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But I digress...
In these last weeks of my life, you gave me an adventure while you were having one of your own. You have no idea the joy these texts and photos gave me and the wonderful conversations they led to with my doctors, nurses, and even other patients. So for that, I thank you. And to give something back, I wanted to make sure that YOU remembered this time. Hopefully it will help you see what is really important in life.
The smile on your face in all of these pictures says it all.
I have treasured your friendship and I thank you for sharing such a special time in your life with me. Be well, Sienna. Be happy. And I hope there are many more adventures to come.
With love,
Eleanor
With a shaky breath, she wiped tears away.
And then she got comfortable against the cushions and began to go through the pages. Each one had copies of the texts she had sent as well as the pictures from every stop on hers and Mick’s trip. Some messages she barely remembered sending and she couldn’t help but smile at the photos. At the bottom of each page was a little note—or observation—from Eleanor, detailing how she felt about seeing these moments from their travels. Some comments were rather generic like, “You look like you’re having a great time!”, while others were a little more personal like, “Oh, how I wish I could have been there with you to see that smile in person.”
Page after page reminded her of how much fun she had, how many new experiences she’d had, and most importantly, it reminded her how good it felt to be someone other than a research professor who spent far too much time tucked away in a lab or a classroom.
The woman smiling up at her from this scrapbook looked like someone else—the imaginary version of herself that she rarely let come out and play because it seemed too frivolous.
Touching a photo of her and Mick from the gondola ride they’d taken at the Venetian hotel in Vegas, Sienna knew that was the person she wanted to be.
Desperately.
It was totally possible. She didn’t have to wait for a vacation to be like that. In a few weeks, she and Mick would be together. He was offering her the world on her terms. He was willing to move to North Carolina so that she didn’t have to give up her career, but, in her heart, she knew that wasn’t right and it wasn’t what she wanted.
Smiling down at the now closed scrapbook, she gently ran her hands over the title.
She wanted the adventure.
And she was ready to make some big changes and leave her comfort zone to make that happen.
Ten days later, Mick slammed his laptop shut with a growl of frustration. It was like the universe hated him. Suddenly, there was in influx of talent looking for representation, and issues with major venues he’d never experienced before. There was still a mountain of paperwork for him to get through, and a list of calls a mile long. This was normally the sort of stuff that he thrived on, but right now he was having a hard time giving a damn about any of it. He just wanted people to do what he needed done without argument!
A little unreasonable, but he was a man used to getting things done his way, so this was beyond aggravating.
And all of it was keeping him in L.A. way longer than he wanted to be there.
The office walls were closing in on him. He was short-tempered with his staff, less than patient with his assistant, and what was worse was that Sienna was sounding more and more distant with each passing day. She kept telling him she was fine and just a little busy and trying to get her schedule clear before the holiday break, but he was feeling like maybe she was having second thoughts about things—about them—and he just wanted to be done with all this bullshit so they could be in the same place together to talk things out.
“Who am I kidding? I want us to be in the same place because I’m feeling insecure.”
Yeah, that was a brand new feeling for him and he didn’t like it one damn bit.
The plan was to fly to North Carolina tomorrow night—taking the red-eye like Sienna had when she went home because he hadn’t been able to charter a flight.
Another aspect of all of this that was pissing him off.
Raking a hand through his hair, Mick leaned back in his chair and let out a long breath. He missed Sienna. Now that he saw what his future held, he wanted to grab it with both hands and get started on their happily ever after. Lord knows they waited long enough for it.
Last night, they had been video chatting, and Mick could tell she was just as weary of this setup as he was. She looked tired and he knew she was working too hard, but whenever he asked her about it, she never gave him a straight answer. Part of him reasoned it was because she knew he didn’t understand shit about the kind of research she was doing, but it didn’t matter to him if he understood it or not, he just wanted her to share her day with him. He never pushed, and whenever she asked about his day, he always told her everything in hopes of it prompting her to do the same, but basically all that accomplished was him dominating the conversation.
“Ugh...I’m freaking needy and pathetic,” he murmured.
Then he thought about the end of their conversation. She’d yawned and looked a little sleepy, but when she asked, “Baby, when are you coming home?”, it meant the world to him because he loved hearing her word it like that.
“Just as soon as I can, princess. I swear,” he’d told her.
Now if the universe would finish crapping all over his plans, he’d count that as a win.
