Page 78 of Official

For hours, I cross out notes I can’t use and replace them with other ideas, my attention alternating between the script and my phone.

Still no damn word from Sam.

No new posts to her social media or stories.

No text or call or fucking clue that she still knows I exist.

And I’ve been stuck on the same scene for the last half hour because I can’t stop checking my phone long enough to write anything worth a shit.

I would take crappy words if it meant I wrotesomething, but no such luck.

The sun has already set by the time my phone vibrates with a text from Teddy. Assuming it’s another meme to describe Jason’s assholery, I ignore it.

But then I get another.

And another.

The last is a text using all caps, so I finally close my laptop, and with a shaking thumb, I click the link he sent me.

Sam’s face fills the screen, and my chest swells. She’s glowing. Her smile is wide and uncontainable as she talks into the camera, her hair thrown over one shoulder and face free of makeup except for a touch of mascara.

Her voice is clear and comfortable, and her confidence radiates through the phone. She’s always commanded the camera, but it’s different in this video.

She seems more relaxed, and it puts me at ease too.

“The last few weeks have been pretty crazy, right?” she says into the camera, which moves as she goes through her kitchen. “You don’t even know the half of it, but I’m posting here to tell you every last juicy detail.”

I rest my elbows on the table, following her through the kitchen in the background like I’m tracing the pattern of an earthquake on a map.

Where is she going with this?

“Hey, kiddo,” Klein calls out, and the sound of a door sliding closed follows him. “Up for a game of Scrabble?”

“Not right now,” I answer absentmindedly, my focus glued to the things Sam is saying in the video.

She’s talking about everything—Jason, Maui,me.

And fuck, do her eyes light up when she mentions my name, even though she’s telling everyone the truth about how our relationship started and that she’s sorry she misled them.

“I started this account with no more than fifty followers a few years ago,” she continues. “But somewhere along the way to a couple million, I lost sight of why I began this journey in the first place, and I don’t want to keep going down that path. I want to stay true to who I am and what I want for my mind and body, and I want to encourage you all to do the same.”

I smile as Klein slips back inside somewhere behind me without another word.

“Someone I care deeply about reminded me yesterday that we need to show up for ourselves, whether that means our fitness and well-being, jobs, friends, whatever—show up.” She inhales like she’s preparing herself for something, and it’s obvious there’s an announcement coming.

I lean close to the phone like I can travel through it and be there with her, because the fact that I know she’s talking about me being the someone she cares deeply about makes me so fucking relieved.

I’m proud when she says, “So, I’ll be launching a new campaign with all-new merch in my store. I’m calling it Be Your Own Gym Bae, and I have a sneak peek of the logo on my website. I’ll also have new workout plans that are catered to different lifestyles—new home routines, quick and effective circuits for the gym, and more. Click the link in my bio to check it out, and stay tuned for all the details. Until then, stay happy and healthy. Talk soon, fam.”

She signs off, and I’m left stunned.

It’s perfect.

She’s not giving up just because she had a setback—she’s standing up stronger, instead.

And fuck if that doesn’t make Sam even sexier.

I grab my stuff off the table and head back inside, where I set it on the counter. I’ve just grabbed my keys by the door when the doorbell echoes across the high ceilings. The sound of that damn bell feels like it comes from inside my head, loud and intimidating.

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