Chapter 47
Landon
“You used Mima to get to me?!” a voice barked as I stood outside of my trailer, flipping through my script. I looked up to see Shay storming my way. The closer she grew, the more I noticed her nose flaring and the crinkles that sat deep in her forehead. “Are you kidding me, Landon?”
“I figured you wouldn’t take the position if I handed it to you, but I wanted to help.”
Shay frowned and shifted around in her shoes. “Sarah’s a lot . . . odder than I thought.”
I laughed, a breath of relief running through me. “Did she ask you to hold her balls?”
“Her big, smooth balls!” she bellowed. The sun beamed against her as she faced me, and she shielded it with her hand, narrowing her eyes. “I think this is the first time it’s actually setting in for me that you’re a true-blue actor.”
“Who would’ve thought that a fucked-up kid like me would’ve ever made it here?”
“Me,” she softly said, a slight curve to her lips. “I would’ve thought it.”
The energy between us intensified from her words, and all I wanted to do was step forward and wrap my arms around her and never fucking let go.
I held off on doing such a thing. She still had her walls up with me. I didn’t want to keep trying to knock them down without her permission.
“You deserve to be here more than I do,” I said. Meant it, too.
“As it turns out, I am here because of you. And for the record, I would’ve taken the job if you’d given me the opportunity. I would’ve been super stubborn about it—but I would’ve given in after a while.”
“Good to know.”
She shook her head a little in disbelief. “You truly used my grandmother to do your dirty work. Unbelievable.”
“She was oddly easy to convince.”
“Not shocking,” Shay mentioned. “She always had a soft place in her heart for you.”
“I can’t say that I have a soft spot in a lot of people’s hearts,” I joked.
“I can name at least about two,” she shyly replied.
Was that . . . ?
Was that a glimmer of light in her eyes? Did she reveal that there was still a soft place in her heart for me? Why did I feel like crying and leaping for joy like a damn fool?
Keep it cool, Landon. Act natural.
Shay smoothed her hands over her hair. “OK, well, I better get back to Sarah. She’s going to walk me through a meditation of sorts. But before I go, I have to ask you something really important.”
I took in a breath. “Shoot.”
Shay gave me a slight grin. “How many crystals do you have?”
I brushed my thumb against the tip of my nose. “Oh, you know, only about thirty or forty dozen. Nothing too crazy.”
She laughed.
I wanted to bottle up the sound and release it on my saddest days because I was certain that her laughter would always make me smile, even at my lowest points.
“I owe you, Landon,” she said, walking backward.
“For what?”
She looked around, wide-eyed and completely in awe of her surroundings. Her hands fell against her chest as she locked her stare with mine and stole my breath away. “Making this dream come true.”
“Always, Chick.”
I think I meant that.
I think I meant always.
“But just to be clear, this doesn’t mean I don’t still hate you, because I do,” she said with a sparkle in her eyes.
I grinned. “Don’t worry. I still hate you, too.”
She smiled, because she knew it was a lie.
I could never hate her. Even if I tried.
* * *
The following Sunday, I headed over to Maria’s for dinner, fully prepared to have my mind blown by her lasagna.
I missed her home-cooked meals so much, but not as much as I missed our Sundays together.
For a long part of my life, those Sunday dinners saved me from falling too deep into my depression.
Maria hadn’t known how much of a lifeline she’d been for me during my darkest days.
“Is it just me, or does it smell like heaven in here?” I remarked as Maria opened her apartment door for me. I held a bottle of red wine in my grip and held it out to her. “I’m sure you already had a drink picked out, but I figured it would be rude to not show up with a bottle.”
“Oh, this looks fancy. It will go great with everything. Thank you. Now come in, come in, make yourself at home.”
I did as she said, taking off my shoes as I walked inside.
Maria’s home felt so welcoming, just like the woman who lived inside of it.
“Shay and Camila should be on their way soon enough,” she explained. “One or both are always running behind.”
“Did you tell them I was joining you all?”
“I figured it would be a nice surprise,” she said, heading back to the kitchen to finish preparing the meal.
Oh boy. I wasn’t sure how either of the two were going to take to me joining their dinner party.
It was no secret that Camila wasn’t my biggest fan when I was a teenager, and I was certain she’d hated me even more after things went south with Shay.
I wouldn’t hold it against her if she despised me completely.
Then there was Shay. Sure, we’d spent the past few days on set together, but I wasn’t certain we were to the point of having Sunday dinners with one another.
She was letting me in a little at a time, and I didn’t feel right crashing into her world too much.
I wanted to work my way back in, but I didn’t want to seem desperate—even though I was.
I wanted her back in my life to the extreme, but I also knew I didn’t want to scare her off at all.
“I put out a photo album on the living room table if you want to flip through it to see some adorable photographs of Shay while I finish setting the table.”
Don’t mind if I do.
I hurried to the couch and picked up the album.
As I began flipping through it, the widest smile in the world fell to my lips as I studied a young Shay riding a pony.
She looked absolutely terrified by the whole situation, which made the picture that much better.
The next one was an awful elementary school photograph with her hair in two messy pigtails.
I couldn’t help but snicker at the sight of it.
Even though it was a bad, bad picture, it was so perfect.
She was an adorable kid. I used to wonder what she looked like as a child—and wonder what our kids would look like if we had any.
As I flipped through the photos, the doorbell rang, and Maria hurried to let the new arrivals in. My head was down as I heard voices from behind me.
I stood from the couch and turned around to see Shay. Confusion swirled in her eyes as she looked my way.
“Landon. What are you doing here?” Shay asked.
“Maria invited me over for dinner a few days ago.”
“Really?” Shay asked, eyeing her grandmother. “That’s funny, she hadn’t mentioned it to me.”
“It must’ve slipped my mind,” Maria said to Shay before giving her a kiss on the cheek. “But we’re so happy he’s here, right, Shay?”
Shay smiled a tiny grin. “I guess it’s fine.” Her phone went off, and she was quick to answer the message that came through. “It seems Mom is running late. Bella chewed through her favorite pair of shoes.”
“And she thought a dog would be better than a man,” Maria remarked, making me raise an eyebrow, but I wouldn’t question it. That seemed right up there in the “none of my damn business” category.
“Well, she’ll take her spot at the table once she and Bella show up,” Maria said. “For now, let’s all go sit to eat before the food gets cold.”
We all did as she said as she went to the kitchen area to grab the bottle of wine I brought.
Shay took a seat across from me and said, “Last night when we were at your place, you must’ve forgotten to tell me you were coming to my grandmother’s house tonight.”
“It was hard to talk with my mouth pressed against your pussy,” I quietly replied with a smug smirk.
Shay instantly blushed and swatted my hand across the table. “Landon!”
“Sorry.” I laughed. “That situation with your legs over my shoulders last night is just burned into my memory.”
Shay nervously rubbed her chest in a slow circular motion. “Burned into mine, too.”
“Good.” I hoped she’d get off by herself solely from the thought of eating her out. I hoped the thoughts of us haunted her psyche.
The conversation shifted when Maria came back into the room, and I was so grateful for how effortless it all seemed.
We didn’t run out of things to talk about.
If anything, the conversation flowed without thought.
We laughed, we drank wine, and we felt .
. . right. Everything at that table that night felt exactly how I’d wanted life to feel like.
This was the closest to heaven I’d ever been.
Shay’s mother, Camila, was still running behind, so Shay, Maria, and I finished our dinner.
I wasn’t completely disappointed to not see Camila, but that was mainly because I remembered our past. The last time we talked was when Shay and I were still teenagers and Camila told me to leave her daughter alone.
I didn’t resent her for it, though. I felt the same way.
If anything, we agreed with one another.
Still, I was worried about being in the same room as the woman who told me I wasn’t good enough for her daughter.
I worried that she’d still think the same thing.
“Who’s ready for pie?” Maria asked as she went to stand.
Just then, the front door opened, and Camila came barging into the room. “Sorry we’re late!” she exclaimed, the biggest grin on her face known to mankind.
I waited to see her dog, Bella, trotting in behind her, but instead, a full-grown man walked in with two bottles of wine and a smile. Everyone’s eyes were wide as we all stared at the stranger.
“Who are you?” Maria asked, looking at the man.
He gave her the friendliest smile and hurried over to her side. He placed the bottles of wine on the table and pulled Maria into a hug. “Oh my gosh, you must be Camila’s mother. Though that’s shocking, seeing as how you look young enough to be her sister.”
Maria seemed confused by the whole interaction, but her cheeks flushed with color from the compliment. “Well, thank you. But again, who are you?”
“Oh, right.” He stood tall and smoothed out his suit. “I’m David.”
“David,” Shay said, echoing his name.
“Yes, his name is David,” Camila said, grinning wider than I’d ever seen her grin. “He’s my fiancé.”