The Artist

Chapter 14

A long happy sigh came out of Chris as he drove on the Massachusetts street. It felt so good to be home. He had been in LA, attending the Oscars but those events always took so much out of him. Having to run the press gauntlet made his anxiety spike even after all these years and it wasn't until he was home that he felt he could breathe easy once again.

Last night his flight had gotten in late and he had gone straight to bed. When he turned his phone on this morning, there were tons of unread texts and missed calls so he just ignored them all for now and left his phone on his nightstand. After taking a shower and getting dressed, he got Dodger in his car and drove to get a coffee for him and his mother before going to the Children's Theater where he knew she'd be.

Chris got out of his car with Dodger hot on his tail as he walked down the hallway inside the building that was fairly empty at the moment, but when he got closer to the end of the hallway, he saw the door to Lisa's office open and a familiar laugh was echoing out of it.

A smile spread across his bearded face, knowing instantly who that adorable laugh belonged to. He hurried his pace to get to the office and found two of his favorite women there. His mother was sitting at her desk while Mia leaned against it as the pair chatted.

"Hi sweetheart," Lisa said when she saw her son's hunky frame filling the doorway and Dodger at his side.

Mia turned around and when her green eyes met his, she felt her entire body just relax. There was something about his presence that made her feel so safe and comfortable and Chris felt his heart filling to the brim as he looked at her.

"I didn't expect to see you here this early," Lisa figured he'd be sleeping in today.

Chris walked over and handed her the coffee he brought her before leaning over the desk to kiss her cheek, "I slept on the plane last night so I wasn't too exhausted."

He then turned his attention to Mia. Chris felt like his heart stopped beating for a moment while he looked at her. Her dark shiny hair fell around her beautiful face, those green eyes shining at him so beautifully and a dimpled smile greeted him. Chris wrapped his arms around her, holding her close and he breathed in her warm vanilla scent, never wanting to let her go.

"What are you doing here?" He wondered.

"I actually was looking for you," Mia explained as she slowly pulled away and looked up to search his eyes. "I tried calling you but you didn't answer. I really need to tell you something."

Chris' eyes flickered over to his mother and when he saw the sad look on her face, he knew that Mia must have told her and it wasn't good. His eyebrows furrowed as he studied her for a moment but then left his coffee on the table and Dodger laying on the carpet before he put a hand on the small of her back, leading her out of the room and back down the hallway.

He took her into the empty theater where they would have privacy and the second the door was closed he asked, "What is it, Mia?"

Chris watched her intently and saw the corners of her mouth twitch because of the tears that were starting to well in her eyes. Her pink lips parted and she went to open her mouth but then closed it again, not knowing what to say. Eventually she just lifted her left hand and showed him the diamond ring that sat on her fourth finger, wordlessly telling Chris something he hoped he'd never have to hear.

"Is this for real?" His blue eyes were wide as he pointed at the ring.

Mia nodded, "He proposed while you were in LA but I just couldn't tell you over the phone."

Chris turned around and took a few steps down the aisle, running his hands through his dark slicked back hair, unable to full comprehend this. He wondered for a second if this was just a bad dream but when he turned around and saw Mia there wiping at her tears, he knew it wasn't.

"Are you fucking kidding me, Mia?" His voice was loud.

The simple response he got from her was, "No, I'm not."

"I can't fucking believe this," Chris was incredulous as he shook his head. "Why the hell are you marrying this guy?"

"Because."

Chris rolled his eyes, "Because why?"

Emotions got the best of Mia as her voice rose and she told him, "Because I'm sick and tired of coming home to nobody... of having nobody. And now a good steady handsome guy asked me to marry him and I said yes, yeah I guess that makes me a raving lunatic!" Mia overdramatically shouted.

"It does if you don't love him! If he doesn't make you happy," Chris argued while his long legs took a few strides to close the space between them.

"Oh and what are you Chris? The happiness guru?" Her sass came out in an attempt to defend herself before asking him, "What do you want me to say?"

The emotions and tension were high but when it came to that question, Chris paused and his tone softened before he was honest, "I want you to say that you love him and you want to be with him."

Mia wiped angrily at her tears before shaking her head, making her dark hair swish as she said, "No you don't. You want me to say that I love you and I want to be with you but I can't do that."

This got Chris' emotions to spike again and he asked her, "Why the hell not?"

"Oh yeah, get with you just so down the line you can get sick of me and can dump me for some hot actress or something?" Mia shot back out of spite.

"Oh fuck that!" Chris waved his hands dramatically before getting closer to her, "You know that's ridiculous. You're making things up because face it Mia, you're scared to love someone again."

The words made Mia freeze, her breath getting caught in her throat as Chris went on, "You're scared that someone is going to get to know the real you and leave you like your mom did and that you'll feel that rejection again. So because of that, you'd rather have someone like Daniel that is a sure fire thing who won't leave you with no love, rather than taking a risk and having the real thing."

At this point, Mia had tears rolling down her face as she countered, desperate to push this off of her because of how much his truthful words stung and asked him, "What do you know about love, Chris?"

"Enough to know that you don't love him," He was adamant before stepping closer to her and looking down into her teary eyes and said, "And enough to know that I love you and I want to be with you."

Mia felt like her heart was being shattered into a million pieces right then and there. Deep down in her heart she wanted to just wrap her arms around his neck and kiss him hard, telling her that she loved him just as much because she knew that was the truth. But Mia couldn't shake the fear inside of her and the only thing flashing in her brain was sitting on the couch as a child, hearing her grandfather tell her that her mother had left and wasn't coming back. She was terrified of that pain and it made her give Chris an answer.

"I'm sorry Chris... but I just can't give you that."