With My Heart Wide Open

Chapter 30

Audrey knew that she couldn't keep living her fairytale with Sergio forever and that the day would come when she would have to come down from her cloud and return to reality. That day was here. She had arrived at the Real Madrid Foundation offices with time to spare and she felt optimistic, but a little nervous to start her new adventure.

Entering the building, she was greeted by Maria, whom she had spoken to on the phone and met at her interview. Seeing a familiar face brought a sense of calm to her nerves.

"Good morning, Ms. King. Let me show you to your office. The plan for today is just to show you around, introduce you to everyone....basic first day things."

Maria was a very inviting and friendly person and Audrey was thankful for that this morning.

After a short elevator ride, they arrived on the fourth floor. A small walk down a wide hallway brought the women to rather sizeable office, with floor to ceiling windows down the entire outside wall.

"This is your office. If you need any additional furniture or are unhappy with the current furniture, just let me know and we will see what we can do to remedy the situation." She said with a smile.

"Oh, well I am sure this will all be fine. It is actually more than necessary. Thank you very much" Audrey answered. The office was more than she expected, but so far, this whole experience had provided more than she ever would have dreamed.

"This particular floor is home to all of the youth program staff. There is one person above you, the Director of Youth Programs. He is usually busy with other Senior Staff doing who knows what, so he really expects you oversee practically everything as the Programs Coordinator. That means there are four other staff members that you will supervise."

They walked across the hall into another office, where two of the other four employees shared an office.

"This is Lillian and Camila. Ladies, this is Audrey King."

Audrey couldn't help but notice the glare that Camila shot her. Wow, way to make a girl feel welcome, she thought. She would have to assert herself sooner rather than later, so that that situation didn't have a chance to grow into something undesirable. She definitely wasn't here to make any enemies.

The rest of the day had been pretty uneventful, but Audrey was still ready to get home. Even though not much had happened she was exhausted. She had to admit, that she was also ready to be home with Sergio and planned on calling him as soon as she got back to her apartment.

****

Audrey got into her "new" car and started towards home. She still couldn't believe she had accepted this car. Yes, she had paid for it, but she had only paid a quarter of what it was worth and that made her feel as if she had taken advantage of Sergio somehow. She was lost in thought, thinking about the first day at the office and what she was going to cook for dinner, when she saw flashing lights in her mirror. Looking up, she realized she was being pulled over. She looked down and realized she was speeding.

"Damn it!" she said.

The officer made his way to her car as she rolled down her window.

"Good afternoon, ma'am. License and registration, please. Do you know why I pulled you over today?"

"I think I was speeding...I am not really familiar with the area yet, so I am not sure what the speed limit is..."she said. Even though she spoke the truth, maybe the office would feel sorry for her and just give her a warning.

"Yes, you were speeding. Is this your car Ms. King?

"Yes it is."

And then it hit her. With the craziness of the last few weeks with the Champions League Final and the trip to France, she hadn't had a chance to transfer anything over into her name. Everything was still in Sergio's name, the car itself, the insurance, all of it.

"That is not what any of this says. It says that this car belongs to Sergio Ramos Garcia...and believe me I know who that is. Do you have permission to be driving the car Ms. King?"

"It is my car...I bought it from him." She stated.

"Do you have a bill of sale?"

"Well....no."

"Ma'am, please step out of the car."

Are you freaking kidding me, she thought. Even though she was frustrated, she listened to the officer and exited the car, trying to keep her attitude to a minimum. He walked back to his car, and stayed there for a few moments, before returning to her. Hearing a car pull up, she looked over to see another officer arriving at the scene. Great, she thought.

"Would you have a phone number to contact Mr. Ramos to make sure you are telling the truth?"

"I am telling the truth....there is no reason to bother him with this."

"Well how are we supposed to believe you? You could just be some crazy fan that stole his car...we need to detain you until we can sort all of this out."

"Really? You can't be serious?"

****

Walking into her apartment, Sergio was still laughing. The officers had made her call him, and then had proceeded to ask that he come to their location to verify in person that Audrey was telling the truth.

"Stop laughing. It isn't that funny."

"See...it is that funny. What are the chances of something like that happening?" he continued laughing.

"Apparently pretty good, because it happened."

Sergio gently grabbed her arm, stopping her from charging through the apartment.

"Hey...babe...it is kinda funny. You can't deny that it is just crazy enough, that it is a little funny..." he said, smiling at her and shooting a wink at her for good measure.

"Yeah, I guess....but today of all days?" she said. She did manage to giggle slightly. It was just crazy enough that it did deserve a little laugh. "I just hope that nobody from the office saw that spectacle."

"Oh...it's going to be in all the papers by morning. Sergio Ramos's girlfriend arrested for grand theft auto....it will be priceless!" He was practically cackling at this point.

Rolling her eyes at him, she made her way to her bedroom. She needed a shower. That would help her relax.

"I am going to jump in the shower and then we can decide on some dinner..."

"Sounds good to me, babe. And guess what?"

"What?" she answered.

"I love you."

"I love you, too."She couldn't help but smile. Sergio made her feel like a treasure. She only hoped that she made him feel the same way.

Entering the shower, she still couldn't believe that had happened. She seriously hoped that Sergio wasn't right about it being in the paper in the morning. That was one of the last things she needed. Closing her eyes, she let the warm water cascade over her body. She could already feel the stress melting away. Lost in her own world for the moment, she didn't hear Sergio enter the bathroom.

He quietly watched her for a moment, deciding pretty quickly that it would be much more fun to be in there with her instead of out here just watching. Just as he was about to remove his clothes something caught his eye in the trash can.

He felt weird reaching into the trash, but he needed a better look. Brushing tissues off the object, he froze. It was a pregnancy test and it was positive.