She opened up her browser and found the interview. It opened with a prelude from Miranda Cole.Of course it’s her,thought Alex.
“Apparently, not all fairy tales end in happily ever after. Finley McAlister, last year’s ‘Hottest Man Ever,’ seemed to have it all. An established position as one of Hollywood’s A-list movie stars, a burgeoning career as a producer, and a new love in his life. But now, barely one month later, not everything is idyllic as it appears.”
“According to Finley himself, he’s lost the love of his life and is considering retiring from public life. Here’s what he had to say.”
Alex’s heart thumped louder in her chest as Fin’s face replaced Miranda’s in the video. She listened as the woman interviewed him.
“… I’ve now lost two women I loved because of…”
“Wait, what? He loves me?” Alex asked aloud. She clicked the rewind button to listen again, then watched the rest of the video. She stopped at the point where Miranda began speculating about the price of fame.
Alex sat back and absorbed what she’d heard. Warmth spread throughout her body at the revelation that perhaps she wasn’t too late. Maybe she still had a chance to make things right.
Energy flowedthrough her as she devised her checklist. Time to “man up” as her roughneck coworkers would say. First up, she needed to find Fin.Where are you this week, Mr. McAlister?she thought.
She sat forward and opened the travel calendar they had set up in October. The recent entries showed Fin’s assistant was still updating it. Alex reviewed his itinerary for this week. He was in Glasgow through tomorrow, then in Aberdeen at his parents’ house through next week. She opened the Aberdeen entry and was surprised to see their home address.Bless you, Kathy, for that. Risky, but helpful.
Her next task was arranging travel. She’d need a day or two to get her schedule sorted, so Friday was the earliest she could travel. She dialed the in-house travel agent’s number.
“Jake speaking.”
“Jake, it’s Alex. I have an emergency trip I need to make. Um, and it needs to go on my personal account.”
“Hey, Alex. Okay. Personal account. Trip details?”
“I need to get to Aberdeen, Scotland. And I’d like to leave Friday night or Saturday morning. I’ll need at least one night in a hotel room, possibly more, depending on how it goes. I have no clue how long I’m staying. It may be a week or I might get right back on the plane and come home.” She paused. “Am I asking you to do something impossible?”
Jake laughed. “Nah, I’m always up for a challenge. We’ve had to book stuff like this before with soft end dates. We’ll figure something out. What about a car?”
“Um, I’m assuming I can grab a cab or ride share, but I’m not familiar with Aberdeen. Can you confirm that’s an option?”
“Yep, let me get on it. And, Alex?”
“Yeah?”
“I’m rooting for you.”
Alex froze, then relaxed. She was still getting used to people knowing her business. “Thanks, Jake.”
“Yep. I’ll hit you back if I have questions. Later.”
Alex hung up the phone and pulled up her calendar. She spent the next two hours moving things around and pushing meetings back. She’d just sent a request to move a budget meeting forward to Friday morning when Sam walked in.
“You declined the planning system meeting?”
“Yes. You don’t need me there. You know what our goals are and can handle those guys just fine. I’ll be unavailable next week.”
Sam’s grin covered his entire face. “Okay, boss. Have a nice trip.”
Alex shook her head.Everyone is ahead of me on this one, she thought.
Her next stop was Frank’s office. She waited outside for him to finish the call he was on, then tapped on his door and asked if he had a minute.
“Sure, come on in,” he said, pointing to the empty chair. “What’s up?”
“I’m going to be out next week. I’m taking a vacation.”
Frank sat up straighter in his seat. “Kind of a busy time to take off, isn’t it?”
