Jace sat on the verandah of his apartment. The soft breeze blew on him scattering his hair as he tries to tame it down. The coffee in his mug had long gone cold, but he sipped it anyway without any much care.
He'd barely slept. Nights felt longer now. The mornings came with a heaviness that no amount of caffeine could lift. The silence was oppressive. Amy hadn't called. Hadn't even replied his texts.
It had been five days.
Five long, aching days since she walked into him and Gina and proceeded to leave the Thai food on his studio table and walked out.
Jace closed his eyes and leaned back into the chair,the wood creaking under his weight. His mind replayed that night again. Gina's voice, sharp and sweet like poison. Amy's face, the betrayal swimming in her eyes. The silence afterward, louder than any fight could've been.
He rubbed a hand over his face.
Then his phone buzzed.
REBECCA.
He sighed and swiped to answer. "Hey."
"About time," Rebecca's voice chirped through. "I was beginning to think you'd changed your number."
"I didn't."
"Well, you sure seemed like you disappeared"
Jace chuckled faintly, eyes still closed. "Sorry."
"No, you're not."
Another long silence. Then Rebecca's voice softened. "How are you really?"
He paused. "Tired."
"Tired of waiting for her to call?"
"Tired of everything," he murmured, adjusting the mug on his knee. "I've been checking my phone every five minutes like an idiot. Every time it buzzes, I pray it's her. It never is."
Rebecca's voice sharpened just a little. "You mean you haven't tried again."
"I tried," he defended quietly. "I went back to Sophie's. She said Amy wasn't there anymore. That she wanted space."
Rebecca was silent for a moment, like she was weighing whether to scold him or sympathize. "And you believed her? That she wasn't home?"
"I didn't have a choice," Jace said, rubbing his temple. "Even if Amy was inside, she didn't want to see me. She made that very clear."
Rebecca sighed again, louder this time. "Jace… five days is a long time to do nothing."
"I haven't been doing nothing," he said, a little sharper than intended. "I've been... thinking. Trying to understand where I went wrong."
"You already know where you went wrong."
He didn't argue.
"You were supposed to tell her about Gina," Rebecca continued. "That woman is a walking disaster. And now she's poisoned something good again."
"I thought I could handle it. I thought Gina was harmless, just noise in the background."
"She was never harmless. And she's never been just noise, you know she was obsessed with you when you guys dated she only left when she couldn't deal with your grief."
Jace groaned and leaned back, resting his head against the wooden wall behind him. "God, Becca... I feel like I've lost everything."
"You haven't. Amy's not gone. She's just hurt."
"She's really hurt. And I don't know how to fix it."
"You don't fix someone like Amy, Jace," Rebecca said softly. "You show up. Again and again. Until she realizes you're not just another man who let her down, she's a very calm woman and I feel like she needs that from you right now"
"I didn't intend to hurt her at all" Jace sighed.
Rebecca didn't answer right away. He could almost hear her heart breaking for him on the other end.
"She's worth all this pain, isn't she?"
"She's not just worth it," he said quietly. "She is it. She's everything."
"I understand how you feel Jay,it's understandable" Rebecca said.
He was quiet for a long time. Then he asked, voice barely above a whisper, "How do I come back from something like this?"
Rebecca's voice softened. "You will brother, you can do it, you love her.... I saw it. Mom saw it. The way you look at her Jace, it's like the world stops."
His throat tightened.
"Then why do I feel like the world is actually stopping now?"
"Because you love her," she said simply. "And when love's in danger, everything else feels like it's collapsing."
He didn't speak for a while, only listened to the sound of the hum of a faraway car passing down the street.
"Maybe that's the universe telling you to try something else, genius," Rebecca snapped. "You're not gonna win her back with silence, you have to do something big, show her what the Prescotts can do."
"I'm not trying to guilt her into coming back."
"I'm not asking you to," Rebecca said. "But if you're serious....really serious....you need to remind her why she fell in love with you. You need to fight, Jace. She deserves to see you fight."
He let out a breath. "I know. I just don't know where to start."
Rebecca's voice was gentler now. "Start by reminding her what you two are together,remind her of the love you have for her. The little things you did that made her fall harder. Then turn all that into something she can feel."
Jace sat up a little straighter, staring into the distance. "You think a gesture will fix this?"
"No," she said. "But it's a start. You owe her something more than just apologies. You owe her clarity. Closure. And maybe... maybe a reason to believe in you again."
He nodded slowly, even though she couldn't see it.
"I miss her so much," he admitted, voice hoarse.
"I know you do. And as someone who loves both of you, I'm rooting for this. But it's not about rooting anymore, Jace. It's about the action."
The breeze rustled through the leaves again. Somewhere downstairs in the street, a kid laughed on a bike. Jace stared down at the coffee mug in his hands, his reflection wavering in the dark liquid.
"I'll do something," he said quietly. "Something real."
"You better," she teased, but he could hear the affection in her voice. "And hey..."
"Yeah?"
Rebecca paused, her voice dipping into something soft. "If Emma were here, I think she'd say the same thing."
That stopped him cold. A deep ache wrapped around his chest.
"Yeah," he whispered. "I think she would too."
"Text me when you've figured it out. I'll help if I can."
"Thanks, Becca."
"Anytime. Now go win your girl back,brother."
He laughs as they hung up.
Jace stared out at the sky as it deepened from gold to amber, then darker. His chest felt lighter....just slightly. The pain was still there, sharp as ever, but now it had purpose. Direction.
He stood slowly, cracked his neck, and turned back into the house.
It was time to come up with a way to show Amy exactly what she meant to him.
No more waiting.
No more silence.
Just love and the courage to fight for it.