Amy was on her way to Isla’s condo. With nowhere else to go, she was increasingly desperate and depressed. Can’t keep living like this, she told herself, something somewhere somehow’s got to give! I’m either gonna snap and go nuts on everybody or just, I dunno, implode!

Amy glanced at the traffic, ever thickening in the overpopulated city. Maybe I should just let The Munsters do whatever they’re going to do. Maybe Jonathan could set me up with another friend, though he doesn’t seem to have many. Maybe Mom’s right, I should just get a hobby, spend the rest of my life on the estate painting landscapes or writing poetry.

Amy could feel the bony hand of fate tightening around her neck, squeezing, taunting.

No, I’m not some old recluse and I won’t live like one! So what if they’re controlling the money? Maybe I don’t need money! Maybe I can go out and find a job, get a roommate and an apartment the way Camden did, the way everybody else seems to do. I like not having to work at Burger King, but I could if I had to. Forget Burger King anyway, I’ve got a degree in philosophy, there must be something I can do with that.

Maybe I should go back to school, get my masters, be a teacher. My mother thinks it’s pretty drab, but at least I’d be living my own life, free to make my own choices and live with the ramifications, whatever they are. It’d be better than rotting away in that mausoleum!

Turning right onto Santa Monica Boulevard, it occurred to Amy, I should call Camden, apologize. He must have felt terrible with me storming out on him. And I shouldn’t have put him in that position to begin with. He’s got enough to think about without some nutty girlfriend who wants to run off and marry him at the drop of a hat!

He’s the one I really want, Amy had to confess to herself, what’s the point in playing games about it? But what chance do I have with him now? He’s off on the career of a lifetime and I’ve come off like some kind of groupie weirdo.

Amy pulled over to the curb and double-parked. She killed the engine, gathered her purse, and opened the door to step out into the street. A green Toyota she didn’t recognize sped up and skid to a stop in the middle of the street right next to her, trapping Amy between that car and her own.

Leaving the engine running, Camden jumped out of the passenger seat. She said, “Camden?” but that was all she had time for. Saying nothing, Camden grabbed her upper arm and yanked her toward his Toyota, opening the passenger door and shoving her in. She had time for one more, “Camden?” but by then he’d slammed the door and was already running around to the driver’s side, where he climbed in, closed the door and sped off.

“Cam, what’s going on?”

“I’m kidnapping you.”

“But … I didn’t order this.”

“No, you didn’t. I did.”

Amy looked around the car. She was slowly coming to understand what was really happening, but she needed to hear it, she needed Camden to say it. “Camden, I don’t understand, where are we going?”

“The cabin,” he said with a smile, “it’ll be our ... special place.”

“Camden — ”

“No, Amy, let me speak. First of all, I am so sorry I let you walk out of my apartment — ”

“No, Camden, I’m the one who should be sorry — ”

“Hey,” Camden said with a snap, “don’t make me gag you.” A smirk painted on his face. A sexy silence shared between them both, Amy’s smile enough to keep her lips engaged while Camden went on, “I should never have let you walk out of my apartment. I was just … I was stunned, I didn’t know what to say. I mean, a girl like you, you could have any man you want! The idea that you would want me, well, it just knocked me sideways. It still does, tell you the truth.”

Amy opened her mouth and almost spoke, but his loving discipline kept her quiet. Camden added, “But when you walked out of that room, Amy, I dunno, it was like you took a part of me with you, a part that’s left a hole. And that hole hurts, Amy, it’s killing me. But ya know what? If I have to die, if the hole just gets bigger and bigger ’til it swallows me up, that’s fine. I don't want to live without you, Amy. I’ll jump headfirst into that hole if I have to.”

Her eyes started to water, Amy couldn’t help herself, “The hole,” she repeated, “that’s it, that’s it exactly, that feeling inside, empty, nothingness … ”

“Yes,” Camden agreed, and she recognized his tone, one which knew all too well what Amy’s own sad life had taught her.

“That feeling that you’ll never be complete, never find that thing to fill the hole.”

“Yes.”

“That’s love, Amy, and I’ve lived without it, and without you, for long enough. Hollywood? Acting? Longshadows? It doesn’t mean a thing, none of it. There’s no truth there. But you and me, that’s real, that’s true!”

“Yes!” She cried out. It was the first time in her life she had such a strong magnetic pull to another human being. A feeling of being in complete alignment with another soul.

“And we’re not going to live without each other, not any longer.”

“No.”

Camden glanced at her, his determination outweighing his joy. “We’re going to be married.”

“Yes.” She managed to squeak out.

“You’ll come to live with me as man and wife, no more of your family, no more of their dominance over you. From now on, I’ll be the only one blessed with that role.”

“Oh my god, Cam, yes. This is what I’ve wanted all my life.” She managed to say.

Camden’s words came fast, his foot stepping on the accelerator to get them to their destination with the greatest dispatch. “But you have to know I’m not that kind of person, not all the time. We have to be equals, inside the bedroom and outside, no matter where we are or what we’re doing.”

Amy barely managed to say, “Yes.”

“We make our decisions together, we spend our money together, we raise our children together — ”

“Yes, Camden!”

“We live our lives together, straight down the line, right to the end.”

“Yes, Camden, yes!”

“All right then,” Camden said as he gunned the engine. “Let’s hit the road!”