A Mighty Need

Audrey returned to Los Angeles on Sunday evening with Austin in tow. Rhiannon was being looked after back in Philadelphia by their father, since he was two years retired and always looking for something to occupy his time anyway. Usually it was puzzles and watching marathons of Law & Order reruns. Any excuse to get out of the house was much appreciated not only by him, but by Audrey and Austin’s mother as well, who hadn’t expected their father to being home that much. Audrey didn’t know it, but her father loved taking care of Rhiannon when Audrey was away and Austin was unavailable to do it, because it was like going away on a mini vacation for a couple hours a day, where he got to watch TV on a larger screen, play with her cat and not listen to his wife occasionally nag about her mother or something else that didn’t pertain to him. He loved his wife, of course, but sometimes, after thirty plus years of marriage, he needed his ‘man time’, as he called it.

Austin was instantly sweating when they stepped off the plan. It was summer now and it was already quite warm in Philadelphia, but he wasn’t prepared for how hot it would be in Los Angeles. He’d only been to the SoCal city one other time with Audrey and that had been during the fall months two years back when the temps were tolerable. Audrey had grown accustomed to it in her short time there so being met with a face of dry heat in her face as soon as they stepped out of the airport was already old hat to her.

A driver from Chateau Marmont arrived to pick them up. It had been Austin’s first task as her PA to call the hotel and inform them when they were arriving and to have the vehicle waiting for them. He had given the lawn care service he’d been working for his two weeks’ notice, but ended up officially quitting at the end of the first of the two. Audrey stood with him when he checked in with the hotel for the room she had booked for him and went up with him as well, mainly because she wanted to see the room for herself. Pictures on the hotel’s website didn’t do any justice and not all rooms were the same anyway.

But mostly, she wanted to see the look on his face when he found the gift basket she had waiting for him that she had the hotel prepare and have waiting on the bed.

Austin went straight toward it after dropping his suitcase to the floor by a chair and squealed happily when he peered at the contents within the cellophane encasing the basket. He tore it all open and pulled out a shiny, new laptop, a coffee mug that said WORLD’S GREATEST PERSONAL ASSISTANT, a blue tooth headset for his cell phone, a Burberry messenger bag (which she had picked up on Wiltshire Boulevard a few days earlier with Juliette), and a note card.

“Your iPad will also come in handy for scheduling my shit. Basically, carry it in the bag and bring it everywhere. Xoxo, Audrey,” he read, and smirked. Austin gave Audrey a hug and thanked her profusely for it all and promised he would try and be the best personal assistant she ever had, as long as she didn’t forget he was also her brother.

“I couldn’t forget even if I wanted to,” she quipped, playfully smacking him upside his head.

After he got settled in, they went to dinner at Fig & Olive on Melrose. The next day Austin would be going with her to the studio and would begin to get firsthand experience in “assisting” her, which he got almost immediately. While she went into a meeting first thing upon arriving to Paramount, she passed off her cell phone to him and told him to answer it for her, if need be and take messages. If it was an unsolicited number, he could let it go straight to voicemail. While she was hashing out ideas with the other writers, Austin kept himself busy. He got to meet a few other personal assistants, mostly those who were employed by the director, the producers and the actors. Not all of the writers had one. The head writers did. Obviously, Audrey did. Austin found himself rather impressed by his sister as well and so proud for her.

Yeah, it had been something when she wrote two published books that did exceptionally well and made her “author famous”. But now her first book was being adapted into a television series and, not only had she penned the script for the pilot episode as well as another episode, she also retained the title of executive producer for the show and got to weigh in on the casting process. She had a say in the direction the show was going to go and if the show did well once it aired, that would open up so many more doors for her, which meant maybe one of those doors would lead to something amazing for Austin as well. Even though he went to a two year college for auto body repair and he loved all things car-related, but maybe he would actually be meant for something else and working as his big sister’s personal assistant for a while would be the what lead him in that direction.

Who knew?

Audrey came out of the meeting two hours later and they went straight to the live set where a scene with the lead actress was filming and Austin was enthralled; not only with the “magic of Hollywood” but with Heather, the lead. She was roughly the same age as Austin, maybe a few months older; Heather was already twenty-five, going on twenty-six and Austin wouldn’t be twenty-five until mid-October. When the scene was successfully finished up about forty minutes, Audrey called Heather over and introduced her to Austin, but wound up leaving the pair alone for a while when the director asked Audrey about something show-related.

When Audrey returned to Austin, Heather had gone and he was smiling shyly to himself.

“What?” she wondered; narrowing her eyes at him.

“She gave me her number.”

“Seriously?”

“Yeah.”

Audrey smiled. She just hoped that by giving Austin her number that Heather meant it in a good way and wasn’t thinking that by wooing the brother of the show’s creator that it would elevate her career. Audrey didn’t want Austin to be anyone’s pawn.

“Hey, bitch, how’s it hanging?” came Juliette’s voice.

Audrey turned and looked around, eventually finding the actress sauntering up with dark sunglasses on her face and a purse slung over her shoulder. “Shriveled and to the left,” Audrey replied. “How was your weekend?”

“Rough. I got so wasted on Saturday,” Juliette responded, pushing the sunglasses up onto her head like a headband; brushing her hair off her face and revealing dark circles around her eyes. “While you were rocking out with your cock out to the Stones, I was celebrating my forty-first birthday.”

“Are you kidding me? How come you didn’t tell me it was your birthday?”

Juliette shrugged. “Eh. I’m telling you now.” She then noticed Austin. “Who’s the cutie?”

“This is my brother, Austin. Austin, Juliette,” Audrey introduced the pair.

Shaking his hand, Juliette wore an expression of sudden realization. “Oh, yeah, you’re new PA or something now. How you liking it?” she asked him. “Is Audrey a tyrant to work for because she’s your sister and she can do that sort of thing?”

Austin laughed. “No, she’s cool.”

“Until I make him do menial shit like telling him to go get me a coffee,” Audrey joked, and Austin laughed, but then Audrey looked at him deadpan. “But seriously, can you get me a coffee?”

“Oh. Okay.”

As he sauntered off, Juliette chuckled after him. “Cute butt,” she remarked, to which Audrey grimaced. “So, since you weren’t in town on Saturday, how would you like to join me at the Laugh Factory tonight? You’re staying at Chateau Marmont? The Laugh Factory is like, right down the street. You could walk if you wanted to. Chris D’Elia and Bryan Callen are doing some open mic.”

“I love Chris D’Elia. He’s hilarious.”

“Then it’s settled. He goes on at nine, so we can get there by eight-thirty. It’s a two-drink minimum there, though.”

“Yeah, that’s fine with me.”

“Great. And keep Friday night open also. Russell is in town and wants to get together for dinner so I’m gonna have a dinner party. You should come, too. You know Russell through your boy Noel, right?”

Audrey nodded. “Yeah,” she hesitated answering.

“Uh oh, I don’t like the sound of that. Do you not like Russell?” Juliette pouted.

“No, I adore him. He’s a hoot to be around. It’s just that I’m not certain Noel is my ‘boy’ anymore.”

“What?”

“I haven’t spoken to him in a month. We had a fight and I left his place in London early and neither of us has talked to each other since. I don’t know where we stand.”

“Aww, sweetie. I didn’t know.” Juliette brought Audrey in for a hug. She looked over the younger woman’s shoulder and then frowned. “Shit. I’m late enough here to set as it is, so I shouldn’t keep anyone waiting any longer but we’ll talk later, okay?”

Audrey nodded and parted ways with Juliette, watching her go off as Austin returned with a cup of coffee in hand. “Thanks.” Taking the initial sip, she sensed her dark cloud returning. “Remind me that I’m going to the Laugh Factory with Juliette tonight.”

“What time?”

“Uh…eight-thirty.” She watched as he pulled his iPad out and brought up an event planning app or something and typed her to-do in. "And Friday night, pen Juliette in for dinner. I might forget if I don’t tell you now.”

“Anything else?”

“Yeah, I think I want to head back to the cottage to write for the rest of the day. If you wanna take a few hours and sightsee or something, go ahead. I’m suddenly not in the mood for all these people right now.”

“Okay, I’ll call for the car to take us back to the hotel, then.”

Audrey nodded and watched as her brother fell easily into his new position without any real qualms. At least not yet, that is. While nursing her cup of coffee, she paid little attention to the crew members behind the scenes of the show, running around to make sure everything was going smoothly and in a timely fashion. All she could think about was how it had been a month since she’d seen Noel and how much she missed him. Despite everything going wonderfully for her in her professional life, her personal one sucked. She hated going to bed alone at night, she hated missing him, and she hated how bad it hurt her heart. She wanted desperately to have enough nerves to just pick up the phone and call him, but she figured that by this point that he didn’t give two shits about her anymore.

At the moment, she just felt like going back to the cottage and having another good cry.



A few days later, in London, Noel was somewhere he hadn’t expected to be.

He was sitting in the living room of Lliana’s new flat she was renting; nursing a cup of tea and listening to the din of city life wafting in from the open windows. It was a warm, sunny day in The Smoke and there was that particular scent on the breeze that always seemed to be the same anywhere in the world on warm summer days like this. It was a mix of hot pavement, fresh air, car exhaust and flowers. Inside Lliana’s flat was a bit cooler. She hadn’t needed air conditioning yet as it hadn’t been that warm yet and the breeze from the open windows did the trick for the time being. Keeping the lights off helped cool the flat off as well, since it was in the afternoon and the sun shining outside was bright enough for inside as well.

“Thanks for the tea,” Noel muttered, sitting across from Lliana on her sofa while she sat in what looked to be some sort of swiveling arm chair from IKEA.

“No problem.” After a moment or two, Lliana stared back at Noel with expectant eyes. “So, uh…you didn’t have to come over to get those things. I could’ve dropped it off or sent it to you by post.” The things of which she spoke were items that belonged to Noel that Lliana had somehow had packed with her belongings she had taken with her when she moved out of Noel’s house and stored at her parents prior to leaving for New York the year before.

Noel shrugged. “S’alright. I needed to get out of the house anyway.”

“So, how is Audrey? I understand you two take turns every month seeing each other. If she was here for your birthday, I assume it’s your turn soon or you just came back,” Lliana commented. “How’s Philadelphia this time of year?”

“I wouldn’t know.” He looked sheepishly down into the contents of his tea cup. “I canceled my flight.”

“How come?”

“We had a fight the day after my birthday. It was a stupid fight but she left afterward and we haven’t talked since.”

“Noel.” Lliana just looked at him in a chastising manner. “Your birthday was just over a month ago.” Off his nod, she continued. “How can you have gone a month without at least talking to her? She’s your girlfriend.”

“I don’t know anymore.”

“Because you haven’t talked to her,” she said matter-of-factly. “What did you even fight about? I mean, obviously, it’s a private thing. You don’t actually have to answer that.” Then, “It wasn’t because of me, was it? Not because I showed up the way I did? She seemed a bit put off and understandably so.”

Noel shook his head. “No, it wasn’t about you. It was just between us,” he answered. “Remember how she gave me the key to her condo?”

“Vaguely, but yeah.”

“Well, while I appreciated the key, it’s not what I wanted; but that’s only because I wanted her to move in with me instead. I told her as much and she didn’t seem to take too kindly to it.”

“Well, no wonder. You basically told her the key wasn’t a good enough gift. By giving it to you, it seems like she was taking what she felt was the next logical step and you had to one-up her. Did you even ask her first or did you just assume she would be up for such a big move and make it all about how easy and wonderful it would be to leave her home country behind?”

“Pretty much just the latter.”

“Noel…”

“I know, I know.” He frowned and took a sip of his tea. “I put my foot in my mouth, too. She opened up to me the week before at my art showing about some things that had been said by others that she took a little bit more to heart, about how she felt people saw her as just another notch on my belt and, uh…a passing fancy, she said. I told her that wasn’t the case and anyone who thought that could go fuck themselves, but when our fight had died off, she stormed out of the room and I called her a child and we told each other to basically fuck off.” Noel glanced guiltily up at Lliana. It felt odd yet comforting being able to talk to her about this. His mother had finally found out the details of what had been going on and raked him over the coals about it, but Lliana seemed a bit more objective, which was nice. “And that’s when I hit her with a low blow.”

“What’d you say?”

“I told her that maybe she was just a passing fancy after all,” Noel admitted. “She just turned around and looked at me like I was invisible. I hadn’t meant to say that at all. I didn’t even mean it. I was just so angry. It was out of my mouth before I could stop it. She just stared at me; said that maybe I just another chapter of her life and now she had to turn the page.” Noel ran a hand over his face then his fingers through his hair before coming to rest his forehead in his hand. “She ended up calling a cab and leaving. She said goodbye but that was it. I have no idea if it was goodbye for good or as in she’d see me later. Judging by the fact that she hasn’t called or texted, I assume it was for good.”

Lliana was silent, just listening as she let him speak his piece.

“Maybe it’s just as well. Maybe she and I weren’t supposed to work out.” Noel peered through his fingers at Lliana. “Maybe this is the universe’s way of saying I did wrong by letting you go and it’s putting you back in my life and we’re the ones supposed to be together.”

Lliana let out a laugh, and then covered her mouth before shaking her head. “No. No, it’s not,” she insisted. “You made it work with you and Audrey living in different countries for…how long were you together by your birthday?”

“A week shy of six months.”

“There you go,” she gestured to him. “You were making it work whereas you and I couldn’t even be bothered to actually try. That says something right there, I think. Our time has passed and I won’t be your Rebound Girl, Noel, especially since you and Audrey aren’t actually even broken up. You had one, stupid fight. It’s not grounds for breaking up. Call her up and say sorry even if you don’t think you did any wrong.” Lliana added, “You did, though.”

“I know,” he agreed.

“Chances are she wants to do the same thing but is just as stubborn or scared to make the first move. So, put on your big boy pants and you make the first move. Call her, text her, Skype her. Hell, show up on her doorstep with a bouquet of flowers. Just open up dialogue with her because the longer the silence goes between the pair of you, the greater the rift will be and she’ll think you don’t love her anymore.” After a pause for breath, she asked, “You do still love her, right?”

“Of course I do.”

“Well, then…”

“You’re right.”

“I know I am.” Lliana laughed then, more to herself. “My God, I can’t believe I’m giving my ex advice on how to save his relationship with his new girlfriend.”

Noel smirked at her. “It’s good advice, though. It’s what I need to hear.”

“Right, well, then give her a call and soon. Don’t put it off too much longer. Tell her sorry, talk it out, work it out and maybe you can bring up the idea of moving in together again at some point, but don’t come right out with it. Ask her how she feels about it; if it’s something she would want to do in the future, if at all. Go from there.”

“Thanks, Birdy,” he said to her.

“You’re welcome, Noely.”

“It’s a bit weird being at this place, innit? Not in your flat, I mean, but like what you just said. More than a year ago my mates were trying to give me advice on how to work things out with you but you and I knew it was a dead dog we were beating.”

“Dead and buried, unfortunately,” she concurred.

“I’m sorry we ended and that we couldn’t work things out anymore.”

“So am I, but it happens. I loved you; still do a bit, but not the same way anymore. I’ve moved on. So have you.”

“Yeah.” For the first time since the fight, Noel smiled as he thought about how he’d moved on and how much he loved Audrey. Thinking about her and every moment before the fight made his heart swell.

“Go home, Noel.” Lliana seemed to sense what he was thinking about. “Call her.”



Two days later, at the dinner party at Juliette’s house, Audrey arrived with a bottle of Pinot Grigio and a forced smile. Ever since Monday night after the Laugh Factory with Juliette and opening about the fight she’d had with Noel, Audrey had been back in a funk and had barely managed to finish writing the script for episode four of What Girls Do. After getting a bit drunk at a club with Juliette and the comedians, Chris D’Elia and Bryan Callen, they had gone to see, Audrey returned home to the cottage and cried herself to sleep that night and didn’t bother going to the studio the next day. She had Austin hold her calls and she holed herself up in the cottage to wallow and get some writing done. The only time she left the cottage was to take a brief swim at the hotel’s pool.

Thursday she had finished the script and turned it in at the studio and the other producers weren’t wasting any time either in making sure all the episodes got filmed. They had a three month window of opportunity to get it all done with because there would have to be film editing and mixing, et cetera, still left to do because the studio was already planning for the show to premiere on Showtime in early 2015; by spring or with the lineup of shows returning in January, if they could swing it.

It was a lot to do in five to six months. But, by that point, Audrey didn’t have to do anything. It was in the hands of the studio and network heads.

At dinner, it was Juliette, her brother Beau, and Russell; the latter having greeted Audrey with a warm hug and a platonic pinch to her ass. Music was playing throughout the Laurel Canyon home while Audrey and the two guys stood around the kitchen island while Juliette was scrambling around to finish everything. She turned down their help to assist with anything that needed assisting, so instead they kept standing there with their drinks in hand (Russell nursing a bottle of water he’d grabbed from Juliette’s fridge) and chatting with their hostess. When dinner was served a short while later, they feasted on roasted chicken legs with potatoes and kale along with a side salad with some sort of vinaigrette mixed in. They all joked, laughed and chatted amiably over their meal. Most of the time it ended with Juliette and Russell getting so into whatever was being talked about that their voices rose in both volume and pitch and ended up cackling at their own jokes.

When they’d finished eating, they all brought their dishes to the kitchen and Juliette just said to leave it all in the sink; she’d rinse them off and shove them in the dishwasher later. She then scooped out bowls of raspberry sorbet and they stood around the kitchen island, eating their dessert before migrating to the backyard where they sat under the clear night sky and were still barely able to see any stars, despite the distance from the city.

At one point, Russell was seated beside Audrey on the patio sofa with one leg tucked under him while the other one dangled over the edge. He had a cup of coffee in his lap with his left hand while his right arm was propped up on the back of the patio sofa and his balled up fist propping his head up. He turned to Audrey and nudged her leg with the foot from his draped leg.

“You’re very far away and sad right now. Please don’t be sad,” he pouted sympathetically.

“Sorry, I just haven’t been actually happy in a few weeks.”

“It’s because of what happened with Noel, isn’t it?” When Audrey widened her eyes, wondering how he knew, he gave her a sheepish grin.

“Juliette told me what happened so that I wouldn’t bring Noel up and make you feel bad, but you already look so unhappy.” He unfurled his fist and reached out to touch her shoulder with his fingertips. “Noel and I have been friends for years and I know how he looks when he is in love. I saw it when he was with Dee and Birdy, but with you it was different. He looked at you like you invented sunshine and rainbows shot out from your ass when you farted.”

Audrey laughed a bit despite herself. She didn’t say anything, so Russell continued.

“Seriously, though, don’t let what you have with him fall apart. I consider you just as much as my friend as Noel’s and I want you both to be happy and I’ve never seen him as happy as when he is with you. And from the few times we’ve actually been able to hang out over the last few months, I know the difference between your sad face and your happy face and your happy face is at its peak when you’re with him.”

“I just don’t know how to make the move to call him. I thought he’d call me first by now, if anything, and because he hasn’t I’ve just assumed he’s done with me.”

“I mean this out of love, but you’re both acting like a pair of teenagers. You need to get over yourselves and just put the fight behind you. Say sorry, move on. Every relationship has its stupid fights, even if they seem horrible in the moment. Taking a bit of time away is all well and good, but what you and Noel are doing isn’t good. So…stop it.”

Audrey tried to smirk but it came out more like a frown. When she tried to smile again, she felt a lump rise in her throat and she turned her face away from Russell as tears stung her eyes. Before she could stop it, a sob got caught in her throat and by trying to muffle it the sob escaped her lips and sounded almost like a hiccup. Russell seemed to sense what was going on so he leaned over and wrapped his arm around her shoulders like the good friend he was.

“Oh, hush now, sweetcheeks; it’s alright. Everything will work out.”

Juliette walked back outside at that moment from where she had been putting the dinner dishes away in the dishwasher when she saw Russell consoling Audrey about something; correctly assuming it was about Noel. Before she could even open up her mouth to say anything, though, Russell gestured with his head for her to just give them some privacy for a few more minutes. She caught on and recoiled stealthily back inside the house, pulling Beau with her as he was about to step foot outside again.

“Just give him a call and I’m sure everything will soon be forgiven and forgotten; water under the bridge.”

Audrey wiped her tears away with her fingertips, trying her best not to smudge her mascara and eyeliner. “I know,” she whimpered slightly.

“My guess is Noel’s just as nervous about calling you, too. Juliette told me how you left his house after whatever it was he said to you in the heat of the moment,” Russell commented, giving her shoulder a squeeze. “He probably thinks that you’re the one who wants nothing to do with him anymore.”

Nodding, Audrey look up and over at Russell and smirked through her tears. “But I do,” she insisted. “That’s why it hurts.”

“I know. It hurts so much because you love him so much. If you didn’t, you wouldn’t care.”

Letting out a sigh, Audrey sat back and closed her eyes. “I feel like just hopping the next flight out of LAX and keep on going straight to London without stopping and showing up on his doorstep.”

“Well, that’s one option, certainly. But if he’s not home, you might be waiting around for a while.”

“It’d be worth it.”

Russell grinned. “Atta girl.” He said, giving a gentle tap to her jaw with his fist. “That’s the spirit.”

Inhaling a deep breath, Audrey licked her bottom lip. “I think I’m gonna head back to the hotel. If I don’t do it now, I’ll chicken out with calling Noel.”

“By all means, be on your merry way and give that goon love from me as well.”

Audrey smirked, forcing herself up to her feet. “Thanks for the shoulder to cry on, Russell.”

“When you need a friend, call and I’ll come running, or however that song goes.”



By the time Audrey returned to the cottage, it was just after eleven. She changed into a pair pajama shorts and a tank top to sleep in and threw her hair up in a haphazard bun on top of her head before pacing around the living room of the cottage with her phone in hand. She could feel the anxiety building and the butterflies fluttering about in her stomach at the thought of calling Noel and having him answer. The more she talked herself up, the more she realized he might not even get the phone call, because eleven-thirty at night in Los Angeles meant it was seven-thirty in the morning in London and Noel was probably asleep and her call would go straight to voicemail. She could easily ask him to call her back and then the ball was in his court. If he called her back before the weekend was over, then she knew they would be okay, but if he never responded, then she had her answer about where they stood.

The latter made her even more nervous.

Scrolling through her contact list and pressing his number, she closed her eyes as it dialed and she brought the phone to her hear, preparing to leave a voicemail when his voicemail message failed to kick in.

“Ugh…hello?” came a groggy voice at the other end.

Shit, shit, shit, shit, shit.

“Noel?” Audrey’s heart leapt into her throat.

“Yeah,” he responded briskly. “Who the hell is calling me at seven-thirty in the morning? I’m no nine-to-fiver.”

“Noel, it’s Audrey,” she said quietly. “I’m sorry for calling you so early.” She winced. “I’ll, uh…call back later.”

As she was about to hang up, Noel could be heard blurting, “No!” Then more calmly, “No, don’t hang up.”

“Okay.”

“I’ve been meaning to call you,” he said lamely. “I’m sorry I didn’t do that. I’m…I’m sorry for a lot of things.”

Audrey sauntered into the bedroom and sank down onto the bed, feeling a bit of weight lifting off her chest. “I’m sorry, too.”

“No, don’t be. I was a tit. I said things I shouldn’t have said and that I didn’t mean. I only said them because I was angry and I didn’t mean to hurt you.”

Back in England, the sun had already risen for the day approximately two and a half hours earlier, but Noel wouldn’t have noticed that with his curtains drawn closed. He was lying on his back in bed, running a hand over his face before picking the crusted over sleep from his eyes. His heart was beginning to race with the fact that he was finally speaking to Audrey again after more than a month and he was also mentally kicking himself for not being the one to do it first. It shouldn’t have been her.

“I’m sorry I didn’t come to Philadelphia, either.”

“I wouldn’t have been home if you did,” she responded. “I flew out to LA early. I made friends with Juliette Lewis. I just came from her house, actually. Russell was there, too. He said he sends his love.”

Noel smirked. “Yeah, I think he was supposed to start filming a movie there or something.”

“Yeah.”

They both fell silent then. Audrey lay back against the pillows on her bed and Noel did the same, some five thousand plus miles away.

“I didn’t mean to bombard you with moving in with me. I’m sorry, I should’ve sat down with you first and asked you, not jumped to conclusions on how simple I thought it would be,” Noel spoke. “I should’ve asked your opinion.”

“I was hungover and overreacted. I shouldn’t have jumped down your throat. I was being childish.”

“No, you weren’t. I was,” he insisted. “I practically threw a hissy fit and what I said about you being a passing fancy…that wasn’t true. I need you to know that. I never in a million years could ever mean that. I said it out of anger in the heat of the moment and regretted saying it the second it came out my mouth.”

“I’m sorry I left like that.”

“I’m sorry I threw your key.”

“I’m sorry I threw it back.” Audrey smirked. “Oh, and I’m sorry that I threw my tea on you.”

Noel couldn’t help himself but laugh. “I’ve missed you something fierce. These last five weeks have been some of the worst weeks of my life.”

“Ditto,” she agreed. “I didn’t even feel this bad after my break-ups with previous boyfriends. I think that says something.”

“Yeah; that I made you that upset.”

“No, that I love you that much.”

Noel’s heart swelled inside his chest and he closed his eyes. “I love you, too, Audrey.”

She smiled at the sound of his voice, saying those words. “Could you say that again?”

Noel grinned. “I love you, Audrey.” He could hear her making a happy cooing sound on the other end of the phone. “Are you in LA still, then?”

“Yeah. Austin’s with me. I hired him as my personal assistant. This was his first week in the position.”

“Nice,” Noel commented. Then, “When do you return to Philly?”

“Sunday night.”

“When you get home, I want you to call me as soon as you land,” Noel said. “I want to know you got home safely.”

“Okay.” They fell silent again for a moment when Audrey spoke up. “Noel?”

“Yeah.”

“Don’t ever let me walk out like that again, okay? Promise me.”

Noel hesitated. He could feel a few tears stinging his eyes. “I promise.”