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“I did. Hard. And now she’s gone because she thinks I’m just reacting to emotional trauma or whatever. And maybe I was, in the beginning. But this? This isn’t confusion. It’s real. And I let my stupid past mess it up.”

Nova drops her bag on the couch with a sigh. “Well, congrats. You got yourself in this mess, and now you’re going to be the one to dig yourself out.”

I nod slowly. “I will. I’ll figure it out. I’ll wait until she comes back and?—”

“She’s not coming back,” Nova interrupts with a smirk. She looks like she’s enjoying this. “She went back to Bardstown this morning. Said she needed space.”

I flinch.

Nova rolls her eyes. “I was planning to take her on a tour of Hollywood this weekend, too. Guess that’s out the window.”

She turns to leave, then pauses in the doorway. “By the way… the date with Megan. How’d that go?”

My stomach knots. I’ve spent all morning trying not to think about it. I stare at the floor. “I don’t want to talk about it.”

Nova raises a brow. “Jack.”

“I’m off the project,” I say sharply. “Take me out of it. I’m not doing the film.”

She studies me for a long, silent moment. Her expression shifts from curiosity to understanding… and then something like pity. She doesn’t say another word. Just walks out, without another glance.

I sit there, the silence stretching like quicksand around me as I think of Mia. And how the heck I’m going to get her back. I stare at my phone for a long time before I finally decide to call Harry. As my best friend, he’s the only person I can talk to about this.

He picks up on the first ring.

“You’ve got to be kidding me,” he snaps. “You ignore all my calls and now you just—what—casually decide to show signs of life?”

“I was busy,” I mutter.

“Busy sulking?” he shoots back. “Don’t even bother with an excuse, man. You ghosted me!”

I run a hand down my face. “Harry, I?—”

“Save it. I’m with your dad, by the way. We’re playing a game.”

That gets me moving. “I’m on my way.”

“No! You’ll ruin our fun and?—”

I hang up and an hour later, I’m knocking on my father’s door.

He opens it with his usual quiet expression, but the moment I see him, all the guilt and tension rush to the surface. I wrap my arms around him in a rare hug.

“Hey,” he says, startled but patting my back.

“I’m sorry,” I murmur. “For not appreciating everything you did. For being such an ungrateful boy.”

He pulls back to look at me. “What’s going on, son?”

Harry’s sitting on the couch, arms crossed, looking smug. “Let me guess. Meeting with her didn’t go as planned?”

My father squints. “Her? Which her?”

I sigh and drop onto the armchair. “Megan. Or—my mother. Whatever.”

The air shifts. He goes still. For a moment, neither of us speaks. Then…

“How did it go?” He doesn’t seem as surprised as I feared he’d be.