“So, are you gonna tell me what happened?” Trey slathered ketchup on his fries.
Finn focused on her burger. She took a huge bite without answering him.
“’Cause, the last time I saw you there was this super hot girl on your arm who seemed kinda into you. I mean, I have no idea why, but still, she seemed into you.”
Finn chewed her food slowly, hoping not to choke on it as she tried to swallow around the lump in her throat.
“You were gonna stay in LA and become some hot shot stunt driver.” He nibbled on a French fry, then continued. “And now, here you are, without the girl and without your car.”
“It wasn’t what I thought it would be like.” She took a swig of her Coke.
“Which part?”
“All the parts.” She took a couple more bites of her hamburger before she explained more. Trey patiently waited. The waitress refilled their drinks. “Iris and I had a big fight and then, well, stunt driving, the class was fun, but I don’t think I could ever do it for a living. I think the whole industry is too cutthroat for me.”
“Hey, at least you tried it. So now you know. If you hadn’t made the trip you’d probably always wonder.”
“Yeah, I guess.” She took another bite and chewed slowly while she considered it. “Once I knew it wasn’t gonna work I decided to cut my losses. I had a convenient offer to ship the car, so I just flew back.”
“So, what happened with Iris?” He wasn’t going to let her off the hook.
“Her roommate threw her a birthday party and her ex showed up.”
“Oh, so she’s getting back together with her ex.” He nodded sympathetically.
“No, I mean, I don’t know. We ended up getting into a fight the next day, about her friends, and then she made some comments about my friends, and, I dunno, things just escalated.”
“That was it? You got into a fight about each other’s friends?” He braced his elbows on the table and studied her as if she’d said something truly crazy.
“Well, not the way you’re making it sound.” She sat back, taking a break from her half-eaten burger. “Who someone’s friends are says a lot about who they are.”
“What are her friends like?”
“Shallow.”
“Finn, it’s fucking Hollywood. What did you expect?”
“I don’t know what I expected.”
“Is Iris shallow?”
“No, of course not.”
“Finn, I don’t think I would have given up on her so easily. I thought you were really into her. And she seemed nice.” He finished his fries. “I mean, definitely too nice for you.”
“Shut up.” She knew Trey was trying to joke and lighten her mood. But hearing herself try to explain the argument just made her sound like an idiot. It had all seemed so much more upsetting, so much bigger, in the moment. “She made a comment about Watts Mountain having no culture.” Finn threw out that detail in her defense.
“Isn’t she right about that? I mean, unless you consider Turner’s Corner store a hotbed of cultural influence.”
“Goddammit, I’m an idiot.” She covered her face with her hands.
“Yeah, I’m pretty sure you are.” In true brotherly form, Trey agreed with her.
* * *
It took another hour for them to reach Hideaway Haven. The familiar scent of damp earth and nighttime sounds soothed Finn. She was back in her space, feeling a little defeated but happy to be home.
It was time to call Iris.
She owed Iris some sort of explanation, possibly an apology.
She lounged on the bed with her phone, but she didn’t dial the number right away. The first thing she did was scroll through photos from their trip. God, Iris was gorgeous. And dammit, they’d had a really great time together. She had the pics to prove it. She was about to click back to her contacts list but touched Instagram with her thumb by accident. The last feed she’d looked at popped up before she could click off. For some reason she’d looked at Kent’s profile after the party at Iris’s. She remembered now that she’d pulled it up to unfollow him, but had gotten interrupted and hadn’t thought to circle back and delete him from her feed.
The photo that greeted her was a selfie of Kent with his arm around Iris with the hashtags: beautiful and good times.
What the fuck?
Was that a recent photo? It was impossible to tell.
She clicked over to Iris’s feed, but Iris hadn’t posted a new photo since the party. There was a shot of Maggie, Regina, and Iris posing with drinks.
She’d almost summoned the courage to call Iris, but not now. Seeing the photo of Iris and Kent together was like a gut punch. The burger she’d practically inhaled at the diner threatened to come back to haunt her. Finn tossed her phone to the other side of the bed. She’d wait for Iris to call her. She wasn’t the only one who needed to apologize or explain herself.
Chapter Thirty-seven
Forty-eight hours had passed since Iris left a message asking Finn to call her. It seemed clear that Finn didn’t want to talk to her. Fine. So be it. If whatever they had between them couldn’t survive one single argument then it was best that it ended now while Iris still had her heart intact.
She’d been busy anyway. Iris had a lot to organize before leaving for Atlanta, including a grueling five-hour visit to the California Department of Motor Vehicles. She would never allow her license to lapse again, ever. The only thing more demoralizing than being continually recognized as Doritos Girl was spending practically the whole day at the DMV securing a new driver’s license.
The rest of Iris’s time before departure was spent packing and hanging out with Maggie and Regina. They’d both promised to come to the Deep South for a visit while she was there. Iris had been very nervous about the flight, after her most recent trip to Atlanta. Regina had offered her a Xanax, but she’d declined. She needed to manage her terror without the aid of a sedative. It wasn’t as if she could drive back and forth from Georgia to California by herself. She had to muster her strength, mind over matter. The chance to see Finn again was what gave her courage to fly across the country. She focused on Finn and faced her fear.
A damp blanket of humidity embraced Iris as she exited the terminal. Her hair immediately gained weight and mass.
She’d packed two suitcases for her extended stay in Atlanta. The driver towed both of them toward the town car in short-term parking, while she followed carrying a smaller overnight bag. This trip was already better than the last one. For starters, the plane hadn’t almost crashed, she’d been upgraded to extra leg room, and the studio had sent a car service to pick her up. Wouldn’t it have been poetic if the driver waiting for her had been Finn? But that was a little too Nora Ephron. Besides, as far as she knew, Finn was no longer driving for the limo service.
Iris had the night to herself before they started filming the next day. She expected the days to be long. It took somewhere between sixty and ninety hours to shoot one hour of television. She’d tried her best to mentally prepare for what she expected to be an exhausting schedule.
The town car moved slowly through evening rush hour traffic toward the hotel. Iris watched midrise buildings pass by her window. Her phone chimed in her purse.
It was a text from Regina.
Hey, where are you? Check Kent’s feed. He’s posting photos of you again. #stalker
I’m in ATL. Just landed. Which photo? He’d done this off and on since they split. Some sort of weird throwback down memory lane on social media.
Regina responded. From last year, 4th of July at the beach.
Iris sighed. How could she tell Kent to stop? He was just trying to get her attention. If she texted him to ask him to stop then he’d have already won because he’d know she was looking at his Instagram feed. He would assume she cared, which she didn’t.
I’m going to ignore him. Iris refused to play his game.
Want me to comment and tell him to fuck off?
Iris smiled. Her friend
s always had her back, shallow or not.
You’re sweet, but not necessary.
I’m so sorry I told him about your party. Forgive me? Regina wanted everyone to have a good time. Sometimes that meant she texted before really thinking things through. She really was so sweet and lighthearted that she could almost get away with anything.
You’re forgiven. Iris added a smiling emoji.
Good luck tomorrow! xoxo
Thanks. xo Iris clicked off.
Iris resumed sightseeing out the window. She was still holding her phone when it vibrated a few minutes later. She figured it was Regina again. Her heart seized when she saw Finn’s name on the screen. She took a deep breath and answered.
“Hello?”
It seemed like minutes before Finn spoke, but it was probably only a few seconds.
“Hi.” It was so good to hear Finn’s voice even though it made her a little queasy at the same time.
Iris waited.
“Iris, are you still there?”
The sound of Finn’s voice turned Iris’s insides into a molten mess. She’d worked hard to remain angry, and only a few words from Finn was melting her resolve.
“Yes, I’m still here. I didn’t expect to hear from you.” That was the truth.
“I should have called sooner, I…I just didn’t know what to say. I still don’t.”
How about, I’m sorry?
“You’re back in Georgia?” Iris was still hurt that Finn left California without saying good-bye. And she wasn’t sure she wanted to tell Finn she was in Atlanta, yet. She needed to know that what she’d felt from Finn was more than a matter of proximity or convenience, more than just a road trip romance.
“Yeah, I’m in Watts Mountain.”
Finn had been so desperate to find out if Iris was back with Kent or exactly what she was up to that she’d started following the Twitter feed for the new sci-fi series Iris had auditioned for. Everyone who was a fan of Firefly seemed to be avidly following the show’s development so there were lots of bits of fan-centric news on Twitter. The studio had been posting production and casting updates so Finn knew that Iris had gotten the part. She knew that was a big deal and wanted more than anything to help Iris celebrate her success. She wondered if Iris was going to tell her she was coming to Atlanta, if she wasn’t there already.
“I’m sorry I left without seeing you…without saying good-bye.” Finn wasn’t sure if she could genuinely apologize for everything, but she definitely had regrets about that.
“I was pretty upset by the way you left.” She could hear the hurt in Iris’s words, but otherwise, Iris wasn’t revealing much.
Finn heard a male voice in the background but couldn’t make out what he was saying. Iris wasn’t alone. Finn should end this painful call before it got any worse.
“I can tell you’ve got someone there.” Finn tried to mask her frustration. “Maybe you could call me back sometime if you feel like talking.”
“Okay.”
Finn was puzzled by how little Iris was saying. Maybe because someone else was listening? Or maybe she had nothing to say to Finn. Maybe what they’d had really was nothing more than a friendly summer fling. That hurt.
“Bye.” Finn knew she probably sounded as defeated as she felt.
“Good-bye.”
Finn held the phone in her hand for a minute after she ended that call. She’d made first contact, but that exchange had told her nothing. Iris didn’t apologize and didn’t share any details about her new gig in Atlanta. That omission had to mean that Iris didn’t want to see Finn, right? How else could she interpret that?
“How’d it go?” Ward asked. He was standing on the other side of the car ready with the buffing machine in his hand.
“I have no idea.” Finn shrugged and slipped her phone in her back pocket.
“That good, huh?”
“Yeah, that good.”
“Does she know that you know she’s gonna be in Atlanta working on that show?”
“No, and she didn’t bring it up either. I’m guessing that means she doesn’t want to see me.”
“Or it just means she’s still pissed.” Ward slid protective goggles down over his eyes.
“Let’s get this car ready and in working order.” She’d decided to finish refurbishing the Lincoln for hauling passengers. All it had needed was a final coat of paint and they were about to buff that out now. Finn figured it would be sort of a cool thing to show up in a vintage Lincoln. Plus, the car could carry four passengers comfortably in the back seat.
Tommy hadn’t arrived with Scarlett yet, but he’d texted from Arkansas to let her know his status.
“I don’t know why she wouldn’t wanna take you back.” The corner of Ward’s mouth twitched up as if he were trying not to laugh. “I mean, she’s just a movie star, and you’re an Uber driver.”
“Shut up and buff.”
But deep down, she knew he was right.
* * *
Nights seemed longer since Finn’s return from California. After sundown, the hours just dragged on and on with no distraction from her nightly internal struggle. She was rethinking everything that had happened with Iris. The problem with dissecting every exchange was that it was almost impossible to put it back together in any form that made sense.
Nothing looked good under a microscope.
Especially not Finn.
She was fairly sure she’d been a complete ass and gotten what she deserved, the cold shoulder from Iris. The question that lingered, the question that kept her up at night was whether there was anything she could do to make things right. Finn would give anything if she could go back to that last night at Iris’s and do things differently. She’d hurt Iris’s feelings. She’d known even as the hurtful words had escaped her lips, but she couldn’t stop herself from lashing out. She blamed ego and immaturity, but still, that was no excuse.
She decided to sit on the front steps and drink a beer. Maybe the fresh air would clear her head. The porch light was drawing bugs so she turned it off and sank back to the top step to enjoy the darkness. It was late, probably midnight. The lights in the main house were off, and since it was a weeknight only a couple of cabins were occupied besides hers. Those lights were off too. Finn was alone with the darkness.
The painted planks of the steps were smooth and cool under her bare feet. She flexed her toes and rocked back as she tipped the bottle for another long swig.
She was pathetic.
Iris was her dream girl in every possible way and she’d completely screwed it up. When she lay down at night she could hardly sleep for wanting Iris. She missed Iris’s smile, and her magical laugh, and the way Iris made the world seem like a better place.
An owl called in the distance. A haunting sound, like a breathy echo from the darkness.
Finn tried to imagine what might have happened if she’d stayed in California. She couldn’t quite figure it out. Every scenario seemed more like a Hollywood-ized version of real life than life itself. Because in the real world, there was no way Iris and Finn could be a couple, not for the long term. Yeah, any way Finn tried to organize things she always came to the conclusion that theirs could only ever be a short-term romance. She should just suck it up and be grateful for the time she had with Iris and move on.
Chapter Thirty-eight
It was two a.m. when Iris looked at the digital clock on the nightstand. She’d ordered room service when she’d arrived at the hotel because she was too tired to deal with going out. But whatever she’d eaten made her so thirsty. She retrieved a bottle of water from the mini-fridge and crawled back under the covers.
She sat in the dark, sipped water, and wondered what Finn was doing. Every night since the big fight, Iris would wake and her first thought would be of Finn—what was she doing, what was she thinking, did she care about Iris?
Deep down, in her innermost thoughts, in the place where dreams lived, Iris held on to the belief that Finn did care. In the light of day, her rational
mind would explain that away. Her brain would remind her of all the reasons why she and Finn were completely wrong for each other and why things could never work. But late at night, in the wee hours between asleep and awake, things felt different. It was in those moments that Iris allowed herself to hope.
But their last phone call had been terrible. She’d hardly said anything for fear she’d start crying. If Finn had just come out and apologized would that have made a difference? It wasn’t as if she didn’t owe Finn an apology too. What she really wanted was to see Finn and talk things out face-to-face. She was sick of talking over the phone and she refused to text about anything this important. Kent had resorted to texting to avoid confrontation right before they broke up. She was holding herself to a higher standard. And with everything else that had gone wrong, at least Finn had the decency to call rather than text.
Iris checked the clock again. A half hour had passed and she’d hardly noticed. She sank under the covers and tried to quiet her mind. Tomorrow was going to be a big day. She needed to stop thinking about Finn and focus on doing good work on set.
She rolled onto her side and swept her palm across the cool sheet on the unoccupied side of the bed. I miss you, Finn.
* * *
Every time Iris got an acting job she’d be relieved for weeks. She’d let go of lots of pent up anxiety and stress about auditions. As Iris headed for hair and makeup, she relished the sense of elation she was feeling. Good things were happening. Not only had she landed the lead, but she actually really liked the script and the premise of the show. And for the first time, behind the monitors, near where the producer and director sat, was a chair with her name on it. Every time she saw it, a little shiver of excitement raced through her chest.
There were a lot of people to meet during the first days of filming. Iris would be on this show at least through the filming of the first season. It was important to be on friendly terms with the people she’d be spending a lot of time with, drivers, hairdressers, and makeup artists. Hair and makeup was your first stop in the morning and could set the tone for the rest of the day. Iris took care to introduce herself to everyone she met. This was going to be her world, her family, for the next few months.
Chasing Sunset Page 24