Page 146 of Holly Jolly July

All I want is to take her in my arms. To tell her how I feel. To promise that we’ll always be friends at least, that we’ll call each other and stay in contact and that one day this will all work out. But I can’t promise that, and I don’t want to drag the pain out any longer than I need to. But I do think Mariah needs to know how important she is to me, and how much she’s changed my life.

“Listen—” I begin, but Yueyi cuts us off, her loud voice ringing through the room.

“Last day on set, get a move on! We have a lot of cleanup to do.” Yueyi claps her hands twice, like a preschool teacher.

“We’ll talk after,” Mariah says. “I have to pack up my station, anyway. I’ll wait to leave until you’re done filming so we can say goodbye.”

It’s going to be impossible to focus on my lines now. I manage to nod, then get up from my seat and head toward the costume area. When I walk back across the room, Mariah’s things are mostly packed and tucked away in her giant duffel bag. Everything feels wrong, like I don’t fit in my skin, like I need to moult out of it and shake it off and leave it behind. As I walk past her, I trail my fingers down her arm, leaving a line of goosebumps in their wake.

Then, I head down the stairs, onto the street, and toward the café to deliver my final lines.

Interstitial

Int. Brewed Awakening Café (Cont’d)

James enters.

Annie turns around to look at him, but when she glances back Kate is gone.

JAMES

Is she here...?

ANNIE

She was, a second ago.

James sits down opposite Annie, where Kate had been.

ANNIE

It seems that your wife has been trying

to set us up this whole time.

JAMES

Sounds like something she’d do.

ANNIE

She’s been worried about you—that’s

why she hasn’t left. She hoped to see you

moving on before she moved on. But you

weren’t. You stayed stuck in the past. You

fell further and further down into a hole of

grief. She couldn’t leave you like that.

She loves you too much.

JAMES

I haven’t been able to see anything good

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