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Ryland saw he had a text from Tom's assistant, Alma, first thing in the morning. “I left it in his dressing room. Had to get some help from the art department to make it look good because I am so not crafty. Hope this works!” Attached was a picture of the gift Alma had helped him with. Yes, Tom owed him a massive apology, but he decided it was worth extending a small olive branch so he knew that Ryland was leaving the door open for him.
*********
Tom walked into his dressing room on his lunch break, still trying to figure out what he should do to fix things between himself and Ryland. He'd been in a bad mood since their fight and Gail was making noises about him needing to go back to therapy if he didn't chill out. It took him a moment to notice that something was different in the room. Finally, he saw it. On the counter in front of the mirror, there was a vase full of sunflowers. As he got closer, he realized they weren't real flowers, but well done silk ones. Attached to the bouquet was a small card that said, “I love you. XOXO Sunshine”
Tom sank back into the chair behind him with an overwhelming sense of relief. Ryland still loved him. There was hope. Not giving himself enough time to freak out about it anymore, he pulled out his phone and called the person he had been dying to talk to for days.
Rlyand answered immediately, “Tom?”
“Good morning, Sunshine.” Tom said. “You sent me flowers.”
“Good morning, love.” Ryland really knew how to make his heart melt. “And they won't make anyone sneeze!”
“I am so so so sorry, Ryland. I got scared and then I got stupid and I was an absolute asshole. Of course you shouldn't just drop your entire life to revolve around mine. We can make this long distance thing work if we want to.” Tom paused for a breath and Ryland took the opportunity to interject.
“I forgive you, Tom. I understand what it's like to let fear take over and make you do stupid stuff. I almost never gave you a chance because of my own fear.” Tom remembered how it had been so difficult to get Ryland to open up to him at first and smiled. He had thought Ryland just didn't like him.
“You are too good for me, Ryland.” He could hear Ryland start to object and hurried on, “but that doesn't mean I'm not going to spend the rest of my life trying to be worthy of your love.”
“Did you know your mom called me yesterday?” Ryland asked.
Tom was surprised by that. “She what? What did she say?”
“She told me she raised a monster. I asked her why that was supposed to make me want to take you back.” Ryland answered and Tom could imagine the smile on his face as he said it.
“Oof, fair enough. Why did you want me back?” Tom asked.
Ryland said, “Because you're pretty.” Tom laughed at that. “And because I can't sleep due to how much I miss you. I love you, Tom. Like so much it's hard to breathe around you sometimes. And it's way worse trying to breathe without you.”
Tom was already hating this long distance bullshit with a passion. “And you're not the romantic one here? You sure about that?”
“Oh sure, one bouquet of fake flowers and a few nice words makes me romantic? The bar is lower than I thought.” Ryland said, laughing.
“Did Colt tell you he was waiting for me in my dressing room yesterday?” Tom asked.
Ryland tensed at that, “Noooo, and neither of you are in the hospital? There's no ‘movie star gets beat to shit by his stunt double’ headline I missed?”
Tom smiled, “No, he actually came to give me advice. Told me I needed to talk to you and fix things because he wants to see you happy.”
“Wow. He must have really hated kicking Jody out of his room to listen to me cry about you all night.” Ryland said.
“I think he just hates to see you hurt. Me too, and I hate even more that I caused it.” Tom said solemnly.
“Oh, I wanted to tell you, I told off my coworkers in a meeting yesterday.” Ryland said, sounding proud of himself.
“Really? What for?” Tom asked.
“For sharing my location while I was drunk and letting a strange man take me home. I could have been murdered!” Ryland said.
Tom gasped, “I didn't think of it that way, but you are so right. Good thing I'm not a creep, huh?”
“Did I say you aren't a creep?” Ryland teased.
They talked a while longer, each more relaxed than they'd been for days. Eventually Tom's alarm went off and he said, “Ugh, my lunch is over. I gotta get back out there. I'll call you later, Sunshine.”
“Okay, I suppose these lesson plans aren't gonna write themselves anyway. I love you, Tom.” Ryland said, happy to be able to say that to him again.
“I love you too, Ryland.”
After Tom hung up, he took a mirror selfie with the sunflowers in the foreground. He looked like he'd been crying but had a huge smile on his face. He sent the picture to Ryland, his mother, and Colt.