“I was talking about Ethan,” I responded with a smile on my face.
Then Anna’s eye lit up and she looked at me. “I remember something else.”
“What?”
“You told me that you moved to Philly for this first love.”
“What?” I was shocked by what she was telling me.
“Yeah. You said that you guys somehow lost contact with each other after you moved. You’d always think about him from time to time and when your mom passed away, you had thought about him a lot. So you’d called around and after some searching, someone told you that he had moved to Philly a few years ago. So you packed up and moved here, hoping you’d somehow find him.”
“Did I try?”
She nodded. “I think you did but you couldn’t find him.”
“I wish I could remember all this.”
She smiled sympathetically. Then she spotted the DVD again. “Have you watched it?”
I shook my head.
I watched her take the DVD out of the case and inserted it into the DVD player. She turned on the TV and handed me the remote.
“Do you want to watch this alone?”
I smiled, grateful for her thoughtfulness. “No, watch it with me. I’m so confused and torn with my emotions right now, I’ll probably need your advice.”
She beamed at me and threw her arm around my shoulder. “What are best friends for?”
I looked at the remote and pressed the Play button. The screen turned blue and then a second later, Ethan’s face appeared on the screen. My heart skipped a beat at the sight of him, and I was overcome with the desire to throw my arms around him.
He smiled at the camera and I felt my heartbreak. I could still see the scabbed-over scar where the gash had been on his forehead from when Connor attacked him.
“Hi Liv.” He paused as he looked straight at the camera. I saw the nervousness in his movement as he bit his bottom lip and let out a controlled sigh and a flush of red appeared on his face. I’d never seen Ethan act in this way before, and the anticipation of what he was going to say caused my stomach to flip and tighten as I waited for him to continue.
“Surprise. By now, you’ve probably read my card and your journal entries, and you might be in shock. I’m sorry I had to tell you like this. I really wanted to tell you in person. Liv, we’ve known each other for over twenty five years, and for the first nine of those years, we were best friends. We had lost touch when you moved away with your mom. I thought about you over the years, but never was able to find out where you went. And then, a few months ago, I saw you walking out of a coffee shop in Rittenhouse Square. I thought that I might be crazy and seeing things. The last time I saw you, you were only twelve. But then I saw a man—Conner—get out of a car to hug you, and I heard him call your name. That was when I knew it was you.”
“Then I did some digging, and found out that you were engaged. I was so devastated when I found out. And like the masochist that I am, I heard about your engagement party and I went by to see if I could get another look at you before you got married. But when I got to the museum, I saw you running away in the distance, and I saw Connor run after you. That was when I knew something was wrong.”
“I had stopped by the hospital where you were, and they said you were in a coma. I kept my distance but would visit to check up on you. I remember seeing Connor there a lot when I would visit, and during one of those visits—on the day you woke up from your coma—I overheard him talking on the phone. He was talking to this private investigation firm and I heard him say that he needed an attractive man to befriend a woman he knew. He said that she claimed to have lost her memories, but he wanted to be sure that was the case.”
Ethan fidgeted in his seat as he looked into the camera.
“I had a friend of a friend who knew someone who worked at that PI firm, and with some persuading, and cash, I was able to get assigned to be that man Connor needed. So that’s how we met. I wasn’t sure why Connor hired someone, but I wanted to find out.”
“Liv, I have wanted to tell you everything for some time now. But in the beginning, I didn’t want to be selfish. Since you were engaged, I knew you must of loved Connor, and I didn’t want to complicate things for you. You were also in a fragile state with your amnesia. I guess I didn’t want to burden you with more to think about. I knew I should have told you that day on our birthdays, but…I was afraid that I’d get nervous, and when I get nervous I’d say all the wrong things and scare you off. You were so happy that day, I didn’t want to ruin it. I’m really sorry. I hope you can forgive me for lying to you.”
“So I realized that I’ve lied to myself all these years, thinking that one day you will return to me, thinking that one day you’d find me so that you can hear the three words that I’d wanted to say since you left—those simple three words that seemed to need so much courage to say. I was too young then and had never imagined losing you before I found that courage to say them. Now, after all these years, after I had almost lost you to Connor, I finally found the courage to say them.”
His eyes glistened with tears as he looked straight into the camera.
“Liv. I love you. I loved you since the day I made you your first peanut butter, banana, and bacon sandwich. Through all this time, I haven’t forgotten all the things I’ve loved about you—the way you looked, the way I felt when you looked at me, the way you laughed when I told you a silly joke—I carried all of those memories here.” He put his hand to his chest and looked straight at the camera.
“So I saw this old black and white film once where the couple had to say good bye to each other because of World War I, and the female character asked the male character, ‘If we don’t find each other when the war ends, what would happen?’ The male character very confidently said to the female character, ‘If we don’t find each other after the war, then we’ll find each other by the following year. If we don’t find each other by the following year, then we’ll find each other by the following five years or ten years, or twenty years. It doesn’t matter how long, we’ll find each other eventually.’”
He smiled into the camera. “Liv, when I saw you for the first time in twenty years outside that coffee shop, I realized that I had always secretly felt that way about us. Somehow, in the back of my mind, I knew that one day we would find each other.”
He paused before continuing.
“So I don’t know how our story will play out, but whether our love story is destined as a tragedy or a happily-ever-after, we should at least begin to finish our story, don’t you think?” He looked into the camera, and I saw the emotion in his intense eyes. I sobbed uncontrollably at his words.
“You can call or text me any time. And if…you don’t want to communicate with me again, t—that’s okay. I’ll understand. Just let Anna know so she can call and tell me. Don’t worry,” he gave a small smile, “I won’t bother you again. Even if I don’t ever see you again, you’ll always be here.” He touched his heart.
When the TV screen changed to the blue screen, I turned to look at Anna. Her eyes were also filled with tears.
“Liv, you came to Philly to find him. Well he’s found you, and it looks like Fate has given you guys another chance to be together. You have to take it.”
I nodded uncontrollably as tears flowed down my face. “You’re right, Anna. We’ve been given a second chance.”
CHAPTER FOU RTEEN
After I’d recovered from my sobfest, I dialed Ethan’s number. He picked up immediately after the first ring.
“Hey you.” His voice was tender yet tentative.
“Hi,” I said softly. This was the first time I felt nervous to talk to him.
“Did you see, Anna?”
“Yes.” I paused.
As I was about to say, “Ethan, I’m sorry,” Ethan said, “Liv, I’m sorry.”
We both chuckled nervously, and I realized that I wasn’t the only one that was nervous.