Mercy

Chapter 6

Elizabeth turned on the sink faucet and splashed the cool water on her face. She inspected her skin in the bathroom mirror and quickly undid her braid. Her hair was now wavy from it being up all day. She ran her fingers through the slightly tangled strands. Giving one last look in the mirror, she shrugged at her reflection. She went downstairs and walked into her kitchen, placing her laptop on the table. She turned into and waited for it to start up. Immediately, she logged into her Skype account and saw the green light by his name. Before she had the chance to move the mouse, the familiar ring of a video came through the speakers. She clicked on the camera icon and his face appeared on the screen.

They looked at each other in silence for a few moments. Henry was the first to speak. "Glad you liked the flowers." He danced around the issue.

"They were beautiful, thank you," she smiled.

"Are you mad?"

"About the flowers, no. About everything else, not really mad, just confused."

"What I do, when I tell people what I do, it makes them act differently. I didn't ever think I'd see you again after running into you on the beach. And then I show up to visit my family and you're sitting there in the living room. If you knew, I thought you were one hell of an actor. Then, when we started talking, I knew you had no idea. You didn't seem like you'd be someone who took the time to follow gossip sites and magazines and to be honest it was refreshing. I really hope you're not mad. I didn't want to tell you because I wanted to be able to spend time with you, as Henry."

"Well, what can I say. I guess we both have our own suitcases full of crazy," she smiled. "I understand, more than you know. We've all got baggage, your just happens to be tight pants and cape," she laughed.

"Speaking of suitcases and baggage, do you think you'd be able to come to London next month?"

"October?"

"The fall is beautiful here, I think you'd enjoy it. And it's bigger than Jersey. I'd say come now, but I'm actually working at the moment."

"Henry, I can't. The girls are in school, I don't have anyone here that could look after them if I was to leave. I can't just leave my work, there's only myself and one other doctor there. I wish I could, but I don't even know how that would be possible," she sighed. She knew keeping in touch with Henry after vacation was going to be rough, living almost 5,000 miles apart, but she didn't count on actually being sad because of it. "I probably should get going, I'll try text you later tonight," she sighed.

"I should be around, things are about to really start picking up here too," he smiled. This wasn't going to be easy. Two full schedules and at minimum a 6 hour time difference. Filming was beginning to pick up for another movie and he'd be busy traveling and shooting. "It's going to get hectic, I have to leave for Italy in a couple of weeks. I probably won't be able to talk as much."

"That's okay, you're busy, I'm busy, let's just talk when we can," she suggested, not really happy with the suggestion but knowing it will have to suffice.

"Alright, talk to you later," Henry smiled as he clicked off the video chat. He ran his hands through his hair and looked out his hotel window. It almost seemed unfair of him to ask her to put up with his crazy life when she had such a busy life of her own. But he couldn't help it. He wanted to be there, to talk to her, to see her in person, to touch her face, smell her hair, kiss her lips. He was falling hard. Sure he had dated around, hell, he had been engaged before too, but all those relationships fell victim to busy schedules and time apart as well. This time though, he was bound and determined for it to be different. He turned off the lap on the hotel desk and walked over to his bed. It wasn't late, the sun had just finished setting but knowing he had to be up early, he didn't even bother to turn on the television. He placed his phone on the pillow next to him, keeping it close in case she was able to get a minute to talk later.