“But they all let us down,” I whispered, allowing that deep, embedded truth to slip from between my lips.
“That’s not true,” Mima said. “Do men mess up from time to time? Of course, but so do women. We are humans—perfectly imperfect. We make mistakes. We go right when we should’ve gone left. We fall into bad habits. We sometimes hurt the ones we love the most. We try and we fail, but we also learn from our mistakes and try to do the right thing moving forward. I know Landon, and I know you. I know how you both love one another with a love that is bigger than this world. Don’t run from that love out of fear, mi amor. Don’t let fear drive you forever. If you do, you’ll end up living in a story that you weren’t meant to be a part of. Don’t throw away your story before you reach your happily ever after.”
“Maybe I don’t get the happy ending,” I said, lowering my head. “Maybe Mom was the one meant to break the family curse, not me.”
“No. It’s both of us,” Mom said, still holding my hand. “We get the happy ending. Just because you’re sitting in the middle of your story with Landon doesn’t mean the rest of your pagesare doomed. The ending is going to be worth it, Shay. No happily ever after was ever made from a perfectly knit story. See this one through. Don’t give up on him just yet.”
I heard their words, I listened to their encouragement, too, but the fear of it all was too loud in my head to drown out.
They were right. I was afraid of love. I was terrified of being hurt time and time again, and I didn’t know how to get past my greatest fear.
* * *
I tried to shake the heaviness of ending things with Landon. I tried to distract myself. My body felt exhausted by the emotions I’d released over the past few weeks. My mind was still spinning at full speed ahead, but going shopping seemed to be the only way I could distract myself slightly.
As I walked through a farmers’ market in Chicago, I was surprised when someone began to call out my name.
“Shay? Shay Gable?” the voice said, making me turn around on my heels as I held my hot cocoa in my hands.
It took me a second to register who I was looking at, but once it clicked, it clicked hard. “Monica?” There she was, the girl from high school who used to be madly in love with Landon. I couldn’t blame her for that. I understood how easy it was to love a man like him.
Monica looked different than she had back when we were kids. She looked so remarkably healthy. There was a glow to her that I’d never seen before. She was also at least eight months pregnant as she waddled over toward me.
“Oh my gosh! I thought that was you,” Monica exclaimed. She walked over and gave me a hug. I didn’t know that Monicaand I were the type to hug, but I allowed it. I was still stunned by how good she appeared. “Geez, what has it been... fifteen, sixteen years?”
“Something like that.” I smiled. “You look amazing, Monica.”
She smiled softly and combed her dark-brown hair behind her ears. “Thank you. I’m exhausted, clearly,” she said, gesturing toward her stomach. “But I am good. It’s so funny, I was just telling my husband about you. I saw articles about you and Landon being together. Talk about a blast from the past.”
A bubble of anxiety hit my stomach. “Yeah. It’s a pretty wild life Landon lives.”
“He handles it well, though,” she told me. “You know, I always knew if he ended up with someone, it would be you,” Monica said.
“Oh, no, I—”
She cut me off and continued talking. “He was so in love with you in high school. I think that’s what drove me wild as a kid. I wanted someone to look at me the way Landon looked at you. And he was always looking at you. Even before that silly bet. I told him a few years ago that he should’ve reached out to you, but he said it was too late. I told him to try, though. Because he deserved to love someone like you.”
“You two stayed in contact after high school?”
Monica gave a shy grin and nodded. Her hands rested against her stomach. “He saved my life. Time and time again. I struggled a lot with my mental health, but Landon was always there, checking in on me. After his career took off, he even paid for me to stay a full year at one of the top rehab centers in Arizona. I got the best treatment of my life because of him. He’s the godfather to my oldest daughter, and he’s also the one who introduced me to my husband, Stephen. Stephen was a soundtechnician on one of Landon’s films.” She looked over toward the man who was standing at a dessert booth. When he glanced over toward Monica, I saw the sparkle in his eyes. There was such a softness to his stare, an indescribable amount of love.
Monica turned back toward me. “He’s the love of my life,” she swore. The way those words rolled off her tongue made my broken heart beat a little faster. Because my heart felt the same way about a certain man.
Monica grinned. “And to think it’s all because of Landon Harrison. Funny how things work out. I owe Landon, well, my life.”
I was starting to think a lot of people owed Landon their lives. Greyson. Karla. Monica.
Me.
Monica and I exchanged a few more words before giving one another a goodbye hug. As I wandered around the holiday market, I couldn’t help but think about how I sent away the one person who was there for, well... everyone.
All because of my own stupid issues.
Me and my stupid heart.
56Landon
“Frankly, I’m worried about you,” Karla said as she sat across from me during our dinner date. She had a very stern look of worry in her stare as she cut into her steak.