"Um…what?" Jason blinked, staring across the desk at Reed. "You're what?"

"I'm taking a sabbatical." Reed lifted one leg, placing his ankle on the opposite knee, as he sat and stared at his agent. "So, you'll need to let the projects I've signed on to know."

Jason placed his elbows on the desk, steepling his fingers in front of his face. "Reed, I don't think you understand the money on the line here."

"I'll pay back any advance if the project can't wait until I get back."

He shook his head. "You realize that means I have to pay back my ten percent, too, right?"

"I'll pay your percent, too," Reed assured him. He certainly wasn't going to fuck over his agent just because he'd made his own decisions for his life. "This isn't me trying to destroy my career. I'm not quitting. I just need a break."

"What about Break Down 2?" Jason asked, already starting to write notes on his pad. "You can't pass on the sequel when you're the leading role."

Reed considered it for a moment. "When does shooting start?"

Jason opened his calendar on his phone. "Uh, two months after the premiere of the first movie."

"That's fine," Reed assured him. "I'll be back in time for the premiere."

Nothing was going to keep him from the event he'd see Teagan at.

Jason licked his lips, his jaw set tightly. "This is really fucking annoying, Scott."

"I'm sorry," he replied, though he wasn't actually sorry at all. He'd been working nonstop for eight years and raked in millions of dollars. He needed the break to step back and focus on himself, focus on growing as a person. How he was going to do that was still pretty unclear, but there was certainly no way to become a better person in Hollywood. He needed out, even if only for a little while. "But this will be a good thing in the long-term."

Reed pushed up to his feet, leaning over and offering a hand to Jason. "I'll see you in a couple months."

Jason shook his hand. "You might make me the most money, but you're my least favorite client, dickhead."

Reed laughed, his head tipping back. "You're my least favorite agent, asshole."

"Well, at least we're on the same page about something," Jason replied, grinning now. "Good luck on your sabbatical. I'm probably still going to blow up your phone."

"I'll probably turn it off," Reed teased, though he actually planned on doing just that. "See you later, man."

They shook hands one more time, and then Reed headed out of the office and toward his car. He glanced in the back seat of his car as he climbed in, checking that his suitcases were all still there. Between now and the movie premiere, he was going back to the one place where he felt truly him best self.

Thanks to Los Angeles traffic, it was almost two hours until he was pulling into the driveway. He parked his car and climbed out, taking his luggage out of the back seat and placing it on the asphalt.

The soft thunk of his car door closing was the announcement of Reed’s fresh start. He paused and drew a deep breath, taking in the navy blue house with white shutters, surrounded by some kind of red flowering bushes and sitting pristinely in the center of a patch of just-mowed green grass. The white picket fence that encircled the whole thing was like icing on the cake of suburbia, a distant cry from the modern penthouses and bright lights of the city he’d just left behind. Sunlight flashed off the fire engine red front door as it swung wide open.

"Uncle Reed!" Nell came charging through the door, racing down the porch stairs and throwing herself into his arms.

"Ooof!" Reed pretended to groan at the onslaught, but it actually didn't hurt one bit. In fact, there was nothing he loved more than hugging his niece. "You almost knocked me over!"

"Well, I'm getting taller. Mom said I'm going to be taller than her one day," Nell said matter-of-factly.

Reed laughed. "That might be true. Your mom could fit in my pocket."

"Hey!" Penelope called out from where she was standing on the front porch. "I heard that!"

"Hey, shorty," Reed greeted her, laughing and walking up the walkway with a suitcase in one arm and Nell in the other. "Ready for your new roommate?"

She grinned. "I put some sheets on the couch. Your feet are probably going to hang off the edge, but you said that was fine."

"More than fine," he insisted, placing Nell on the ground and walking behind them into the house. "I don't need much. Just my family."

Penelope patted him on the back. "Well, you're officially my go-to babysitter, so you'll get a lot of that."

Reed smiled, more than fine with that as well. If there was one thing he wanted from this sabbatical, it was normalcy. He'd spent the last decade in search of fame and wealth, and none of it had made him happy. None of it had made him feel the way he felt when he was reading Nell a bedtime story or teasing his sister across the dinner table. No amount of money or attention made him feel whole.

But the way his family looked at him? That was more fulfilling than any red carpet or signing bonus.

While he'd sworn to win Teagan back one day, that wasn't why he was here. She was right—he wasn't ready. And he wanted to get ready, but not for her. For himself. He needed to find his center, his base—the place where he felt at home.

He had seen that in Teagan last week when he'd visited her in New York City. He'd seen that feeling of belonging that emanated just from her being surrounded by the lights and inspiration of Broadway. There was never a moment he'd felt that, or stopped and focused on finding that.

"So, what the heck are you doing here?" Penelope asked him as she sat down at the breakfast bar and sipped on her cup of coffee.

Reed glanced over at his niece, but Nell was in the living room already, playing on her iPad and oblivious to her conversation. "I just needed a break, you know?"

"A break from glitz and glamor?" Penelope snorted. "Wow, what a hard life you lead."

He grinned. "You know what I mean. I've been…I don't know. My priorities haven't been in the right place."

She raised one brow. "Uh, clearly. I'm the one who just bailed you out of jail, remember?"

"Little hard to forget five days behind bars," he assured her.

"What about Teagan?" Penelope prodded. "Have you spoken with her yet?"

He nodded, looking away for a moment. "We spoke."

"And?"

"And, it's over," he replied, exhaling loudly. "She doesn't want to continue things."

"Good for her." Penelope clapped her hands. "About time she kicked you to the curb."

Reed furrowed his brows. "Thanks, sis. Aren't you supposed to be on my side?"

"Uh, no one should be on your side right now." Penelope pushed her hair back over her shoulder. "But, yeah, I'm on your side. I just think you don't deserve her yet. She's practically an angel—she always was. You've got a lot of work to do before you deserve that."

"I'll never deserve her." Which was the truth. Despite the changes he wanted to make, he knew none of it would matter. She would always deserve better than him, and he was just going to have to except that. In the meantime, he was going to focus on himself. He was going to focus on being the man his family deserved—the uncle that Nell deserved.

"Well, you have us." Penelope stood, walked around the counter, and then embraced him around his waist. "We will always be here."

"Group hug!" Nell came running over and threw her arms around both of them.

Reed laughed, embracing his sister and niece in one go. Already he was beginning to feel at home; like this is exactly where he belonged. And for the next few months, this was exactly where he wanted to be.