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Allegra grabbed her black Chanel purse and checked her appearance one last time in the mirror that hung in her office. Since she’d graduated from Columbia University as a Master in Behavorial Psychology, Allegra had worked at Johnson & Johnson, one of the best psychology practices in New York. She loved every minute of her work and always was thrilled when she’d been able to help a patient. Allegra’s office was situated in the left corner of the building and she mostly worked with children and young adults. It was already 06.30 pm and she knew she was late for a special meeting with her boss, Jake Johnson. He had sent her an email where he had said he wanted to discuss further plans with her. Ofcourse, that made Allegra very curious and she noticed that her handpalms were a little bit sweaty on her way to Mr. Johnson’s office. She knocked politely and when she had heard him saying ‘yes’, she entered the white and beige coloured room and close the dark wooden door behind her.

“Allegra, so good to see you again.” Mr Johnson said, taking off his glasses and walking towards her.

“Thank you Mr Johnson, how are you?” Allegra asked, placing herself on a cream coloured leather couch.

“I’m fine, thank you for asking. Now, I do think you’re a bit curious to hear what this is all about?”

Allegra nodded her head in agreement and smiled. Jake Johnson was a brilliant psychologist and she always had seen him as some kind of mentor. She watched him closely as he sat down across her.

“Actually yes, that’s correct. I’ve been searching in my head why you’d want to speak to me but I cannot come up with any good answer.” Allegra admitted.

“Well; let us say I have an offer for you that will look excellent on your professional resumé.”

Allegra shook her head a little bit and waited for Mr. Johnson to proceed.

“Kenneth Crear, a good friend of mine, is looking for a psychologist for a tv show.”

“You want me to work on a televison show?”

“One of his clients, a certain Mr Nick Carter, is trying to bring his very dysfunctional siblings back together. They all suffered from their parents’ divorce, the sins of fame and right now the eldest son is willing to do anything to ha ve a real family again.”

“Nick Carter, as is one of the member’s of the Backstreet Boys?”

Jake Johnson nodded his head and was surprised Allegra knew their music.

“Yes. I immediately thought of you, I sincerely believe you’re the best psychologist I have working here and I want to give you this special opportunity.”

“But...?”

He smiled and knew Allegra all too well.

“But unfortunately, the show is being filmed in Los Angeles, and i honestly can’t tell you know how long it will take to film everything. Kenneth wants you there if any of the Carter kids needs to talk about their emotions.”

“I honestly don’t know what to say. I really would like to do this, but I have a wedding coming up and...”

“I’m aware of that Allegra. So I’d like to ask you to think about this tonight, discuss it with Calvin and your parents. And let me know something tomorrow morning?”

Allegra nodded her head and shook Mr. Johnson hand, a clear sign that this meeting was over. Closing the door behind her, she sighed as she searched for the keys of her black Porsche Cayenne. Allegra sure was excited about the opportunity that Mr. Johnson had given her, but she knew all too well that her fiancé wouldn’t be too pleased about this.

When she was on her way to her elderly house, she called Calvin to see if he was already there, and maybe to find out how he felt about her going to California for at least a couple of months.

“Hello sweetheart. How are you? Are you on your way yet?”

She smiled as she thought about him. He’d be probably sitting on the back porch, drinking a single malt scotch.
“Yes. I believe I’ll be there in about 30 minutes or so. I had this late meeting with my boss.”

“Oh. And what news did he have to say? Are you becoming a partner at Johnson & Johnson?”

“Eh, not exactly. Jake kind of offered me a professional chance I really can’t let go.”

“Really? Oh sweetheart, I’m happy for you? What’s it about?”

“Well, if I accept this, I’ll be helping this celebrity family with their emotional problems. They’re having a television show and I have to be there when they need to have a ‘psych’ talk. And it’s in Los Angeles.”

Allegra waited for Calvin to say something, but he remained silent.”

“Calvin, are you still there?”

“Yes, of course. I just didn’t expect you to fly across the country for something silly like this.”

“It’s not silly, and it will be a major boost for my career. But if you don’t want me to do this, then I’ll politely decline the offer.”

Allegra silently sighed and shook her head. Why did he always have to be so negative about her work? Not to mention the fact he wasn’t keen about Allegra travelling to Los Angeles.

“Look, I’ll be home soon, maybe we can discuss this later tonight.”

Not wanting to continue the conversation by phone, she said goodbye and drove towards her parent’s house. Arriving there, she shut the engine down, and grabbed her purse and her notebook. When Allegra entered the house, she picked up the familiar smell of vanilla cookies, home made by their housemaid Annie. Kissing her father on the check and giving her mother a hug, Allegra sat down next to Calvin and the first course was served immediately. She asked about the out and abouts of her mother and listened to her father and Calvin discuss a problem at work. Allegra still felt the disappointment of her father and thought back on the evening she had turned down the proposal of becoming artistic director at Scott Oil Int. Allegra knew in her heart that one way or the other, she once would follow her father but until now, she just wasn’t ready to do that.

After dinner, she took a bottle of red Romanée Conti wine and two glasses and searched for Calvin in the backyard. She eventually found him sitting at their famous pond, watching Koi fishes swimming around.

“You want a glass of wine too?” Allegra asked, sitting down next to him on the dark wooden bench and he nodded his head.

“I’ve been thinking about what you said earlier on the phone.” He stated firmly.

Allegra grew silent and when she poured the wine into te glasses. It was a cloudless night and Allegra could easily see the stars above them twinkling. She turned her attention back to her future husband and noticed he was watching the same stars too.

“What exactly should you do there in Los Angeles? And where will you live?”

“I just have to be there for this dysfunctional family, providing them with my psychological guidance when they need it. That’s all. And I guess I’ll be staying at daddy’s house there for the time being. When I can go home again, I will. I promise I won’t stay there any longer than needed.”

“I won’t say I’m happy about this but I do know that if I tell you not to do it, you’ll be sad. And that’s not something I want. I want to see you happy honey, so...” His voice trailed off and Allegra was anxious to know what Calvin would say next.

“...so I guess you need to do this. Just promise me you’ll keep in touch with me and with your parents.”

Allegra bursted out in a loud ‘woohoo’ and flew around Calvin’s neck. He held her close while she thanked him for letting her go and heard all of her promises. The happy couple kissed eachother in the moonlight and stayed in the garden for another half hour. Then they returned to the mansion and rejoined Allegra’s parents in the library where Allegra informed them on her next professional challenge. She knew she could always call Dr. Johnson and she whispered into Calvin’s ear that she’d do exactly that.

Searching for her cellphone, a smile grew on her face as Allegra thought about how long it had been since she had last visited Los Angeles. It was one of her favourite cities and she always loved to be there. It was so different than New York, the sun was always shining, you could always wear cute dresses and most importantly, the beach and the ocean were never far away.

“Allegra? Is something wrong?” Dr Johnson spoke and brought Allegra back to reality.

“No no, ofcourse not. I just wanted to say that I’ll be hapy to accept your offer.”

“Really? How wonderful! I’ll call Kenneth right now to tell him you have accepted the offer and we’ll talk about the details tomorrow.”

“That sounds terrific. Thank you again and I’ll see you tomorrow then.” Dr Johnson hung up and Allegra made a little victory dance in the hall. She felt so ready to bring this opportunity to a good end.

The next day, Allegra woke up around 7 am and stepped carefully out of bed, not wanting to wake Calvin just yet. Turning on the shower, the first thoughts that came slipping into her mind were about her new assignment. She was eager to know more about the job and after she had picked out her work outfit for today, a light grey shirtdress with a beige leather belt with matching beige stiletto heel, she quickly dressed herself up, putting on some mat foundation, nude coloured lipstick and deepblack mascara. She picked up her silver Ralph Lauren tote bag and wrote a small letter to Calvin, wishing him a good day and that she’d call him as soon as she knew the specifics about her assignment.

Walking outside, she breathed in the cool morning air and stepped inside her Porsche Cayenne. The drive to the city was unusually quiet compared to other days and she enjoyed listening to Mark Schwaller’s morning radio show ‘Hello New York!’. Allegra parke dher car on her private parking space and walked inside her office around 9 am. Taking some early mailings from her secretary Annie, she sat down into her office chair and went through the mail. A patient of her, Mr. Peterson, had been admitted to a psychological hospital because he was walking naked through his neighbourhood, calling out for God. Allegra made a mental to visit Mr Peterson before she left for LA and after she had spoken to an intern about how to deal with patients becoming physicall, she finally was on her way to Dr Johnson’s office.

Allegra knocked on the door shortly and she heard a loud ‘Yes’. Inhaling deeply, she walked inside and closed the door behind her. Dr Johnson and another man were looking at her and she resisted the urge of running off. Although she was a professional psychologist, Allegra suffered from being watched by people she hardly knew.

“Allegra, please let me introduce you to the man you’ll be working for. Kenneth, this is Allegra Scott, our finest psychologist we have out here.”

Allegra smiled and shook Mr. Crear’s hand. They all sat down and she noticed that Mr. Crear was observing her closely.

“Allegra, Kenneth and I were just finishing up about the specifics of your assignment. But I think it would be better if Kenneth here gives you an up to date on this.”

Allegra nodded her head and turned her body and her attention towards Kenneth Crear. He had sincere brown eyes and gave a very sereen impression.

“Thanks Jake. First, I’d like to see how pleased I am to finally meet you Mrs. Scott. Jake here has told me a lot about you and he and I immediately thought of you when I contacted him about the job.”

Allegra smiled again. “Thank you for that compliment. But I must say Mr Crear, that it’s Ms. Scott, not Mrs Scott.”

Kenneth Crear seemed to be suprised on Allegra’s remark and exchanged a look with Jake Johnson.

“Please forgive me so. Now, how soon can you fly out to LA?”

“As soon as you need me too.”

Kenneth laughed and nodded positively.

“Okay. Then I’d say that you start packing your things, because I have a flight scheduled for you, that leaves New York tonight at 8pm.”

“Tonight?”

“Yes. Is that a problem?”

Allegra shook her head and smiled a tiny bit nervously. If she left tonight for LA, she had like a gazillion things to take care off. Packing the most necessary things, seeing her parents, even finding time to catch Calvin at his work.

“Allegra, are you okay?”

“Yeah, sure, I’m fine. Just thinking already on what I needed to do before leaving to LA.”

Kenneth smiled and found her an amazing young woman. Ofcourse he had heard who she was but John had also told him that Allegra wanted to live her life as normally as possible. John believed she was fed up with the many narrow minded rich people that had surrounded Allegra since she was born. Kenneth had once met Allegra’s father and to Kenneth, he seemed a respectable man who must love his daughter deeply. Allegra Scott was charming, sweet and beautiful. A deadly combination for every still single man.

“If this is too soon for you to leave, we can always reschedule you on another flight.”

But Allegra shook her head once more.

“No. I’ll be fine. But I do think I need to take the rest of day off...” She said with a glannce to her boss, who nodded and smiled.

“Here. I’ve made a map that contains tons of information on every member of the Carter family and their background. Do I need to make reservations at a hotel for you?”

“That won’t be necessary, my father owns a house in LA, so I’ll be staying there.”

“Good. I guess everything’s settled then. Ms. Scott, thank you again for willing to ‘guide’ the Carter family through this television show. It means a lot to them.”

Allegra smiled and thanked him too. After saying goodbye to both Kenneth Crear and Dr. Johnson, Allegra left his office and searched for Annie. She found her secretary talking to Peter, another psychologist who worked for Dr. Johnson. Annie gave her the impression that Annie was interested in everything Peter said, which was quite amusing.

“Annie? If you don’t mind, there are some important things I’d like to discuss with you.”

Allegra said and tossed both of them a smile. Annie’s cheeks immdiately flustered pink and Peter just nodded his head, walking away promptly.

Sitting down again in her chair, Allegra invited Annie to sit down as well.

“This evening I’ll be leaving for Los Angeles for quite some time.”

“Oh, yes, I had heard a rumor you were asked to work with a celebrity.”

“Really?” Allegra frowned her eyebrows. How rumors could fly so easily...

“Anyway, I won’t have time to check up on Mr Peterson, so I’d like you to go with Peter to see how he’s doing and to inform him why I’m not here. Next, I need you to cancel all my appointments and meetings. Don’t give my phone number to anyone, I expect to be pretty busy in LA. Thirdly,” she noticed Annie scribling everything down she said, “I want you to order a car that will be waiting for me when I arrive there. I leave here at 8pm so I’m going to be in LA at 5pm today.”

Pausing for a minute, Allegra thought of anything else that mattered.

“I guess that’s it. By the way, I had no idea you liked Mr. Wilkins.”

Annie’s cheeks flustered pink once again and Allegra laughed.

“I think it’s wonderful Annie. I really think you’d make a great couple.”

Annie’s eyes lit up and after she’d wished Allegra a safe flight, she left Allegra’s office.

Most of the afternoon consisted out of packing some clothes, purses, shoes and her toiletry. She had called her parents and her mother had promised she’d fly over in two weeks. Without any luck, she tried to call Calvin up at work, but he was always in meeting, or away.

Allegra had left five messages for him and had sent him a little gift, hoping that it would satisfy him a bit. When it was nearly five o’ clock, she closed her appartment door behind her and went downstairs with her private elevator. A white XL limousine was waiting outside and the bellboy quickly tucked her luggage away in the trunk. She stepped inside the car and on her way to JFK’ airport, she quickly made a few more work related call to Annie, Peter Wilkins and a befriended psychiatrist at Memorial Hospital.

At the airport, she checked in and after walking through the tax free shops, which bored her quickly enough, Allegra ordered a bottle of Voss mineral water and a pasta salad. She’d figured she’d would be exhausted once she arrived at the Scott’s LA mansion and knowing she would face some long weeks, a goodnight sleep would do her good. Around seven thirty, Allegra could finally go on board of the plane and once she was settled in her business seat, she tucked up the map Kenneth Crear had given her. She was curious to read about her future patients’s history and never noticed the plane taking off.

To her first impression, Leslie Carter seemed to be the one who would need her help mostly. All the other Carter kids somehow had managed to saty in touch with eachother, but according to the files, Leslie lived in Canada for over three years now, without any family contact. Allegra could only imagine how lonely she’d been over the years.

Next, there were the twins, Angel and Aaron. Both aged 20, they were the youngest member sof the family and as far as Allegra could tell from the reports in front of her, they really didn’t had any heavy issues going on. Allegra supposed it would be easy to work with them.

The two eldest Carter kids, respectively BJ (short for Bobbie Jean) and Nickolas (known as Nick) seemed to be most alike. From the moment she read Nick’s file, she knew that he was in some serious trouble. His DUI arrest, hurricane relationships with models and socialites, not being able to control his temper, boy, Allegra would have her hands full on this one.

BJ was the one who would need Allegra’s even more than Leslie. She read Nick’s description of BJ’s character and it was no suprise to her that she could not forget the day her parents had split up. Accordingg to copies of several law files, the divorce between Robert and Jane Carter had been ugly as hell. Jane, not the world’s leading role mother, had reacted on her inner pain by assaulting Robert’s new girlfriend and even ran off with a lot of money Aaron had earned with his music and performances.

Allegra’s mind was spinning around with every piece of information she had of the Carter clan until now and she was happy when she finally set foot on Californian grounds. As expected, a limousine was waiting for her right outside the arrival terminal and once she had collected her luggage, Allegra happily stepped inside, laying her head down on the cool leather. She put her cellphone back on but there still was no word at all from Calvin, which meant he either was furious she had left so soon or he was already fallen asleep.

Little did she know that Calvin was actually at a stripclub with friends, enjoying the curves of his favourite stripper Candy. He was happy that Allegra was out of sight, it meant that he could have random sex with either Candy or his personal assistant Petra, a former Russian model that somehow had made it to being his PA. Calvin loved Allegra, but he missed the craziness he had with his mistresses and so he could and would not ever give up on that.

Arriving at the mansion at last, she let her bags fall down on the floor and breathed in the familiar smell of lavender and vanilla. She quickly did a check up on teh house and after she had changed into a dark blue pair of shorts and a white tank top, she sat down on a teak chair nearby the pool. She could see the lights of the city beneath her and sometimes even heard the cars passing by on Sunset Boulevard.

A glass of Chardonnay in her hand, she made a promise to herself that night that, no matter what, she would enjoy this time alone and that she’d try as hard as she could to discover her identity. To LA, she was just another shrink, and not Allegra Scott, desirable heiress to a phenomenal fortune.