Silver Screen Romance (Book 3)

7. Need You Now

Tal's POV

After we finished packing up all of Benji's things we headed to Joel's house to store most of it in the garage until they moved into their new house.

I walked inside and grabbed a beer from the fridge. I noticed all of Alisha's favorite drinks were still stocked in there.

"Jo?" I walked into the living room and he was sitting on the ground going through a box.

"What's up Tal?" He said, not bothering to look up.

I sat down across from him. "Is everything okay? With you I mean?"

He looked up and smiled. "I'm getting by."

I leaned forward and looked in the box, it was a bunch of Ali's drawings.

"What are you gonna do with these?" I asked.

He shrugged. "Most likely just save them for Robin, when she gets older I know she'll want something to remember Alisha by."

"Oh. Don't you think maybe it's about time you start moving on? It's been what? About 9 almost 10 months." I spoke cautiously.

He looked at me, surprised. "Have you ever been in love Tal? Not like what you and Mandy had, I mean real love, a love that nothing can get in between, someone that you would do anything and everything for."

I sat there, not knowing exactly what to say.

"Well?" He asked.

I shook my head. "I guess not, but I see myself having a relationship like that with Spencer."

He smiled. "When I lost Alisha, I thought I could never love again, but I know now that one day I will, when I am ready. I know that you and everyone else around here are concerned, but I have a daughter to raise and a career and so many other things going on in my life. I will find someone when I am ready."

"If you say so Jo, I just, well we think that maybe things would be a little easier if you found someone that could help you raise Robin, someone that could be a part of your lives."

He shook his head. "It's not that simple Tal. I love that you guys are so worried about me and care so much about Robin, but it's only been 10 months, that's not a long time. Yeah, it feels like an eternity since we last saw her smile, or heard her laugh, but bringing someone into Robin's life right now just isn't an option."

I sighed. "Joel, I guess it feels like I am pushing you to move on, and I believe you when you say that Robin is your main concern, but.."

"But?" He asked.

"You still have her favorite drinks stocked in the fridge, Mandy says you have yet to clear out her side of the closet, I'm just wondering why?"

He picked up the box and gestured for me to follow him upstairs.

We walked into his and Alisha's room and he set the box down next to a few others by the door.

He pointed to the closet. "Go ahead, check it out."

I walked in to see Alisha's wedding dress hanging up and Robin's dress from the wedding hanging next to it. A few of Alisha's worn out band tees were folded neatly on a shelf. There were a few of her shoes on the top shelf, but other than that her side was empty.

"So you did clear things out?"

He nodded. "I haven't talked to Mandy about it yet because I barely did everything last night. I told you guys that I would handle things on my own terms, I'm sending these boxes to Arizona so that Mandy can keep anything she wants, but these are the few things that I know for sure Alisha would've wanted Robin to have."