Chapter 37
GRACE
Ihad basically spent the last three weeks hiding in my apartment, dodging calls from journalists, and watching the scandal slowly fade from the headlines.
Three weeks of staring at my phone, willing myself not to text him.
I couldn’t cave to the ache that had taken up permanent residence in my chest.
Not yet.
I wasn’t exactly sure when it would be safe to go back in the water, but not yet.
And then Loretta called.
“They need you back on the lot,” Loretta said, her voice all business. “Pickup shots for Breathless.”
My stomach dropped. I’d been expecting the call. It was pretty standard and I knew it was coming, but I’d also been dreading it.
“When?”
“Tomorrow morning. Seven a.m. call time.”
I closed my eyes and pressed my phone harder against my ear. “I don’t know if I can do this.”
“You can and you will.” Loretta’s tone left no room for argument. She wasn’t pleased with me after all the declined requests for interviews. “This is your job, Grace. You signed a contract. You show up, you do the work, you leave. Simple.”
Nothing about this was simple. The press junket for the film hadn’t been announced yet. We had a vague idea and were supposed to keep our schedules clear for the week, but that was a problem for another day.
“What scenes?” I asked, already dreading the answer.
“They didn’t specify. Just said they need some additional coverage. Reaction shots, probably. The usual.”
Reaction shots. I could handle reaction shots. Stand in front of a camera, make faces, go home. I didn’t even need to know lines for that.
“Fine,” I said. “I’ll be there.”
“That’s my girl. And, Grace? Keep your head down. Don’t engage with anyone who tries to stir up drama. In and out. Professional.”
“Professional,” I repeated. “Got it.”
I hung up and sat there on my couch, staring at the wall. Tomorrow I’d be back on that soundstage. Back in Elena’s world. Back in proximity to Micah.
The thought made my heart race in a way I hated. I missed the man more than I could have predicted. I’d told him I’d reach out when I was ready.
I still wasn’t ready, but I had a job to do.
Going through those gates of the studio felt like walking into a memory I’d been trying to forget.
My driver had been trying to make small talk but I wasn’t in the mood.
I kept my head down as I made my way to the hair and makeup trailer, sunglasses on, baseball cap pulled low.
A few people glanced my way, but no one stopped me.
No whispers that I could hear. Maybe the scandal really was dying down.
Or maybe everyone was just being polite.
The makeup artist was someone I didn’t recognize—not the woman from Hawaii who’d fixed my tear-stained face. This one wasn’t interested in small talk. She stayed quiet, working in silence while I sat in the chair and tried not to think about what was coming.
“You’re all set,” she finally said, spinning the chair so I could see myself in the mirror.
I looked like Elena. Hair styled the same way, makeup subtle but camera-ready. The transformation should have felt familiar, comforting even. Instead, it just reminded me of everything I was trying to leave behind.
Wardrobe was next. They put me in one of Elena’s outfits—a simple blouse and jeans, nothing special. I recognized it from one of the early scenes we’d shot on the soundstage. That made sense. I’d still been learning Elena. In Hawaii, I really got a grip on her.
“Do you know what scene we’re shooting?” I asked the wardrobe assistant as she adjusted my collar.
“Just some reaction shots, I think. They didn’t give me details.”
I wasn’t the only one in the dark.
I made my way to the soundstage, preparing myself for the moment I saw him. I took a deep breath, pushed the door open, and stepped inside.
The set was already busy, crew members moving around and getting things in order. Everything looked the same as it had been. The monitors were set up in their usual cluster.
But no Micah.
I scanned the space, my eyes searching for that familiar figure, but he wasn’t there. Was I relieved or disappointed? I’d been dreading this moment and the first time I’d have to face him after three weeks of silence. But part of me had been desperate to see him.
“Grace! Over here!”
Toby waved at me from near the monitors. I walked over, forcing a smile.
“Hey, Toby. Good to see you.”
“You too! We’re almost ready. Just need to get the lighting dialed in.”
“What scene are we doing? I need to know my lines.”
He shook his head. “No lines. Just reaction shots. We’re going to play you some of Jack’s dialogue and get your responses on camera. Standard coverage stuff.”
Relief flooded through me. I wasn’t sure I was ready to deliver a performance with lines. “Okay. Where do you need me?”
“Right over there.” He pointed to a mark on the floor, positioned in front of one of the cameras. “Just stand on your mark and we’ll get you set up.”
I walked to the spot and planted my feet, staring into the lens. The lights were hot and bright. I could feel the eyes of the crew on me, could sense them watching, waiting. Were they thinking about the scandal?
I pushed the thoughts away. I was here to do a job.
“Alright, we’re almost ready.” Toby’s voice came from somewhere behind the monitors. “Just give us one more minute.”
I waited, trying to find my center, trying to remember how to be Elena. Where was he? Was he avoiding me on purpose? Had he decided it was easier to let an AD handle this? Was this him keeping that distance thing going?
And then he appeared.
Micah walked through the side door, script in hand, looking exactly the same as he had three weeks ago. Maybe a little tired around the eyes but still devastatingly handsome. My heart skipped a beat.
Our eyes met across the soundstage.
For a moment, neither of us moved. I wanted to run to him. And run away at the same time. Instead, I swallowed hard and looked around the set.
“Where’s Jack?” I asked, going for a casual, breezy tone. “Don’t we need him for the dialogue?”
Micah walked closer, stopping just outside the ring of lights surrounding my mark. “We don’t need him. I’ll be reading the monologue in his place.”
My heart stuttered. “You?”
“I made some changes to it.” He held up the script, but he wasn’t looking at the pages. He was looking at me. “If that’s okay.”
I nodded, not trusting my voice.
“Whenever you’re ready,” Toby called out from behind the monitors. “Rolling.”
Micah took a breath. And then he started speaking.
“I should have never let you go.”
I kept my face neutral, but those weren’t the lines. They weren’t anything close to what Jack’s character was supposed to say in this scene. But I pretended they were because I had no idea what the hell was happening and I didn’t want to ruin the take.
“From the moment you walked into that audition room, something hit me,” he continued, his voice low, his eyes never leaving mine.
“I told myself it was professional admiration. Respect for your talent. But it was more than that. It was always more than that. I never believed in love at first sight, but within three seconds I knew you were special and I’m not talking about your acting. ”
I couldn’t breathe. The camera was rolling, the crew was watching, and Micah Blackwell was standing in front of me, baring his soul. These were definitely not the lines. This production wasn’t about the film.
“Every second I’ve been apart from you has been misery,” he said. “I’ve tried to give you space. Tried to respect what you asked for. But I can’t pretend anymore. I can’t act like I’m okay when I’m not.”
A lump formed in my throat. I felt tears prickling at the corners of my eyes.
“I don’t care about business,” he continued, taking a step closer. “I don’t care about our fathers or their decades-old grudge. None of that has any place in my decision to choose you. Because I do choose you, Grace. I choose you over everything.”
I gave up trying to be Elena. I was all Grace.
“You’re the most talented, infuriating, beautiful woman I’ve ever known,” he said. His voice was rough with emotion. “You challenge me. You make me want to be better. And when I’m with you, I feel like I’m finally exactly where I’m supposed to be.”
A single tear escaped, sliding down my cheek. I didn’t wipe it away.
Micah set down the script. He wasn’t reading anymore. Maybe he never had been.
“Grace Sterling,” he said, and hearing my real name from his lips made my heart skip three beats. “I love you.”
The words hung in the air between us. Very real and very terrifying.
“I don’t care what our families think,” he continued. “I don’t care what the rest of the world has to say about us. I love you, and I can’t live without you.” He paused, his eyes searching my face. “If you give me one more chance, it’s the last chance I’ll need.”
Silence stretched across the soundstage. The crew had gone completely still. Even the usual ambient noise of the set seemed to have disappeared.
I stood there, frozen on my mark, tears streaming down my face now. Everything I’d been holding back for three weeks came rushing to the surface.
He loved me.
He’d just declared it in front of everyone. No hiding. No secrets. Just the truth, laid bare for all to see.
I nodded. It was all I could manage at first, just a small movement of my head. But then I moved, stepping off my mark, crossing the distance between us in what felt like a single heartbeat.
I crashed into him.
His arms came around me immediately, pulling me close, holding me like he was afraid I might disappear. I buried my face in his chest, breathing him in, feeling the solid warmth of him surrounding me.
“I love you too,” I whispered against his shirt. “I love you so much.”
He pulled back just enough to cup my face in his hands, his thumbs wiping away my tears. And then he kissed me.
It wasn’t like our other kisses. This was a declaration. A promise. His lips moved against mine with a tenderness that made my knees weak. I melted into him completely.
The soundstage could have been empty or packed with a thousand people. I wouldn’t have noticed either way. There was only Micah. Only this moment. Only us.
“Okay, everyone, I think that’s a wrap,” Toby called out.
Laughter rippled through the crew. Someone started clapping, and then others joined in, the applause building until the whole soundstage was filled with it.
I looked up at Micah, my face wet with tears, my heart fuller than it had ever been.
“You planned this,” I said, half-accusation, half-wonder.
He grinned, that crooked smile that had undone me from the very beginning. “Guilty.”
“There were no pickup shots.”
“Nope.”
“You’re insane.”
“Probably.” He brushed a strand of hair from my face. “But I couldn’t let you keep running. Not when I knew what we had was real.”
I shook my head, laughing through my tears. “Is this a good idea?”
“Fuck all of it,” he said simply. “I meant what I said. None of it matters. Only you.”
I pulled him down for another kiss, not caring who was watching, not caring about anything except the man in my arms and the future stretching out before us. For the first time in weeks, I felt like I could breathe again.