Keep It Secret: Time Starts Now (Part Book 1) Read online

  “You bought this car?” is all that comes out of my mouth.

  “Exactly.”

  “For me?”

  “Correct,” Henry nods.

  “So, this is my car?”

  “You are so clever beautiful. Do you like it?” Henry asks me as I just sit there looking out of the window in shock.

  I look at him with tears in my eyes.

  “I can’t believe you did this. No one has ever done anything like this for me. I mean, not because it is a giant gift, but because you actually listened and knew exactly which car my dream car is,” I say still in shock.

  “Don’t cry beautiful, what’s my success if I can’t share it with the people I care about? And I guess after not seeing you for two weeks I had to come with a giant gift.”

  I look at him and say: “So when you go on tour and we don’t see each other for maybe two months what do I get then, a private jet?” I suggest laughing.

  “Maybe. Hmmm, you are right. I haven’t thought that through.”

  “So, do you want to drive or do you want me to drive?”

  As much as I want to drive my new car, I hate driving on the motorway so I let him drive.

  The drive to the cabin in Austria is so much fun. Oh my! I missed Henry so much. We sing to songs at the top of our voices and laugh a lot. When we finally arrive at the little town where our cabin is we both stare at the town sign and try to pronounce it. Neither one of us is able to.

  “Well, I guess we will spend our time together in a place that we can’t even pronounce then,” Henry says whilst shrugging his shoulders and driving on to the cabin.

  When we get to the cabin we are greeted by the landlady. She is very cute. A short older woman, who shows us around the cabin and then tells us how lovely the woods are in the morning. She says goodbye and gives us her number in case we need anything.

  “I’ll get the stuff out of the car” Henry lets me know.

  “Do you need any help?”

  “No, just make yourself comfortable, beautiful,” I smile at him.

  “I’ll make us some tea.”

  “Oh, I didn’t think of that. We don’t have any tea.”

  “Please babe, I’m British and have five bags. Do you really think I didn’t pack tea in one of them?” I say with a smile very proud of myself.

  “You are amazing.”

  I put the kettle on and take it all in. This is going to be great. I’ve never had a weekend getaway like this ever. So romantic this is what usually only happens in books or movies.

  When Henry finished bringing all the stuff inside, we drink our tea and decide to go to the little shop the landlady told us about to buy some groceries. We could do this together as Henry had researched it well - nobody will disturb or find us here. There are only fifteen houses, a post office and one small grocery store. Oh yes and the woods. So we walk to the grocery store. We buy some pasta, wine and fruit.

  “I love this,” Henry says.

  “What?”

  “This. Just walking to the grocery shop with you and doing our shopping. Like we are just an ordinary couple.”

  “Me too.”

  We walk back to our cabin and decide to cook. Because it’s already late now and we are both hungry. Okay, so this is the moment Henry is about to find out that I can’t cook at all.

  “Love, you do realize that the water is supposed to boil before you put the pasta in? And I don’t want to complain, but the sauce is actually burning,” Henry walks over and takes over the cooking.

  “I think I need to come clean,” I tell him as he looks at me.

  “Come clean about what?”

  “I can’t cook. Like not at all. I’m pretty much useless in the kitchen,” I admit feeling a little bit ashamed.

  Henry lifts up my chin.

  “Love, do you really think I haven’t figured that out yet? I mean back at your house when you were making breakfast, Poppy had to take over every single time. Also, you managed to make your oven burn not only once but twice. I mean who on earth manages to make an oven burn?”

  “Then, why did you let me cook now?”

  “Because I think it’s adorable that you are trying to impress me and to be honest, you in the kitchen is the best comedy show on earth. I don’t know how anyone can be so lost in a kitchen,” Henry is laughing so hard that he can barely get the words out.

  I cross my arms and look at him in an offended way.

  “Awww, don’t be offended love. You’ve got other skills,” He says with a wink and gives me a kiss on the cheek before turning back to the stove.

  I start setting the table, light some candles, walk to the kitchen counter and open a bottle of wine.

  “At least I know how to open a bottle of wine,” I say very proud of myself. Henry just smiles.

  We sit down and eat our dinner. After that, we clear up the table and decide to take our wine outside with us into the Jacuzzi. It’s really cold outside so I can’t get into the Jacuzzi quick enough.

  “This is amazing. Listen!”

  So I listen. And all I hear is quiet. Accept of the animals in the forest making noises and the wind in the trees.

  “Do you hear that? Silence except for the beautiful sounds nature makes,” Henry says.

  “Yes, it’s absolutely incredible. Nowadays we all are always so busy, that we actually forget to take a moment to just listen.”

  “Yes, that is the problem,” Henry turns to me and kisses me.

  We kiss and talk and enjoy our time in the Jacuzzi.

  “Do you know that there is no other cabin near us? Nobody is here, it’s just you and me,” Henry tells me as he looks deep into my eyes.

  “Are you planning on killing me?”

  “No, although now that you say it, I figure it could come across like that.”

  “I was just thinking we could do anything outside here in this Jacuzzi without anybody seeing,” he suggests with a cheeky smile.

  “Oh what a shame, I actually like the thought of being caught. I think it’s kind of hot,” I reply with a smile.

  “Oh love, where have you been? I need to marry you!”

  “Well, before we get married, let me see if I can do anything else for you right now,” I say and take my bikini top off.

  “I like where this is going,” Henry replies whilst staring at my exposed breasts.

  I sit on his lap in the Jacuzzi and kiss him whilst rocking my hips back and forth. When we both decide this isn’t enough and take off the bottoms of our bathing suits. We enjoy having sex in the Jacuzzi not once, not twice but three times. After we are both hyped up with endorphins, but also exhausted we decide to go back inside.

  We go to the bedroom and lay in bed talking and laughing about all sorts of things.

  “I wish life could always be like this,” I say.

  “Me, too! And it can.”

  He locks his hand in mine. I look at him.

  “I really wish it could.”

  Henry takes me into his arms, knowing exactly what I’m talking about, namely that this carefree time the two of us are enjoying right now is something that will be very rare for us to come by, in fact, whether we’ll ever get the chance to do this again and in his arms with my head on his chest I fall asleep.

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  Chapter 14

  Henry

  I wake up with Ali in my arms. It’s heaven! There is no better feeling. It’s still pretty dark outside, so it must be early. I look at Ali. She is so beautiful, that’s how she got her nickname. She doesn’t like it, but she is getting used to it. I love it when she is all dressed up, that woman knows how to dress and do her make-up, but I love it even more when she has no makeup on at all and wears one of my t-shirts. Maybe because I know that nobody, but me gets to see her like that. I kiss her on the forehead and she wakes up.

  “Stop!” She says in a sleepy voice.

  “Stop with what?”

  “Looking at me when I’m sle
eping.”

  “I can’t, you are just too beautiful!”

  “Yeah, sure. I don’t know what I do when I’m asleep, maybe I drool how sexy is that,” she says laughing.

  “I’m sure it would be adorable and don’t worry, if that ever happens I’ll make sure to get it on camera.”

  “Charming,” she says and buries her head under her pillow.

  “Are you still tired?”

  “No, I don’t think I’ll be able to go back to sleep, now I know I have a stalker sitting next to me,” She mumbles underneath her pillow.

  “Well, great, let’s get up and have a walk in the forest just as the landlady suggested,” I propose and jump out of bed.

  “Are you serious?”

  “Absolutely!” I reply already on my way to get dressed.

  Ali crawls out of bed and walks into the bathroom.

  “I’ll go downstairs and make us some tea so you can get ready,” I let Ali know before I walk downstairs.

  I put the kettle on and throw the tea bags in the pot. I look out of the window. I think about last night. I don’t want this weekend to end. But tomorrow night we’ll be on our way back home and we’ll have to say goodbye yet again. I get ripped out of my thoughts because my phone rings. I see Jeff’s name on the screen.

  “Jeff?” I answer the phone.

  “Henry? Where are you?”

  “Why is there another interview I forgot about?”

  “No, but I am standing outside your house and you are not here, so I called your assistant and she told me that you left town. Didn’t think it was important to let me know about this?”

  “Jeff, hang on. Are you my manager or my babysitter? I don’t have any appointments this weekend. I had a clear schedule so I decided to go away,” I interrupt him.

  “Ah, I can tell by your attitude, you are with that girl again. Don’t you see she is nothing but bad influence? You should be working on writing your fucking songs for the album right now! Not screwing some random girl.”

  “This conversation is over. Goodbye Jeff.” I hang up the phone.

  I can’t help, but slam my fist on the kitchen counter.

  “Are you okay?” Ali asks as she shows up behind me.

  I take a deep breath.

  “I’m sorry. I just had an argument with my manager.”

  “Oh okay. I’m sorry, is he angry because you are here with me and not writing your songs?”

  “No. Why do you think that?”

  “I don’t know I just figured that could be a reason for a manager to be mad. Henry, I don’t want to stand between you and your career. If you need to go I totally understand that and…”

  “SHHH.” I interrupt her and put my finger on her lips to make her stop talking.

  I take her head in my hands and look her deep into the eyes.

  “You don’t stand between me and my career and you and our trip are the things that inspire my songs. So without you, I wouldn’t be able to write songs at all.”

  Before she can reply anything I kiss her.

  After we drink our tea we wrap ourselves up because it is really chilly outside and then head out. The sun is starting to go up and the air smells fresh. The birds are chirping and the wood is cracking. I grab Ali’s hand and we walk off. I impress her with my Boy Scout skills and teach her things about nature and orientation who would have thought that these skills would actually impress a girl someday. All of a sudden there is a dog running towards us. First, he greets me and then he sees Ali, jumps up to her, throws her over and starts humping her. I would like to help her, but I can’t stop laughing. After a few seconds, the dog owner appears and calls his dog back. He apologizes for the dog’s behavior.

  “No worries, I mean who could blame him. I feel the same way when I look at her,” I say to the dog owner.

  “Ah, are you from England?” the dog owner asks me.

  “Yes, sir.”

  “I lived in England for 15 years and loved every second of it,” the dog owner tells us.

  “So, why did you leave?” Ali asks.

  “Ah, for the greatest thing there is on earth. Love,” the dog owner replies with a big smile.

  The dog tries to once more jump up at Ali, but the dog owner holds him back.

  “Looks like Collin has a crush on you,” the dog owner says with a laugh.

  “Yeah, I think he wants me to be his girlfriend,” Ali replies also with a laugh.

  I reach down to pet the dog and say: “Sorry buddy, I mean I get it, but she is already taken,” we say goodbye to the friendly dog owner and his dog, and keep marching on.

  Back in our cabin, we have some breakfast and then just decide to hang out in the cabin.

  “How far are you with that one song you sang some lyrics to me last week?” Ali asks me as we lay on the sofa with the fireplace on.

  “I think I’ve finished it, but I’m not sure if it is one hundred percent what I want it to be.”

  “Sing it to me!”

  So I start singing the words to her. When I look down at her, she has her head buried in a cushion so I pull it off her. She has tears in her eyes.

  “Was it that bad?”

  “No. It’s beautiful. Who is it about?”

  “You already know that. Now you just want me to say that it’s about you.”

  “True,” she replies and smiles.

  We spend the rest of our day lying on the sofa watching movies on the computer when it’s evening again.

  “Are you hungry?”

  “Yeah, I am a bit, what about you?”

  “Yes, I could do with some food. Do you want me to cook something for us?” Ali asks me with a cheeky smile.

  “No love, I want us to leave this cabin alive and also I don’t want you to burn this place down. I’ll do the cooking,” I say and get up.

  “Well, if you insist,” she replies and lies back on the sofa.

  I’m not joking, I really am worried she could burn this place down. This cabin is made out of wood and as she is great in making the oven get on fire, I don’t want to think about what could happen.

  I make us some pasta with tomato sauce and meatballs and pour us each a glass of red wine. We sit down by the fireplace and have a little picnic.

  “Do you like it?” I ask Ali to find out if she actually enjoys the food I made her.

  “Yes, it’s really good.”

  “We are like “Lady and the tramp” I realize.

  “Why, because you are a tramp?”

  “No, because of the food choice. Wow, thanks a lot,” I say and pretend to be offended.

  “I don’t know why they would choose that food for the first date?”

  “Okay well, go ahead, love, I’d like to know why you think it’s a bad food choice,” I encourage her to go on.

  “Well, it’s pretty obvious. It’s terrible to eat. First of all, you never get the right amount of pasta on your fork, so you either need ten hours until you are done with eating or you stuff your face. Also half of it falls out of your mouth, and you end up having sauce all over yourself. And even if you are a genius like me, and do manage to get the right amount of pasta on your fork and in your mouth, you still end up having the sauce everywhere. So, no, that is a hundred percent, not a good first date food choice.”

  “Okay, I understand your point. But you do realize that the movie is about two dogs? I’m sure they are kind of messy anyway. So, what is a good food choice for a date?”

  “Well, something that’s easy to eat. Like soup or a chocolate fondue,” I can’t help it but have to start laughing.

  “Chocolate fondue? You don’t even like chocolate, love!”

  “I know I don’t like chocolate, but that’s not what this is about. A chocolate fondue with some fruit would be a very sexy food choice, and by the way, with fruit, I do like chocolate. I just don’t like it on its own,” Ali explains herself.

  I get up and walk to the door. I have a surprise for Ali, and I can’t believe what she jus
t said, because I could never ever have planned this more perfectly.

  “Where are you going?”

  “I have a little surprise for you, it’s outside in the car. I’ll be back in a second, just wait,” I say and open the door to walk out.

  “Oh yeah, sure, because the car you bought me wasn’t enough!” Ali mumbles to herself as I walk out.

  This is great, I actually really did buy a chocolate fountain and some fruit because I thought it would be a fun thing to do on our last night in the cabin. So I grab everything from under the seat because that’s where I hid it, and walk back inside the cabin.

  “Don’t look!” I yell as I walk back inside.

  “Okay, I won’t. What did you get me now? A house?”

  “So close, love,” I answer her.

  I walk straight to the kitchen and put everything together. The chocolate is already starting to melt in the fountain and I am cutting up the fruit.

  “Do you need any help?” Ali calls from the living room.

  “No love, do me a favour and stay as far away from the kitchen as you possibly can.” I know I’m going to get in trouble for that one.

  “Excuse me?”

  “Nothing love, just relax,” I answer her hoping she’ll forget what I said earlier.

  “I know I’m not a great cook, but it’s not like I don’t know how to do anything. I’m able to make a salad,” Ali defends herself.

  It’s adorable how she really would like to be the perfect housewife.

  “Yes love, that’s amazing. Don’t worry, you have other qualities,” I assure her.

  She decides to go upstairs and get herself a cardigan because she is cold. That’s perfect for me because now I have the time to put the fruit and the chocolate fountain on the table. When Ali walks down the stairs I am already sitting in front of the table on the sheep fur. The fire is on and Ali can’t believe what she is seeing.

  “So, do you like it?” I ask her to break the silence.

  “Like? I love it, but I’m a little confused.”

  “Why are you confused?”

  “Because I know you are a celebrity and people work in your favour, but just me talking about a chocolate fondue minutes ago, so you get someone to bring it to you? Who is your genie? What if I say I want to go to Hawaii now? Could you just make a call, and there would be a jet picking us up in ten minutes?”