If This Was A Movie

8. The Happy Ending

After Lucy arrived in London, she reached for her phone and called Wes.

"Hey, have you landed?" He asked when he answered.

"I did, and I'm going back," she responded, her voice shaking.

"Things went that badly with Tim?"

"Even worse than you're thinking. I told him I love him, and he kicked me out of his store and told me he doesn't want to see me again." She swallowed back from crying but only barely. "How the hell am I supposed to audition for a movie and do press for another one when all I can think about is the fact that I need to go back home and grovel until he takes me back?"

"Wow...that's...that's awful, Lucy, I'm sorry."

"Can you help me get out of this press stuff? I can't do it."

"Maybe you should stay at least for the audition. Tim might need time to cool off. I'll go to the bookstore tomorrow with Angela to talk to him. Until then, there's no point in having you torture yourself staying in an apartment down the street from him if he won't see you."

"What if nothing works? What if he can't get past this part of me?"

"You can take a beat and find someone new if it gets to that point, but we don't have to talk about that right now."

She gestured to her chest as if he could see her and what was inside. "What happens to all this...what am I supposed to do with all of this love for Tim?"

He frowned. "I-I don't know. Maybe it'll all work out." Though hope was scarce, he tried to maintain some for her sake.

"That only happens in the movies, and Tim made it very clear we're in the real world." She wrapped an arm around her midsection to hug herself for a shred of comfort, but nothing could soothe the pain of immeasurable heartbreak. "It's never hurt this badly before, Wes. I can't live like this forever." She could not imagine trying to carry on the rest of her days with shattered organs cutting her thousands of times every single day.

"Remember when Monica and I broke up? I thought I would be heartbroken forever, but I moved on."

"Monica isn't Tim. Tim is...he's TIM. He's all bark and no bite, and he gives me crooked smiles when we're reading together like he knows that's the only thing that could distract me from turning the page during a really important part, and he holds me without moving a muscle even when the credits are rolling if a movie makes me cry so hard I need a few minutes to catch my breath, and he didn't make a single change to the store after he took it over from his mom out of love for her until I came along, then he added displays, and sections, and pillows, and he's not one dimensional like the rom com leading guys. He's one of the most interesting people I've ever met. How am I supposed to move on from a guy like that?"

Even though it had been made obvious several times, he could clearly feel her love for Tim in that moment from the sheer agony weighing down every single word out of her mouth and all of the unspoken ones between breaths. "We'll get through this together. You can vent to me any time."

"Thanks." She tried to smile, but it was no use. "Do me a favor- when you talk to him, tell him I miss him. I've been missing him since the second I walked out of his store."

"I'll tell him," he promised quietly. "Go to your hotel, and maybe grab a pair of sunglasses, so you can take a walk. Enjoy breathing in the London air for a bit."

"Yeah, I can try that. Thanks, Wes. Bye." She ended the call and thought about the only air she wanted to breathe was Tim's with his mouth fused to hers. It was hopeless; nothing would be able to take her mind off of him even with thousands of miles between them.