Hayden rolled over and pulled Cara to him, wrapping his arms tightly around her and leaning his chin into her shoulder.
Cara stirred and looked at the clock. She jumped out of bed.
"Hayden! Get up!! It's 7:45 - I'm going to be late for work!"
"Oh that's okay...I'm your boss...you can be late...come back to bed," Hayden mumbled, putting his face into the pillow, still half asleep.
"I'm serious!" Cara said, throwing a pillow at Hayden, knocking him in the head.
"Alright! Alright, I'm up." Hayden sat up on the corner of the bed.
Cara couldn't help but grinning. In that moment, he looked like a tired little boy, with his eyes still half closed.
This was actually the first morning they'd been together.
"Wow, I guess you get a gold star," Cara said. "You stayed the entire night."
"Ha, ha," Hayden said saracastically. "I guess you stayed the entire night too....not that you had anywhere to run."
Cara gave him a wry expression and could see him smiling.
He pulled her onto his lap.
"Good morning," he said with a grin and gave her a kiss.
"Good morning...and this is very sweet and you are very sweet....but get your ass up, I've gotta get to work!" Cara said, jumping off his lap.
~~~
Cara ran down the sidewalk and into the office.
She could see Melissa and Tove standing at Melissa's desk. Melissa raised her eyebrows.
"I'm...so sorry....late....traffic...won't happen...again," Cara said, out of breath.
"Calm down and breathe," Tove grinned. "It's okay..."
At that moment, Hayden walked in, looking disheveled but happy.
"Good morning folks!" he smiled.
Tove and Melissa just looked at each other but remained silent.
Hayden and Tove walked back to Accounting department. "Nice to see you're not wearing the clothes from the night before," Tove said, a smirk on his face.
"Hey, I went home and grabbed fresh clothes," Hayden said, a smile on his face.
Tove only shook his head. "I don't even want to ask."
"Aww, come on...don't even pretend like Melanie hasn't made you late for work...more than once."
Tove rolled his eyes. "I'm not saying a word...but I suggest that this be kept quiet...at least for right now....for your sake and for Cara's."
"Alright, fine by me," Hayden said with a shrug. He was private about his love life anyway, so not talking about it wouldn't exactly be a problem.
~~~
Five weeks of pre-production passed and before they knew it, shooting was scheduled to begin in Toronto.
It was the time Cara had been happy for Hayden but dreading for herself.
On his last evening in town, Hayden took her for a nice dinner at a cafe overlooking the water at Paradise Cove in Malibu.
They decided to take a walk on the pier after their meal.
They walked quietly for a bit. Hayden reached down and grabbed Cara's hand. She held tightly on to his.
"You're awfully quiet tonight," Hayden said, stopping her.
Cara didn't want to meet his eyes. She was scared he might see the tears in her's.
"Are you okay?" he asked.
Cara merely nodded, looking away from him and out over the water.
Hayden brought his hand to her chin to turn her face toward him.
"Are you crying?" he asked.
Cara shook her head, "No..", the tears evident in her eyes.
"Come here," Hayden said, pulling her to him.
The two stood there together on the pier, holding each other for the longest time.
"...I'll be back on weekends...every weekend," Hayden said, still holding her.
Cara nodded, holding on to his arms, clinging to him.
It had almost frightened her -she had really felt herself beginning to fall for him, and it had been the last thing she had wanted to do.
Hayden pulled away to look in her eyes. "I want you to know something....I don't know how you feel about it- we've never talked about this....but...I need you to know then when I'm gone -- when you're not with me....there will be no one else...I don't want anyone else."
Cara looked at him and exhaled a deep breath she hadn't been aware she was holding.
Those words relieved her to no end. They had never had the talk about dating exclusively - everything had still been new and exciting. Frankly, it was a talk that Cara had been too timid to bring up...and she had shown that there were few topics upon which she wouldn't speak up. She knew the way Hayden had been when they first met and she never wanted him to feel restrained in a way that he would resent.....she had wanted things to progress naturally and if they were meant to...but secretly, all along, she had hoped for this moment.
She looked into his eyes and replied, "I feel the same way....I don't want to be with anyone else either."
Hayden took a breath and grinned.
He leaned down and kissed her tenderly.
Then, he took her hand and led her back to the car.
~~~
Hayden caught the early flight to Toronto the next morning.
"Are you ready?" Tove asked on the flight.
"Ready for what?" Hayden asked.
"To face your old demons...or one in particular," Tove said.
Hayden shook his head and laid his head on the head rest, looking out the window of the airplane.
He hoped he wasn't making a colossal mistake.