And for a flicker of a second, I thought maybe I could do it. Maybe I could leave. Pack my bags, get on a plane, start over in the sun instead of the shadows of this city.
But then my chest tightened. My throat constricted. The air around me went thin. I tried to take a breath, but it caught halfway, shallow and fast. My pulse roared in my ears. All I could see was water—rising, dark, endless.
Not again. Not leaving.
“I don’t know,” I whispered, forcing a shaky smile. “You’ve got a life in LA. I don’t want to get in the way.”
“Anna.” He took both my hands in his, his thumbs brushing across my knuckles. His voice dropped, becoming softer, more vulnerable than I’d ever heard it. “I love you.”
My breath caught. Everything seemed to stop. The tick of the clock on the wall, the hum of the refrigerator, my own heartbeat.
“You—what?”
“I love you,” he said again, his eyes never leaving mine. “I’m completely in love with you.”
Tears sprang to my eyes. This was everything I’d wanted to hear. The words I’d been waiting for, without even realizing how badly I needed them.
“I love you too,” I whispered, the confession breaking free. “Oh, Luke, I love you so much.”
His face lit up, relief and joy flooding his features. He pulled me closer, his forehead touching mine. “Then come with me. We’ll figure it out. Whatever you need, whatever makes you happy. We’ll make it work.”
I wanted to say yes. I wanted to be brave enough to leap.
But fear still had its grip on me.
“I can’t,” I whispered, my voice breaking. “I can’t leave New Orleans. My family, my friends, my job. My whole life is here. I’m sorry. I love you, but I just can’t.”
The light in his eyes dimmed. His hands were still holding mine, but I could feel the distance growing between us even as we stood inches apart.
His face fell, but he recovered quickly. “You said you would never leave here, and I should have listened. I’ll be back soon to see you. I’ll get a break, and I’ll come visit.”
“Yes,” I said quickly, relief washing over me even as tears threatened to spill. “Yes, I want to stay together. I want to make this work. We can do long distance, right? People do it all the time.”
I don’t know why I was so scared to leave this city. What was holding me back? I was a grown woman after all.
But Luke wasn’t making me face my fears. He was saying it could work long distance. Hope flooded through me. We could stay together, even if we couldn’t be in the same place. I smiled and kissed him, hoping it would push away the ache in my chest. His lips were warm and steady.
When the kiss ended, he smiled and pressed his forehead to mine. “We’ll talk every day.”
Over the next few days, we both threw ourselves into our work. Luke disappeared into his preparations for the role, spending hours on Zoom with his acting coach and meticulously memorizing his lines.
And me? I wrote.
Even though I had received that dreaded hundredth rejection, this superhero story begged to be finished. Every time I tried to step away, to convince myself it wasn’t worth it, I found myself pulled back, powerless to stop the words from flowing.
I sat at the desk in the guest room, wholly immersed in my work. Draft after draft poured out of me, and the words felt alive.
Luke and I stole time together when we could. He brought me coffee while I wrote, and I sat quietly in the library while he ran lines, our fingers intertwined even when we weren't talking. Small moments that reminded me why I'd fallen for him in the first place.
One afternoon, I was so deep in a chapter that I didn't hear Luke approach until his hand gently touched my shoulder. “Okay, close your eyes,” he said, tugging me by the hand through the mansion’s hallways.
“If you’re leading me into a prank, I swear…”
“Just trust me.”
I closed my eyes, letting him guide me. We stopped, and I heard the creak of a door opening. “Okay, beautiful, open your eyes.”
I blinked. We were standing in one of the smaller guest rooms, but it had completely transformed. A blanket fort was constructed over the bed and couch, with string lights draped inside, creating a soft golden glow. A laptop sat in the middle, cued up to what looked like a classic movie.
