Page 91 of Landon & Shay: Part Two

I laughed, a breath of relief running through me. “Did she ask you to hold her balls?”

“Her big, smooth balls,” she bellowed. “And she also told me each one was over four thousand dollars. You know your life is okay if you can spend four thousand dollars on a crystal.”

“It’s no secret that Sarah is pretty well off.”

The sun beamed against her as she faced me, and she shielded it with her hand, narrowing her eyes. “I think this is the first time it’s actually setting in for me that you’re a true-blue actor.”

I chuckled. “You mean running from the paparazzi wasn’t enough to prove it?”

“Don’t get me wrong that was insane, but actually seeing you on a set with your name on a trailer… I don’t know. This makes it more real to me.”

I nodded. “Who would’ve thought that a fucked-up kid like me would’ve ever made it here?”

“Me,” she softly said, a slight curve to her lips. “I would’ve thought it.”

The energy between us intensified from her words, and all I wanted to do was step forward and wrap my arms around her and never fucking let go.

I held off on doing such a thing. She still had her walls up with me. I didn’t want to keep trying to knock them down without her permission.

“You deserve to be here more than I do,” I said, meaning it, too.

“Yeah, but as it turns out I am here because of you. And for the record, I would’ve taken the job if you’d given me the opportunity. I would’ve been super stubborn about it—but I would’ve given in after a while.”

“Good to know.”

She shook her head a little in disbelief. “You truly used my grandmother to do your dirty work, unbelievable.”

“She was oddly easy to convince.”

“Not shocking,” Shay mentioned. “She always had a soft place in her heart for you.”

“I can’t say that about a lot of people,” I joked.

“I can say it at least about two,” she replied.

Was that…?

Was that a glimmer of light in her eyes? Did she reveal that there was still a soft place in her heart for me? Why did I feel like crying and leaping for joy like a damn fool?

Keep it cool, Landon. Act natural.

“Okay, well, I better get back to Sarah. She’s going to walk me through a meditation of sorts. But, before I go, I have to ask you something really important.”

I took in a breath. “Shoot.”

Shay gave me a slight grin. “How many crystals do you have?”

I brushed my thumb against the tip of my nose. “Oh, you know, only about three or four dozen. Nothing too crazy.”

She laughed.

God, she laughed, and I wanted to bottle up the sound and release it on my saddest of days because I was certain that her laugh would always make me smile, even at my lowest.

“I owe you, Landon,” she said, walking backward.

“For what?”

She looked around, wide-eyed and completely in awe of her surroundings. Her hands fell against her chest as she locked her stare with mine and stole my breath away. “Making this dream come true.”

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