Page 115 of How To Plot a Payback

Go back inside.

Chapter 23

Lavender

“Alright. I need answers.”

To be clear, I did not intend to cause Paula to throw up her arms and release an explosion of papers, covering everything from the hood of her car to the parking garage floor. A few flutter over the wall of the third level like paper money thrown off a balcony.

Looking at it from her angle, I suppose it is my fault. It’s dark. She’s alone in the parking garage. And her back was to me as she pulled out her car keys.

But that’s the thing: I wasn’t thinking about it from her angle.

I was entirely in my head at the moment, fueled with pure adrenaline after sitting in my car the past half hour without having the motivation to put it in Reverse. The whole Finn situation is baffling. First, the list that gave every indication he hated me. At one time, perhaps. In the past, I could only hope. But if that was the case, why was the paper on his desk? Why was he hanging on to a list of grievances against me?

Then this conversation about Kye today.

Was he overcome with jealousy? Protectiveness? I saw him today when Kye leaned in between takes to say something for my ears only. I saw Finn’s jaw clench. His hands too.

Then he came out here, claiming to be looking out for me “as my producer.”

Just a few days ago we kissed.

Not a stage kiss.

Not something meaningless.

Something real. Quite real.

But now here he was, after I’d opened up about my feelings, backing away.

He told me I deserved the world.

And then he ran inside as if the place was on fire and he had to rescue a box of kittens.

Of course, the list is most troubling.

I wanted to discuss it with him, put it all out in the open, clear the air, but the way he reacted to my suggestion we talk at home is enough to tell me I need backstory, and I need it now. I am done playing games.

So I charged up the parking garage stairs on foot, looking for one particular woman. Eventually I found her.

Alone on level three beside a sliver of sunset streaming over her Honda Odyssey.

In retrospect, I can see how sneaking up behind a woman and making demands as she’s trying to get into her car is probably not the best way to approach the situation.

“Oh, Paula,” I spurt, dropping to my knees and reaching for her arm. “I’m so sorry. It’s me. Lavender.”

She flips over onto her back like a fish that has flopped onto a pier, breathing heavily. “Lavender. Good grief. Are you trying to kill me?”

“Sorry about your papers. We probably ought to go grab them before they fly off.”

She waves them off. “Just some half-baked scene our new writer was playing with. Worthless stuff. Leave it.”

She brushes herself off, then regards me. “So. What are you looking for exactly?”

“I’m looking for you.” I take a breath. “I’m looking for answers about a list.”

Her face is a statue for 6.2 seconds, and then all at once she’s popping open the driver’s side door of the minivan and motioning me to the other side. “If this is about the list I’m thinking it is, get in.”