Chapter 2 Crazy Fans
Still holding her breath, Andrea gripped the armrests once more until the plane finally slowed and then skidded to a stop. She pried her eyes open and looked around, so glad to be alive.
“Welcome to Chicago,” the flight attendant said in a voice so chipper, Andrea wanted to unbuckle her seat belt just so she could walk over and slap her.
The flight attendant asked them all to be patient while she went up front to speak to the pilots. Andrea could only make out the tone of their voices, not what they were saying. It didn’t sound good. Though part of her was scared to take off again because of her last experience, she was worried about not making it home in time to talk Grandpa Jack into getting his surgery. She picked up her phone and sent her mom a text. “I’m in Chicago. How is Grandpa? What’s going on. I’m so worried.”
Her mom didn’t answer before the flight attendant came back to tell them the pilot had arranged a driver to take them to the main terminal. The plane would be grounded until it could be checked out by a mechanic, and that would take a few days.
Andrea’s stomach turned over as she thought about what she would have to do now. She’d need to get to the main terminal so she could see about catching another flight. Of course, if the airport in Milwaukee was really closed, she didn’t think that would be possible. Could she drive home to Elkhart Lake from Chicago? Were the roads open? How long might that take? Would it even be safe? She didn’t know, but she wanted to find out quickly.
In the front seat of the car, the driver smiled at her to make her feel comfortable and turned up the heat. She was wearing a long black coat and pulled it closed around her simple black leggings and long green sweater, but she was still chilly and thankful he was trying to make her feel better.
As he drove, the older man mentioned, “My granddaughter loves Windswept. It’s her favorite movie.”
Andrea smiled. It always made her happy to know people recognized her but didn’t go crazy. “I’m so glad to hear that. It was a fun movie to make.”
“She’ll be tickled when she finds out I was able to give you a ride.”
He didn’t ask for a selfie or an autograph, which also made her happy because she wasn’t in the mood for any of those things.
The car let them out in front of the main terminal, and Andrea walked inside with her bags, shaking snowflakes from her hair. She’d have to figure out what to do. Most of the time, she traveled with her personal assistant, Kelsey Dillon, who took care of these sorts of things. But she had known Kelsey wouldn’t want to travel to Wisconsin with her, so she’d let the woman have the rest of the month off. Andrea would be headed to California after New Years to start working on a new movie, and Kelsey would meet her there. Los Angeles would be a nice change from New York City where Andrea had been for the last several weeks, promoting her last movie.
After checking she still had no texts from her mom, she found a listing of all of the commercial flights. The board indicated that all of the flights to Milwaukee had been cancelled. In fact, it looked like all of the airports in the area were closed due to the weather. Andrea sighed. Now what?
Finding her phone, she was about to call her mom to see what she thought she should do and get an update on Grandpa Jack when she heard a squeal a few feet away from her. Andrea looked up to see a blonde woman with a huge smile on her face, clapping her hands, and tapping her friends on the shoulders. “Look! It’s her!” she shouted, a crazed look in her eyes.
The people around her seemed to come to life with recognition as well. Andrea could see she was about to be mobbed by fans—and these looked to be some crazy fans! Without even making her phone call, she dropped her phone back into her pocket and headed for the closest elevator to anywhere.
She saw an elevator close by and hurried toward it, dragging her bags. Slipping inside, she stepped between an older couple and was thankful the doors were closing. But the blonde’s face appeared in front of her, an arm outstretched. Why hadn’t the doors closed? They needed to closer right now! The last thing she needed was to be mobbed by fans!