Free The Trouble with Marrying a Movie Star by ZN Willett

Andrew?"
    I didn't answer immediately with "everything is great!" It was the silent pause that gave Pilar a knowing look that reflected in the mirror. She sat on my bed and gave me a minute to try to explain. "I love Andrew. I love everything about him, but….it’s taking some time to get used to the whole celebrity thing."
    "I'm sure it is. Dan worries about that often."
    "He's mentioned it. Several times." We both laughed out.
    The moment we arrived, he had mentioned it at least once an hour. He started with, "How do you do it, Andrew?" Then, "Did you know someone called me for an interview?" My favorite, "Andria is on the best-sellers list, and no one cared who I was. She dates you, and they want to know what do I do for fun? None of their business, that's what I do for fun!"
    Pilar shook her head grinning before she said, "Your father loves you very much."
    "I know that."
    "It seems Andrew loves you as well."
    "I know that too. But...it's the people around him that I'm not loving so much."
    "Are his parents accepting of you?"
    I smiled at her. Her mamma bear face came out. "I love the Hughes’s. They have been nothing but supportive towards me."
    "That's good to hear," she said relaxing back. "Then it shouldn't matter what those reporters say."
    "It's not what they said; it's what someone else said."
    "You want to talk about it?"
    "Andrew has a psycho ex, who unfortunately, lives in the same town and is around the same circle of people as is Andrew."
    "You mean Brittney?"
    I turned around to face her. "How do you know about her?" She raised a brow.
    "Jaimie?" She nodded. Of course, she would tell her everything that she read.
    "I know those gossip magazines aren't truthful."
    "I'm glad that you do. Well, we had some words, and it's been eating me up ever since."
    "Have you told him?"
    "No. I was going to at first, and then I thought more about it. She's the type of person that would want me too. She knows Andrew, and the moment I would have told him, he would have flown off of the handle and gone to see her. That is what I think she has wanted all along. He's been staying away from her and she's tried everything to see him. Using me would have been clever, if it had worked."
    "What a foolish girl."
    "She's crazy, but crafty. That's why it bothers me to let anything she says affect me."
    "You're human. Whatever was said must have been harsh."
    "I hate doubting, Andrew."
    "The little time that you have been here, that man's love has poured out. He listens attentively to Dan's grumbling. He went fishing—"
    "Wasn't that funny? It was his first time."
    "Oh, we know." We both laughed out. "Andrew's done a lot of things for you."
    I shook my head. "He's done all those things for Dad."
    "He's done all those things for you , Andria. There's no doubt in my mind that Andrew loves you. He's even downstairs now sitting patiently while Dan lectures him on dating his daughter."
    I stood up. "What!" I bolted out the room, down the stairs, straight into the kitchen where I heard my father's voice. I was always around to stop Dad's ranting’s, but Pilar and I weren't in the room.
    Turning the corner, I paused when I heard my Dad say, "My daughter means everything. That kid changed things for me."
    "She did the same thing for me, sir."
    "You can see why I worry."
    "Yes, sir. I worry about her too."
    "That's good, because I would hate to have to shoot you if anything happened to her."
    "If you had too, I would deserve it."
    "Just keep her happy."
    "I plan to for the rest of my life."
    "Don't get overzealous. Just make sure that she laughs. I'm not around anymore to make that happen. I did everything I could to put a smile on that girl's face."
    "She does have a pretty smile."
    "And a horrible laugh. But, it touches something deep inside when you hear it."
    "That it does, sir."
    "You can call me Dan."
    "Thanks, Dan."
    I quietly stepped backwards into Pilar, who had been eavesdropping along with me. She winked at me and I smiled back at