Chapter 20

Chapter 20

Stunned she gasped and turned to look at him. “Could you be anymore of a romantic?” she asked. He laughed, “So it’s good?” “Yes, it’s wonderful!”, planting a kiss on his lips. “Let me go freshen up a minute and I’ll be back” she said nearly skipping to the staircase. He liked seeing her this happy.

Richie’s phone rang, it was his publicist, Dan. “Hey man, what’s up? Kinda busy.”

“Yeah? Wouldn’t happen to be with Harley Stewart, would it?” he asked. Richie’s mouth flew open. “Who and what was said?” he asked as he saw Harley flying down the stairs with her phone in hand. “It’s out!” she said to him. “What do we do?” she asked him. “Dan, hang on a sec, bud.” he put Dan on mute. Harley did the same to her publicist. “What do you want to do?” he asked her. “Richie, you have a daughter to think of. I have nobody, but my fans. It should be your decision. I’m ok with whatever you decide.” she said. Knowing it had to come from him. He took Dan off mute, “Dan?” “Yeah?” “You can confirm that Harley Stewart and I are in fact a couple.” Dan yelled out, without even a thought, “No shit?!” Richie chuckled “No shit! You can also say that we are very happy, ok?” Dan asked Richie if he should tell them for how long they had been seeing each other. “No! It’s nobody’s business!” he said and hung up. Harley told her publicist the same thing. Only difference is her publicist said “This may be a bad light on you, Harley.” “I don’t care. I’ll come through it. All they want is to see me happy and I am. Once they see it and see he’s not what they think, it’ll be ok” she assured her then hung up. Richie heard what she said and went over to her, wrapping his arms around her. “I’m sorry, baby. You probably weren’t ready for this.” he said. “It’s alright. I’m more ready than you think.” she said. “You have Ava, like I said. I have my fans. Yours is a little more personal and precious, baby.” Richie told her he would tell Ava about them Sunday night. They seemed to have gotten lost in each other’s eyes. Harley forgot what she went upstairs for. Snapping free from him. “Freshening up, right!” she said, pointing upstairs. Feeling very silly. “I’ll be back” she said. “Ok, darlin. I’ll be waiting.” Harley ran back up the stairs thinking, she won’t keep him waiting for long.