The morning came quickly as Sean was lost in his thoughts. He got out of bed around seven and started looking in the fridge for something to make breakfast with. Sean grabbed five eggs and easily scrambled them. He then made a stack of toast and poured two glasses of orange juice. Sean took all of his concoctions and set them on a tray. Sean carried the tray to Manny's room and entered quietly. He set the tray carefully on the end table and climbed into bed next to Manny. She stirred awake.
"Hey…" She said sleepily while sitting up. She turned to pop her back and saw the breakfast tray sitting innocently on her end table. "What's all this?" Manny asked surprised.
"I made you breakfast in bed." Sean said. He leaned over Manny and carefully grabbed the tray. "Come on, try some!" Sean set the tray in Manny's lap and pulled a fork out of his pocket. "Here you go."
Manny took the fork and held it to her chest. "Ohhh…Sean, thank you! That is so sweet!" She showed Sean her irresistible grin. Manny looked down at the food. "Mmm…it looks great!"
"I hope so…" Sean said. He watched her cautiously as she took the first bite of the eggs. He flinched when the fork made contact with her mouth.
"Mmm, not bad Cameron!" Manny said jokingly.
Sean let out a sigh of relief. "Ah, good, now I can try some!" he said, attempting to get the fork out of Manny's hand.
"Hey! I thought this was for me!" Manny said, pulling the fork out of his reach.
Sean looked intentionally defeated. "Yeah, I guess you're right." Manny flashed him a big, cheesy smile.
She had a piece of egg stuck on her chin. "Manny, you have…" Sean said, making gestures to her chin.
"What?" She asked, wiping her cheeks.
"Here…" Sean said, gently grabbing her chin and brushing the egg lightly off. Sean circled his thumb one last time on her chin before he froze. Now or never, he thought. Sean went in for the kiss and locked lips with Manny. She gave in and they both lied down on the bed, still kissing. Things were getting more intense. Sean tried to wrap his legs around Manny's but instead he knocked over the tray, spilling everything onto Manny's red comforter. They both stopped what they were doing and sat up immediately.
"Oh God…Manny, I'm sorry!" Sean said, hopping out of the bed. Manny followed right after him.
"Oh, don't worry about it. It's okay. This won't stain." She grabbed the edges of the comforter and pulled it off of the bed.
"Here, let me help you." Sean said as he grabbed the tray and spilled glasses. Sean carried the glasses and tray into the kitchen and started to wash the items off. Manny soon appeared at his side.
"Hey," she said in an embarrassed voice, "let me help you with those."
"No, no Manny can I talk to you?" Sean said, turning off the water.
"Um…sure. Sounds serious…" She said in a mocking sort of manner.
"Yeah, sort of is." Sean said, grabbing her hand and leading her to the couch. "Okay, Manny, I am really attracted to you."
Manny nodded her head slowly, trying to understand where he was going with this. "And I would really like to give us a shot." He continued. A smile split onto Manny's face. "But…" Her smile faded quickly; she had been worried that there was a 'but' coming. "…but I need to just ask you about a couple things. First, I can't leave Jersey to come live here. It's where my studio and gallery are." Manny didn't like where this was going.
"Sean, I can't leave Toronto. I'm about to have a baby!" Manny said exasperated.
"I know. That's another thing. Will you be okay with having the baby and me?" Manny turned the tables on him.
"Sean, I think the real question is will you be alright taking care of another man's baby? A man that you hate." Manny added.
Sean looked uncomfortable. All that thinking that he had done last night, he had somehow forgotten that this baby that Manny was carrying wasn't his. It was Sully's. He did hate Sully. But Sean remembered what it was like when he just kissed Manny; he loved it, it felt so right.
"Yeah, I'll be fine with it. I can get over it if it means that we can be together."
Another thought hit Manny. "Sean, are you over Emma? Will you…are you going to be able to make a commitment to me? Just because every time we get close, you freak out. I know you love her, so do I, but she's gone. I want to be to be with you, Sean, and I would fight for you, but how am I supposed to fight a ghost?"
Sean tried to think of something to say but he had nothing. "Manny…you have to understand…Emma was my first love. I lost her. And…being back here is just bringing back all of these old feelings and memories. I can't just forget about her. I won't." He finished with a final tone. If she didn't understand that, then there was no way it would work between them.
"I do, Sean, I do understand, trust me, but I can't wait around for you to make up your mind about me. I'm not asking you to forget about her. I don't want to forget about her and I don't want you to either."
Sean looked so lost. "I'll try, Manny, I will. Believe me, Manny please, I don't like feeling like I'm betraying Emma because I think that I love someone else." The word 'love' just shot out of his mouth and it shocked both Manny and Sean. He looked embarrassed.
"Manny, I'm sorry," he began, "I didn't mean to say love. I meant…" Sean chose his words carefully, "care about… a lot."
Manny smiled sheepishly. "It's okay." She set her hand on Sean's knee. "Are you sure that you just care about me? Because I'm not sure myself, about you I mean."
Sean thought about it. Maybe there was a reason that he had said 'love.' Maybe because it was the way that he really felt, not a mistake of words. Sean smiled.
"I meant what I said before. I…I love you Manny." Manny looked on the verge of tears. Her voice was choked.
"I was hoping that it was true." Sean was waiting for her to say it back.
"Wha…" he started.
"I love you too, Sean. I think that I always have, some where in the back of my mind. When we talked those few times on the phone, I wished that you were here. I mean, you left so suddenly and…I always hoped that you would come back." Glistening tears were now flowing freely from Manny's eyes.
"I'm sorry, I never knew that you felt like that because you had Sully." It made perfect sense to Sean. She dated Sully, married him, seemed like she loved him.
"It doesn't matter, I'm just so glad that you're back now though." Manny said, throwing her arms around Sean's neck.
"Yeah, me too." He said, wrapping his arms around her back.
