The doorbell rang.
“Who is that?” he asked.
“I’m not sure. Call me after you wrap for the day?”
“I will.”
Harrison was right. It would be okay. Whatever happened, I would be okay.
I wiped my face and collected myself before I went to the front door.
I checked the peephole first and found Joey standing there, massive black sunglasses on as she looked around, arms crossed as she waited impatiently.
My entire world tilted on its side.
* * *
Harrison
I satwith my head in my hands, shaking breaths in and out. That was too close. Too close. She was so scared. I understood fear, but when would she let herself fully trust me? How many weekends away until she couldn’t be talked back down? And how could this setup ever be enough?
I scrubbed my eyes, exhaustion weighing down my shoulders and making my eyes blur. I wished I had time to call Emma or Charlie and talk this through, but we were on hour ten of this day and somehow still two hours behind schedule.
A hand on my shoulder made me jump.
It was my agent, Chad. “Harrison? What’s up, man? You gotta be on set.”
I stood up and felt the blood rush on delay, causing me to tilt. I needed to sleep and eat and had time for neither. I’d been burning the candle at both ends in an effort to get back home sooner. Not my empty mansion in LA, buthome.Whether or not Frankie called it that, nowhere else was.
“Yep, sorry,” I said. “Personal call.”
Chad had an intense fake smile beaming from his sweat-covered face.
“What the fuck, Evans? They were about to roll.”
“I needed to check in at home.”
“That was twenty minutes ago,” he said.
“I just—”
“Let me guess, lost track of time?” He used his left hand to reach over and scratch at his right eyebrow, put out and annoyed. “Listen, man. I get it. Family is obviously most important, but every minute here costs the studio thousands of dollars, and they won’t hesitate to take it from your check.”
Embarrassment burned the back of my neck. “I’m sorry. It’s been a rough few weeks.”
“And you’re distracted.”
I ground my jaw.
“Where’s your work phone?” he asked, at the end of his tether with me.
I winced. I couldn’t remember the last time I even saw it.
“That explains why I can never get ahold of you.” He scoffed with a shake of his head, making me feel smaller with every word. “Listen, I get it. You’re a pretty important person but other people’s time is valuable too. You need to hear the truth. I was warned about your flakiness.”
“It’s not—”
Chad held up a hand. “Did something happen? Like, do you need to go? Is it pressing at this moment?”
