Starting Over 💙

Chapter 9

Ellie comes into the kitchen in the morning for breakfast and sits down next to her niece Samantha when Emily comes in, "hey! You were out late. How'd it go?"

"First of all, I hate you. Second of all, god what else have you told him about me Emily? He knows my favorite flower and color. My favorite snacks. Did you tell him about our parents?"

"No no. Nothing too personal. Just enough to try and give him an edge up. Did it work?" She shoots her a grin as she starts to make breakfast.

"I guess so. We decided to spend some more time getting to know each other. He said he'd call me this morning." Just then her phone rings, "speak of the devil." She gets up and leaves the table to go into the living room alone. She lets out a small sigh before she answers, "Chris, good morning."

'Good morning! I was a little worried you wouldn't answer, or that it was a wrong number.' She hears him laugh before he continues talking. 'I wanted to know if you wanted to have breakfast with me. I'll text you the address.'

"Yeah. Okay. I'll see you soon." She goes back into the kitchen, looking back at her sister, "looks like I'm going out for breakfast."

~~~

Ellie arrives at the diner and finds Chris sitting in the back with a baseball cap pulled down, trying to hide his face. She laughs as she slides in across from him, "don't worry, I think that will keep people away." She points at his mustache making him laugh.

"Well, it didn't keep you away, so that's all that matters." He slides a menu over to her, "I ordered us coffee." After they order he leans back in the booth, "so, you're not working right now?"

"I'm not." She leans forward, "like I said, you don't really know that much about me."

"So tell me. Why aren't you working?" He leans back in the booth, resting one arm up as he watches her.

She shrugs, "because I don't have to. Neither does Emily, we work because we want to. And I haven't found another one I want to do yet."

"Why don't you have to work?"

Ellie lets out a sigh, she knew she would have to let him in eventually if she wanted it to go anywhere. "Our parents died when we were kids. Car accident. We got a settlement from that. But more so, our grandparents raised us. They left us money." She laughs and looks at him, "I mean I don't have Chris Evans, Marvel money. But I have enough to live comfortably without having to work if I want."

"And what does Emily do? You mentioned she works."

She smiled and nodded, "yeah, she's a doctor." Ellie was beyond proud of her sister putting herself through medical school especially when she found out that she was pregnant with Samantha in her last semester.

He leans towards her, resting his arms on the table, "okay. What did you want to be doing as an adult when you were a kid?"

"I wanted to sing."

He laughs and pulls out his phone, "well you are an excellent dancer." He shows her the video Scott took of her that night in the kitchen.

She groans, "oh god, you still have that??"

He bites his lip, smirking at her. "I do. I love that video. I think it was that moment that I knew I loved you. I even have that song saved to my playlist now. She's just the girl I'm lookin for."

Ellie blushes and leans back as their food arrives. "And you? What did you want to be when you were a kid? You always want to be an actor?"

"Um, yes and no. My first dream was to be an artist. Or maybe an animator for Disney. Now I do work for Disney sort of. So." He laughs and shrugs. "You went to college and moved to England. What were your intentions then? What were you hoping to achieve?"

"I got a business degree because it seemed like the sensible thing to do. I went to Cambridge because it was a lifelong ambition. I studied theology and religion because it interested me. I've honestly never really had a longterm goal in mind. Except for maybe fall in love and get married and have a family. We all see how well that worked out. So." Her voice trailed off at the end, looking down at her food to avoid looking at Chris.

"You can still have that though." The softness in his voice when he said it caused her to look up at him, knowing he was referring to himself.

"Yeah. Maybe."

Chris hesitates for a moment as he watches her, "can I ask about him?"

"Go ahead."

"I mean, just why him?"

She doesn't look at him as she starts fidgeting. He was testing his boundaries again. She wanted so much for there not to be any between them, she knew he felt the same. She rubs her forehead with her hand. "Chris. I don't know. I was in a foreign country that I had fantasized since I was a child reading Bronte and Austen." She pauses, besides her therapist, she never really got that in depth about her relationship with James. Chris just waited patiently for her to continue as he ate his breakfast. "We met at Cambridge. He pursued me, and I enjoyed it. He was an attractive man and I was taken by the English charm. In that situation you start to convince yourself it's your fault, that you did something wrong. That if I just say the right thing or do the right thing then he wouldn't hit me. He would be a completely different person most of the time. I don't know. And then I got pregnant. I thought that would change things." She looks at Chris and sees he is getting angry, but trying to hide it. She reaches her hand out and he takes his hand in hers, giving it a small squeeze, "you're angry. You don't have to hide it from me. I'm not afraid of you."

He clears his throat and leans back, watching her. "Good, because you know I'm not like that. I'd never." She hears his voice begin to break a bit as he shakes his head, "why didn't you tell me about the baby?"

"Oh Chris. I..."

"It's okay. We don't have to talk about it. I know you're trying to let me in. Thank you. Can I walk you back to your place?" He puts some money on the table and stands up, offering her his hand.

"Sure."

They walk hand in hand in silence back to Emily's condo where she pauses at the door and turns to him. "Chris, I didn't tell you about the baby because I was ashamed. For letting it happen, for letting it get that far." Tears start to roll down her face as she feel him pull her to him.

"Hey. It wasn't your fault. It wouldn't have made me see you any differently than I already do."

She turns to open the door, "everyone is gone if you want to come in."

He nods, "sure, I can come in for a bit before I have to get to the theatre."

She leads him inside to her room and closes the door. "I need to find my own place." She turns to face him, "I'm just not sure where I belong anymore."

He grabs her by the waist with one hand, placing his other hand on her neck, "you belong with me." He presses his lips firmly to hers as she wraps her arms around his neck. He lifts her by her thighs and lays her on her bed, his lips never leaving hers. She groans when he breaks the kiss and stands up. "I have a night off tomorrow, let me make you dinner."

Ellie laughs and stands up with him, "can you cook?"

"Okay, I can order dinner." He rests his hands at her waist, not taking his eyes off hers.

"How about I come over and make you dinner?" She laughs as she places her hands on the back of his neck. "Also, when are you getting rid of that?" She points to his mustache making him laugh.

"I'll shave in a few weeks when the show is over and I go back to Boston. Right around your birthday I believe. May..."

"I'm not sure I like you having my sister's number. And it's May 19."

Chris laughs, "should be easy to remember, my mom's is May 21. And dinner sounds good. I look forward to it." He leans down and kisses her neck before letting go. He turns to leave before turning back to her. "You should move back to Boston. That's where you belong. Even if you don't want to move back into my house, I want you closer to me."