Page 32 of Until Then

With a shake of her head, she looks out the window. She doesn’t ask to roll it down, nor does she make any move to do it herself. I lower it for her anyway, earning myself the tiniest tip of her lips. The move is almost imperceptible, but I feel like I’ve won something. I’m not sure what exactly, but it feels good. “You can talk to me, you know,” I tell her as I pull out onto the road.

With a sigh, she faces me. “I posted a photo from today on my story and… I don’t know what I thought, but I didn’t expect to get so many nasty messages.”

“What’s a story?”

She exhales loudly. “You don’t do any social media, do you?”

I shake my head. “Nah, sorry.”

“It’s a post that’s only available for a limited time, like twenty-four hours. Typically, you post something you want to share but that you don’t necessarily want to remain out there for the world to see forever.”

“Okay?” I ask. “I feel like I’m missing something.”

She taps the button on her door to roll up the window, quieting the truck cab so it’ll be easier to hear each other. “I don’t know how to explain this in a way you’ll understand, but long story short, a lot of people on social media hate me right now. It’s why I’m here, to get away from it all.”

“Hold on.” I ease the truck to a stop at a red light. “So that miserable look on your face when I got in the truck was there because people who exist in that stupid box”—I point at her phone—“hurt your feelings?”

“I…” She slumps further. “When you put it that way, it sounds pathetic.”

“Those people aren’t evenreal. Not to you, anyway. You don’t know them. They don’t know you. Anything they say is bullshit. You realize that, right?”

Absentmindedly, she rubs at her chin. “Logically, I know you’re right, but mean words are still mean words.”

“Explain what they’re pissed about,” I say, and when she grimaces, I add, “If you want.” I don’t want to make her rehash the issue if it bothers her that much.

“I interviewed Lux a few months back.” At my blank expression, she sighs. “She’s a pop singer—theit girl of the moment. Anyway, I was working for The Tea. They’d given mea list of questions to ask, but they were pretty invasive and…” She trails off with a shrug. “Here we are.”

I lower my head and give it a firm shake. When I look back up at her, I have to bite back a smirk. “Do you realize how dumb all of this sounds?”

She regards me with misty eyes, rubbing beneath her nose. “That’s usually how it goes when an influencer gets canceled. Sometimes it’s legit, but more often than not, it’s silly. And no one everreallygets canceled. People get bored and move on eventually, but since Lux is so huge, the animosity is hanging over me longer than it should.”

“Maybe there’s a reason for that,” I suggest as I turn onto my street.

“Huh?” In my periphery, her face falls. “You think I deserve this?”

My stomach twists. Shit. “No. I just mean that maybe you were meant to slow down. Live life a littlewithouta camera in your face. The last time you were here, I saw you at the coffee shop. Did you know that?”

Brow furrowed, she shakes her head.

“You didn’t even notice me because you were too busy talking to a screen.”

“I…” Her cheeks redden. “I didn’t?”

“I was going to say hi, but you were pretty engrossed. So I figured whatever you were doing must be important.”

I put the truck into park in the driveway and cut the engine.

Izzy gapes at me. “I’ll always say hi to you, Derrick. I’m sorry I didn’t see you.”

Shrugging, I pull the keys from the ignition. “Your work is important.”

With her lip caught between her teeth, she turns from me and surveys the yard out the window. “Itwas. Now, I’m not so sure.” With that, she hops out and tosses that gigantic bag over her shoulder like it weighs nothing. Then she heads for the door without looking back.

After a moment to gather my wits, I follow.

9

IZZY

---