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“You won’t be here for the auction?”
She winced. “I know. I’m really sorry. I already talked to Monica, and she agreed to handle things the day of the event.”
I recoiled. “You already told Monica?” The realization that she had already made all the plans and decisions without me was like pouring gasoline on the fire of my disappointment.
“Bryce,” she said. “I know the timing sucks, but this is everything I’ve been working for. It’s fifteen years. Do you understand that?”
I pulled back. “Of course I do. I just… I thought we would talk about it, I guess.” This couldn’t be happening. I couldn’t process it through the anger. She was leaving. She’d chosen the movies over me. Again.
And she hadn’t even talked to me about it. What kind of future could we have if she wouldn’t even have the conversation? I thought about the plans I’d been making, the phone calls I’d made to LA. Just in case.
It didn’t matter though. Because while I was looking for a way for Krystal and I to work, she was only looking out for her own future. The slim chance I might have been in it was just an afterthought.
Stupid, gullible Bryce. Left behind again.
* * *
KRYSTAL
I watched Bryce across the table. He probably thought he was hiding his feelings well, and perhaps to the rest of the people in the bistro, he was. But I could see the hurt on his face and the tension in his frame.
“I know. Everything just happened so fast. My agent called me at two in the morning from LA!”
I pulled out the excuse easily, ignoring the niggling truth deep inside. Despite my mom’s advice, I hadn’t wanted to talk to Bryce before making the decision. I didn’t want to be looking back in thirty years wondering if I’d given up on my dream just before achieving it.
Bryce was angry, and my explanation did nothing to change that. “I’m sorry, Bryce. Filming is less than a month for each movie. I could be back before the summer is over.
“And then what?”
I sagged slightly at his tone. “I don’t know! Maybe we just see what happens,” I suggested hopefully.
“I’m not just some backup plan. Either you want me or you don’t, Krys.”
Everything was so black and white for him. I pushed back. “It’s not that simple, Bryce!”
“It is for me. It’s always been that simple. I’ve always wanted you, no matter what a fool that makes me. There’s no hope for us if we couldn’t even have this conversation before you decided to go. I’m such an idiot,” he said to himself.
He dropped his keys on the table. “I need to walk. Take my truck, and I’ll pick it up later. Leave the keys on the seat.”
With that, he stood up and walked out. I felt all the eyes in the place follow him and then turn back to me. For once, I didn’t really seem to care. If I was going to be cast as the villain of Minden for breaking Bryce’s heart, at least I actually deserved it.
I pressed my fingers to my eyes, rubbing the stinging sensation away, along with the tears that had escaped as Bryce told me exactly what he really thought about me.
The worst part was that I couldn’t argue with any of it.
I was a coward.
I’d avoided the conversation so I didn’t have to see Bryce get hurt. But it was obvious now that it hadn’t been about his pain. It had been about minimizing my own. About my fear that he held too much power over me and would convince me to give up my dream.
I should have known that Bryce wouldn’t do that.
If anything, he’d been my second biggest cheerleader back then, after my mother. He’d brought flowers to my performances in high school, and he’d sat in the front row for every show.
I sat in the booth for a long time, nursing my iced tea and waving off the server. I finally stepped outside, instinctively searching the sidewalk for any sign of Bryce. But he wasn’t there. Reluctantly, I climbed into the driver’s side of his truck.
Instead of driving home, I pointed the truck toward the park. In the dark, it looked deserted. I pulled into a space and started down the sidewalk that led to the playground and picnic shelter.
I couldn’t explain what pulled me to the place. History, perhaps.
