“I need a cup of coffee. How about you?” Finn glanced up at the mirror. It was late, but she knew of an all-night diner not too far away.
The woman nodded from the back seat of the limo as she dabbed at tears with Finn’s linen handkerchief.
* * *
This was definitely not Iris’s night. First, Eric’s unwanted and aggressive advances, then some random guy took a seat at the counter and kept trying to engage her in conversation. She was upset and in no mood to make small talk with a flirtatious stranger.
After a few minutes in the car, still rattled from her encounter with Eric, she’d decided food was what she needed. Food and a chance to regroup.
Yes, coffee and food were what she needed.
A near-death experience and a handsy director and now an overly friendly stranger. She was seriously beginning to dislike Atlanta.
“What can I get you, hon?” A waitress, probably in her thirties, with a coffee pot in one hand leaned against the counter in front of where Iris was sitting.
“Can I get a coffee?” It was still early on the West Coast; she knew she wouldn’t be going to sleep any time soon.
“Here’s a menu.” She handed Iris a shiny tri-folded menu with one hand and filled a mug with the other. “You look familiar.”
“Do I?” Iris knew she didn’t know this woman, but she didn’t want to be rude.
“Did you come in here last week with a little boot on and one of those wheelie things?”
“Excuse me?”
“You know, the wheelie cart they give you when you’ve got a broken foot.” The waitress braced her hand on her hip and studied Iris.
“It wasn’t me. Maybe you’ve confused me with someone else.”
This happened sometimes. People thought they recognized Iris, but more than likely they’d seen her on TV. She wasn’t going to reveal that she’d done TV shows and commercials. That sort of sharing led to more sharing and conversation, which she was definitely not in the mood for. She was barely keeping it together and had no intention of bursting into tears, in a diner, in front of the waitress.
Beside her, thankfully, the overly chatty stranger tossed some bills on the counter and left. Iris’s shoulders began to relax a little.
“I remember now.” The waitress was back, her face brightened. “You were at karaoke the other night. You sang that Pat Benatar song.” She set a small porcelain cow filled with cream in front of Iris. “You were good too.” She smiled and nodded as she walked away.
Iris never did karaoke, but she wasn’t in the mood to argue. She added cream to her coffee and scanned the menu. She was angry. She’d wanted the part on this show so badly. She’d felt so good about her work this afternoon. But now there was no way she could take the job even if they offered it.
Could she?
No.
Even if they offered it to her, Eric would be impossible to work with now. He’d either come on to her again or he’d make her life miserable for turning him down. And who knows what Camille thought she’d stumbled into. Did Camille think Iris had a thing going with Eric? That would be equally bad. The cast would think she had some favored position with the director. They would assume she only got the part because she’d slept with Eric before the show even got off the ground.
The whole situation was a disaster.
Not only did she want this part, but financially, she needed it.
She’d been lucky enough to land a national commercial that aired during the Super Bowl. That one job paid enough to keep her afloat for several months. It made her bank account solvent but definitely did not make her feel artistically successful. She needed to find steady work soon or she should seriously reconsider her career. The thought of moving back home, a failure at twenty-nine, was not high on her list of future plans. Thoughts swirled in her head as she waited for the waitress to return.
* * *
Finn parked the limo behind the Peachtree Diner, near the dumpsters, so that she wouldn’t take up three spaces out front. She checked her phone, expecting any moment to get a text message from her boss saying she was fired. Maybe Geoff was too drunk or too embarrassed to call it in. At any rate, she hadn’t gotten the ax yet, but she knew it was going to fall soon.
“We can get something and then I’ll drive you home.” Finn opened the door. “I’m Finn, by the way.”
“Thank you.” She accepted Finn’s hand as she slid out of the back seat. “I’m Ashley.”
Finn held the door of the diner for Ashley. A waitress at the counter motioned for them to take a seat. Finn angled toward a booth near the door.
“Two coffees.” Finn held up two fingers.
A moment later, they were sipping coffee and sharing a slice of apple pie. Well, mostly Finn was eating the pie, but she’d offered to share it with Ashley.
“Thank you for what you did.” Ashley sniffed and dabbed at a tear with her napkin. “I’m sure you think I’m a fool for going out with him.”
“We’ve all made bad decisions about beautiful people.” Finn forked another healthy bite of pie from the center of the table.
“He is good-looking, but when he drinks, he’s such a…”
The waterworks were starting again. Ashley was just a wee bit tipsy, and it was probably making her more emotional. Finn had done her best to cheer Ashley up, but nothing was working. It wasn’t like Ashley was her problem anyway. She’d simply rescued Ashley from a jerk, and as soon as she finished this pie she’d drive her home and that would be the end of it.
Ashley was crying for real now. Finn wasn’t great with big emotional displays, especially in public and especially when they weren’t her fault. She was an innocent bystander.
A couple seated at a nearby table turned and scowled at Finn like angry parents, as if whatever was wrong was all her doing. She smiled thinly around her mouthful of sweet apple pie. She could guess what they were thinking. How could she eat at a time like this, seated across from a woman crying her eyes out?
And then some absolutely gorgeous blonde seated at the counter rotated and glared at her too. Great. This whole scene was beginning to turn ugly and the pie wasn’t even that good.
“Hey, Ashley…do me a favor and stop crying.”
Ashley sobbed louder.
Iris signed the receipt for her Cobb salad and tried to ignore the scene playing out behind her. But the poor woman was obviously in distress, and her date seemed as if she couldn’t care less. The woman with long hair had obviously been crying before they got to the diner; her mascara had seeped all under her eyes. She looked like a sad debutante who’d been caught in a rainstorm. Her companion was very attractive in her own way, but not feminine at all. Iris would have described her as androgynous leaning toward butch. She was wearing a gray suit with a dress shirt. She had tousled short dark hair and an air of casual self-confidence, bordering on cockiness.
The butch woman’s demeanor reminded Iris a little of her ex, Kent.
She was immediately annoyed.
No, furious was more accurate.
Why were women always put in positions like this? Why did people think they could just take advantage of women without consequence? Why had no one come to her defense? Several other patrons had noticed this woman’s distress and no one had taken action. Well, she’d seen enough.
Iris strode across the room toward the door, weaving past a few empty tables. Every aggravated, agitated cell in her body began to vibrate as if she might explode. The indifferent, clueless expression on the butch woman’s face was like a match to a fuse. When she neared the booth where the two women were sitting, the dark-haired woman in the suit looked up as if she were about to say something. In that instant, on impulse, Iris picked up the glass of water in front of the woman and threw it in her face. She made a quick exit, not waiting for the fallout.
Ashley abruptly stopped crying, sniffed, and regarded Finn with wide eyes.
“Do you know her?”
“No, I’ve never seen her befo
re in my life.” Finn wiped her face with a handful of napkins and then dabbed at her soaked shirt.
“She does a really good Pat Benatar.” The waitress held a towel out to Finn, as if getting dowsed with water by an angry stranger was a completely normal occurrence. “Can I get ya’ll anything else? Maybe a little more water?”
“No, thank you, just the check.” Finn scowled at the waitress.
Was everyone out to ruin her night? She was just trying to do her job, do the right thing, and drive home. Now, she was probably going to get fired and some total stranger had just thrown a drink in her face. What else could go wrong? Probably best not to ask that question.
Chapter Six
Iris fumbled with the key fob for the rental car. She was so upset about everything. Her frustration had spilled over, and she couldn’t help throwing water in that smug woman’s face. She’d never done anything like that in her life. She backed out and eased into traffic, taking deep breaths in the hopes that the adrenaline in her system would ease. She’d give anything to be able to go back in time. Now that she’d had some time to think, there were a million things she wished she’d thought to say to Eric. But all of those things would likely remain unsaid. She squeezed the steering wheel until her knuckles turned white, then she exhaled slowly.
While she ate she’d decided not to go to the pre-arranged hotel. She didn’t want to be anywhere that Eric could easily find her. The production company had booked her room for two nights. When she’d searched on her phone for hotels, a ton of options had come up in the metro area, most part of big hotel chains. She’d headed in the general direction of the first few she’d found, but there’d obviously been a wreck or something. All lanes on Piedmont Avenue were completely stopped, red taillights blazed ahead as far as Iris could see.
Forget this. She wasn’t going to waste any more time sitting in traffic.
She managed to do a six-point turn and then a U-turn to head in the opposite direction.
If she was going to be stuck here for a couple of days she might as well get out of the city a little. She pulled off into the oval glare of the nearest convenience store and searched for an alternative place to stay. She expanded her hotel search and located what looked like a charming vintage place just off the highway about forty-five minutes away. And the best part was that there was no red on this route, all green, the traffic looked clear.
She hit start for the directions. The destination was almost an hour away. Maybe by the time she arrived she’d be calm enough to get some sleep.
The farther she drove from the northern suburbs the more traffic thinned. It had been a long time since she’d been in a place this dark. LA extended forever, into the desert even. Only at the coast could you escape some of the electric glow of the city and then only if you faced the dark Pacific.
When she’d first moved there from New York City she’d loved that there was always something to do. The constant parties made the adjustment to the West Coast more bearable, less lonely. All the social noise was a distraction from loneliness but not a cure. In the past year, the shallowness of Hollywood had begun to wear on her, especially since her breakup with Kent.
Her roommate, Maggie, was her closest friend in California. She wanted to call Maggie and relay the encounter with Eric, but it was earlier on the West Coast and she knew Maggie was still at work. She’d call once she got settled for the night, and hopefully Maggie would make her feel less crazy about everything.
She checked her phone. Twenty more minutes to her destination. The highway had narrowed to two lanes and was now winding through a more rural area, dotted with modest frame houses set far from the road, small squares of light from the windows poked holes in the dark. Iris was reminded of summers spent with her grandparents in Connecticut. She smiled for the first time since leaving the soundstage.
* * *
Finn was happy to put the night behind her. She’d dropped Ashley in Midtown, and there was so much traffic, due to a wreck, that it was late by the time she made it back to her cabin. The lights were off in the main house, and at least one spot had been rented in her absence. A car with Ohio plates was parked in front of the cabin next to hers. They probably underestimated how long it would take to reach Florida. That seemed to be the only reason anyone from Ohio ever did a layover in rural Georgia.
Damn.
With everything that had happened she’d forgotten to pick up the groceries her mom had asked for. She’d turned her phone off because she knew what was coming from her boss and didn’t really want to deal with it after the evening she’d had, getting a drink thrown in her face was just icing on the cake.
What the hell was up with that woman anyway?
Finn wracked her brain for a clue but had none. She was certain she’d never met the woman before. She’d have remembered her for sure. She was gorgeous…like, supermodel gorgeous. And then she fled the diner before Finn even had a chance to find out what she’d done to piss her off.
Whatever.
She’d add that to the ever-lengthening list of things that made no sense. The world was full of them, and it did no good to spend too much brain power trying to sort them out. Finn was okay with not knowing everything. In fact, she was happily in the dark about many things. She liked to keep her life simple and avoid complications whenever possible.
She tossed her keys on the table near the tiny kitchenette area, along with her phone. The dark phone screen was what reminded her she’d forgotten her mother’s grocery request. She hung her jacket over a chair and scanned the mini fridge for something to drink. She never drank while driving and now felt that she needed something to dull the edge of all the caffeine she’d consumed. She rubbed the knuckles of her hand as she leaned into the fridge. Finn hoped Geoff’s face was as sore as her hand.
Three beers lurked behind a loaf of bread and a half-empty jar of peanut butter. She popped the cap off one of the beers and took a long swig. As she took another long pull on the microbrew, she tugged her shirttail free and kicked off her shoes. The day had been far too long.
She was walking into the bedroom, but stopped mid stride when she heard a rapid knock at the door. That was odd. It was late.
Finn opened the door and almost spewed the mouthful of beer when she saw who was standing on the doorstep. She fought the urge and swallowed with a loud gulp instead. The woman who’d tossed the drink in her face looked up from the stoop, her eyes blinking into the glare of the porch light.
“Did you come to apologize?” Finn leaned her shoulder against the doorframe and took another sip of her beer. She tried to feign nonchalance.
Fate, it seemed, had a sense of humor.
“I…oh…what…how are you here?” The woman was as surprised to see Finn as Finn had been to see her. She was wearing a robe over something; Finn couldn’t quite see the details. She hugged herself and glanced nervously over her shoulder. “I heard something.”
“So the answer is no then?”
“What?”
God, she was beautiful. Long blond hair cascaded around her face. Toned, shapely legs extended below the hem of the robe that only reached mid thigh. She was sexy and elegant at the same time. There was an openness, an innocence in her expression that Finn would have described as somewhere on the verge between girlhood and womanhood.
“As in, no, you’re not here to apologize.” Finn didn’t really need an apology. She was mostly just happy to get a chance to solve the mystery of who this woman was.
“I’m sorry I bothered you. This was all a bad idea.” The woman turned to leave.
“Hey, I’m Finn, by the way. Taylor Finn.” She was hoping to at least get the woman’s name before she disappeared again.
“I’m Iris.” Iris glanced back toward the dark woods surrounding the small row of rustic cabins. “Did you hear that?” She’d been about to leave but now took a few steps closer to where Finn was standing. The doorway cast an oasis of light against the darkness.
Finn decided, i
n addition to being gorgeous in the empirical sense of the word, Iris also had a particular and mysterious charm. She knew she was staring, despite her efforts not to.
“There…there’s the sound again.” Iris jumped.
That time Finn heard it too. A scuffle and then a clanking sound. Something was probably rummaging in the trash cans behind Iris’s cabin. Finn slipped on her shoes and reached for the flashlight that hung just inside the door.
“Come on. Let’s take a look.” Finn stepped past Iris.
“Are you sure? What if it’s a bear?” Iris took a few tentative steps. She was barefoot. She must have been in bed when she’d walked over to Finn’s cabin.
“If it’s a bear we’ll run for it.”
“Is that a joke? I thought you were never supposed to run from a bear.”
“Don’t worry, I’m sure it’s not a bear.” Finn squinted into the dark as she swung the flashlight in an arc at the edge of the woods. I hope.
It was easy to act all chivalrous and butch in the face of a curious raccoon looking for a late night garbage snack. But she didn’t particularly want to deal with a black bear. They were mostly harmless but could be cantankerous under the right circumstances.
Finn eased closer to Iris’s cabin. There was a good bit of tree debris on the ground so it was almost impossible to step without making crackling noises.
“Be careful.” Finn pointed down. “You’re barefoot.”
Iris was gingerly trying to follow Finn. She’d been spooked but obviously not so scared that she didn’t want to see for herself what was making all the noise. Brave and beautiful, two of Finn’s favorite qualities.
The light from Finn’s flashlight landed on two glassy eyes surrounded by black fur. It was a bear. She wasn’t about to get between this fellow and whatever he’d found in the trash.
Chasing Sunset Page 4
