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Chapter 24
For the remainder of Saturday, Kevin and Stephanie went to the local mall to pick up the remainder of things Kevin needed for the tour. And the trip to the local mall was a real eye-opener for Stephanie. They had been fortunate up until that time that Kevin had not been recognized while they were in a public place. Kevin and Stephanie had taken a break from shopping and stopped to get an ice cream. While they were sitting on a bench in the middle of the mall, Kevin and Stephanie were startled by a loud scream.
Kevin looked around and instantly noticed the group of three girls that were standing a few feet away from them and just staring at Kevin. Kevin whispered in Stephanie’s ear, "Just let me take a few minutes to meet these fans and sign some autographs and hopefully they will leave us alone after that."
Stephanie just nodded and watched Kevin as he told the young girls to come on over. They couldn’t have been any older than 12 or 13 years old Stephanie thought to herself. She felt her heart warm as she watched Kevin. At that moment she realized just how much he loved what he did, and he was fully aware that they had their fans to thank for their success. Kevin was very light-hearted with the young girls and signed some autographs while one of the young girl’s mothers ran off to buy a disposable camera.
Stephanie knew she was prepared for what came next. One of the young girls looked over at her and asked, "Are you Kevin’s girlfriend?" Stephanie simply just looked at Kevin, pleading with him to answer the question.
Then Stephanie held her breath as Kevin honestly admitted, "Yes, she is my girlfriend."
Stephanie was able to sigh in relief as the same girl that asked the question, looked at Kevin and said, "She’s very pretty Kevin." The other two girls agreed.
Kevin looked over at Stephanie with a smile as the three girls focused their attention on her and asked her for her autograph. One of the other girls said, "It will be cool to say that we have both Kevin’s and his girlfriend’s autograph."
Stephanie obliged and signed a piece of paper for each of them. She shied away though when the mother returned with the camera. They had asked her to join them in a picture, but Kevin jumped in and said, "Why don’t we just take a picture of the four of us. Steph is a little shy." Kevin said.
They took a few more minutes to take the pictures and then the three girls and their mother thanked Kevin and Stephanie for their time.
When the three girls and their mother were a safe distance away, Kevin put his arm around Stephanie’s shoulder and asked, "Are you okay Steph?"
"That was definitely an experience. One that I knew would happen sooner or later." Stephanie said.
"Yes, but are you okay with it?" Kevin asked again.
"I was nervous about the whole situation and I am glad you jumped in a few times and spoke for me. I wasn’t sure if I could admit that I was your girlfriend, and I really didn’t feel comfortable with having my picture taken." Stephanie admitted.
"I refuse to lie to the fans about my relationships and I could tell that you were not comfortable with having your picture taken. The fans really surprise us sometimes. They handle situations better than we think they will." Kevin responded.
"I am very impressed Kevin. I fully expected you to say I was simply just a friend." Stephanie said.
"Why would I do that? I refuse to lie to the fans. They get more upset that we lie about it." Kevin said.
"Does management not tell you to keep those kinds of things quiet?" Stephanie inquired.
"That used to be a controversial topic with our old management. One of our requirements for new management, was they see us and treat us like human beings. We can make a lot more decisions for ourselves, especially regarding our personal lives." Kevin explained.
"Good for you guys. No one should tell you how to run your lives." Stephanie said.
"That is what we finally realized and we decided we had to do something about it." Kevin replied.
"Well, what do you say we finish up your shopping and head home?" Stephanie finally said.
"Sounds good to me." Kevin said as they both got up off the bench and he took her hand in his own. It took Kevin another hour to find everything that he needed, and he tried to convince Stephanie to go into a few stores and pick some things out for herself, but she wouldn’t have anything to do with it. He would have to come back on Monday or Tuesday and pick up a gift for her before he left on Wednesday.
They stopped off at the video store and rented a few movies on the way home, and ordered a pizza as soon as they got to Kevin’s place. They got comfortable on the couch together and didn’t move for the rest of the night. Kevin finally had to carry Stephanie up to bed at 1am when the last movie ended. As he gently placed her in bed, he just lay there by her side for several minutes thinking about how much he was going to miss her. He had a feeling he was going to be spending a lot of time on the phone with her while he was gone. He finally turned off the light, gently took her in his arms and let himself drift off to sleep.
The next morning, Stephanie stirred in bed and couldn’t figure out why she was still wearing her clothes from the day before. The last thing she remembered was watching a movie with Kevin. She finally decided she must have fallen asleep and he carried her upstairs to bed, not wanting to wake her. She gently worked her way out of Kevin’s arms and went into the washroom. She wanted to treat Kevin that morning by making him breakfast in bed. She knew he was a sound sleeper in the morning and she figured she had plenty of time to make Kevin a killer breakfast.
She needed to get out of her clothes from the day before so she quietly went into Kevin’s drawer and removed a pair of boxer shorts and a T-shirt to wear. Then she closed the bedroom door and headed downstairs to the kitchen. Her favorite thing for breakfast was waffles, but she had to settle for pancakes, since Kevin didn’t have a waffle iron. She found all the ingredients to make fresh blueberry pancakes, and found enough fruit to make a fresh fruit salad. She decided to put aside some of the strawberries and make some whipped cream. She had always dreamed of feeding a guy she loved strawberries and whipped cream. That was when she realized that a lot of her dreams were coming true. She didn’t think she would ever find someone as great as Kevin, but she liked it when unexpected things like this happened.
Forty-five minutes later, Stephanie put everything on a tray and took it upstairs. She couldn’t find anything else in the house, so she had to settle for the pancakes and fruit. She put the tray down on the floor and quietly opened up his bedroom door. She laughed to herself when she saw he hadn’t moved at all since she left him. She carried the tray in and placed it on the floor on her side of the bed. She lay down on top of the covers and perched herself up on her elbow as she lay there and look at how cute he looked as he slept. She finally lowered her lips onto his and lightly kissed him. At first, it didn’t seem like it was going to work, but finally after applying a little more pressure, Kevin slowly put his arms around her and responded to her kisses.
She pulled away from the kiss and said, "Good Morning gorgeous," as he slowly opened his eyes and looked up at her.
"Good morning to you." Kevin said, his voice still deep and husky from sleeping.
"I have a little surprise for you." Stephanie said.
Kevin put his hand behind Stephanie’s head and brought her closer to him so he could kiss her. He let his other hand find her breast and tease her nipple until it was erect.
Stephanie pulled away and said, "That was not what I had in mind. We can save that for later. I wanted to spoil you this morning."
"Well waking me up to make love to me sounds like a good way to spoil me." Kevin said.
"Well how does breakfast in bed sound?" Stephanie asked.
Kevin smiled and changed his tone, fearing that if he continued on the way he was, he may upset her. "You know you are perfect in every way." Kevin said as he watched Stephanie carry the tray up to the bed.
"Oh you’ll find out my faults soon enough." Stephanie said as she sat with her legs crossed.
Kevin put two pancakes on a plate and watched as Stephanie filled a bowl with fruit. "Are you not going to have any of these delicious looking pancakes with me?" Kevin asked.
"I will just stick with fruit this morning." Stephanie replied.
"Not if I have my way Steph." Kevin said as he cut into the pancakes and brought the fork to his mouth. "Where did you learn to make these? They are amazing!" Kevin said.
"My mother used to make them for us every once and a while, and it took me a while to get the recipe right, but I finally did." Stephanie explained.
"You’re holding out on me aren’t you Stephanie. You’re like some master chef on the side aren’t you?" Kevin joked.
"No, what you see is what you get." Stephanie responded.
Kevin cut some more pancake and brought the fork up to Stephanie’s mouth. "Come on. You have to share these with me." Kevin said.
Between the two of them, they finished off the five pancakes. Kevin had placed the tray on the floor and placed the bowl of strawberries and whipped cream on the bed in between them. He slowly dragged a strawberry through the whipped cream and brought it up to Stephanie’s mouth. She bit into the strawberry seductively. Stephanie laughed as Kevin placed the two bowls on the floor and took her in his arms. "You just looked too damn sexy doing that." Kevin said as he removed Stephanie’s clothes and made slow and passionate love to her.
By noon, Kevin and Stephanie decided to get dressed and spend the afternoon horseback riding.
An hour later, the two of them were on their way to Trey’s ranch. Kevin had decided to keep them there during the tour, but was going to make sure that Stephanie has access to all of his horses while he was away. They pulled into the driveway and found Trey walking out of one of the barns. "Hey Trey!" Kevin said.
Stephanie was surprised that there was no tension between them, considering what happened the last time they were there.
"Hey Kevin and Stephanie! You two wanna go for a ride today?" Trey asked.
"Yeah, I wanted to take some time to come see the horses before I head out on the new tour." Kevin replied. Kevin turned to Stephanie and said, "You remember where my horses are. Could you give Trey and I a few minutes alone."
"I’ll go get them ready." Stephanie said as she quickly kissed Kevin.
"Thanks Steph." Kevin called as she walked away.
"I don’t want to stick my nose in your business, but it seems like things are pretty serious between the two of you." Trey remarked.
"Yes. She is an amazing person. Things are pretty serious and I am going to miss her like crazy while we are on tour. But she is coming to spend two weeks with me in Europe, so it won’t be too bad." Kevin replied.
"Well I am glad to see that you’re at least seeing someone Kevin. I guess I just don’t understand how difficult it is to find someone." Trey admitted, still feeling guilty for the way he treated his friend the last time he was there.
"Well I am not going to jinx anything, but Stephanie is special. We still need to get to know each other better." Kevin said. Kevin then went on to tell Trey that he was going to keep the horses there for a few more months and that he wanted Stephanie to have access to them if that was what she wanted. Trey assured him that that would be fine and he would introduce Stephanie to the rest of the staff so they wouldn’t question who she was if she did indeed come by. Kevin thanked his friend and went to go join Stephanie in the stables.
Stephanie already had one horse prepared, but he could see she was having problems getting the saddle onto the larger of the two horses. "Do you need a hand there?" Kevin asked as he made his presence known.
"He is just too tall for me." Stephanie said as she gave up her fight.
Ten minutes later, they were both seated on their horses and on their way. This time they slowly rode side-by-side and talked about a variety of things. One thing that had been on Kevin’s mind for the past while, was what the guy was like that she almost married. So he felt comfortable enough to ask Stephanie about that. "So Stephanie. You told me once that you were almost married at one time. What was he like?" Kevin asked.
"Oh yeah. Thank god we never got married. He was my first real boyfriend and we met while we were both in college. We dated for approximately three years before we broke up. The first two years of the relationship were pretty good. I was happy and I thought he was the person I wanted to spend the rest of my life with. He was a very attentive person, paying attention to my needs as well. Well it was that way until we both graduated from college and started our careers. He couldn’t stand that there were other things in my life that I considered high priorities as well. He had asked me several times to make a choice between him and my career and I didn’t have the guts to choose. I never really made the decision. Then things really started going downhill. I realized that I was the only person growing in the relationship and I was no longer happy and I even wondered if I was still in love with him. So one day he asked me once again to choose, and I did. I finally had the guts to tell him that if I had to live without one, it was going to be him. He of course begged me to forget that he had even asked me to choose, but I couldn’t forget, especially when it wasn’t the first time he had done it. So that was the end of that relationship." Stephanie explained.
"Even if you weren’t happy in the relationship, it still must have been difficult to make that decision." Kevin added.
"Yes it was very difficult. But it was like a weight was lifted off my shoulders you know. I knew at that point that I had fallen out of love, simply because I was a 22 year old ready to get my career going and he still had the mentality of the same guy I had met three years before. I knew that was not what I wanted for myself." Stephanie responded.
"Well I am sorry to hear that you had to go through all of that Stephanie." Kevin said.
"Ah, you live and learn. I realized at that age anyways, that I still had too much I wanted to do before I got married and he was starting to put the pressure on." Stephanie responded.
"If you don’t mind me asking, what are your thoughts on marriage now?" Kevin asked, knowing that marriage was something that he wanted sooner rather than later.
"It is definitely something I am interested in. I finally have my career established to level where I am happy and marriage and kids are something I see in my future." Stephanie answered. She didn’t mention that she could picture Kevin being her husband and having children with him. She wasn’t sure if their relationship was ready for that kind of discussion yet.
"A family is something that I am anxious about, but I am not rushing into anything just because it is something that I want." Kevin remarked.
"You have to take your time when you make decisions like that. I don’t know about you, but when I do get married, it will be till death do us part. I don’t want to become another statistic of divorce." Stephanie added.
"We both share that desire then." Kevin replied.
They both dropped that topic, both pleased about what they had learned from that conversation. Kevin desperately wanted to talk more about it, but knew he should give it more time. But he had a good feeling that Stephanie was the woman he wanted to spend the rest of his life with.
They continued riding and talking for several hours, and then finally decided they had better head back because neither of them had eaten since breakfast. Half an hour later, they were back in Kevin’s 4Runner on their way back to his place. Kevin had mentioned that he felt like making her his famous Lasagna for dinner. It was his turn to return the favor after the breakfast she made him.
