Only Once

by Ashley Munoz

They became like parents to me, real people who loved me and cared for me, and they both adored my children.

“Did you call him?” my dad snapped, his eyes, which matched mine, blazing with anger. “Even one time while you two were broken up…did you reach out to him or to Bella to ask how they were doing?” Shame simmered in my gut, making me want to slump over in pain. I hadn’t called. I hadn’t done anything but hurt and drink and cry. Fuck. “I need to apologize to him.” Especially before… “I think you need to wait for Bexley to tell you what role you’re allowed in his life. You left…that boy has had a lot of leaving, very little staying. He doesn’t need you to confuse him.” My dad’s icy tone might as well have been an ice pick for how painfully his words landed.

It was his passion, his dream. Why would he do this? “Why?” He smiled, stepping closer. His fingertips grazed mine. “Because you’re not my second choice, Bexley Black. You’re not an afterthought. I made the worst mistake of my life letting you assume you were anything less than my everything. I love you. You’re it for me. Acting was never supposed to be the thing I loved…it was only ever you.”

I turned around in time to see him kneeling in the middle of the floor. “I took you for granted ten years ago. I knew you were the one for me then, but I just let you hang in the background while I chased my dreams…always assuming you’d wait there in the shadow of my spotlight. Then, I get this second chance with you, and because I was too chickenshit to own up to my insecurities, I let you go again.” Tears were already threatening to fall down my face as his eyes brimmed with love. I stepped closer to him while his throat bobbed up and down. “I didn’t do all this right…I didn’t mean to ignore the kids. I just knew this was my end goal…I want to marry you, Bex. I want to live here, where the kids go to school, where we can visit our family…” His gaze narrowed while his lips turned up wickedly. He was talking about his parents; he’d called them our family.

“Rumors are swirling about your return to the big screen…can you tell us what your plans are?” Joan asked while toying with Bella’s curls. “You’re looking at it. I’m a family man, so they’ll come first. Everything else will forever be second.” I smiled, feeling old scar tissue in my soul warm over from how perfect it felt to be whole. To be chosen, to be loved…it was beauty and chaos all blended into the most perfect of beginnings.