Chapter 33
Ihaven’t seen Haley since she walked out my trailer door on her last day.
That was almost four months ago.
After I return from my European tour for my latest movie, I try everything to get back into her life. All the press wants to see Haley next to me.
Join the club.
Once I land, my car is waiting for me. I head to Haley and Rachel’s apartment straight away, but Rachel answers the door and says that Haley is taking a nap and it’s probably best that I don’t bother her. I try explaining what happened, or didn’t happen, between me and Natasha.
“Look Aidan, I believe you, but I gotta support my girl. She is really going through it right now. I mean, look at it from her perspective. She literally risked everything to fake-date you, you both caught actual feelings for each other–which let’s face it, duh–and then when you promised her that she was your forever, she saw you and Natasha, who was wearing practically nothing by the way, making out and then heading into your house.”
“Nothing happened.” I nearly growl, still pissed-off that this is the way Haley is going to remember me. She is probably replaying that kiss over and over in her head, inevitably haunting her.
“Natasha shouldn’t have been near your door, let alone going into your damn house, Aidan. Even if Haley wasn’t on her way there–it’s the trust factor she has an issue with. I bet memories of what she walked in on with Robert and that homewrecker flooded her consciousness. She felt like she was burned twice.”
All I can do is nod. I am at a loss at what to say.
“Hey, for what it’s worth, I think you are a stand-up guy. And I know you couldn’t control the circumstances with Natasha. I get it. But when you’re heartbroken, you can’t see past certain things. Just give Haley some space. Maybe she’ll come around once she’s done being depressed about the situation. See you on set, Aidan.”
Their green door slams in my face. It guts me that Rachel used the word “depressed” when talking about my girl. I don’t want any space between us anymore. I guess I’d been naively hoping that after I returned from Europe, Hales would run back into my arms like they do in the movies.
Reality is different.
Reality fucking sucks.
Months pass, and I throw myself into work. Trying to distract myself with memorizing lines and strength-training. I run on the beach every single morning, even if I have an early call time, hoping that maybe, just maybe, I will see the woman of my dreams running toward me and I can scoop her up, throw her over my shoulder, and take her home with me.
But that never happens.
I could probably compete in an Iron Man competition at this point, given how immersed I am in working out these days.
December 30th. I am back in New York for the holidays to be with my mom. She has a new boyfriend and I actually like him. I know this man is important to my mother because she hasn’t let anyone in her life since my dad. I could tell that he really likes my mom and respects her. I’ve never seen my mom so happy, and so I am in effect happy.
I am mindlessly scrolling my Instagram reels when a knock on my door knocks me out of my trance. I didn’t buzz anyone in. What the hell is going on?
The knocking becomes incessant.
“Aidan Stone, answer your damn door! I know you’re in there!”
I look through my peephole and see none other than Anna and Dan.
Dan turns to Anna and says in a low voice, “What if he’s not home, honey. We are going to look like lunatics to his neighbors and then security is going to kick us out of this building. The doorman was already suspicious of us when we snuck in after that delivery man.”
“I know he’s in there,” Anna growls.
What the hell are they doing here and how did they know where I live? Actually scratch that, I don’t want to know. Anna probably has some scary ways of finding out information.
I open the door. Here we go.
“I’m assuming you are here to kick my perfect little ass?” I say, looking directly at Dan.
Confused, he looks back at me. “What? No. What the hell are you talking about?”
Anna chimes in: “Damn right he is!” She charges into my apartment and Dan follows suit, looking dumbfounded and quite honestly a little scared. He was completely out of the loop on this promise that Anna made months ago on his behalf.
“Wait, no Anna, I am not going to kick Aidan Stone’s ass. Are you joking me? I am half his size. He would snap me like a twig.” A flash of panic enters Dan’s eyes as he glances back and forth at me and his fuming wife.
“Well, if you’re not going to, I will.” She marches over and slaps me across my face. So hard that it stings. Okay. I was expecting way worse than that from the best friend of the woman I love. “You promised me that you wouldn’t shatter her again and there you went and did it anyway! How could you do that to Hales? She is seriously the sweetest person on this whole fucking planet and you broke her! Aidan, did you know that all she did for a month after your whole situation, deal, whatever the hell you want to call it, ended? Hmm? She sat in her room and cried. Barely ate. Barely slept. It was like a Bella in New Moon level of depression. I called her twice a day and texted Rachel constantly to make sure she was okay. To make sure she didn’t fall further into her own intrusive thoughts of not being enough for someone.” She slaps me again, on the other cheek this time. “How dare you cheat on her with your ex!”
Wait, what the hell?
“Is that what she told you?” I ask incredulously.
Anna nods vigorously.
“That’s not true at all. Natasha kissed me. That’s all that happened.”
“Why should I believe you? According to Haley and the various tabloids and social media posts, you were in love with Natasha at one point. I am Team Haley all the way.” Anna crosses her arms and stands with one hip out. A classic pissed-off stance.
Rubbing my cheek, I respond, “I thought I was in love with Natasha. I didn’t know what real love felt like until Haley. I know what you are about to say, that that sounds like a line from one of my movies and that I am bullshitting you right now. But I swear I am not, Anna.” I look her deep into her eyes, hoping she will see the truth in mine. “I love Haley so much that it is killing me that she is not by my side every second of every day. If I knew what it would take to win her back, I would. You don’t think I’ve also been fucking depressed? Hell, it has been a million times worse this time than my very public breakup with Natasha. Only this time, instead of parading around with women and drinking until the early morning and having hangovers and regrets, I’ve been throwing myself into my work. Distracting myself. Trying not to think about the woman who made me feel alive again, who made me feel like a normal guy and didn’t treat me special because of what I do. Except the distraction doesn’t work. It’s a terrible type of purgatory I can’t escape. Every aspect of my job reminds me of Hales. She was such an important part of my world for over three years. These past months have been terrible. And even when I come home, I’ve been lighting her favorite scented candle and making coffee non-stop because it reminds me of her. I hate myself every day for allowing Natasha into my home four months ago. I should’ve slammed the damn door in her face the moment I saw it was her and not the love of my life.” I put my hands on my hips and look down at the floor, feeling defeated as ever but I have to make one more important point: “And just to make it clear, I will always be Team Haley, too.”
Finally, I see a flicker in Anna’s eyes. A shift from rage to understanding.
“Anna,” Dan says, “I think he’s telling the truth. I can tell when someone is lying and telling the truth. I see the pain in his eyes and I could only imagine that would be what my own eyes would look like if I lost you.”
I knew I always liked Dan.
“I know he is, too.” Anna breathes out and steps back to allow some sort of distance between us. “I can tell you love my best friend, Aidan. But why would Haley tell me that you cheated on her?”
“I don’t know. Maybe she thought that would be an easier excuse to tell people as to why things ended between us. That narrative is unfortunately what she has gotten used to. Things just got complicated and she wanted a way out.” I fall onto my couch and cover my eyes. “She wanted to protect her heart.”
I get it. If I saw Robert at Haley’s door, kissing her and she let him in, my mind would wander too and make assumptions. I would be hurt too. Actually, I would grab him by the shoulders and throw him the hell out of her house, but that’s besides the point.
Anna and Dan make their way over to my couches and slowly sit down.
“Please tell me that she is doing okay.” I clasp my hands together and let them fall between my knees, looking down at the floor.
“Well I think that ‘okay’ is relative but yes, she is doing a lot better than when things first went south. She actually called me the other night and told me some good news.”
My heart drops. She started dating another guy. Someone who wouldn’t let her slip away like I did. Someone who would hold onto that delicate hand of hers and never let it go. This is what I deserve.
“It’s not that,” Anna quickly reassures me. It’s scary how this woman can read people’s minds. “Her manuscript got picked up by some executives at Netflix. They want to make it into a mini-series. I guess it’s true what they say: if your personal life is going to shit, then your professional one will be on the rise. That’s kind of why we are here, plus we haven’t spent New Year’s Eve in New York in years. We are here to celebrate with her.”
She’s in town?I smirk because she’s been right here in New York. She isn’t 3,000 miles away. I’m so relieved those executives actually listened to me and legitimately read the script like I asked them to.
It is time to confess. “I did that.”
“You did what?” Anna and Dan ask in unison.
“A few months ago, Rachel handed me a manuscript with instructions to read it and told me that if I wanted even the smallest chance to be in with Haley again, that I needed to use my influence as a possible producer on the project to get this greenlit. She said that Haley submitted it already but it might get lost in the slush pile. I read the whole script but I knew after the first ten pages that it was something great. I haven’t read a manuscript for a romantic comedy like this in a long time. I knew it was something special. And I was so fucking proud of her for finishing it in the first place. She finally figured out her happy ending and I realized that what went on between us, especially our time on that beach after the wedding, meant something to her. She used that as her happily-ever-after in her screenplay. I realized that she still cared, but I was and am still on the outs with her. I knew that if I couldn’t get her back because of who I am in the industry, I at least needed to use my power in Hollywood for good, especially since I’m now seen as the Golden Boy again. All thanks to Haley.”
I smile for the first time in months because I could only imagine Haley dancing around in her room, probably blasting Taylor Swift and genuinely dancing like a goof in celebration of this news. I would’ve gladly watched her do that for hours. Unfortunately, the only look on Haley’s face seared into my brain is the one she gave me as she left my trailer for the last time. “I helped greenlight her manuscript. I knew being a screenwriter has always been her dream. I wanted her dreams to come true. That was the least I could do.”
“Oh my god. Aidan, this changes things.”
“This doesn’t change anything.”
“Of course it does. You know Haley almost as well as I know Haley. She’d want to know who the man behind the curtain is. She’d want to know that you fought for her to have her dream as much as she wanted it. She’d want to know that no matter what shitty things happened between you both or how complicated things got, that you were always on her side and that you stood by her.” I see the wheels in Anna’s brain turning, and then she stands up and points at me. It is like I am able to see a lightbulb actually turn on above her head. “I think this is how you can get her back.”
My ears perk up at that last statement. “What do you mean?”
“I think you need to tell her what you did for her. It may be the thing that pierces through that thick wall she rebuilt these past few months.”
Dan chimes in, “Yeah, but how is he going to do that? Haley isn’t returning any of his calls or texts, and she would kill us if she knew that we told Aidan she’s in New York. We are basically dragging Haley to this party tomorrow night just so she can get out. She doesn’t really want to go out in the first place.”
I know exactly how to win Haley back. “I need y’alls help. Are you with me?”