Breaking Free (Tom Holland) BOOK ONE [COMPLETED]

Breaking Free Chapter 27

"Are you okay? You've been quiet all morning," Valerie asked me. It was the morning of her baby shower and we had gotten to the venue early in order to finish decorating.

"I'm fine. I just have a lot of things on my mind," I replied.

"Now you know you can't say that and expect me to let it slide. Sit down and tell me what's going on."

Valerie was nearing her due date and she took up a lot more room than she realized. Still, I managed to sit in the chair in front of her. I reluctantly told her about Tom's plans to go back home.

"All week I've been trying to put together a list of things for us to do before he leaves but we'll be so busy with the premieres that we might not even be able to do any of it."

I could feel the tears welling up. They spilled over when Valerie pulled me into a tight hug. She smoothed my hair and told me everything was going to be okay while I sobbed into her shoulder. By the time I had calmed down there was a giant wet stain on her shirt.

"I'm sorry I'm crying on your special day," I apologized.

"Don't apologize. But you should pull yourself together quickly because Tom will be here soon. As for him leaving, I'm going to give you tough love and tell you that you should have seen this coming. That being said, I'm sure he'll make time for you two to do plenty of things before he leaves. My advice: go talk to him. He won't know how you feel unless you tell him."

"But I don't want him to feel bad."

"Who to feel bad?" Tom asked from behind us. He was carrying a large box wrapped in teddy bear wrapping paper and a bunch of balloons.

"Tom! Thank you so much!" Valerie exclaimed. She stood up and took the balloons from him.

"You're welcome. I'm glad I made it here alive. There were so many balloons I could barely see," Tom chuckled.

"Your sacrifice would not have been made in vain," Valerie laughed.

Tom turned to me. His face quickly went from amused to worried. "Vanessa what's the matter? You look like you've been crying."

"That would be because she has. Now you two work out your differences so we can finish setting up," Valerie said before walking away with the balloons.

Tom's worried eyes were still trained on me. "Vanessa please tell me what's wrong," he pleaded.

"I'm scared we won't have enough time to spend together before you leave and then we'll drift apart and you won't want to be with me anymore," I spat out.

Tom stood silent for a moment soaking in what I had just said. Then he began to laugh. It started as a small laugh and grew into a big belly laugh. He reached out and pulled me into a big bear hug.

"Why are you laughing at me?" I whined.

"Because I've literally been doing the same thing. You should see the list of things for us to do I have at home. It's massive. But I've also been talking to your uncle and we've been putting together a surprise for you."

Tom called Uncle Travis over to us. When Tom told him about our topic of conversation he grinned. "Do you want to give them to her now?" he asked Tom.

Tom nodded. Uncle Travis ran out to his car and came back carrying an envelope. He handed me the envelope and encouraged me to open it. Upon opening it I discovered a round-trip ticket to London.

"Is this for me?" I asked. Tom and Uncle Travis nodded and laughed.

"Of course it is. Do you know how long it took Tom to get me to agree to this? At one point he was calling me four times a day."

"I figured we could go while I have the time off. That way we can spend every waking moment we can together."

I threw my arms around my uncle and Tom and hugged them tight. I could barely contain my excitement.

"This is a sweet moment and all but we've only got 2 hours left to finish setting up so can everyone pick up a box of decorations and get to work?" Valerie called from across the room.

"I sure do hope this attitude goes away as soon as she has this baby because I don't think I can handle much more of it," Uncle Travis mumbled.

"It won't!" Valerie shouted.

Chase came through the front door followed by 3 large men. They looked just like Chase but while he was lean they were as thick as bodybuilders. After a short greeting Chase's brothers all grabbed boxes and began putting up decorations. Tom stared at them in disbelief.

"You said those are Chase's brothers? They look nothing like him," he questioned me as we set up the drink table.

"They look just alike what are you talking about?"

"No. They make me regret skipping the gym today. Chase does not."

"Oh that's what you meant. They all play professional football so they tend to keep pretty fit."

Tom continued to stare at them for a few moments. He finally stopped when I told him he was being rude. "Don't you know any normal people?"

"Wow. Just because I haven't seen her in a few months I've been written off?" someone said from behind us. We turned around and saw Zac holding a box full of cups. I screeched and ran to hug him. He laughed as he returned the favor. "I'm so glad you're almost done filming. I am in serious need of some quality time with my best friend."

I went rigid. I turned to Tom and said, "Would you mind giving us a minute?"

Tom looked confused but he didn't argue. Once he was gone Zac turned to me and asked, "What was so privste that you had to send him away?"

"Once we're done promoting the movie I'm only going to be here for a few weeks. Then I'm going to England with Tom."

A wide grin spread across Zac's face. Not at all the expression I was expecting. "I know because I'm coming with you."