Page 98 of Landon & Shay: Part Two

He nodded. “I’m proud of you, Chick.”

“Nothing has happened,” I said.

“Not yet.” He smiled. “But it will be soon enough. I just know it.”

His belief in me set my mind for a spin. I shifted around against the couch cushion and cleared my throat. “Well, I should let you get back to whatever it was you were writing. I need to go check to make sure Sarah’s taken care of and—”

“Hang out with me,” he cut in.

“What?”

He blinked a few times and shook his head back and forth. “I don’t mean right now, obviously. I have to be on set in a few minutes anyway, but I’d like to hang out with you. Outside of work. I just want to…” His words faltered off, and he shrugged his shoulders. “Hang out with me, Shay.”

I wasn’t really certain what to say to his question, so I said the only thing that came to mind. “Okay.”

His eyes widened as if he was surprised by my agreement. He brushed his hands through his hair and then cringed from doing so. I was sure his hair person took a good time to get his waves just right. Thank God this movie no longer had him as a blond. He looked best with his deep brown locks.

“Great, okay, good. I’m taking a yoga class at your grandmother’s studio this afternoon. Maybe you can join me there and we can grab a late dinner after?”

“One step at a time, Landon. How about yoga and we’ll go from there,” I offered.

He nodded, seemingly okay with that plan. “I’ll take whatever you give me.”

A knock fell against the trailer door before Willow popped her head in. “Hey, sorry to interrupt but they are calling for you on set, Landon. Sarah is already out there.”

“Which means, I’m not where I’m supposed to be,” I joked, standing to my feet. “Job well done, Landon,” I said, holding my hand out for a shake.

What the heck?

Did I really offer him my hand to shake?

What an awkward person I’d become.

He shook my hand with a smile, though, and thanked me for helping him out.

All three of us headed toward the set, and I couldn’t ignore the attack of the butterflies in my stomach as Landon walked beside me. Once we made it to set, Willow and I hung back as Landon went ahead and fully became his character as he stepped on stage. The way he transformed his body was unlike anything I’d seen. How he rounded his shoulders, how he curved his back and fiddled with his fingers. He was no longer Landon, but he was now Larry Price—the broken hermit crab who was too afraid to live.

Watching Landon perform made tears rush to my eyes. He was so good at what he did, completely in the right field of profession for his life.

When he’d mess up, though, he’d step offstage and take a breath. Each time, he’d reach into his pocket and hold something into his hand and take a few breaths with his eyes closed.

“What is that?” I asked Willow, staring at Landon with wonderment. “What is it that he holds in his hand?”

“Oh, it’s his tradition. He’s been doing it for as long as I can remember. Whenever he needs to center himself and breathe, he pulls out that chain necklace and holds it in his hand while taking a few breaths.”

“Is it some kind of special necklace?”

“Well,” she smiled up at me before going back to her phone, “I’m pretty sure it’s your heart.”

Her words stilled me.

My heart.

The heart necklace I’d had given him all those years before was what he used to calm his wild soul.

The actual heart of mine? The one that sat in my chest and had spent the past few years being completely shut off from the world? Without much warning, it slowly began to beat again.

And that afternoon, when it beat? It was beating for him.

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