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“Once upon a time, there was a boy who wanted to see the world. He had wonderful parents who only wanted the best for him. They wanted to see him happy.”
Em sighs, the smile cracking. “But that little boy wanted things they couldn’t give him. He wanted to see the world, to be important, but more than anything else, he didn’t want any limits. He wanted to fly. So he decided he’d do whatever it took to have that life, to be free.
“He went to school and learned everything he could, but it wasn’t enough. He wasn’t special enough to convince people he was worth giving a chance. So he did the one thing he could think of. He pretended to be more special. Happier. More charming. Cleverer.
“And it worked. It worked so well that he couldn’t stop being this other person, lying to the world about what he wanted and what he enjoyed. He did what that special person would do instead of what he wanted. He spent so much time being that other man that he began to forget the little boy who wanted freedom.”
Em sits up a little straighter, and the smile finally breaks completely. “Then he met a girl. A wonderful, beautiful, perfect girl who made him remember that little boy. He fell so madly in love with her that he couldn’t imagine his life without her. If he was a prince, she was his princess, and he’d do anything to keep her.
“Until she told him she couldn’t marry a man who refused to take off the mask. You see, he barely remembered the little boy. The mask had become a chain, and he couldn’t fly any more than he’d been able to before he put on the mask. Except, now he had to discover it all over again.”
“I’m here to say that I remember the little boy now. I remember why I started Aspire, and I remember what it was like to be happy. Madison Carter showed me I don’t need the mask anymore. I don’t need anything anymore.
“Except her. That’s why I’m making this video. I want her to come back to me, to live with me and help me remember how to be happy every day, to workwithme instead of for me, as the President of Social Media Marketing. I don’t want anything to come between us. Every wonderful memory I have is with her, and without more, that little boy won’t ever learn to fly. Let’s learn to fly together, Wendy Darling.”
He takes a deep breath and leans forward. “I told her once that you can have anything you want in the world if you’re willing to sacrifice everything else. I was willing to sacrifice everything to be free, but I’ll never be free without her. Madison, please believe me when I say that you’ll never have to change to fit into my life because you’re the only thing that gives my world any meaning.”
He gives the camera one more smile, and then the video goes into the loop. I’m left staring at it as it replays, listening to the words I can’t believe are coming from his mouth. Every other video was just to convince people to go back and watch this one.
And this one hits me like a ton of bricks.
“I told you I could get you a job if you were interested,” Dante says from beside Sandy.
I look up at him, the job offer barely registering. “Can you take me to see him?”
“I thought you’d never ask.”
Chapter 58
Emery
I can’t stop staring at my phone as I sit on the couch in front of my new blue wall. She could call any minute. She could text or message on ChitChat. The numbers say that she should have seen it by now. She’s been tagged so many times.
Still, there’s no call or text. No one’s heard from her at all. My heart feels like it’s been ripped out. No, that’s not right. That was what I’d felt when I walked out of her apartment. Like the pain in my chest would never heal.
No, this is different.
For five days, I’ve hoped that these videos, these declarations to the world, would work. I’d hoped and prayed that they’d show her I was changing. I don’t know what else to do.
I can’t promise her that Emery’s gone, that I won’t accidentally put on a mask again. I can’t promise anything. All I can say is that I’m trying, that I’m putting all my effort into it. That she is the most important part of my world.
I’d nearly lost hope this morning when I made the last video, but after it went viral, I felt like she couldn’t miss it. Then the tags started happening, and she must have a thousand notifications.
Still, she hasn’t contacted me.
That can only mean one thing. She saw the video and didn’t care. She called me the biggest liar in the world, and she was right. I haven’t lied to her, though, and I hope she understands that. I’ve never lied to her.
I stand up. I’ve been sitting in the same spot for hours watching my phone, and I just can’t do it anymore. Maybe it’s time to go to the lighthouse. Maybe staring out at the water will remind me that there’s something to hope for.
And then the door opens without a knock. Initially, my heart skips a beat, but then I smother the bit of hope. I can’t handle feeling that again.
“Em?” a voice calls from the entryway, and I almost don’t believe it. She’s here? But how?
I move faster than I can remember, and I see her peeking her head out of the entryway. God, she’s perfect. More beautiful than I remember. “Madison.” Her name comes out like a whisper, and I almost question whether I’m hallucinating her.
She gives me a grin and steps into the Great Room. “I saw the videos,” she says.
I smile back at her. It’s the only way I can hold myself back from racing across the room to pick her up. To kiss her. To forget that she ever pushed me away.
