The promise Hollywood Heights
I'm over you Chapter 6
Everything seems to stop for Eddie, he's stands there looking at this beautiful woman, Loren looks different, older, the last time he saw her she was 20, he remembers their time behind the cottage, the kisses they shared, the many times they told each other "I love you" they were going to get married, then she disappeared, he couldn't understand why she was being so formal, acting like she didn't know him.
He walks closer to her. She steps back.
"Where have you been?"
"I said I'm your son's teacher, I will be tutoring him."
"Loren what's wrong? Why are you acting like you don't know me?"
Aunt Linda notices and takes little Alex into the other room.
Eddie gets closer to her. "Where have you been?"
She stops him with her hand. "You have no right to ask me anything! I'll be back tomorrow for your son."
He holds her arm. "Loren what's wrong? Why did you disappear?"
She glares at him not with hate; with pain in her eyes. "I disappeared? You never came for me, we were going to be married, you made a promise you didn't keep, now let go of my arm."
"I send you a note with Jake, somehow it didn't reach you, I had to leave on tour immediately, you were supposed to fly to where I was."
She heads towards the door raising her voice, tears threatening to escape. "I never got any note Eddie, nothing!"
"Loren please wait! We have so much to talk about."
"I have nothing more to say to you Eddie, you hurt me so much, I can't talk to you."
"I still love you Loren."
She lets out a small laugh. "Oh yes, of course, I saw you with different girls everywhere, then you got married, I can tell you loved me, you never even looked for me."
Eddie pleads. "Please wait!"
There's so much pain in her voice. "I have nothing more to say to you!"
She opens the door and slams it behind her, Eddie follows her. "I'm not giving up Loren, I found you again." He runs after her.
"You're too late! Look!" She shows him her hand. "I'm in love and I'm engaged to be married, you're too late."
Eddie stares at her finger with the ring on it. "Not true, what we had was real, there's no way you're in love with someone else."
She laughs. "You married that model, you didn't love her?"
"No, it wasn't real, none of those women were, it'll always be you Loren!"
"You have a funny way of showing it, promising me the world and then you disappear and you have the nerve to say tell me you still love me?"
He downcast his look, his heart tearing into many pieces. "Loren, please."
She turns away and gets into her car. "Stop following me!"
Eddie tries to stop her; he walks back to his house.
Aunt Linda is standing there. There are tears in her eyes, the scene she witnessed broke her heart, she knows how much Eddie suffered when Loren disappeared, and how much he still loves her.
"I'm sorry; if you want I'll call for another teacher?"
"No! I like Loren, please don't take her away." Alex says.
"No its fine, I can't do this to Alex." Eddie says.
Eddie sits quietly, Alex walks towards him. "Daddy why are you sad?"
He gives him a shy smile. "Just a little, I'll be ok, I promise."
Deep down Eddie's hurting. "She reappears in my life and now she's going to marry somebody else."
"What happened to her? She said Lorie send her away." Linda adds.
"Aunt Lorie never liked them." Eddie sighs.
Linda approaches Eddie and hugs her nephew. "I'm sorry; I know how much she means to you."
"She's moved on Aunt Linda; did you see the cold look she gave me?"
"She's hurting; the moment she saw who I was, there was pain in her eyes."
"Aunt Lorie is to blame, she took her away from me, Jake gave Lorie the note I send her, she never got it, I lost her."
Loren's home, she grabs her things and runs into the house. Nora's in the kitchen.
"Hey, how did it go?"
Loren looks at her, she's crying. "I saw him mom."
Nora drops what she's doing and heads towards Loren, she's sitting on one of the kitchen chairs sobbing. "Saw who?" Nora's isn't sure what she means.
"Eddie, I saw him!"
Nora's eyes widen. "Where and how?"
"The little boy I went to see this afternoon, it's Eddie's son, I'm tutoring him."
"Oh no, I'm sorry please calm down."
Loren sobs, Nora holds her, her heart's breaking hearing how much she's hurting.
"You're not going to do it are you?"
Mel walks in. "What's wrong?" She looks at Nora for answers. "She saw Eddie; the little boy she's tutoring is Eddie's son."
"Oh no, I'm so sorry."
Loren calms down. "He had the nerve to ask me where I've been, what happened to me, how dare he?"
Mel hugs her. "You can't go back there."
"I promised Alex and Linda I'd return."
"Linda's there? Don't tell me Lorie is there too?" asked Nora.
"I just saw Linda." Loren adds.
Mel kneels down to Loren's eye level. "This will be too painful for you."
"I'll be strong, I have to be, I promised little Alex I'd return and I'm going to do it."
"Are you trying to prove a point?" Mel asks.
"I'm keeping my word." Loren insists.
"I know that little boy got to you; you couldn't say no?"
Mel gets Loren to smile. "He is, he has Eddie's look and Chloe's blue eyes, he's a beautiful little boy."
"Dinner is ready girls." Nora calls from the kitchen.
"I'm not hungry mom; I'm not in the mood to eat right now."
"Loren Elizabeth Tate, you sit and eat, I'm not going to let you go to bed hungry! Do you hear me?"
Mel holds her hand. "Come on Lo, Nora made our favorite."
Loren isn't turning down lasagna, they sit and enjoy their dinner.
The following morning Loren is on time, Linda lets her in.
"Thank you, this means a lot to us."
Loren gives her a shy smile. "You're welcome Linda, my mom asked me to give you this, she wants you to call her, she's looking forward to talking to you."
Linda smiles. "I've missed Nora so much; we had good times."
"She misses you too, is Alex ready?"
"Yes, he just finished his breakfast, I'll bring him to you, you'll be using the same room as yesterday."
Loren looks around and heads towards the room, she takes her supplies out of her bag; her itinerary is simple, Alex is 3 ½ years old, reading to him will be a priority, he's ready for the basic things, that should suffice for the moment.
Loren's wavy hair is in a long ponytail, simple make-up, she's wearing leggings and a cute top.
"Hi Loren." A shy smile forms in Loren's face, she's happy to see him.
"Hi Alex, are you ready?"
"Yes, will you read to me today?"
"I see you have many books here, pick whatever book you'd like and we can start."
Eddie watches from afar, Alex sits with Loren while she reads to him, Alex is smiling, he looks happy, Eddie won't bother her, all he wants to do right now is look at her, she's beautiful.
Linda walks into the room. "Thought you were leaving?"
"She's back Aunt Linda, all I want to do is look at her, I think Alex loves her too."
"You have to find out what happened, I spoke to Nora, she said Lorie told them to leave, threatened them and Loren lost her phone and didn't know how to reach you, so they left."
Eddie makes a fist. "Jake said an older woman was there that night, that was Lorie, she did this to me, she took Loren away from me."
"Nora said they waited, Loren was getting ready to put on her wedding dress, she never found her phone to call you, something crazy happened, I can't figure out what went wrong that evening."
Loren steps out of the room, she stops the moment she sees Eddie standing there. "Linda, can you get a juice box for Alex, and some apples slices?"
"Sure, they're ready, hold on."
Loren gets back to the room. "Please wait." Eddie asks.
"I made it perfectly clear we have nothing to talk about."
"You're over me?"
Loren's glad she isn't facing him, her eyes would betray her, he'd be able to see she still loves him. "Yes, I'm over you." She pauses.
"I'm going to marry someone else, he promised to love and be there for me."
She keeps her back to him. "Do I know him?"
"No, he's a friend; we met while I was in high school."
Eddie gets closer. "You're in love with him?"
She tries to change the subject. "I have to get back to Alex."
She walks away and Eddie smiles, she didn't answer his question, he's convinced she isn't in love with whomever she's marrying.
Linda returns with the snacks and Eddie takes them from her hand and walks into the room, Alex is sitting with Loren. "Here you go son, be good and I'll be back later."
Alex grabs the juice box and the apple slices. "Thank you daddy, Loren is going to help me write my letters."
"You be good to Loren, she's very special to daddy."
Alex nods. "I will daddy, I promise."
"I'll be back soon." He kisses Alex and his hand brushes against Loren's hair. She looks away while he leans in to kiss his son goodbye.
Loren works with Alex for a few hours, she makes sure he has lunch, after he's done she has him take a nap.
"He seems to be enjoying it." Linda tells her.
"He's an amazing little boy, very smart."
"I think he's more like Eddie." Linda adds.
Loren gets her things together. "I'll be back tomorrow."
"Thank You for keeping your promise to Alex."
Loren throws her bag over her shoulder. "I said I'd be here for him and I'm going to do it."
"I know this isn't easy for you."
Loren downcast her look. "I thought I'd never see Eddie again; life has a sense of humor."
"Things happen for a reason, you never know, do you still love him?"
Loren looks at Linda, her eyes betray her, tears wanting to escape. At that moment the door opens, both women turn to see Eddie standing there, he sees Loren's eyes, he knows she's hurting.
"Everything ok?"
Loren looks at him and walks out, she needs to get out of there before the tears begin to flow, she won't allow him to see her cry. Eddie tries to stop her to no avail; she keeps going, almost running.
He looks his aunt. "What happened?"
Linda can't answer him; she realizes Loren still loves Eddie. "Nothing, we were talking about the past."
He leans against the wall. "This is a nightmare, she's back in my life and I can't even have her, hold her, tell her how much I love her."
Linda hugs her nephew; she knows they belong together. "I'm sorry sweetie, so sorry."
Eddie sits quietly, his world is crashing in front of him, now what?
Sigh, our Leddie is sad.
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