Tessa
I miss you.
His response came a moment later.
Oliver
I miss you too.
How’s life on set?
Fine.
Just fine?
Yeah. I mean, everything’s great. I love the cast and crew, and the project is amazing. I’m just…
Yeah. I know.
I was sad. I loved the cast, loved the project, but I was miserable.
That was the problem, wasn’t it? That he wasthereand I washere, and there was nothing we could do about that. He had his job, and I had mine. When filming was done, I could visit.
But we both knew that would only be delaying the inevitable.
Why didn’t he ask me to stay?The thought ripped through me before I could stop it.
Because he knew me. Because in the last two years, he’d done nothing but encourage me in my career.
So why didn’t I ask him to comewith me?
Sighing, I hung my head in my hands. It was too late. We’d missed our chance.
That was what I tried to tell myself as I headed home. As Iopened the door to my apartment. Even full of color, it felt cold and empty.
It wasn’t full of warmth, laughter, andlove. God, I missed Portland. I missed my brother and Noelle. I missed the hipster coffee shops on every block. I missed the trees and the mountain air and I even missed the stupid pumpkin we’d carved together, that was probably rotted away in a dumpster by now.
I missedhim.
Dropping my stuff on the island, I collapsed onto the couch, feeling the exhaustion down to my bones. Maybe I needed a tropical vacation once this was all over. Some sun, a fruity beverage in a pineapple in hand, and I’d be right as rain.
Someone knocked on my apartment door, and I frowned. I hadn’t ordered any food, nor were there any packages I was expecting. Maybe it was just a nosy neighbor trying to poke their nose into my business. That was happening a lot more now that billboards were popping up around town with my face on it.
Sighing, I stood and walked to the door, rubbing my neck in the process.
But when I opened the door, it wasn’t a neighbor standing on my front step.
I blinked a few times, trying to verify that it was, in fact, the ginger-haired man whose face I had seen every night in my dreams. The one who whispered sweet nothings into my ear as I fell asleep each night. The one I wanted so terribly.
“Oliver?” I said, though my word came out as more of a gasp. “What are you doing here?”
He pulled me into his arms. “I just kept thinking, what are we doing, Tess? Both missing each other so damn much ithurts.”
“But you live in Portland, and I live here.” My eyes filled with tears. Tears I hadn’t shed before, because I hadn’t let myself. Burying my face into his shirt so he wouldn’t see me cry, I murmured, “And we both know long distance would suck.”
“That’s the thing.” His finger hooked under my chin, guiding my eyes up to his. And then Oliver grinned. “I don’t.”
“You don’t what?” Confused, I pulled back. He didn’t think long distance would suck?
