I met Dad in the hallway. Lew’s stormy exit must have caught his attention. I’d stopped to throw on some jeans and a t-shirt, but the roar of Lew’s car peeling out of the driveway kind of took some of the steam out of my hurry.

“What did you do this time?” Dad asked in a resigned tone.

“I proposed again.” I slipped past him and went to the kitchen to stare unseeingly into the refrigerator.

“I’m guessing he didn’t say yes,” Dad said dryly.

“No. I’m going to need to patch my bedroom wall. Sorry.” There wasn’t anything in the fridge I wanted to eat. “Maybe I should just go. I’m not doing anyone any good here.”

“Oh, I don’t know,” Dad said, lounging against the counter with an interested look on his face. “We enjoy having you here. I live in constant hope that you’ll stop looking at Llewellyn through your high school eyes and see him as a man.”

Startled, I straightened up and closed the fridge door. “What do you mean?”

“I mean, it’s like you came home and went right back to high school. Everything’s about you and what you want and you just expect Lew to roll along with your plan. I know that actors are supposed to have big egos, but I thought we taught you better than that.”

“I don’t have an ego,” I protested automatically, then winced when he gave me that Dad look. The one that warned me I was being childish and that he was only going to tolerate so much of it. “I’m trying. I just don’t know what to do. I only have two weeks, and then I have to be back on set.”

He nodded and watched me like he was expecting me to say something. Like there was a clue in what we’d just said to each other, some key that would unlock this entire mystery.

Slowly, it dawned on me. “I’m trying to get him to forgive me on my schedule, not his.”

“Bingo,” Dad said and came over to hug me. “You have to let Lew lead the way. He’s not going to want to be with someone who never thinks about what’s important to him. I know from watching you two that he’d give you the world if he had it. I’m sure you would too, but I’m not so sure you’d ever notice when he needed you to give it to him.”

Ouch. But the more I thought about it, the more I thought he was probably right. I really was a selfish idiot. And if I wanted Lew back, I had to give him enough time to believe me and trust me again. And risk that someone else would come along, someone who hadn’t hurt him like I had, someone who saw the jewel that my Lew was, and that they would snap him up from underneath my nose.

I couldn’t let that happen. “What time is it?” Without waiting for an answer, I ran for my bedroom and grabbed clothes that were actually clean and not just didn’t smell bad. I nearly ran my father over as I raced for the bathroom.

“What’s the rush?” he asked.

“I’m gonna shower, then I’m going to bring Lew lunch and apologize again. And try to figure out what he needs.”

“You don’t think you should give him some time to cool down first? Or maybe just leave him alone?”

I shook my head, for the first time sure of what I should do. “He said I could have these two weeks to convince him. I’m not going to waste them. As for cooling down, I’m going to bring him chicken.” I was going to prove to him that I could see him for who he was and what he wanted. But for sure, the chicken wouldn’t hurt. “Thanks, Dad. I’m sorry I’m a disappointment.”

He nodded slowly. “You have never been a disappointment to me. But I’m glad to see you starting to grow into the man I knew was in there. I’ll wish you luck, but if Lew punts you out the door, I’m also reserving the right to say, ‘I told you so.’”

I laughed and threw the clean clothes into the bathroom, pulling the dirty ones off as I went. “I’ll buy you a beer to drink while you do it. But I think…” What did I think? How to put into words this gut-deep understanding of where I kept going wrong and what I had to do to avoid it next time. “I think Lew wants the same thing you do. And I’m going to give it to him, no matter how hard it is. He’s worth it to me.” I reached in to turn on the shower and had a thought. “Dad? If Hollywood doesn’t work out… I mean, if it looks like I’m going to have to choose between them, I’m going to come home. Is there still a place for me in one of the stores? I’ll go to school, whatever I need to.”

“You’d give that up for him?” Dad asked softly. “Are you sure you know what you’re doing?”

I nodded solemnly at him. “If I can have him and Hollywood, that’s what I’m going to choose. But if I have to choose between them, it’s gotta be Lew. I made that mistake once before and I’ve hated myself every day since. I’d rather work in a store and be able to live with myself and live with Lew than have all the fame in Hollywood and be miserable.”

He stepped into the bathroom and put a hand on my shoulder. “There’s the man I’ve been waiting to see show up. Go get him, champ.”

“Thanks, Dad.” I grinned at him. “Now get out. I’m going to shower so I don’t look like a bum when I have to go grovelling again.”