Page 21 of Seaside Hideaway

Audrey gestured to one of the chairs, and Piper sat down, her eyes never leaving Audrey’s face. She wanted to reach out, to take Audrey’s hand, to pull her into a hug, but Audrey’s body language was closed off, her arms crossed over her chest, her shoulders tense.

“Is everything okay?” Piper asked, her voice barely above a whisper.

Audrey took a deep breath, her gaze fixed on the horizon. “Piper, we need to talk.”

Piper’s heart sank. Those were not the words she wanted to hear. She braced herself, her hands gripping the arms of the chair tightly. “What is it?”

“These past few days, while you were gone, I had a lot of time to think,” she began. “About us, about what we’re doing, about where this is going.”

Piper listened, her heart pounding in her chest. She wanted to interrupt, to tell Audrey that she knew what she wanted, that she wanted her. But she bit her tongue, letting Audrey continue.

“I realized how unrealistic it was to think that we could actually work,” Audrey said, her voice barely above a whisper. “Our lives are so different, Piper. I was here with Lisa, having dinner, and she showed me photos from the event, and I just couldn’t put the two together. The version of you that I know and the version of you who was standing beside Evelyn Coleman on the red carpet, and it just brought me right back. I can’t make the same mistake twice.”

Piper’s stomach churned. She really didn’t want to be compared to Audrey’s ex-wife, but she didn’t have much of an argument. Yes, she was standing beside Evelyn Coleman, posing for photos on the red carpet before they’d spoken on a panel together. That was her life.

“I’m sorry, Piper,” Audrey said, and it looked like she was blinking back tears. “I don’t regret what happened between us, but I shouldn’t have let it happen. I can’t forget about my past, as much as I want to.”

Piper shook her head. How was this happening? This was the exact opposite of the conversation she wanted to have with Audrey. She opened her mouth, wanting to defend herself, to defend them, but she exhaled instead. That’s what happened the night of the storm. Piper could have listened to Audrey, tried to understand her fears, but instead, she’d given into the attraction, into the desire, and now she was here, getting her heart broken.

“I don’t really think there’s much I can say,” Piper started, running her hand through her hair before she pushed herself off the chair. “At least, I know that you’ve put a lot of thought into this.”

“I have.” Audrey pressed her lips together as she looked up at her, her eyes glistening in the moonlight. “And it wasn’t an easy decision to make.”

Piper bit the inside of her cheek, willing herself not to let any tears fall. “I guess, I should show myself out.” She inhaled a deep breath, not knowing what to do with herself. She wanted to hug Audrey, to say goodbye properly, but she couldn’t. She’d definitely start crying then. “Goodnight, Audrey.”

She made her way down the deck steps without looking back, sliding her feet out of her sandals when she hit the cool sand. She walked in a bit of a daze, following the shoreline, not wanting to go home just yet.

The beach stretched out before her lit up by the nearly full moon. Piper kept walking, her footsteps leaving a trail in the sand. At some point, she stopped and looked out at the ocean. She thought of Evelyn and the advice she’d given her, and she remembered how they’d spent months and months apart before they finally figured out a way to make it work.

But Piper wanted to respect Audrey’s decision, and that meant walking away, even if it was the last thing she wanted to do.

18

An hour after Audrey had watched Piper walk away, she was still sitting on her deck. She’d gotten up to pour herself a glass of wine, needing something to distract her, but as she stepped back outside, she saw Piper coming back towards her house. At first, Audrey assumed Piper would turn towards her own deck, but she climbed the steps to Audrey’s instead.

Audrey met Piper in the middle of the deck. “I can’t leave things like this,” Piper said. “Not without saying what I came here to say.”

Audrey cradled her glass of wine, her fingers trembling slightly. “It was a pretty one-sided conversation.”

“The funny thing is, I knocked on your door tonight to talk to you. I’d been thinking too, except I came to the opposite conclusion.”

Audrey swallowed, her heart pounding as she waited to hear what Piper was going to say. She looked so beautiful with her hair tied back in a messy bun, her face free of makeup.

“I wanted to talk to you about how we could make this work, about how our lives could fit together even when they’re so different. I have nothing on my schedule for the rest of this year. I’d planned on taking some time away from work anyway, and what better way to spend that time than here, with you, seeing where this could go.” Piper wiped a hand across her face, pacing nearly as she tried to put her thoughts into words. “I was going to say that I’d never ask you to leave here, that if I was working in Los Angeles, I’d find a way to spend time out here with you. That even when I’m away filming, I won’t ever be away for too long. I wanted to ask you if you were willing to give this a try. I know that these next few weeks wouldn’t be a true reflection of what it’d be like to be together. I won’t always be able to be here full-time. But by then, we’d know if this was something worth fighting for. I know, you have reservations. I’m just...” Piper exhaled, her voice filled with longing. “I don’t know. I couldn’t leave without saying that.”

Audrey’s eyes widened, her heart skipping a beat. “You’re leaving?”

Piper nodded. “I can’t be this close to you, seeing you all the time, and not be with you. Not after the week we spent together. I’d drive myself crazy.”

Audrey started to doubt her decision. “You know where I’m coming from though, right?”

“Yes. And does it change anything to know that I’m willing to do whatever it takes to make this work? I got the impression that your ex wouldn’t.”

Audrey shook her head, a wry smile on her lips. “No. She definitely didn’t. But that’s what drove me to make the decision. I don’t want you to have to change your life for me. An amazing life by the looks of things.”

Piper’s eyes softened, her voice gentle. “I don’t have to. I want to. And it has its moments, but I’ve been in the game long enough to know that it’s not everything people think it is. I love acting. I’m not going to give that up. But I also don’t need to take on every single job that comes my way. I can pick and choose. Maybe you can come with me if you have enough notice to work it into your schedule. I don’t know.” Piper held up her hands. “That was all I wanted to say, and I thought I’d be saying it to someone who wanted the same things as I do. Anyway, on that note, I’m going to go.”,

“Piper, wait.” Audrey put her glass down on the table and reached for her arm. “I didn’t mean for things to get this dramatic. I just wanted to keep myself from getting too lost in this, but I think it’s somehow already too late for that. This whole thing with you has been crazy. This is not what my life is like. I’m boring. I have a best friend who I spend all my time with and other than chatting with my clients while I’m working, I don’t have the best social life. I haven’t dated in years. I don’t fall like this. This fast, this hard. I’m just trying to protect myself.”

---