The Make-Up Artist

Chapter Thirty Two: Forever

You wake the next morning facing away from Taron toward the window, the sun streaming across your face, and with the most content feeling you've had in a long time. Maybe forever. In fact, everything is pretty close to perfect at the moment. Well, almost. There's the still the matter of the doctor's recommendation that you stop working and the slight constant ache in your hand. Looking down at your two fingers still bound together, you choose to ignore these facts for now, and instead roll over to curl up into Taron's warm body against his chest. Your movement causes him to stir, and you watch as his gorgeous eyes flutter open and the smile that spreads across his face when he sees you.

"Morning love", he whispers close to your face.

"Good morning, well if it still is morning", you say, noticing how the light cascading across the room seems to look more like late morning sun rather than early morning.

"Mmmm", is his only response as he pulls you tighter against him. "Sleep well?"

"Mmm hmmm", you answer, reaching up to plant a soft kiss against his lips. His arms wrap around your body and hold you in place, kissing you more firmly. You begin to melt into him and realize immediately that you are both still naked. Suddenly, your stomach growls embarrassingly loud and he pulls back to look at your face.

"Hungry?" He asks with a chuckle.

"Starving", you answer. In fact at this moment, you might be hungrier for food than you are for the man pressed so intimately against you.

"Well then, let's get you fed so that you will have plenty of energy", he says with a wink, and rolls away from you to climb out of the bed. Admiring the view, you pull the sheet up to your chin and prop up on one elbow.

"So what's the plan for today?" You ask as he throws on some baggy sweats and a t-shirt.

"I'd like to show you a few more things around Aber, if you're ok with that?"

"Of course, I love it here. I'd love to see more of where you grew up", you say with a smile.

He then leans down and kisses you on the tip of your nose, gazes at you for a second with a contemplative look on his face, then disappears into the bathroom while you get dressed yourself.

After a leisurely brunch in the room, since it is actually closer to lunch than breakfast, Taron takes you on a little mini tour around his hometown. He shows you the Aberystwyth Youth Arts Centre where he got his acting bug by portraying several parts in shows there. He takes you to his family home where they all still live, although they're not currently at home. You get a kick out of seeing his childhood bedroom and all the family photos of him in his youth. For lunch, he takes you to the cafe that his Aunt owns and he used to work at. It's an adorable little place and is made even more adorable by his movie posters she has placed all over the walls. During lunch, he has you rolling with his stories of how awful he was when he worked here back in the day by getting orders wrong and even burning food. You get the chance to meet his Aunt who is a lovely woman with nothing but charming and wonderful things to say about her nephew. All of which you already knew of course, but you still enjoy hearing it.

After lunch, the two of you take a simple leisurely stroll around town, hand in hand, chatting pleasantly. It's as if the chaos of your lives back at the studio doesn't even exist, and you're just two regular people enjoying a beautiful afternoon together. You could almost imagine staying here with him forever, almost.

Once back at the B&B, Taron announces that there's a different restaurant where he wants to take you to dinner. It's apparently not as fancy but the seafood is "to die for". You shower and dress in a simple sweater, jeans and boots. It's nice to be wearing something other than leggings, tank tops and sweatshirts for once. You haven't taken off the dainty orange-yellow necklace since he gave it to you, and you adjust it slightly on your neck before brushing out your hair and blow drying it straight.