Page 48 of The Second Chance Cinema
Before she could express this, Drake moved down the sidewalk, bent to pack some snow together, and threw a snowball her way. Ellie cracked a smile as the white crumbles fell down her coat, then knelt to the ground to make one of her own. After her snowball smacked onto Drake’s black puffy coat, he raced toward herin an act of comedic revenge, grabbed Nancy’s leash, and picked Ellie up, moving them farther down the sidewalk and eventually setting her on some snow-covered grass. She reached her arms out to make a snow angel. Drake tumbled onto the ground beside her. Nancy wrapped them closer together with her leash.
“I think we’re in somebody’s yard,” Ellie said.
“It’s probably okay.” Drake’s face was concealed behind his hood. “They’re never home. We could stay here all day. Throw a bash. Winter barbecue—”
“Drake. I need to tell you something.”
He pushed some hair out of her face. “Let’s wait until we’re home and cozy?”
Ellie steeled herself. She had to get it out. He’d made her laugh, which gave her exactly enough relief to voice the second elephant in the room. “Drake, I’ve met Melinda,” she confessed.
Confusion took over his face. “What?”
“I drove to her shop after watching you there together. I had to see it. I don’t know why. I told myself I wouldn’t be jealous. But it rattled me how happy she made you. I worried, what if I can’t make you that happy? And when I was there, Melinda and I started talking. The shop was struggling. I needed a story. So, I agreed to write about it.” Ellie searched Drake for a reaction. He looked concerned, she thought.
“But then, you and I had this incredible night at Sal’s, and I realized I should call the story off. I told you I went out with Jen. I lied. I went to meet Melinda. Then before I could break the news, Nolan put me up for this job. An amazing job. And he only thought of me because of the Melinda story. Anyway, it’s a home show like the ones you watch, but it’s completely within my wheelhouse. And so, I kept writing about Melinda behind your back. I wanted the story to make me relevant to the producers. I really need a win right now. If I don’t get one, I’m worried I’ll fade away and so will all the places I love. I’m sorry, Drake.”
He was parsing through the confession, she sensed, spending a second processing each individual piece. Finally, he looked right up at her. “Seriously?” he asked.
“Yes.” Ellie sighed. She felt infinitely lighter with the secret off her chest. She was ready to handle the consequences. “Seriously.”
Drake moved up onto his elbow. “I …What did you two even talk about?”
“Not you,” Ellie assured him. “Well, other than her thinking that you set this whole thing up, which she does, by the way. Mostly about the store and your town. Nothing too personal.”
Drake paused and assessed the facts. He turned himself to look out at the skyline. The clouds had lifted a bit, giving the buildings the right sense of scale again. “Okay,” he decided with a nod.
“Okay,” Ellie repeated. She couldn’t believe it was that simple. Once again, they were in a situation where telling Drake the truth would’ve made much more sense than the challenging maze she’d put herself through. She wished she’d raised this conversation days ago. “Just, okay?”
“Yeah. Okay.”
“I mean … Are you sure? You don’t want to hash this out more? I can go all in on a hash—”
“Well, it’s weird. Right?” Drake asked. “It’s weird to keep massive secrets like this from each other.”
“I know,” Ellie said. “Itisweird. Look, if you ask me not to release my story about her shop, I’ll listen.”
Drake nodded. “I know that. I don’t want that, though.”
Nancy pulled them tighter as she tried to inch her way toward a tree trunk. Drake put his arm around Ellie.
“I’m sorry, too,” he said.
“Why?”
“I’m sorry I made you doubt if I was happy with you. Things with us are so good that I still question how this can be real. I’mnot exactly lucky with other things. How did I possibly get this lucky with you? I need you to know that there’s nothing for you to worry about with Melinda. It was this young love. That’s it.”
Ellie wanted to believe him, but she couldn’t quite let go of the memories. “That day she brought you to the shop just seemed perfect. Like, this total movie moment.”
“Yeah. You’re right. It was a movie moment.” Drake nodded. “But you have to think about all the things the cinema didn’t play. I mean, when I was leaving the shop that night, I tripped and crash-landed on my face. My palms were all scuffed up. I wouldn’t go back in the store because I didn’t want to embarrass myself, so I went home a mess. It’s like what Natalie said at the beginning. The cinema has only been showing us moments worthy of a big screen.”
The crunching of boots came behind them, followed by the face of an upside-down girl in earmuffs. The owners were, in fact, home, it seemed. Ellie and Drake sat up.
“Sorry, sorry. We were just having a rest,” Drake apologized. The girl seemed more curious than bothered.
“Nice place you have,” Ellie told her before they started the return walk to their own home. As they did, Drake brought the conversation back around to the holiday home show. He wanted to know everything about it. This was big, he kept saying. Plus, she was going to have so many “Oh My God” moments.
“What’s an ‘Oh My God’ moment?” Ellie asked. They took their time walking. Holiday lights tucked around windowsills were slowly starting to hum with life.
