AUTHOR'S NOTE: HELLO EVERYONE! I INTENDED TO PUBLISH THIS CHAPTER MUCH EARLIER BUT UNFORTUNATELY THINGS DIDN'T GO AS PLANNED. ANYWAYS CHAPTER TWO IS HERE AND I HOPE YOU WILL ENJOY YOUR READING. THANK YOU FOR YOUR PATIENCE!

Unbridgeable Distances, chapter 2.

That morning, John drove Blake to Hogarth's office in very early morning. The previous days all his mind had been focused on were ideas and camera moves for the film he had been asked to direct and he was so impatient to show them to the producer, that he showed up as early as he could, hoping to be the first one in the long list of appointments to be received. But apparently he was not.

Few steps apart from entering the building, he had felt as strong and as determined as he had never felt before; little did he know that in a few seconds everything would have changed.

He heard the faint sound of a laughter becoming louder as the doorway closed and right out of it, there she came again. Beautiful as ever.

Their encounters had been few and brief but by now he didn't even needed to look to recognize her. As a matter of fact, at first he struggled to keep his eyes down on the floor, off from her but when she walked closer to him, all his determination vanished and he fell for her once again.

- "Seems like we keep meeting, Mr. Edwards" she sweetly giggled, shrugging her shoulders

- "Rather funny, isn't it?" he mumbled awkwardly.

He was well aware of his temporary awkwardness and wished he wouldn't look as stupid as he was feeling but it was as if his tongue was too twisted to be able to speak.

- "I'm afraid I have to go now, I've got lots of things to prepare. Bye bye" she smiled him.

And that smile she offered him, made him fly several stories high. It was the most radiant, the most beautiful smile he had ever seen and the fact that it was addressed to him, made it impossible for him to ignore her. He didn't know how to explain it, but it was as if she was a magnet and he a tiny piece of iron that, regardless of his will, couldn't help but be attracted by her.

Earlier that week, he had had the opportunity to watch some of her works, it was what had inspired him and the ideas he was about to propose to Hogarth, and scene after scene his admiration for that woman grew stronger and stronger. He realized that it was not only her beauty that he admired, it was her talent on the professional side, the way she interacted and dedicated herself to people, the kindness of her heart. And the moment their eyes had crossed that morning, he finally knew how to name his feelings.

Love. Nothing but pure, endless love.

He wondered how it could be possible to love someone he didn't even know that well but deep inside him, he felt as if he had known that smile all his life. The thought of their encounter and the hope that the following one could have brought them into a more consistent conversation, kept his mind away almost for the whole length of his appointment, although he realized that he hadn't minded the slightest bit. Despite that, he managed to show Hogarth all his projects, leaving him quite pleased and satisfied with the work ahead of him.

He was just about to open the doorway at the end of the stairs to leave the building when Hogarth's voice stopped his steps, calling him from the upper floor where his office was.

- "Oh and Blake, if you need anything, my secretary would be glad to help you. He'll be here while we're in Barbados to start shooting"

- "We?"

- "The crew and I! We'll leave tomorrow"

Blake's heart broke into pieces at his words, only now what Julie had said made sense. The thought that he wouldn't have had the opportunity to meet for moths brought sadness into his heart and this sadness accompanied him through the day till late night when he found himself unable to sleep.

If I can't see her, I will write her!, he thought as the need to reach her somehow took over his sadness.

Late at night, became the ideal time to do it: Patricia was always asleep by that time and wouldn't have been suspicious about him. So, night after night, he desperately tried to write something meaningful. He would try to convey in words his feelings and his thoughts but he would immediately crumple the piece of paper and throw it away. The only things he could write were ridiculously flattering and totally meaningless.

What am I doing?, he found himself thinking quite often.

He hesitated for a while, thinking he was getting himself in a lot of trouble with this story but did he had any other alternative other than keeping writing being already so involved into it? In the end, he chose one of the apparently senseless letters and sent it to her the following morning.

It was the third day of shooting when during a break a boy gave Julie the letter that she immediately opened, out of curiosity.

'Hello, this is Blake Edwards. I just wanted to wish you good luck for this new movie, I wonder how beautiful Barbados are', it said.

An unaware smile spontaneously brightened Julie's face as her fingers brought down the upper flap of the envelope, closing it again. She wasn't used to receive letters very often and staring at the beautiful calligraphy she could tell Blake's hands were trembling as he wrote down his words. It had been the most surprisingly pleasant gesture and as it turned out, she was anxious for her work to be over and for night to come so that she could have answered him back.

As a matter of fact, that night she didn't wish to sleep at all. She sat at her desk, turning on the little warm light lamp that stood on its side. The sound of the papers sliding over each other made her taste with anticipation the words she was about to read again, for the umpteenth time that day. She shifted the focus of her eyes on the beautiful sight enjoyable from the window of her bedroom and after taking a pause to think of what to say, her hand started to slide over the paper times and times again, writing him a long letter to thank him for his lovely gesture and tell him about the beauty of Barbados – the trees, the skies, the sun shining above and everything else she could think of.

When she was finally done with it, she left the letter on her desk and headed to her bed. Laying down, looking at the darkened ceiling above her, she realized she had never stopped to smile since the letter was delivered. And that smile held tightly on her lips until she fell asleep in the genuine happiness of that small, thoughtful gesture.

The following morning, Blake opened the mailbox as he was used to, and his sleepy eyes fround in front of themselves several letters, each one rested over the other. He took them all between his hands, not even helping much hope for an answer to the one he had send her but then, suddenly, he saw it. It was a small envelope, almost hidden by the others for its size but as he saw it, his heart swelled in his chest. That very moment the others didn't matter, in fact he placed them back where he had found them.

He walked back the path that lead to the entrance door of the house while a strong sense of anticipation and excitement pervaded him from top to tea but suddenly, something brought him back to reality.

- "What are you smiling for? Who sent you that letter?" Patricia asked spotting the smile on his lips and after improvising a stupid answer, he quickly hid the letter in his bedside table, he would have read it at night so as not to arouse suspicion.

Before they could realize it, the conversations between the two became more and more intense as time passed by: Julie was enjoying the new long-distance friendship with this young director that every day got her more and more involved in it. They exchanged brief but nice letters and talked about everything possible. It could have been about their passion for movies, for islands landscapes and nature and other things like that but as the weeks went by, it was inevitable for them to become closer and closer to each other and talk about more serious and deeper topics like their working problems and family ones. But despite all of that, Blake tried to hide the fact that he had a girlfriend, he was afraid that the news could have caused her to stop writing to him.

It became a habit for him to read her letters late at night. He would sit down on the comfortable armchair of his studio and carefully opened the envelope, enjoying every sound the paper did with the most delightful sense of anticipation. He then would start reading, torn between the irrepressible excitement to discover the following lines and the desire to slowly savour each and every word she had wrote. Usually the latter was the favourite alternative. As his eyes shifted from one word to the other, he could almost hear the softness of her voice reading them and often found himself badly wishing to see her angelic face through those words. If only it was possible.

He would eventually write back and put his letters and her precious ones in the third drawer of his table bed, so that he could send them in the morning.

One day, Patricia happened to accidentally open that drawer and found there onesingle letter. She got very suspicious about it at first but remembering her lastgift,she thought he was preparing her another surprise and didn't want to ruin her boyfriend's work. Although the desire of discovering what was it about was so strong that she couldn't help but open it and peek at what was written on it. To Blake's fortune that letter didn't say much about the relationship he wassharingwith Julie but it was enough to arouse suspicion on her man. When he came back home she acted up normal or even a little bit more than that, she showed to be more present than usual with him and this reassured Blake that everything was alright. But just before sleeping, after yet another very quiet evening, her voice broke the silence.

- "Our bedroom needed to be rearranged. Today I arranged everything, even thedrawers... Barbados must bebeautiful …" her voice spoke with the most evident touch of malice.

Blake stood in silence for a few seconds as he quickly realized he was sweating cold.

- "Oh yes, they really are! Hogarth is writing me about them almost daily. There is always something new to discover ..."

He had managed to convince her but that night conversation had scared him so much that he felt he had to tell Julie about Patricia.

As soon as he could, he wrote her a letter confessing that he had a girlfriend but his relationship with her was not going well, that he didn't had interest in her anymore, that he wasn't in love. But he hoped that their contacts wouldn't have stopped. It was so relieving and comforting to finally have a friend to talk to. When Julie received his letter she opened it with the same excitement of the others but when she discovered it was a very different one, she felt an unconscious tear running down her cheek.

At first, she wanted to stop sending him letters because she didn't think she could trust someone who lied to her from the very beginning and secondly because she didn't want to be a burden to him, nor to his engagement. She took a deep breath, trying to swallow the heavy revelation she had just discovered but then tried to go on reading:

'… Lying to you is my greatest regret, I shouldn't have done it. I only ask you one thing: don't judge me from that. I was just trying to protect what we were building together. I know you won't because you know me inside out, things anyone knows about me. I never felt this way before and I couldn't bear to have trusted the wrong person once again … and I just know I haven't' a part of the long letter said.

Those sweet lines he had dedicated to her were heartbreaking and made it impossible for her to abandon him, she sensed that he was having a very bad time at home, that he was helpless and lonely. She wiped the tears off her cheek and decided that she wouldn't have left him for anything in the world. Besides, she wrote him back promising that she would have helped him in every possible way she could.

The following day, no letter was delivered into Blake's mailbox. The discovery of it, made his heart sink into the sadness that climbed in his chest. He was convinced that Julie wouldn't have written to him again and regretted his confession about Patricia: maybe if he had told her later, they would have been still happily sharing the friendship that meant more than everything to him.

A couple more days passed by, Blake kept checking in his mailbox but every letter that arrived was not Julie's, until one day. The day he became aware that the delivery had simply been delayed and maybe she hadn't stopped their conversation. The only thought of it pervaded him with an overwhelming happiness, so much he swore he could have taken a plane and flown to her that very moment. At least, he wished that was possible.

But he soon discovered that it didn't mattered that much: now that he had unburdened himself, their letters had become longer than the first ones and both of them were enjoying the loveliest of time reading and exchanging them daily. They revealed to be the best part of their days: Blake would write her at night, feeling torn between his engagement with Patricia and his always-growing love for Julie and she would answer back, trying to give him as much comfort as she could knowing how much he needed it. It was the last thing they did during the days so that they could have had the each other's words to drift them to sleep and the whole night to dream about the sweetness of it all.

April was ending and Blake couldn't wait for Julie to come back, his impatience lasted week over week, day after day until the faithful letter arrived. He kept it in his pocket all day long, treasuring it as if it was the most precious thing he owned. He was aware of what it was about but that evening, he waited for his private moment in his studio with the most excited thrill.

'Dear Blake, about yesterday I think you should ask her, she would like it. You know how sad it makes me the idea of leaving Barbados. It's such a beautiful island, everything seems to be perfect here. I hope one day you can visit it as well, you would love it. But the moment is arrived and my plane leaves at 7 PM, it will take a whole day of flight. I hope to survive. With love, Julie'.

Reading her words, the smile that had been crossing his lips for the entire day became even brighter and happier if possible, he was feeling so immensely happy that sleeping that night didn't seem to be an option. As a matter of fact, he spent most of it thinking about something special to welcome her back but yet without arousing suspicion on his girlfriend. He thought of hundreds of things to thank her for the lovely moments they had shared but the moment he thought of them, he had to give them up because he didn't know whether she would have liked them or not, nor if they would have been too much just for a "friend". But eventually, it came to his mind that probably the most special surprise could have been just the simplest: she was supposed to arrive the next morning at 4 AM and surprising her directly at the airport seemed to be the most beautiful alternative. He thought that this way nothing would have been forced nor planned, they would have left every moment surprise them and bring them wherever they would have ended up.

But for as little planning as his surprise required, there was still a whole day to get through before the meeting he had dreamed about for weeks and he didn't enjoy it at all having Patricia keeping him busy all day. She had never been a stay-at-home lady, she loved to host parties and be driven back and forth around the city all day long. Except for that day.

But lo and behold evening did arrive and Blake counted the hours until the landing of Julie's plane.

He sat down on one of the expensive armchairs in the living room his girlfriend had begged him to buy few months previously and kept his gaze lost in the void as the sound of her steps approached him:

- "Who was on the telephone?" he asked, aware that she'd been talking for quite a long time to an unknown someone

- "Anyone that should matter to you" she replied in a cold way, "besides, why don't you tell me what you're up to? You won't certainly go to bed with this suit on …" while talking she sat on another armchair, the movement causing the Brandy in her glass to wave

- "No, as a matter of fact. I … I'm waiting for that Italian producer to call me. We have an appointment and he'll be calling me out to reach him any time now. I think it's better for you to get some sleep, Patty"

His words sort of reassured her. She certainly had never seen him so nervous about a working appointment to even skip dinner and the few hours of rest he could get but it didn't seem to matter that much to her. Rather a luck to him in this perspective.

Several hours passed by between eyes wide open with excitement and heart and mind merged together in the sweet anticipation of the morning that was slowly approaching as the darkness of the sky outside started to brighten. He would found himself sighing deeply from time to time, allowing his mind to leave the thought of Julie only to check the time on the watch on his wrist. But finally, when it hit 3 AM, he pretended to have received the call and rushed out of his house straight to the airport with the biggest, enthusiastic smile on his face.

On the way there, he realized he hadn't thought of buying her a present but unfortunately it was too early for every shop to be opened so he arrived at airport, one hour earlier, empty-handed but with a heart full of joy. He delighted himself in the sight of the happiness of the ones greeted by their families, wondering and impatiently savouring his own turn with anticipation. What would she look like? Would she be happy to see him or be able to recognize him?

The sun was slowly raising upon the sky and under the first, weak lights of dawn, a flower seller passed with his cart of flowers in front of the airport. The minute Blake saw it, he stopped him to buy some flowers for Julie, choosing what had inspired him the most. Just as he had wanted, the natural course of events had already surprised him.

He was sliding a banknote in the flower seller's hand when his head turned to the opposite side as the peaceful silence of that morning was broken by a loud shouting: a huge crowd of people from the cast had finally arrived. Everyone was busy looking for the cars that would have taken them home but unfortunately, in the midst of all that confusion, she wasn't arrived yet.

Several minutes later, when everything seemed to be over, a woman, accompanied by two other men, appeared with suitcases and bags crowding both her hands. She came out of the airport entrance looking for a car but no one was there for her.

Except for Blake; only she didn't know it yet.

With steps trembling with emotion, he slowly approached, holding one single beautiful, plump red rose in his hand; his eyes impatient to reflect the heaven of her sight. And there she was, more beautiful than how he remembered her to be: the sun had gilded her soft, golden skin making her mesmerizing blue eyes even more beautiful, her hair had lightened and she seemed to be absolutely glowing after that trip.

AUTHOR'S NOTE: THIS CHAPTER IS A FAVOURITE OF MINE AND I'VE SIMPLY LOVED TO WRITE ABOUT IT. I HOPE YOU WILL STAY TUNED FOR CHAPTER THREE TO BE HOPEFULLY UPLOADED SOONER, BUT UNTIL THEN, I WANT TO THANK YOU AGAIN FOR YOUR PATIENCE AND ATTENTION. SEE YOU SOON!