Page 64 of From LA to London, With Love

“What did you think, Sophie?” Steven, who’d been entertaining Elliot, walked up to me smiling, Elliot in his arms.

“It was awesome! Such an incredible variety of buildings—modern skyscrapers, art deco, brutalist—so close together. And seeing them all from the river was really special. You and Julie will have to come to London and do a Thames cruise. It’s not quite as spectacular, but it’s still a great way to experience London.”

“We’d love to visit! Chris seems to love London. I’m sure we will too.”

We looked over at Chris, who was standing at the railing, laughing with Mitch, and my heart turned to goo. God, I love him. I hadn’t said anything to him yet, but it was now constantly on the tip of my tongue. It was only a matter of time before it slipped out.

“It’s so great to see him so happy,” Steven said, looking at him fondly. “I haven’t seen him this cheerful for years, and from what I can tell, you and Elliot are primarily to thank for that. So, thank you.”

My cheeks flushed. “Oh, that’s so sweet. But I don’t think we can take credit for that. It’s all Chris. You know, it’s been so nice meeting you all and seeing his hometown. Family is clearly very important to him. And, I hope you don’t mind me saying this, but it’s been reassuring to see how close you and Chris are. I’ve always worried that if I did find a partner, they might not feel the same way I do about Elliot because of not having that biological link. Seeing you and Chris interact has put my mind at ease about that.” My cheeks flushed as I spoke. I hoped I hadn’t offended Steven. I was pleased Chris had given me the green light last night to find his biological father, although he’d seemed distracted and immediately changed the subject. But, from what I’d seen, Chris already had an amazing father in his life. It was heartwarming to see how close Chris and Steven were.

“I’m happy to hear that. I feel the same way about Chris as I do about his sisters—unconditional love. Not all stepparents are the same, of course, but Chris made it easy. How could you not love such a passionate, sweet little kid? Seeing how Chris interacts with Elliot, the way his face lights up when he talks about him, I don’t think you have anything to worry about.” Steven smiled, and I breathed out, relieved he seemed happy to talk about the topic. The fact Steven was so confident about Chris’s ability to love Elliot put my worries further to rest.

“I’m glad you think so. Chris has done nothing to make me doubt that, so I’m sure you’re right.” The boat was pulling toward the dock, so I started to collect our things in preparation for disembarking.

“Sophie! Look at Jenny’s latest update.” Chris approached, shaking his head and chuckling, and handed me his phone. It was a picture of Alfie, hair trimmed and fluffy, proudly wearing a new blue polka dot bandana.

Jenny: Alfie had a visit to the pet spa earlier today. He’s looking very stylish after his “wash and fluff” and “custom coat styling,” and smells a lot better too, thanks to the “luxury finishing cologne spritz.”

I laughed. “Oh my god! It sounds like they’re having so much fun. It’ll be a shock to his system when we get home and the most exciting thing we do is a walk on the Heath.”

The boat docked, and I walked off the wobbly gangway onto the Riverwalk holding Elliot, turning to wait for everyone else to disembark. Julie and Steven had just stepped onto dry land when I heard screams behind me.

I froze, pulling Elliot tight to my body, and turned to see what was happening.

It took me a few seconds to register what was going on.

It wasn’t a terrible accident or a mugging. While people all around us had their phones out, they weren’t calling the police or ambulances.

Nope. The phones were all directed at us. And so were the screams.

A large group of high school students had spotted Chris and were beyond excited, yelling things like, “Look, it’s Muscle Man!” “OMG, I can’t believe this! It’s Chris Trent.”

“Oh shit,” Chris groaned under his breath as he took in the situation. “I thought we’d be fine because there’s parking so close to the dock, but I was clearly wrong. I should’ve brought a bodyguard with us.” The car was only a few minutes’ walk away, under the Illinois Center, but the school group blocked our path.

Some of the more confident teenagers started approaching us. “Chris, Chris! Can I have a selfie?”

Buoyed by their classmates’ courage, more students swarmed forward. They were standing about three feet from us now, phones pointed in our direction. Their screams were attracting the attention of other tourists, who began making their way over.

My heart thudded in my ears. I didn't like this one bit, and neither did Elliot, who, overwhelmed with all the noise and people, began crying.

Chris squeezed my hand. “I’m so sorry, Soph. Can you and Elliot stand with the others? It’s probably safer there.” He turned to Steven, who was standing with Julie, Liz, and Mitch behind us.

“Can you see if we can get back on the boat? I don’t fancy us getting through this crowd any time soon and don’t want to risk it, especially with Liz being pregnant and Elliot.”

I looked back at the boat. They’d pulled up the gangplank and were slowly motoring away. Shit. Steven ran to the side of the boardwalk, waving his arms and yelling for them to come back.

Chris, trying to calm down the crowd, put on his best movie star smile and addressed them, practically shouting to be heard over the commotion.

“Hi, everyone! Yes, I’m Chris Trent. I hope you’re enjoying your day out in this beautiful city, my hometown.”

The teenagers and tourists cheered.

“Now, I’m out here with some of my family and friends, including a little baby who isn’t too happy with all of this noise and attention.”

That was the understatement of the year—Elliot was currently doing serious damage to my hearing with his screams.

“So, I’d really appreciate if you could move back and let us head home, now that you’ve had the chance to take some photos.” He smiled encouragingly at the crowd, but only a few people stepped back.