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She knew it was terrible to eavesdrop.
Her mother had always warned her about listening in on conversations. It was a part of why she kept her spirit guides muted so much. They often chattered endlessly about all sorts of things they observed, inadvertently giving Iris information she didn’t need to hear.
But this? This would have been nice to hear.
From the man himself.
The man she thought she could trust.
Here, she’d bared her life to him in the most humiliating way possible today. He hadn’t been writing a screenplay for a television show this whole time.
He was her favorite author.
The author she’d gushed to him about more than once. She referenced the book series enthusiastically when giving him ideas on his latest work. Oh, no…Iris’s cheeks flushed crimson. She’d been so silly to think she was helping a budding writer with ideas for his story.
Kane wasn’t a budding writer. He didn’t need her ideas or her help. He was famous around the world and had a huge following. He was likely rich and went to rich people events like yacht parties and galas. The very idea made Iris shudder.
As the realization that she couldn’t trust this man hit her, Iris also quickly understood that there was no way she could fit into his life. Her job and her most recent bad press would be nothing but a detriment to someone like Kane.
No, no…this was never going to work.
The hurt rose to the top of the pile of emotions in her gut, pushing the lightness she had held on to earlier far, far, far down in her gut. When Kane turned, sensing her presence, he paused.
“Grant, I’ll call you back.”
“You’re not Kane. You’re K.L. Wallace. Like one of the most famous authors in the world,” Iris whispered. The tin of cookies shook in her hands.
“Iris…I was going to tell you, I promise,” Kane said, stepping forward, but Iris raised her hands, holding the tin awkwardly.
“I didn’t mean to eavesdrop. I brought you cookies,” Iris said awkwardly. “To, um, thank you.”
“You don’t have to thank me,” Kane said. He stopped short of touching her, his worried eyes drawn to the bruise on her face. “Iris, please, listen to me.”
“No…no, I don’t think that I will,” Iris surprised herself by saying. “I think that I heard what I needed to hear. Something that you should have told me a long time ago.”
“It’s not…I wasn’t going to keep it a secret from you forever, Iris. You had a lot on your plate, and once I knew how much you loved the series, I didn’t want you to treat me differently. People always do…” Kane trailed off when Iris shoved the tin of cookies into his chest, and he took them from her.
“It’s fine, Kane. I mean, it’s not. I thought I could trust you, and, like, well, trust is kind of a big thing to me right now. So there’s that.” Iris laughed and looked away, unable to stare at his too-handsome face any longer. “But it doesn’t matter anymore, anyway. We’d never fit, you and me. I think it’s best we just stick to what we originally decided. Friends.”
“I don’t want to be just friends, Iris. And what do you mean we wouldn’t fit? That’s ridiculous. You’ve not even given us a chance. From my viewpoint, I’d say we’d fit pretty damn well,” Kane protested. He put the tin aside and made to put his arms around Iris, but she put her hand in the air to stop him.
“You don’t see it because why would you? You haven’t had to fight your whole life for acceptance the way I have. My world and your world don’t play together nicely, Kane. Journalists aren’t very friendly to my profession.”
“And? Why do you think I’ve kept my name a secret? It’s for exactly that reason. I’m not interested in being in the limelight, Iris. I just want to create stories that I love to write. Something that I couldn’t do because literally all of my creativity had withered and died until I met you. I was frozen. You brought me back to life, Iris. You. Beautiful, stubborn, brilliant you. Please don’t throw us in the bin before we’ve even had a chance to start,” Kane asked.
But it was too much.
Perhaps it was the wrong day to learn this. Perhaps it was that Iris maybe just needed to learn to be alone for a while. Either way, she found herself backing away from Kane.
“I’m sorry, Kane. I can’t. I just can’t. It’s best we just…we just…” Iris waved her hand lamely in the air and turned, leaving Kane clenching his fists on the patio behind her.
She didn’t know what she walked away from, but Iris knew what she walked toward.
A future in which she put herself first.
Chapter 20
Three weeks had passed since Iris had walked away from Kane and, still, he managed to dominate her thoughts. It was frustrating just how often she’d pick up her phone to text him something but then force herself to stop.
