Bridget Van der Eyk
Contemporary Romance Author
2 Loves LaterSample Chapters
CHAPTER 1 - Left Hand
“There was never anyone else was there?” Libby sighed as she relaxed into his arms and looked up into those familiar eyes.
“Never,” he replied as he pulled her closer, “and there never will be.”
“Just me,” she smiled.
“Just you,” he said as a smile of his own spread slowly across his face, “and me.”
A silence formed between them, but it was barely silence at all. Even though it was probably close to 10:00 pm by now and the beach was deserted, the waves were in full force. Each crashed roughly against the shore, soaking the bottom of Libby’s jeans every time the tide came in. Her feet getting further and further buried in the sand beneath them.
“I love you,” he said.
“I love you more,” she replied, maintaining his eye contact.
She hated this part; the sustained eye contact. It always made her feel like the other person was staring into her soul and that they could delve deeper and deeper the longer they looked straight into her eyes. She forced herself not to look away, though. She forced herself to maintain his gaze as she struggled to keep her balance against the waves continuing to try and knock her off her feet.
“Forever,” he whispered as he brushed a stray hair from her face, her cheeks cradled in his palms.
“And longer than that,” Libby whispered back as he pulled her closer and their foreheads touched.
He kissed her and she kissed him back. A sudden gust of wind whipped her blonde hair into her face as they held the kiss. He continued to hold her face. She continued to close her eyes, assuming he was doing the same thing. His lips were so chapped, hers probably were too. They’d literally been nonstop kissing for the last two hours after all.
“And cut!” the director finally yelled.
Libby and her male co-star, Freddie Garcia, finally broke apart. She didn’t feel a single moment of awkwardness as they released each other and separated at the lips. It seemed like she was finally used to kissing guys without feeling anything at all, which was handy considering it was her job. This movie was her job. The very last one before she started filming that Netflix series next month. That gave her exactly two weeks at home before she had to jet off to Australia and put her zombie fighting boots on. She hadn’t even looked at the script past the first episode. Did she have to do any ‘feeling-less’ kissing? She didn’t know.
“And that’s the final shot for tonight, everyone,” Madison the producer called out, breaking Libby out of her thoughts. “We are finally done for tonight. See you all back here tomorrow morning. We’ll pick up from the carnival scene at the pier first thing. Libby and Freddie, awesome work tonight.”
Libby smiled at Madison as she caught sight of Freddie acknowledging their producer with a finger gun gesture.
“You’re such a loser,” Libby laughed as she sarcastically threw him a set of finger guns of her own.
“I am the coolest dude you know,” Freddie smiled. “Just admit it, Libs.”
“Whatever,” Libby smiled. “Are you sure you don’t mind giving me a lift home? I can just call a taxi.”
“When was the last time your rich girl ass sat in a taxi?” Freddie replied with a raised eyebrow in her direction.
Libby laughed as she took off the itchy blonde wig and cap and handed it to one of the costume designers lying in wait.
“Fine,” she replied, “I can just call my car service.”
“That sounds more like the Hollywood socialite I know and love,” Freddie replied as he wrapped an arm around Libby’s shoulders. “Now, can we please get off this fucking beach before I freeze my balls off?!”
“Better not do that,” Libby tsked, putting an arm around his waist as they started walking toward the beach house where they’d been filming earlier that day. “I’m sure that would make Marco extremely unhappy.”
Freddie let out a hearty laugh.
“C’mon, bitch,” he replied, “let’s get you home.”
*****
Libby waved goodbye to Freddie from the sidewalk before she started the walk down the path to her front door. The lights were on inside, which was strange considering she definitely hadn’t left them on when she left for work this morning at 5:00 am. It had been a fucking long day and all she wanted to do was shower, but it looked like she had either forgotten she had plans with Felicity, who was the only other person with a key, or she had impromptu plans with the LAPD.
She carefully opened the front door, trying to make as little noise as possible with her shoes on the tiled flooring. She didn’t really know what her plan was if there was a stalker in her house, but it turned out she didn’t have time to figure that out anyway.
“Where have you been?!” a male voice suddenly yelled, even before Libby had a chance to shut the front door behind her.
She jumped in startle before turning in the direction of the voice. She had heard right; it was her boyfriend’s voice. It was Hendrick Neil that had yelled. She turned around expecting to see someone else standing behind her because there was no way he was yelling at her right now.
“Where the hell have you been?!” Hendrick yelled again.
There was no mistaking it this time as his brown eyes locked directly on hers. He was talking to her. He was yelling at her right now.
“I’m sorry, did I miss something?” Libby asked, almost too confused to be angry with him just yet. “Did we have plans?”
Hendrick’s face was contorted in anger as he continued to stare her down. It was almost as if her not biting back was fueling the fire.
“I’ve been waiting here for three hours now!” Hendrick exclaimed as he gestured enthusiastically behind him.
Libby narrowed her eyes in confusion as she dropped her handbag on the entryway table. She walked toward the dining room where Hendrick was standing, her gaze following his gesture to her dining table in the middle of the room.
The oak wood surface was set for a fancy meal. There were two place settings made up across the table from each other. Each setting was complete with silverware, pristine white linen napkins rolled up with her antique brass napkin rings, and two of her gold rimmed champagne flutes.
“Is this for me?” she asked.
“Of course, it’s for you,” Hendrick scoffed, rolling his eyes, “and like I said, it’s been sitting here getting cold for the last three hours.”
Libby’s eyes drifted from Hendrick’s to distract herself, so she didn’t roll her eyes at his typical melodrama. Actors.
Her eyes fell on the dining table again and she had to admit he’d done well. It was the perfect dinner, even if he’d just helped himself to one of the bottles of champagne from her wine cellar instead of bringing his own.
She then caught sight of the white dinner plates at each setting. She sighed. It looked like the perfect dinner, rather. Unfortunately, sitting on each plate, accompanied by a salad of sorts, was lobster. Libby hated lobster. She’d only been telling Hendrick that for the last three years of their relationship.
“How was I supposed to know you were going to be here?” she asked, feeling less bad about being late now that she’d seen the main course.
“Is that all you have to say?!” Hendrick exclaimed as he threw his hands up in defeat.
Libby shrugged.
“As opposed to…?” she asked, raising an eyebrow at him.
All she could think about was having a drink of that champagne right now. She’d had a long day and was hoping it was over now, but clearly Hendrick and his dramatics had other plans.
“A thank you maybe?” he asked, his eyes wide in disbelief.
Libby shrugged again. If he didn’t care enough to remember she hated lobster, then she definitely didn’t care enough to pretend she was sorry for being late for a dinner she didn’t even know they had.
“You’re not even going to say sorry that you missed the amazing dinner I prepared for you especially for tonight?!” Hendrick asked again. “Seriously, Lizzie?”
Libby shuddered as she closed her eyes. She hated lobster, but she fucking hated it when he called her ‘Lizzie’. No one ever called her that because she fucking hated it. It wasn’t her name and she’d told him that so many times too.
“I’m not going to apologize, Hen,” she replied. “You knew I was working all day today and you never even told—”
“That’s because it was supposed to be a surprise!” Hendrick yelled.
“How did you even get in?” Libby asked, looking around for someone else or some kind of clue as to how he got into her house without a key.
They’d been together for three years, but she still hadn’t given him a key. She didn’t see the point when every time he needed to be at her house she was there too.
“Felicity gave me one so I could prepare this sensational dinner for you!” Hendrick replied, rolling his eyes.
Libby made a couple of mental notes to herself. One was to kill her publicist after she revoked her spare key privileges. The second was to bite her tongue and not congratulate Hendrick on learning a new word. He’d even used it in the correct context. That’s sensational, Hendrick. Absolutely sensational.
“I can’t believe how ungrateful you’re being!” he continued to rant when he realized she wasn’t retaliating. “This is so typical of you, Lizzie. I go out of my way to—”
“Make me a special dinner that consists of the one piece of seafood I absolutely hate?” Libby snapped.
Hendrick paused. He turned to look at the dinner on the table before he turned back to Libby.
“You love lobster,” he replied. “You tell me every time we pass the pier.”
“No, Hendrick,” Libby replied, the sarcasm dripping from her slowly drawn-out words, “that must be your other girlfriend.”
“This is ridiculous, and not the point at all!” Hendrick exclaimed again. “You never appreciate anything I do for you. You’re always just waiting to find fault with anything nice I try to do even…”
Libby knew she was supposed to listen when her boyfriend spoke. For all she knew, this could have been the dinner Hendrick Neil finally proposed to her.
They’d talked about having babies at some point far into the future and they’d window shopped online for engagement rings that one night last September when they’d both been extremely drunk on wine coolers after celebrating her Academy Award nomination. The relationship had been heading somewhere. Heading in the direction Libby knew she wanted her life to move forward in. It was the right direction, and yet something about their relationship had never felt quite right.
“I don’t know if I can go on like this anymore, Lizzie,” Hendrick continued to ramble. “I’m a sensitive soul and this relationship is…”
Libby knew where his monologue was going and she knew she was supposed to care, but she really didn’t. This was his break-up monologue, and she could barely concentrate on what he was saying, especially when he insisted on calling her ‘Lizzie’ every second sentence. She cared so little about the demise of their relationship that all she could think about right now was her hair.
It must have looked to Hendrick like she was looking right at him while he continued to ramble something about her never having time for him, something he whined about constantly. In reality, though, all she was looking at was her reflection in the giant circular mirror on the wall behind him, mounted above the dining room table.
She was still undecided as to whether she liked this haircut. The first proper haircut, not including trims, she’d had in a little over three years now. Her hair wasn’t that short, it was a couple of inches longer than what she’d consider a lob, but she sighed when she realized how much she missed her old, mermaid long hair.
She also didn’t care for the bangs she’d let her hair stylist talk her into. They were side bangs, and they did frame her face like Odette said they would, but she just couldn’t deal with the way they’d swish into her eyes every time she moved her head. It was why she pinned them back on top of her head most of the time. Exactly how she had them right now.
“I don’t want to hurt you,” Hendrick sighed, “but I can’t do this anymore. I think we should break up.”
Libby shook herself out of her thoughts and looked at Hendrick, who was actually ‘pity smiling’ at her right now. She resisted the urge to roll her eyes.
“Yeah, I think you’re right,” she said, forcing a condescending smile knowing that he wouldn’t be able to pick up on the undertone anyway. “It’s probably for the best.”
“I think so,” Hendrick said. “Are you going to be, OK?”
“I think I’ll manage,” Libby replied, giving him her best puppy dog eyes to stroke his ego a little.
“You’ll find someone else, Lizzie,” Hendrick said as he headed for the front door. “You’ll find love again. It’s not too late for you. You barely look thirty at all.”
Libby could feel her blood boiling. The smug bastard was only two years younger than her, but he always had to comment on how much ‘older’ she was. He didn’t deserve to be the ‘dumper’ in this scenario.
“Bye Hendrick,” she said, following him to the front door and opening it as she quickly ushered him out. “Drive safe now.”
“You take care of yourself, Lizzie,” Hendrick said as he stepped outside.
Libby slammed the door behind him and hoped a coyote bit him on the ass on the way back to his cheesy convertible. She sighed as she leaned against the door and closed her eyes. What a fucking day.
Her eyes caught the unopened bottle of champagne on the table, and she headed straight for it. She uncorked it, kicking off her Jimmy Choo leather flat sandals, and took a generous swig directly from the bottle. It was bad enough she had to wash up the plates covered in gross lobster. She didn’t want to add even one flute of champagne to that washing up list as well.
Beep! Beep Beep! Beep! Beep Beep!
Libby glanced down at her phone and smiled at the screen as she immediately answered.
“Hollywood!” Gigi exclaimed as the video chat connected. “Happy Birthday, girl!”
Libby smiled at Gigi’s bright, smiling face as she walked into the living room to find a comfortable chair to collapse into.
“Thanks, bitch!” Libby replied as she took another swig of the champagne.
“Oh my God!” Gigi exclaimed. “Tell me that’s celebratory champagne!”
“Well, I mean, I am thirty today,” Libby sighed. “I’m so fucking old.”
“No. No,” Gigi said, shaking her head. “Show me your hand!”
“My hand?” Libby asked, balancing the champagne bottle under her arm so she could hold up her free hand to the camera. “Why on Earth do you want to see my hand?”
“Not that one!” Gigi exclaimed. “The other one! The left one!”
Libby switched hands so she was holding her phone with her right one now and her left was free to ‘model’ for Gigi.
“Oh,” Gigi frowned.
“What on Earth are you going on about?” Libby laughed.
“I thought that maybe today would be the day,” Gigi explained.
“The day to show you my hands?” Libby asked.
Gigi rolled her eyes and Libby laughed again.
“I have no idea what you’re on about, G,” Libby said.
“I thought Hendrick was going to propose today!” Gigi exclaimed. “That’s—”
“Why you wanted to see my left hand,” Libby said, nodding in understanding as she grabbed the champagne bottle and sat down on her white leather couch.
“Yeah,” Gigi replied, “I mean you guys have been together for a long time. Three years now, right?”
“Yeah,” Libby said, taking another generous swig of champagne. “Three years down the drain.”
“Down the what now?!” Gigi asked. “What happened?”
“Oh,” Libby replied, forcing a smile. “Hen just dumped me.”
“What?!” Gigi exclaimed. “But it’s—”
“My birthday?” Libby said. “Yep. I just got dumped on my mother fucking birthday.”
She could feel the champagne rushing to her head as she continued to scoff down the contents of the bottle, but she didn’t care right now. It was her birthday and she was definitely going to be having more than just one bottle of champagne anyway.
“Fuck, Libs,” Gigi winced. “That’s savage.”
“Urg,” Libby sighed. “You know the worst part is I don’t even care. I didn’t even listen to half of his breakup monologue.”
“Ew,” Gigi replied as she brushed some of her blonde hair out of her face, “he monologued?”
“It’s pretty much the only skill that out-of-work actor has, apart—” Libby said before she suddenly stopped mid-sentence. “Gigi, what the hell was that?”
“What the hell was what?!” Gigi exclaimed in panic as she quickly turned around to look behind her, the phone camera whizzing around and blurring Libby’s view.
Libby laughed.
“I didn’t mean behind you, idiot,” she laughed. “I meant on your left hand.”
Gigi stopped moving the camera and a broad smile spread across her face.
“G,” Libby spoke again. “Is that—”
“YES!” Gigi exclaimed excitedly as she held up her left hand to the camera. “TOBY PROPOSED!”
“OMG GIGI!” Libby exclaimed in excitement. “That is amazing! I am so happy for you right now!”
“Oh my God, I wanted to tell you yesterday when it happened, but I didn’t want to steal your thunder because it’s your birthday today,” Gigi rambled. “I didn’t want to—”
“G,” Libby interrupted, “I literally do not care about my birthday, you know that.”
“Yeah, I know,” Gigi replied.
“But what I do care about is that rock!” Libby exclaimed. “Show it to me again, you loser.”
Gigi happily obliged as she flashed the pear-shaped diamond on a white gold band to Libby through the phone camera.
There was a little pang of jealousy that hit Libby when she realized this was real, but she brushed it aside and it faded the more and more she saw that giant, beaming face of Gigi’s looking back at her. She couldn’t have been happier for the girl she’d met at that Caltech college party seven years ago. A girl that had become one of her best friends, from LA all the way to New York, and then back again.
“G,” Libby smiled, “this is the best news I’ve heard… well ever!”
“Not yet it isn’t,” Gigi smiled deviously.
“Why?” Libby asked.
“The best news is that I want you to be there when Toby and I get married next summer,” Gigi explained.
“Um, yeah,” Libby replied. “If you don’t invite me to your wedding I’m going to crash it anyway.”
“You wouldn’t dare!” Gigi gasped.
“And I’d wear white,” Libby smiled, raising her eyebrows cheekily. “Something super slutty too. Probably see-through.”
“You bitch!” Gigi exclaimed, before breaking out into a smile. “Not that you idiot. You were always going to be invited to the wedding.”
“Well, I don’t have to wear white then, do I?” Libby replied, causing Gigi to roll her eyes.
“I’m being serious here!” Gigi pouted.
“OK,” Libby said, throwing her champagne bottle wielding hand up in defeat. “Be serious. Go on.”
“OK,” Gigi said. “I want you to be there with me next summer.”
“And I will be,” Libby smiled. “We’ve been over this, G. Like literally one minute ago.”
“I want you to be one of my bridesmaids, loser!” Gigi exclaimed frustratedly. “That’s what I’m trying to tell you!”
Libby was silent. She literally couldn’t find the words. Gigi had totally caught her off guard. She was pretty sure her mouth was actually hanging open right now.
“Libs?” Gigi asked, warily. “Are you OK?”
“Are you serious?” Libby asked, feeling the tears welling in her eyes.
“No! No!” Gigi exclaimed, pointing a finger at Libby through the camera. “No crying from you, Hollywood, otherwise you’re going to set me off!”
“Right,” Libby said, sniffling loudly as she shook her head and smiled. “No crying.”
“At least not yet,” Gigi smiled. “You better bawl your eyes out when you see me in my dress at the wedding.”
“Well, duh,” Libby smiled back. “I’ll give Toby some lessons too.”
“You better,” Gigi replied, “because if he’s not weeping like a little baby while I’m walking down the aisle, I’m going to turn around and walk right back!”
Libby laughed.
“Fuck I miss you, G,” she said. “I am so happy for you. You and Toby.”
“I miss you too, Libs,” Gigi smiled. “I’m sorry about tonight.”
“Don’t even worry about it,” Libby brushed off as she finished the last of the champagne in her bottle. “It’s not important in the slightest.”
Gigi went to open her mouth, but Libby cut her off.
“And before you ask, yes,” Libby smiled again, “I am fine, just pissed off I didn’t dump the idiot first.”
“You should have text dumped his ass last week on his birthday,” Gigi replied.
“My thoughts exactly,” Libby smiled. “So, tell me, when is this wedding again?”
“Next summer,” Gigi replied. “Clear your calendar for the first week of May.”
“Done,” Libby said, “and where are we going?”
“Destination wedding, baby!” Gigi exclaimed excitedly, her smile so wide it could barely fit on the screen. “We’re getting married in Hawaii!”