14. Miles

14

MILES

My thighs burned as I made my way up the steep path that wound through a thick grove of trees as I followed the pin that Zoe had dropped to me with her location. From the road below, there was no way I would have known that there was anything up here if she hadn't sent me the geo coordinates.

When I got the text earlier today asking to meet her, I'd been both excited and scared—excited because I missed her and scared because I worried that she'd changed her mind about the movie. After spending two weeks in Firefly, I was more invested in telling Austin's story than ever. This town was the perfect backdrop for an origin story. Zoe and Austin's relationship was the heart of the film that was going to anchor the movie and offer a glimpse into the gravity of the sacrifice he made.

We'd locked all the locations in New Mexico, and I was going to be leaving to film there in five days. I didn't want to leave Firefly. There was a peace that I felt here I'd never experienced before. The first week I'd arrived, nearly everywhere I went, I took selfies with people, but now, no one asked for my photo except tourists. All the locals treated me like everyone else.

I'd been hanging out with Harlan and Dawson at the only bar in town, Southern Comfort, shooting pool and playing darts. I'd gotten to know the Comfort brothers, who owned the bar, and their significant others, Reagan, Skylar, and Isabella. Their little sister Cheyenne and her husband Cash, who was a bartender, were there. Ray, who worked at and lived above the bar and had for over forty years, taught me how to make jambalaya. He was originally from New Orleans before settling in Firefly. In the short time I'd been in town, they'd accepted me and made me feel like one of their own, not like an outsider.

I was going to miss the community here when I left. I'd never felt like I fit in anywhere. When I was a kid, I'd grown up on sets with adults. At school, I missed a lot of classes because I was working. Once I graduated, I was always pitted against other actors my age. My peers were seen as my competition, not my friends.

I'd really enjoyed just hanging out with people who had no ulterior motives. But I did have to admit, the entire time, I'd missed Zoe. I kept hoping that she would show up. Maybe Daphne would have invited her out since she was there with Harlan, but she hadn't.

From what I heard, Zoe was a homebody who worked and took care of her son. She rarely had a night out. I admired that about her. That certainly wasn't my experience with a single mom.

Just as the path through the thicket of trees grew so narrow it was the width of my shoulders, there was a clearing that looked out over the ocean, and I saw Zoe seated on a boulder. She must have heard me behind her because she glanced over her shoulder. I stood motionless, speechless at the sight before me.

The sun was setting on the horizon. Vivid reds, oranges, yellows, and purples filled the sky, giving the backdrop an ethereal glow. Her brunette hair appeared almost auburn, and her green eyes were iridescent against her inky lashes. She licked her full, raspberry lips, and my eyes followed the path of her tongue.

"Thanks for coming all the way up here." Her smile was almost apologetic.

"Of course." I grinned as I walked over to her and lowered down beside her. My heart raced as my palms grew damp with sweat the way they did whenever I was near Zoe. She had that effect on me.

"Sorry for all the cloak and dagger stuff and the secret location. I just didn't want to meet in town because, you know, people talk. Everyone knew that I stopped by to see you last week. I've been asked about it at least twenty times."

"I didn't say?—"

"No, I know. It was probably Mrs. B." She closed her eyes as she exhaled. "Or no, what was I thinking? It was Sunday."

"Sunday," I repeated, not understanding the significance.

Her lids opened, and she looked at me. "Sunday nights are mahjong nights."

"Oh." I still wasn't following.

"That means Caroline Shaw, Anna May Birch, and Sonja Rojas were all there. Ms. Shaw owns Pretty in Peach, a hair salon. It's the gossip hub of Firefly Island."

"Right." Now, I was up to speed. I'd heard about Pretty in Peach. Apparently, there was some serious beef with another establishment in town. Thankfully, there was only one barbershop, so the men of Firefly Island did not have to take sides in the battle of the beauty salons.

Zoe sighed. "It doesn't matter, um, thank you for coming out here."

"It's beautiful." I looked out over the ocean, but I wasn't talking about the view of the landscape. Zoe James was one of the most beautiful women I'd ever seen in my life. Not just her outer beauty; it was an inner confidence, a strength that had been forged out of pain and suffering that she had, which was beautiful.

"Yeah, it is."

There was a deep well of sadness in her voice that broke my heart into a thousand pieces.

"Do you come up here a lot?"

She cleared her throat. "I used to. Um, this was mine and Austin's place. But I still come up here when I want to be close to him or if I want to think or be alone. Or in this case, not be seen by anyone."

I felt honored that she'd trusted me to share this place with her, even if it was only out of necessity because she didn't want prying eyes on us.

"The reason I asked you to come up here is because there's something I wanted to talk to you about."

"Okay." I nodded.

"Um, AJ found out that his friend Kendall is going to be auditioning to be a young me in the movie."

I waited for her to say more.

"So, is that true?" she asked. "Am I going to be in the movie?"

"Oh, sorry, yes." It never even occurred to me that Zoe wouldn't know that she had a pivotal role in the movie. "The first act of the movie is going to be you and Austin's story. Everyone I talked to, all the men in his squad, everyone here in town, Walter, Harlan, Dawson, Mrs. B, the Comfort brothers, they all said that you were all that mattered to Austin. You and AJ. I honestly feel like I can't tell his story without including you."

She pulled her knees up to her chin and looked out over the water. I watched her, wondering if that was going to change her answer. Was she going to decide she didn't want the movie to go forward?

"If you're uncomfortable with?—"

"No, it's fine." She took a deep breath and rubbed her hands up and down her bare arms.

In the few minutes we'd been sitting on the lookout spot, the sun had fallen even lower beneath the horizon, and the wind had picked up. The temperature had probably dropped by ten degrees.

I unzipped my hoodie and placed it over her shoulders.

"Oh, no." She shifted away from me. "I don't need?—"

"Please. Take it. I always run hot."

Her eyes locked with mine, and a faint blush spread on her cheeks. I hadn't meant for my statement to come out sounding suggestive, but I think that's how she took it. To be fair, that's how anything I said around her felt. When I was with her, everything was suggestive. I lowered my arms back to my sides, leaving the hoodie wrapped around her back.

"Thank you." She put her arms through the sleeves and cleared her throat. "AJ actually wants to audition to play his dad, you know, when he was younger."

"That's amazing. He doesn't have to audition. He can have the role." I couldn't believe I hadn't thought of that. AJ was a little younger than Austin had been when he saw Zoe in the library. He was thirteen, about to be fourteen, and AJ was eleven, about to be twelve. But AJ was tall for his age. He looked older. He would be perfect.

"I don't want him to get the role just because the movie is about Austin. I want him to audition, just like everyone else. He's never acted before. I don't want him to show up on set and not be able to do the job."

When she first said that she didn't want AJ to get the role, I thought it was because she didn't want there to be nepotism, but now I saw that her real fear was that AJ would be put in a position where he would fail. I would never let that happen.

"Let me work with him. We're hiring locally for the under-eighteen roles, so all the tapes are getting uploaded online and sent to our casting director. I'll film it with him and help him with his lines."

"You don't have to do that." She shook her head. "That's not why I was telling you."

"I know it wasn't. But I like AJ, and I think it would be really special if he were a part of this project. Also, I see something in AJ. I've been in this business most of my life. I know when people have something that can translate on screen or not, and he has it. And I know how to memorize lines with dyslexia. I won't hire him if he's not ready. In fact, we can upload the tape to casting, and we won't even tell Joanne that he's Austin's son. James is a very common last name. She sends me the top ten tapes that she thinks are right for the role. If he doesn't make the cut, he doesn't make the cut."

I could see the battle going on behind Zoe's eyes. She clearly wanted to make the right decision for her son. I could see how scared she was that she was going to make the wrong choice.

"I won't let him be put in any position that he's not ready for, I promise."

She exhaled. "Okay."

An unearned sense of pride flooded through me. Having this woman's trust, especially when it came to her son, meant more to me than anything else I'd ever achieved.

She started to stand, and I helped her up. When we were both on our feet, she started to take the jacket off.

"Keep it," I told her.

"No, I can't."

I pulled the two zippered sides together, wrapped them around her, and her eyes lifted to mine. "It's just a hoodie. I want you to keep it."

The air between us was thick with tension. I needed her to say yes, to say that she'd keep my jacket. I couldn't explain why it was so important to me, but it was.

"Are you sure?" Her voice was so quiet I could barely hear her.

"Yes."

She licked her lips again, and I noticed her chest was rising and falling in short breaths. I wasn't the only one feeling the intensity in this ‘innocent' exchange. Whatever was happening between us, I didn't think it was one-sided.

Without saying a word, we made our way down the hill. She smiled and waved as she climbed into her white Audi. I watched as she drove away in my black zip-up hoodie. Even though we were just talking about a hoodie, I really liked the idea of her going home in a piece of clothing of mine—of her wearing something of mine. That was the word that I kept thinking as her car disappeared down the road. Mine .