Because if I stayed?
God help me.
CHAPTER 32
I’m not sure what came over me. We’ve been selling more and more copies of ‘The Way We Move’since the announcement of Ansel as the lead.
Since filming startedright herein Seattle.
Raymond would tell you that my ‘dating’ the lead in the movie had also been phenomenal for business, but I wasn’t sure that was true.
But with all the talk and the gossip and theAnsel Barloweof it all — I found myself missing him, just a little.
Like there was a tiny, Ansel-shaped, hole in my heart.
We hadn’t seen each other since that night. And honestly, I’d been trying not to see him? We’d texted a little — stupid, safe things about work or press requests — but neither of us mentionedthat night.
Neither of us had dared.
So… when I left my shift — I only worked four hours today — I drove to set. I told myself it was to watch filming. To support him. To see how the movie was shaping up. But deep down, I knew better.
The security guy waved me through — Ansel had already put me on the list — and a PA led me to the soundstage. I expected chaos. Lights, cables, shouting. And therewaschaos — people running around, setting up, prepping props. But then the scene started.
Everything paused.
And I forgot how to breathe.
BecauseTheowalked in.
Not Ansel. Not the charming, grinning man who drove me crazy without even trying.Theo Rivera.My Theo. The Theo from my mind, the character I had leaned on during my divorce — before, even. ‘The Way We Move’ held such a special place in my soul; it had healed me in ways I didn’t even know I had been broken.
And here he was… Theo Rivera. With his life turned upside down, with his job loss and his ailing mother and…
I couldn’t breathe.
I was sure that Ansel would ruin Theo — not because he was Ansel, but becauseno onewas Theo. No one was going to be good enough to fill that role, not in my mind. Anyone who was cast would be too cocky, too ego-centered, tooHollywood.
But he wasn’t any of those things.
He was heartbreak and hope and fire all at once. Every movement deliberate, every linelived in.He had Theo’s stubborn tilt to his chin, the flash of defiance in his eyes. Theache. Thelonging.
My chest hurt.
Someone nudged me. I hadn’t even realized I was standing there, frozen. “You okay, Ms. Haddock?” one of the crew asked with a soft grin. “You look a little star-struck.”
“Cut!”
The spell broke. The crew bustled in, resetting props, adjusting lights. But Ansel —Theo— just stood there, chest heaving, hair mussed like he’d been through hell.
And then his eyes found me. Like he’d known I was there the whole time. I couldn’t move. Couldn’t evenblink.
He said something to the director — quick, quiet — and then he was walking toward me. Fast. Determined.
God, he looked unfair up close. Sweat clung to his hairline, the collar of Theo’s shirt open just enough to show the hollow of his throat. His expression was still half-wild from the scene.
“You came,” he said, voice rough around the edges. “I put your name on the list weeks ago, just in case. I didn’t expect?—”
I swallowed. “Yeah.”
