All These Years

Text Messages: Samuel Evans & Carla Smith

Samuel: I went over there, I used the code to the door. All the stuff in boxes I put together. You shouldn't need me to build anything else. If you do happen to need something else done. I will be more than happen to pay someone to do that for you. Samuel: I made sure I locked the house back up. I tossed all the empty boxes out and cleaned up any mess I made. Samuel: After this gig you should go on hiatus Carla. I didn't say anything yesterday but you out of all people should know if you need something all you have to do it ask. You had no problem asking me for a new house and I made that happen for you. Just ask?! Samuel: Hit me up if you need me.

Carla: 👍

Samuel: leaned back in his chair sighing loudly "alright man!" he growled down the phone. "I never said no! I said I would handle it tomorrow" he whispered angrily. "I have told you more than once now I have other responsibilities too Carla. Please don't make me tell your ass that shit again, I swear to God" he said reaching his boiling point with the woman. "I will handle it tomorrow, that does not require another response. Do you got me?" he asked.

#phone call: samuel to carla #tag: phone call

Carla: looked down at the phone rolling her eyes before she placed it against her ear again, "yeah" she said back to him.

Samuel: furrowed his brows "now why would you still be taking on gigs this late in the game Carla?" he asked her seriously. At the mention of Mercedes he looked towards his office door. "Here we go.... I have you know Mercedes does not keep me on a leash" he said confidently. "She doesn't have to do anything she doesn't want to do, look I didn't call to talk about her. You asked me to do something for you!" he barked.

#tag: phone call #phone call: samuel to carla

Carla: "Hm let me think, maybe because I have another mouth to feed" she said. "No!" she replied in a slight yell "I asked you to do something for your son!" she said.

Samuel: "What do you assume I am doing right now?" he asked her. "Never mind all of that" he said before she could even utter a response back. "I called to tell you I can not come today but I will make it my business to handle it tomorrow. You have my word" he breathed.

#tag: phone call #phone call: samuel to carla

Carla: "Had it occurred to you that maybe I will be busy tomorrow?" she snapped. "I have my last professional shoot to work tomorrow, I won't be home until much later in the day Samuel" she stressed. "Let me guess, the future Mrs. Evans" she said having to bite back a laugh "is the reason you are unavailable?" she asked. "She is going to have to learn to share you Sammy..."

Phone Call: Samuel Evans & Carla Smith

Samuel: dials Carla's number.

#tag: phone call #phone call: samuel to carla

Carla: answers immediately "you never hit me back Samuel" she quipped.

Samuel: During Superbowl Sunday!?

Samuel: Girl you asking for a lot!

Carla: I know 😅

Carla: But I will make it worth your while! I really need you! 😌

Carla: We don't have much time before he arrives. Please! I'll make sure I send you back home feed!

Text Messages: Carla Smith & Samuel Evans

Carla: Hey Sammy. Carla: I was wondering if you could come over tomorrow and help with a few last minute things I need to finish in the nursery? Carla: I appreciate you helping me to build the crib and changing table a few weeks back. But I have a few more things of his that I need your help with.

Samuel shook his head moving to stand up from the chair he was sitting in. He walked away from it moving towards the large windows granting them the perfect view of LA, he took it all in. He shrugged his shoulders lightly at her, hand moving to his eyes he gently rubbed them. He did not have the mental capacity to have this conversation right now, it was too exhausting to think about. "I know I let you down Ava" he told her finally turning around. He wouldn't have this conversation with her, he didn't have to and he didn't feel obligated to dig deep inside himself to find something that was useful to her as a response. What did it matter? Rather they both unpacked what she asked or not, he still didn't have a book to produce for her. He licked his lips, stuffing his hands into his pants pocket. He knew he had to give her something but what he couldn't figure out. "I can't produce the book no matter what you try to offer me, both professionally and in friendship. I screwed up big time, I admit that. It's not to say I will never write the book it is just to say right now is not the best time. If you could work your magic like you always do. I can maybe get you something by the end of the year. But in exchange for what I don't have, I was wondering if I could maybe offer a book of poetry instead. I have written a lot of that lately and I think they are all good. It would be nice to have a book of them all, maybe we can come up with a way to smooth the book over while that hits the shelves?" he asked her seriously. "You can even blame me for everything, I can take the beating."

"I overstepped, I should not have asked you those things. I was wrong for bringing it up" Ava said moving to stand up from her seat as well. She watched the larger guy as he moved towards the windows surrounding them. She could not afford to lose him as a client. He had sold hundreds of thousands of books under her publishing house, she needed to stand down. "You haven't let me down" she corrected there was no point of her making him feel worst than he probably already did, he didn't need that from her. He needed support. "Poetry" she repeated nodding her head slowly her hands fidgeting in front of her, she certainly was not expecting that. She was hoping maybe he had another book in mind something outside of his current series, something new, something fresh. They were screwed, his fans didn't want any poetry from him. They both knew that. "Poetry" she repeated again sighing to herself "sure thing" she said without a ounce of conviction in her voice. "I will ask though, if I do this. Seeing as I have already put so much on the line for you. I need you to at least make a formal statement for the internet. I want no parts of that. And, I hope you know I am giving you a new deadline" she said moving to sit back down, she scribbled across her notepad defeatedly. "You won't get out of writing that fourth book, the story should be told despite what you feel and think."

“I can not picture it, Ava” Samuel said raising his voice, he shook his head. “I can not picture a wedding or a baby” he told her calming himself down, he didn’t need to raise his voice especially not at Ava she had been a dream come true his entire career. Her being upset with him is fair, him returning that energy would not be. She wasn’t the enemy or the problem, she was helping. “The foundation that I have written all of this off of was toxic” he voiced. “I hated my life and I hated her for it” he said seriously. “I’m not in that space anymore and so the passion is not there” he said, put simply. “Maya and Steven were not supposed to be fan favorites; people should hate them together. I know I did. They were not endgame. The book's title is ‘The End: Unrequited Love’, what made anyone think they would end up together? I could not imagine myself actually truly being with Mercedes. I should not be with her right now. I know that makes no sense to you, but she should be with someone else. But she is with me and it is a huge mind fuck. And for all that we’ve been through, the relationship is good. But I can not…” he sighed heavily shaking his head again. “You know how many times people have asked me if we have set a wedding date? We haven’t. I can not commit and I don't know why” he told her.

Ava squinted her eyes she was even more confused, this man really boggled her mind sometimes. Brilliant but tremendously stupid. She would assume it would be very easy to write a story of which two people finally reconnected, married, and had a child because well his life was mirroring it right before their very eyes. She didn’t know many details but she did realize that there was history between him and Mercedes and now they were together. “I don’t get it,” she said after he finished. “She’s pregnant right now, you are engaged right now, how can you not picture the altar?” she asked him really wanting to get the full picture, she was not trying to judge him she was trying to be understand - to be a friend. “As a friend I am going to ask you this very personal question assuming that you will tell me the truth. I hope you will by the way. Business aside for right now. Did you do it just to appease her or did you do it because you truly love her and wanted to marry her Samuel?” she asked shifting in her seat. “And if it is the latter, then what is causing the doubt? The past? You think she’s going to leave you standing up there with egg on your face because of a decision she made years ago? Because that was then, this is now!” she spoke up. The ending statement she should not have made, she knew she was crossing a big line there. It was hearsay anyway, he had never volunteered that information to her ever, that was something she picked up through idle gossip and the tabloids. As soon as she said it she felt like shit for it.

Samuel looked at Ava as she began to speak again, he could barely protest her as she rambled on about a trip. A trip would not fix this, she wrote something down and then moved to her IMac. He shook his head “a trip will not fix this Ava” he told her without a shadow of doubt. It was not something he had to think about. He had used trips in the past to complete a book when he was stumped but this situation was different. “I don’t have a story to write, there is nothing to tell. You are missing the point entirely” he said. After having completed three books already he felt he knew himself very well, he was not driven to write this book. That was as simple as it could get. He just didn't know how to explain that to Ava, he guessed he should have been honest from the beginning. But things did change, because at first he did want to write the last and final book. He had pictured it in its entirety in his mind, now it was a blank canvas. He knew he owed it to his fans, but then again he never felt he owed anyone anything when it came to the story of his and Mercedes’ life.

Ava looked over at Samuel, her brow furrowing at his words “what?” she asked, being stunned by him for the second time today. Her professionalism had slipped again there was no point in trying to correct that now. “Samuel, your fans have been dying for this next installation in this series. What do you mean there is no story to tell? What about their relationship? These people are expecting a wedding, a family, some growth to this couple” she said, holding her hand out. “There is so much more you can write, are you crazy?” she said, moving away from her computer to face him again. “Is it or is it not based on you and Mercedes?” she asked outright. She had asked him this before he and neither confirmed or denied it, it seem to be a little game he and Mercedes both played very well for the media and the people around them. Why she didn't know, it so obvious who his books were about. The last time she asked, she vowed not to ask again because she didn't want to invade his privacy but right now she felt like he owed it to her to be completely upfront about everything. Especially is he were about to cost her a ton of money in the wake. If the books were about he and Mercedes then he had tons of material to use seeing as they were engaged and pregnant, nothing he were saying at the moment was making sense to her. "You are giving me a whole bunch of excuses right now and you know me better than that, I don't do excuses..."

Samuel leaned forward his arms resting on his legs, hands clasped in front of himself, letting out a loud sigh in the space. “I know about the advance” he said nodding his head as she went to list a million and one reasons he should have had the book done by now. “I know” he told her confidently “my assistant sent over everything to me months ago, I know everything I owe you, I know about Warner Brothers, I know about all of it” he said back to her. “I know how this sounds, I know how this looks to you, I would never let you down. I just can’t do the book right now. I have a blank word document” he told her. “I don’t know why I can’t write it, I have tried” he reasoned, “started it and erased it a million times over, I promise I have” he told her and it was not a lie. He actually did try repeatedly to start the book. “The words will not materialize” he said leaning back up in the chair again, he looked out her windows. He needed to think of a better excuse he was failing horrible to come up with something right now however.

Nodding her head Ava exhaled loudly, she closed her eyes for a moment. “You tell me you write nonstop. Actually you told me you write all the time” she breathed, opening her eyes again. “What changed?” she asked him curiously. “Is there something I can get you?” she offered curiously, she didn’t know what it could be but she was willing to try and figure something out on his behalf. “Or, maybe” she paused thinking it over in her mind “we cover a trip for you, get you an extension let’s say the next.. 4 months?” she said she began scribbling her idea out on her notepad. “You pick any place, any place in the world and I will get you there. Via a private jet” she said with a smile. “You can get some time away and clear your mind, center yourself and the words will come. I know it will,” she to him happily. She moved towards her computer pulling up the web browser so that she could alert her assistant of the plan she just came up with.

Samuel licked his lips “right” he said as he moved to sit down in the chair before her. “Well” he breathed, unsure where to start he watched her gather a pen and notepad. He sighed to himself “it is no easy way for me to really say this, but I haven’t managed anything and I know my deadline is two months away. But with everything going on; Mercedes and the baby” he breathed trailing off, shaking his head he tried to gather his words. He didn't need to use Mercedes and their unborn child as an excuse, he was the one who fucked up here. “I haven’t written a single thing Ava and I am truly sorry but there is no way I can muster up a whole book in two months” he told her.

Ava shifted in her chair and she squinted at Samuel as he rambled on trying to comprehend what he was actually saying. She tilted her head, shock written across her face at his confession. “Nothing?” she asked him, unable to come up with anything else to say to him at the moment. Her mouth hung open as her brain tried to gather a reason he could have for not having a completed book right now. “Samuel, the advance I gave you?” she said to him, eyes wide. “I actually gave you a year to write this piece. What do you mean you haven’t written anything?” she said. “Samuel” she breathed again trying to right herself professionally, she just assumed he may have come to ask her for an extra month which she was prepared for but this was ludicrous. “Samuel, the advance, the money that we have spent on the cover art? We have already printed advertisements for all major stores. We have an ad for Times Square completed. Billboards around LA are expected to advertise this book within the next few weeks. Warner Brothers and Todd Phillips has already asked to speak with us about a movie adaptation - Samuel you can not do this please, I’m begging you. We are talking about millions here, maybe even billions? Pre-orders have been confirmed from Books-a-Million to Amazon” she stressed.

Face-to-Face: Samuel Evans & Ava Miller.

Samuel walked into the woman’s office taking in the LA scenery through her massive windows. “I am grateful that you squeezed me in, I know I should have made an appointment but honestly this could not wait” he told her as he walked up to a chair, he was a bit nervous to reveal to her what he had come to her office for, but he knew he needed to. He didn’t sit right away, instead he stood behind the chair in front of her desk, his hands gripping onto it for support. He wanted to be open and honest with Ava; it was the only way he was going to be able to get around the big mishap. He had not produced the book, the deadline was two months away. He could not possibly produce an entire romance novel in that time, he knew that. If he handled this ordeal today in his mind it would be one less thing on his plate to contribute to his growing anxiety.

Ava walked into the office behind the massive man, rounding her office desk and him in pursuit of her seat. “You are not a bother, you should know that by now” she corrected, taking him in as she looked at him. He looked like shit, he clearly hadn’t been sleeping well or he may even be physically sick she could not tell. “I don’t have anyone coming by for another hour or so, you are free to run your thoughts by me” she said, gesturing to the chair he was standing behind. “Have a seat Samuel” she chuckled next they were not new to each other she had been working alongside Samuel for years. She grabbed a notebook and pen from a drawer in her desk before resting the items on top of it. “So…” she said, folding her hands in her lap and crossing one leg over the other under her desk waiting for him to say something, anything at all.

Text Messages: Carla Smith & Samuel Evans

Carla: I have a doctors appointment tomorrow. I expect you to be there. Carla: 1:30 pm! The same office from before.