Page 94 of (Not So) Famous in Paradise

I’m halfway through the door, when I remember what I do need and turn back to Sheryl. “Can you get me a copy of that covenant article? Darlene will want proof that I don’t need the application.”

“Of course!” Sheryl says.

“Darlene Voglmeyer is a menace,” Ted says, shaking his head as we both watch Sheryl shuffle to a metal bookcase lined—in no particular order—with binders emblazoned on the spine with the words City Covenants.

Once she’s found the right binder with the right covenants—a task that takes at least twenty minutes—all she has to do is make a copy.

Easier said than done. Sheryl has to find the copier ink first.

Miraculously, this only takes five minutes (it’s stored on a shelf inside the copier itself), but I can’t let another century pass before I get back to Georgia. I rush behind the counter and nearly tackle Sheryl.

“I’ll do it!” I cry when I’ve stripped the ink box out of her hands.

“But…” she protests.

“You don’t want to get ink all over your hands.” I shush any further protests from her and open the copier door.

Then I stare at its innards.

Turns out, I don’t know how to change the ink in a copier. So I hand the box back to Sheryl, who, it turns out, is very proficient at changing ink cartridges.

With evidence in hand, I run out the door into the snow that’s now coming down hard, threatening to turn into a full-blown blizzard. Ted drives me—carefully, and oh so slowly—back to my truck covered in snow, where he issues me a ticket. Then I drive back to Granny’s, following the speed limit to the exact number.

When I pull into the driveway, the crew is packing up for the day. Early, which could be my fault, or the storm’s. But I hope what I have to show Georgia will fix everything.

Even though she’s going to hate being rescued.

Chapter 39

Georgia

Zach’s been gone for hours, and while we were able to shoot a few more scenes without him, there’s not much more we can do. While everyone else packs up and goes back to the trailer, I stay in the house. I sit in Amber’s makeup chair, staring at the ceiling as the gray daylight filtering in from the windows shrinks into the darkness of the storm.

Carly was here. Stella told me, but that’s all she saw. Who knows if Zach went somewhere with her? Who knows if he’s coming back here? He left me with a kiss that almost gave me all the confidence about our relationship that I need.

Then Carly showed up, and Zach’s not answering his phone, so I’m left here to wonder what’s going on. And all my fears are starting to resurface.

Maybe Zach’s with Carly. I basically pushed him into her arms, telling him I don’tneedpeople. How ridiculous is that? Of course I do.

I didn’t think Zach was mad when he left today, but maybe he was. He had every right to be. I was rude and did everything to prove I didn’t need him.

Not intentionally. Saying no is my immediate instinct when someone offers to help. Especially when it comes to solving problems. It’s easier to fix something by myself than to figure out how to do it with another person.

Which, it occurs to me, may be the reason I’ll die alone in a house full of cats.

I vow right then and there, first, to never own a cat. And second, to be better at letting others help.

I don’t know why it’s so hard to let other people care for me. Maybe it’s the years of layering on protection every time someone called me Ham or criticized my mom for her politics. Maybe it’s the big age gap between my older brother and me. Or maybe because my parents were in their forties when they had me and were too tired to give me anything but free rein.

It could be all those reasons.

It doesn’t really matter. What matters is that if my independence is the reason I’m alone, then it’s become a weakness, not my greatest strength. No shade on people who want to be alone, but that’s not me. I want the fairy tale. The happily ever after.

And I think Zach is the person I could find it with.

Wait…no. That’s not right.

He’s the person I couldcreateit with. That’s basically what he said. If a happily ever after with Zach is what I want, I can’t leave it to chance. I have to make it work.

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