakes. Breezy told him what she’d been wearing the day of the accident, as well as what Sean had been wearing, thanks to Susan’s description of his tennis whites. She also gave him a detailed list of all the gifts he’d sent to her. Finally, she left him with the make, model and color of her classic Mustang, along with an outline of all the work he’d had done to it. If she could be sure Sean would remember it, she would have given Dave the name of her doctor, for good measure.

They’d decided if the person answering her message could describe all, or at least most, of these things, he had to be the man Breezy was searching for. The only other people who knew all the details were Susan and Tom.

The songs she’d dedicated to Sean were playing again and Breezy wondered if she would hear from him this time, if he even heard them at all. As the last song ended, she sat by the phone waiting, hoping and praying for it to ring. “Please, please, please call me,” she begged under her breath. The seconds ticked by into minutes but the phone never rang. After waiting for over an hour, she finally picked up her purse, checked her hair in the mirror, and walked to the door.

“Remember what Susan always says,” she grinned at her reflection. “When the going gets tough…the tough go shopping!” And that’s exactly what she did.

***

Thursday, 10:00 a.m.

“Damn traffic! Just my luck,” Patrick fumed, slapping the steering wheel in frustration. He was on his way back to Indiana sooner than he’d expected and the earliest flight he could get departed at 10:30 a.m. He was only fifteen minutes away from the airport but traffic was backed up as far as the eye could see. “Son of a bitch!” he swore again.

At least backed-up traffic was something he was used to. What he wasn’t used to was being late to business meetings or facing an old friend he hadn’t seen in over ten years. On top of everything, and always first and foremost in his mind these days, was the urgent need to do something about Brittany Spring.

He’d done the right thing in coming to her assistance; he wasn’t denying that. But he just had to go and make a complete fool of himself by taking things one step further than he was now comfortable with. Giving her those gifts and, of all things, dedicating those songs to her! Christ, he must’ve been temporarily insane to leave her with such an incongruous impression of himself. She may’ve been the one to hit her head but he was the one who apparently suffered brain damage! The unseasonable heat must have fried his brain. That was the only explanation for his illogical, irrational and uncharacteristic behavior.

There was only one hard rule Patrick lived by since Caroline had walked out of his life, “Never give anyone anything…period!” That included loans, gifts, kindness, love, thank you, time of day or even the benefit of the doubt! Nothing! It was the only way to insure he’d never be taken advantage of ever again. However, in the brief time he’d spent with the unforgettable Miss Spring, he’d broken that rule in every way possible and had regretted it since his return to New York.

Once he got back to Indiana, he knew he’d eventually run into her again. If not, he’d have to look her up and set her straight on just who she was dealing with. He had to fix this mess he’d brought upon himself. Now, all he needed were the answers to four simple questions: how, when, where and what was he going to do about her?

Patrick’s car hadn’t moved an inch in the past five minutes and experience told him his only option was to wait it out, although he could have spared himself all this aggravation if he’d just used the private plane. His father had struggled all of his life to keep Patrick’s identity secret so he could lead a normal life. Despite his enormous wealth, his father’s greatest gift had been freedom from public scrutiny. He respected his father’s memory in that regard and valued his hard won privacy and anonymity too much to “out” himself just to avoid traffic. Patrick tuned the radio to WZNY and, after a brief and pointless traffic report; the DJ came back on the air.