Total pages in book: 121
Estimated words: 116999 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 585(@200wpm)___ 468(@250wpm)___ 390(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 116999 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 585(@200wpm)___ 468(@250wpm)___ 390(@300wpm)
Now all I need to do is hang around and make small talk until everyone’s finished their individual runs, pose for a cast photo, and I can head inside and check my phone again.
Our movie receives a twelve-minute standing ovation. The feeling that gives is indescribable. I look to my side, see the pride glisten in my castmates’ eyes, the emotion radiate from our usually stoic director. This is what it’s all about. Seeing the hard work transformed into a piece of art, as if it all happened by magic. Hearing the audience’s response, knowing you entertained them, connected with them. Only…there’s a member missing. The only member whose opinion I really care about.
William.
He was supposed to be here. I got him a ticket. But he’s gone. He’s gone and I don’t know when he’s coming back.
One week later…
I’m standing with Alexa, the director, looking at the monitor but paying no attention. She’s praising me, I think, as we run through a scene we’ve just shot. Her hands are animated. Her voice light and excitable. I don’t hear what she’s saying, though.
“Can I borrow him for a moment?” I do hear Andy’s voice, mostly because his hand on my shoulder distracts me from my own thoughts.
“Sure, sure,” says Alexa with a dismissive wave.
Andy takes me to one side.
I grill him immediately, before he can speak. “Well, did you find out?” I ask. I’d asked him to find out why William hasn’t returned to work. I’ve probed around set, but no one seems to know. The gaffer will know, but I barely know him. Andy does.
“When did you last hear from him?” he asks instead of answering. There’s something about his tone I don’t like, almost like he’s trying to make sense of what he knows, what he knows but isn’t telling me.
“The night he got home. Said his wife was home and doing okay and he’d call me when he could.”
“Right.”
“Right? Right, what? Andy, what is it?”
“Well…he’s quit. According to Nate, he’s not coming back. I’m sorry, Laurie.”
No. My knees weaken. I stumble back a step. “That doesn’t make sense.”
I’ll always come back…
With you…it’s mind-blowing.
William’s words echo in my mind, his expression as he said them as clear in my memory as the days they entered my ears. He meant those words. He was sincere when he told me he’d remember I was here, that he wasn’t alone anymore.
“I don’t accept that,” I say defiantly, despite my body betraying me by falling into a chair as my legs refuse to support me any longer. “Something must be wrong. Really wrong,” I add, pulling out my phone to tap out yet another text.
Me:
I’m coming home. I miss you. I NEED to see you. Need to know you’re okay. I can get your address off Andy. Please call me. Text. Anything.
The little dots appear, rippling as William taps out a response. He’s there. On the other side of my screen. Communicating. It’s almost like we’re together again. He’s come back to me.
My heart swells…but then the dots disappear.
They start up again.
Disappear.
Then, finally, my phone pings, and the elation I feel is shot down in an instant.
William:
Don’t. I’m sorry. For everything.
Chapter Sixteen
Laurence
“Kid?”
What the fuck? Is that it? Don’t. Did I imagine our night together in front of the fire? I’m sorry. The times we snuck out at the farm. For everything. The trailer. The hotel in London. Stan’s party. Lunches on the grass outside the studio. All those memories, all these feelings…has he just erased them. Erased me?
“Laurie.”
I get a vague sense that my hand feels suddenly empty, but don’t particularly notice Andy take my phone, or think to care that he might be reading my private messages.
“Laurie, come on. Pull yourself together.” Andy pats my shoulder, and I notice he’s standing right in front of me now, shielding me from view.
Because I’m crying. Shit.
“Let’s get you out of here. You can let it all out somewhere private.”
“No, no,” I say, scrubbing at my eyes as I stand. “I, uh, I think I need to be on my own.”
“Kid, that’s not—”
“I’m fine, Andy,” I bark, uncalled for but, in this moment, unavoidable. “I’ll call you later.” Possibly a lie. I have no idea what I’ll be doing later. I don’t even know where I’m going right now as I start walking away.
Somehow, I end up in my trailer. I change quickly into simple joggers and a T-shirt…and then spot William’s jacket hanging at the end of the rail. I don’t think about putting it on, just start slipping my arms into the sleeves automatically before grabbing my wallet and a baseball cap and heading right back out without a destination in mind. I don’t avoid Andy and Ned by accident, actively breaking out of the set boundaries by jumping over a barrier.
After walking aimlessly down a couple of streets, I come across a taxi rank. With no better ideas, I jump in the back of one.