Jace stood at the center of his studio sleeves rolled, going through the comments in the Instagram photograph from the exhibit.
They were saying nice stuff but the social media must have haters.
He hadn't slept much.
Hadn't wanted to.
His mind had been humming with something electric for days, since the talk with Kyra, since she said....
"People don't stop needing each other because they're hurt" and something about "a reminder of how he loves".
That stuck. It haunted him in the best way.
The studio door creaked open, and Sophie stepped inside, her sunglasses pushed up on her head, expression skeptical and teasing.
"Let this better be good," she said, not even bothering with a hello.
Jace looked up, a half-smile lying across his face. "Nice to see you too, Soph."
She crossed her arms. "You called me over like it was urgent. And you sounded all... weirdly hopeful. So, what is it?"
"You can have a seat Soph" He said.
"That's not why you called me over...is it?" She asked.
"Okay....first off, I didn't tell Amy about Gina because I didn't think she mattered," he began quietly.
"With this again ....I thought you've moved on pretty boy and besides I shouldn't be the one you're telling this" She Interrupted.
"Just hear me out Sophie, Gina's not a part of my life....hasn't been for years,I just didn't think it mattered to bring it up to Amy"
"You don't get to decide what matters to Amy."
"I know." His voice cracked, and he ran a hand over his face. " I know. If I could go back and do it differently, I would."
Silence settled between them like fog. Sophie didn't fill it. Her eyes, though sharp, and unflinching.....never left him.
"I messed up," Jace said again, softer now. "And I'll carry that. But I can't just let her walk away without trying again. I'm losing her, Sophie. And I can't breathe when I think about what that means."
Sophie's jaw flexed, but she didn't interrupt.
"I'm not asking for her forgiveness to be handed to me on a silver plate," he continued. "But I want to do something that matters. Something that's just not some grand gesture with flowers or some dramatic speech. I want to remind her of the beginning. Of the quiet parts. The real parts. Before all of this."
Sophie narrowed her eyes. "What are you talking about?"
Jace reached behind him, pulled out a rough sketch of a layout on a clipboard. Frames. Spotlights. Empty wall space, labeled in pencil.
Sophie blinked. She didn't say anything for a long moment. Her gaze flicked between the layout in his hands and the prints stacked against the wall.
"And you think this is going to fix it?"
"No," Jace said honestly. "But I don't want to fix it with words. I want to remind her that she was never just someone I took pictures of. She was the reason I started seeing the world differently in the first place."
Sophie breathed out through her nose, her expression unreadable.
"I don't know if it'll work," she said.
"I don't either," Jace admitted. "But it's the only thing I have that feels right."
She looked around the studio then back at him. That same handsome motorcycle riding camera prince with too much grief behind his eyes, and now, guilt layered on top of it. Still Jace.
And maybe, just maybe, still worth one last shot for Amy's sake.
She sighed. "Alright."
Jace looked up, surprised. "You'll help?"
"Don't get it twisted...I'm not here to back you. I'm here because Amy deserves to know the full story. Not just the pain, but the truth underneath it."
He nodded, swallowing thickly. "Thank you....this is just a draft....i'd finish up what I have in mind and then show you."
"Okay" she said, stepping closer, pointing a firm finger at his chest, "if you mess this up or if you so much as breathe wrong.....I'll burn every single frame in this room. Personally."
A shaky laugh left him before he could stop it. "Deal."
Sophie rolled her eyes playfully at him already pulling her phone out to start making notes. "God, I must be losing it," She muttered as she headed for the exit.
"Call me when you're ready, Jace" She said not even waiting for a reply.
Jace watched her, a quiet sort of awe settling in his chest.
Sophie hadn't forgiven him yet but it was something close.
And that was enough for now.
...
The knock came just as Amy was almost done reorganizing the books on her bookshelf. She just wrapped writing for the day some moments ago and needed to keep her hands busy before going to bed. She hadn't expected company at all.
She opened the door to find Ethan standing there with a bottle of wine and a book under his arm.
"Hey," he said, a little tentative. "I brought... stuff."
Amy blinked at him. "Stuff?"
He held up the bottle. "It's a red. Some Malbec I haven't tried. Thought I'd see if it's any good with company."
"Company huh?" She smirked raising a brow. "Yeah....Just someone who wouldn't drink it straight from the bottle like I probably would."
Amy gave a soft laugh and stepped aside. "Come in. I was just harassing my shelves for no reason."
He walked in, glancing around like he hadn't seen the space a before. "It looks oorganized if you ask me"
"That's how you know it's bad. I alphabetized the books but then realised I placed some wrongly."
Ethan snorted. "Dangerous behavior."
She laughs.
He settled on the couch as Amy returns with two glasses. He uncorked the bottle while she tucked her legs under her, watching him with quiet amusement.
"You've been kind of scarce," she said lightly.
He glanced at her, poured. "Yeah. I figured I should give you space after... everything."
She accepted the glass. "You don't have to walk on eggshells. I should've reached out too. We're fine."
When she looked up, Ethan's eyes were already on her.
"For what it's worth, I should've reached out," she added quietly. "After Sophie's birthday. I didn't mean to make things weird."
Ethan shrugged gently. "I didn't want to push. You were clear. And I respected that. But yeah... I guess I pulled back more than I needed to."
Amy looked at her glass "We're still friends, right?"
"Still friends," he said. But his voice dipped a little lower. "Even if it's harder than I let on."
She nodded once. "I missed this, though. Just hanging out."
"Me too."
They clinked glasses and took a sip. Amy raised an eyebrow.
"Oh wow. That's actually... really nice."
"I know, right? I was expecting it to be drinkable at best. I feel weirdly proud of it, like I crushed the grapes myself."
She smiled, then spotted the book on the table between them.
"What's that?"
He picked it up and handed it to her. "Finished it today. It reminded me of you. Figured you'd like the writing."
Amy opened it, thumbing through the cover page until she found the sticky note tucked neatly between the pages.
"Page 143: she reminded me of you. Not just her words,the way she looked at things.."
She stared at it for a moment.Her voice was softer now. "You wrote this?"
"Yeah," he said, watching her carefully. "I wasn't trying to say anything with it. Just… thought you'd like it."
She didn't say anything at first, just ran her fingers over the note, then closed the book gently.
"Thank you," she said finally. "This means a lot."
Their eyes met.
She looked at him then. The soft curve of his mouth, the slight tension in his jaw, the way his fingers brushed the stem of his glass like he didn't trust them to stay still.
The air shifted.
He reached out, slowly, tucking a strand of her hair behind her ear with a kind of reverence that made her chest ache.
Their eyes met.
He leaned forward...just slightly. Her breath caught.
It was gentle. Slow. Not a move, not a demand. Just a question, unspoken.
Their faces were inches apart when Amy closed her eyes...then drew back, almost imperceptibly.
"I'm not ready," she whispered, barely louder than the ticking clock behind them.
Ethan pulled back immediately, swallowing hard.
"I'm sorry," he murmured. "I didn't mean to....God....It's like... when I'm around you, I forget to hold myself back."
Amy gave a faint, sad smile. "It's not you. It's just... I'm still somewhere in between."
He nodded, standing slowly.....quite embarrassed "I should go. I didn't mean to make tonight heavy. I really just... wanted to give you the book."
"Look Ethan...you didn't do anything wrong. I just....I'm still trying to figure things out".
He nodded swallowing whatever words he had been building.
"I meant what I wrote," he said after a pause.
Amy smiled faintly. "I know."
He stepped back slowly, smoothing a hand over the back of his neck.
"I'll let you get back to rearranging your perfectly normal bookshelf."
She laughed under her breath. "Thanks for the wine. And the book."
Ethan hesitated at the door. "Anytime."
And then he left, the air a little heavier behind him.
Amy sat back on the couch, the book resting in her lap. She didn't open it again just held it there, thumb brushing the edge.