Easy

Chapter 3

Shayne is on edge all evening. They'd managed, through the rest of their day at work: Courtney kept her distance from him too, now, and their coworkers didn't say a thing (with the exception of Damien, but he was just quietly making sure Shayne was okay). They were in a scene together in a late-afternoon shoot, but both he and Courtney stay firmly in character, stick to their lines, and do it in one take so it can all be over as soon as possible, and they can get back to both awkwardly trying to stay out of each other's way.

He's relieved when the day is over and everyone starts packing up to head home, but at the same time, his nerves tingle with a mix of anticipation and fear, and he isn't even sure what he's scared of or what he's anticipating.

He'd given up on his anger, and he'd given up trying to convince himself he didn't want to fix it: he knew, deep down, he couldn't hold on to those parts. What he does still feel swirling loudly and clearly through his head, though, is the uncertainty. The distrust. The fear that she's somehow doing this just to embarrass him all over again for being completely and hopelessly in love with her.

He sits on his sofa waiting for nothing for much of the evening. He's too nervous to eat dinner, and he wishes he'd asked Damien to come over so he could at least talk it out with his friend instead of sitting there stewing and waiting for a knock on his door that he isn't sure will ever come.

It doesn't, for a while. He hears footsteps out in the hallway a few times, and every time it makes him jump even though it's probably just his neighbours getting home through the evening. It's after one such jumping at footsteps that he rapidly reaches for his phone, and before he can think to stop himself, calls her dad.

"Shayne-" Kenn starts, when he answers, but he cuts him off.

"Was Courtney with you all weekend?" He rushes out, not aware he's started crying again until he hears the tears and desperation at the edge of his tone.

"Yes, she was, and she called me tonight and told me what actually happened," he answers, his voice almost sympathetic, "I knew you wouldn't break up with her, Shayne, I tried to convince her to talk to you but... yeah."

"Thank you," he mumbles, quietly, not sure what else to say. There's a beat of awkward silence, but after a moment, her dad speaks up again.

"She told me you're not sure you can trust her again, and I understand that might be hard and she's hurt you so much, but I... I really think you two have something special worth fixing. And I do care about you, too, Shayne, I think you're a great guy and I wouldn't be wanting this to be fixed if I thought she wasn't being honest. You do mean everything to her," he tells him, and it makes Shayne give a long, shaking sigh.

"It's so hard to pretend I don't just want her back," he whispers, before he lets his tone grow a little louder, "I... don't know what to do. I'm just sitting here waiting even though I don't know if she'll contact me tonight and I just called you because the thing that's hurting me is that I thought she left me so easily, but she said it wasn't easy and she went to you..."

He trails off into another wash of tears, and he hears Kenn's sympathetic hum as he does.

"I assure you, 100%, Courtney spent the entire weekend upset at my house. She tried to make it look like it was easy to protect herself from feeling insecure, but the Courtney that was on my couch this weekend wasn't having an easy time with any of this. And I hope you had someone to talk to, too, Shayne?"

"Yeah. I've talked to Shelby and Damien," he answers, his voice low as he pauses awkwardly for a moment, not sure what else to say. "I guess I should... go."

"Okay, Shayne, but I'm happy to help you feel like you guys can fix this if I can – and I hope you know if she was trying to do anything wrong by you, I'd absolutely tell you. I still really hope you're my son-in-law someday," he replies, certain.