Forever: Chapter 14

The days, the months, and the years were passing, and everything was changing. Well, not quite everything. There was no force on earth strong enough to change Valerie and Timothy's love. Despite the miles that separated them and the years that passed, their love remained constant. The pain, too.

Valerie reacted better to the cancer treatment than everyone expected. Two and a half years after she finished with the treatment, she had no symptoms of the disease and the cancer was not detected in her body. The cancer was in remission, but she continued every three months to go to her doctor for regular check-ups.

Slowly, one day at a time, she was trying to return to her life as it was before the disease, but life without Timothy wasn't much of a life. Without Timothy, she was missing the most important piece of the mosaic. Without him, she felt an emptiness in her heart that nothing and no one could fill.

Last year, Valerie rented a small one-bedroom apartment in East London. She couldn't stay to live forever at her aunt and uncle's home. Stella and Edward wanted to find her a place to live closer to them, but Valerie couldn't afford to live in Kensington. East London was more affordable, and her relatives were always just a call away from her every time she needed them.

Living in Bethnal Green wasn't bad at all. There, Valerie met a lot of new and interesting people. For the first time in her life, she was living alone, and she liked it. Next to her bed, on the nightstand, she put Timothy's pictures in beautiful frames, and that was something she couldn't do while she was living with her relatives. To encourage her to return to photography, two years ago for her birthday, Tessa bought her a new expensive camera.

Soon after her birthday, Valerie returned to her passion, and from selling her photographs online and working as a freelancer for various magazines, she was making enough money to make a living. Because she didn't want Timothy or anybody else from back home to see her pictures, for work, she took her mother's maiden name, and she became Valerie Goldsmith.

Her parents continued to visit her as often as they could, and Tessa was spending every summer in London. All the time, Valerie was asking about her friends, Mrs. Wilson, and everyone she knew in Santa Monica, but she never asked about Timothy. Luckily, there was social media, and she was well informed about what was happening at home.

Valerie utterly regretted because she missed some very important events in her friends' lives. She missed their weddings, she missed the moment when her friend Loretta become a mum of a beautiful girl, and when Kate and her husband adopted a little boy from China, she wasn't with Zachary when he started his own company, and she didn't take Emma to the airport, as she promised her, when she went on a trip around the world.

But what Valerie regretted most was missing her sister's graduation. Last year, Tessa graduated from college as the best student of her generation, and Valerie will never, for the rest of her life, forgive herself for not being at the graduation ceremony. After everything her sister did for her, she felt obliged to be with her in one of the most important moments of her life.

"Do you miss home sometimes?" Tessa asked Valerie one day while they were walking in Victoria Park in London.

"All the time," Valerie said with sadness.

"Then, why don't you come home?"

"I can't. You know well that I can't."

"And what is your plan? To hide and run your whole life?"

"I'm trying to build a new life here in London."

"Your life is in Santa Monica, with your family, your friends, and Timothy..." It was about a time for someone to say his name aloud.

"I can't..."

"Why not? You are healthy..."

"Very often, the cancer is coming back."

"Four years have passed since the cancer was diagnosed to you, and today there is no evidence of the disease. You're going on your regular check-ups at your doctor, you're leading a healthy lifestyle, and there is no reason to be afraid. You'll be fine, Val. Back home, you have friends who love you, and they want to know what really is going on with you. It's time for you to tell them the truth. They will understand. No one will be mad at you. Everyone misses you and wants to see you again. Tim misses you most. He doesn't deserve to suffer. Why to suffer, when you two can be happy like used to?"

"Nothing will be as it was."

"Val, this autumn I'm starting with my new job, and this is our last summer together. I don't want to see you once or twice a year in the future. I want to see you every day. Val, I'm not forcing you to do something you don't want to. Just please think about coming home. Okay?"

Valerie's fear that her condition could get worse at any moment was bigger than her wish to return home. No matter how hard she tried to build a new life in London, her home was there, where Timothy was. But what if, after she comes home, the cancer comes back, and she dies? How will Timothy continue to live? She was still convinced that it would be best for him if he never finds out the truth.

From social media, she knew that in the past four years, Timothy hadn't gotten over her. She also knew that her friends were calling her "an ice-cold bitch" or "a gold-digger," but that didn't bother her much. Four years ago, she left them without saying a word, and she has never called them since she moved to London. She believed that she deserved all the names they were calling her, or worse.

In the past four years, Timothy's life didn't change much. He was still working in his father's furniture store, and he was trying to find inspiration to write again. Sometimes, to prove to everyone that he was still alive, he went out with his friends, who were not letting him give up on writing, and they were sincerely supporting him in continuing with his life without Valerie. But some of his friends, like Patrick and Derek, were so immature that they were not giving up on the idea of finding him a new girlfriend.

"Hey dude, put a smile on your face. We're not at a funeral," Patrick said to Timothy one evening in a bar.

"Hey, guys! Is that Rosie?" Derek asked.

"Rosie who?" Patrick said.

"Rosie, the hottest piece of ass in our high school," Derek explained to him.

"Where is she?" Patrick asked, looking around him.

"There, on the table with Jill," Derek said.

"Oh yeah, now I see her. Wow! She looks hotter than ever," Patrick said.

"Once, I saw her on the cover of a fashion magazine. She works as a model in Los Angeles. She always wanted to be an actress, but for acting, she needs talent, and her only talent is between the sheets," Patrick said.

While Timothy stayed serious, Patrick and Derek began to laugh hysterically. He never enjoyed their childish jokes and their inappropriate comments about the girls.

"I should go," Timothy said.

"Go where?" Patrick asked, confused.

"Home."

"What's the matter with you, dude? We've just arrived! Look around you! The place is full of hot chicks! Valerie is gone. She left you four years ago. Forget about her. Start dating! Look at Rosie! Look how sexy she is! You're the only guy in our high school who hasn't slept with her. Go talk to her, buy her a drink, and she'll give you a hand job or the best blow job of your life. Trust me! I'm talking from personal experience," Patrick said with a huge smile.

"All this was a bad idea. I don't know what I'm doing here with you. I'm sorry," Timothy said getting up from his chair.

"Are you serious? You're leaving?" Derek asked.

"Yeah! You two, have fun! See you around, guys!"

Timothy put money on the table for his drink, and he left. The guys couldn't believe it, they brought him with the best intention to find him a new girlfriend, but he showed no interest.

"He'll never get over Valerie," Patrick said, concerned when Timothy left.

"I don't understand what's so special about her. I'm giving her a seven."

"Eight."

"No, eight is too much for her. She was nothing special. In my opinion, seven is too much for her. Six, maybe six and a half."

"Do you think that Timbo has slept with someone else, besides Valerie, in his life?"

"I don't know. I hope he has! If he hasn't, that will be so weird."

"Maybe he is gay."

"No, I don't think so. I just think he needs professional help to forget her."

"Yeah, you're right."

One beautiful sunny day, with a letter in his hand, in the furniture store came Mr. Lang, Timothy's old landlord. Timothy was living in Mr. Lang's apartment with Valerie, but after she left him he moved out.

"Finally, I've found you, Timothy!" Mr. Lang said.

"Oh, Mr. Lang? It's nice to see you again. What brings you here?" Timothy asked.

"A month ago, this letter arrived for you in my apartment. Because you didn't leave me your new address, I didn't know how to found you. Then I remembered that your father owns a furniture store, and in the past two weeks, I've been to every furniture store in the city, looking for you."

"All that trouble for a letter? You shouldn't have, Mr. Lang."

"It might be something very important."

"Well, I don't know how to thank you."

The letter for Timothy was from a writing agency in New York. As soon as Mr. Lang left, Timothy opened the letter, and he read it with attention. He was surprised that after four or more years, someone read his manuscript and was interested in representing him.

"It's a letter from some writing agent from New York. He wants to represent me, and he has already found a publisher for my book. He left his number to call him," Timothy said to his father, who was impatient to hear from whom the letter was.

"Then what are you waiting for? Call him!" Mathew said, excited.

"Now?"

"Yes, now!"

Timothy took his phone, he hesitated for a few moments, and he dialed the number written in the letter. While he was waiting for someone to answer the phone, he thought maybe all this was a huge misunderstanding. Maybe the agent mixed some manuscripts, and he liked someone else's book, not his, but by mistake, he wrote to him. If the agent liked his book, he would have written to him four years ago when he sent him the manuscript, not now.

"Hello?" a male's voice answered the phone.

"Um... Mr. Archer?" Timothy said.

"Yes, speaking."

"Hello! My name is Timothy Chambers, and first, I'd like to thank you for reading my book I've sent you four or five years ago. I've just received your letter, and in your letter you've said you'd like to represent me..."

"Oh yes, now I remember! You're the young writer from Santa Monica..."

"Yes, sir!"

"I should apologize for not writing to you sooner. I don't know how that happened, but we've lost your manuscript, and two months ago, someone luckily has found it. I really liked your work, and if you still haven't signed with somebody else, it would be my honor to represent you. As I wrote in the letter, I already have a publisher for your book."

"No, I haven't."

"Will it be a problem for you to come to New York, to meet me, and to discuss the contract?"

"No, not at all. When would you like me to come?"

"Next week, if that is all right with you?"

"Okay, no problem!"

"Splendid! I'll call you tomorrow for all the details."

This time Mathew was truly happy for his son. If Timothy's book gets published, maybe that will make Timothy happy, and he'll have something to amuse himself with. Mathew still didn't believe that his son could have some financial benefit from his book, and that is the reason why writing always should be a hobby, not a profession.

A week later, Timothy went to New York to meet Mr. Archer. He wouldn't go to the meeting if his brother and his parents were not pushing him hard to go. Timothy wasn't sure, was he still a writer because he hasn't written a single word in the past four years? Not that Timothy wasn't trying, but every time he would sit in front of his computer to write, he would spend the entire time watching Valerie's pictures or trying to find something about her on the internet. But he never found a thing about her. As she didn't exist, which was weird in today's age of social media.

At the appointment with Mr. Archer, in a fancy restaurant in Manhattan, Timothy arrived fifteen minutes earlier. Not because he wanted to leave a good impression, but because Valerie used to was doing that. On her interviews for a job, or everywhere she had to go, she always wanted to be there at least fifteen minutes earlier.

"I like your style of writing Timothy, you are an incredible storyteller. I like that you're paying attention to the details, and you have the power to convince the reader that your story is true, not fiction. If you decide to sign with me, in the next five to six months, your book will be in the bookstores, and with my little help, it has the potential to become a bestseller."

"Thank you, Mr. Archer."

"Here is the contract, and I want you to read it carefully with your lawyer..."

"I don't have a lawyer at the moment."

"I'll help you to find a good one."

"Thank you, Mr. Archer, for everything you're doing for me."

"Maybe we are a small agency, but we are like one big family. We care about our writers. Timothy, I had time to read and the two other books you sent me last week, and in my opinion, they are equally good as the first one. I have decided to publish them too, no matter if your first book sells or not."

"Well, I don't know how to thank you, Mr. Archer."

"For a beginning, please call me David and you just keep writing!"