Finding Sam (Featured)

Chapter 33 - Her Breakdown

Erik was gone by the time I awoke at ten. An envelope lay atop the pillow on his side of the bed, and as I opened it, a sprinkling of foil hearts tumbled out onto the sheets, making me giggle.

I already miss you. - Erik

P.S. The hearts were Zio Alfredo's idea. He discovered the stationary store at the mall.

We'd been too preoccupied to talk about Serena or Anna last night, and I was glad that we didn't. Whatever we had talked about was enough at that moment, and I was glad that despite the shock that accompanied the day, there was still time for us. No interruptions, no worries. Just us.

I sat up on the bed and stretched, brushing away a stray foil heart that stuck to my chest before gathering them all back into the envelope and slipping it into the box underneath my bed. Along with the pastel sketches of Michael, I had started keeping Erik's little notes in the same box as well. I felt like a teen-ager gazing at the little notes he'd left me when I first started using the studio, but at that moment, I didn't care. I was madly in love with Erik, and I'd finally learned to accept that Erik loved me, too.

As I got up, I felt sore in certain places, and I blushed at the memory of the things that Erik and I did to each other, some of them having left marks on my skin. Still, all those memories paled in comparison to what I heard him say - that he loved me - and hearing his words inside my head made my stomach clench and my knees weaken.

Was Anna right after all, when she said that not all stories had sad endings? That some, like mine, would end up happy?

I desperately wanted to think so. But the mere idea that Anna just might be right only made me doubt that I really did hear Erik say those words - or had I simply dreamt it all? But whether I dreamt it all or not, I couldn't just stay in bed and torture myself with such thoughts, my doubts building with each passing minute. I needed to get moving, if only to distract myself from the memory of those three words.

I took a quick shower, and made myself a cup of coffee and a bagel with a dab of cream cheese. It was a warm and sunny day and I needed to get out and get some sun. Maybe it would help with the jitters I was experiencing, the anxiety that came with the realization that in a few hours, my work would be formally unveiled to a group of people that included a few journalists from art magazines. Maybe it would distract me from further thoughts of Erik.

Half an hour later, I was running along the nature path, the trees affording me and fellow runners respite from the heat and sun. There were a few familiar faces, each one focused only on the trail before them, just as I was.

My phone buzzed halfway through my run, and though I ignored it the first two times, each call pausing the music I was listening to till it got to voicemail, by the third call, I stopped running and stepped to the side. It could be David, I thought, feeling foolish for ignoring the calls. It could be an emergency.

But as I glanced at my phone, I saw that it was Olivia.

"Shouldn't you be having fun in Ojai?" I asked.

"We were having fun," she replied. "But something's come up. Have you spoken to Erik?"

"I was with him last night," I said. "Is everything alright? Is he okay?"

"He's fine," Olivia replied. "But it's not exactly Erik I'm worried about, Sam. It's Serena."

I frowned. "Erik said he asked her to step down from the board of directors, but beyond that, he didn't tell me anything else. Although he did say that Serena had to think about it. Didn't you have this discussion with Erik already? About wanting Serena to step down?"