Page 17 of July Skies
“Not only on Monday, Dahl. Every damn day we’ve been here. People don’t want to talk to you because they can smell your desperation to paint them in unsavory ways.”
Dahlia dropped her pencil. “Excuse me? Are you accusing me of being homophobic?”
“Eh. Maybe not intentionally.” Good Lord! The man had the balls to insinuate that! Dahlia had to hand it to him. He really knew how to look her in the eye and say what was on his mind.This is why I hire him. Not only for his experience and level of skill with a camera.Every director needed that one crew member who saw things otherwise refused to be seen. It helped the production maintain a certain… balance.
Now, if Wayne could please see somethingelse,that would be great!
“What in the world about my behavior could be misconstrued ashomophobic?Are you kidding me?”
“From the moment we got here, you’ve been asking people if they feelpressuredto act and feel certain ways toward the gay majority. You really wonder how that could come across as homophobic? I dunno, Dahl, maybe it’s because I know you well enough that I see the connection between this and your childhood.”
“Now that’s a low blow.”
“Come on!” Wayne sat back, his exasperation as clear as the sick on Aaron’s face. “You’re trying to tell me that your mom leaving your family when you were little has nothing to do with this? You’ve been asking questions about the people who have kids. You really sank to a new low when you insinuated that the deputy or her wife must have had kids from previous relationships.”
“What the hell do you want from me? The deputy had a record with older kids!”
“Yeah, when she was alunch lady.”
Dahlia put up her hands, grateful that neither Aaron nor Kurt were around to hear this slander. “What happened with my mom has nothing to do with this project. Sure, call me a little curious about what goes into a woman’s desires to leave her whole family behind, but I know that has nothing to do with sexuality. Give me some credit here, Wayne.”
“Sure, I’ll do that when you start giving these people here some credit, too.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“When you’re not implying they all have hidden agendas, you’re trying to gotcha them into showing their racist asses. That shit on Monday was only the tip of the iceberg. I don’t doubt that they have their issues in a small town, but why do you have to focus on that if nobody’s coming forward about it? You’re looking for reasons to hate on this place. This is after you pitched it as a great marketing opportunity to the mayor!”
“What? Are you on the mayor’s side or something? She’s as fake as any politician gets. She’ll say whatever needs to be said to ensure her town comes out looking good.”
“No shit, Dahl! Because she clearly loves this place and wants it to look good on TV!”
Dahlia fell into a fit of headshaking and scoffing. Papers fell to the floor. Her pencil had completely disappeared. The only thing she still had a hold of was her sanity, although that too quickly slipped away.
She stood up from the table. “Don’t suggest things that simply aren’t true. Now, I’ve got a few things to figure out, such as who I should hire if we need to replace Aaron. I believe you have some work that needs to be done before we go to bed, too?”
Wayne could have stormed after her. He also could have silently sat there and taken her judgments. Yet he did neither, choosing to instead level his gaze at her while saying, “This will all come back to bite you in the ass. Remember that. I’m merely here for the ride.”
“And the paycheck, no doubt.” Dahlia knew a few things about Wayne as well. Like how he relied on the money that dripped through these paychecks to pay the alimony and child support from his first marriage, or the medical bills that amounted when he broke his leg five years ago.Or how about that little stint of his gambling in Vegas before he got his depression medicated?The man had debts. The man would also follow work wherever it lay, because a man had to stay out of jail.
Yet before Dahlia could smugly stew in how right she was, her cell phone rang in the common room. For some reason, it was buried beneath Aaron’s old blankets.
“Yes?” she snapped into the receiver. “This is Dahlia Granger of Hibiscus Films.” She glanced at the clock. For it being this late in the evening, there better be a good reason for bothering her while she fought with her crew.
“Sorry to call so late, Ms. Granger.” Ah, was that the smooth and practiced tone of a small town mayor with a lot to prove? Dahlia was almost pleased to hear from Karen so soon after defending herself to Wayne. “I was wondering if you were available sometime this week for an interview. With me.”
Dahlia held her hand to her chin, her biggest tell that something percolated in her mind. “We’ve already had an interview with you, Mayor. I don’t know what else…”
“I want to give you a personal interview. The one I gave you last week was about my role in this town and what I think about it from an outsider’s perspective. Now, I want to tell you about what led me to moving to this town several years ago.”
Dahlia still wasn’t sold on it. Yet as she replayed the mayor’s words on loop in her head, she realized that this would be her perfect opportunity to show Wayne that she wasnotbiased and chasing down an agenda to paint the whole town as godless, lesbian heathens.
“All right, Mayor.” Dahlia turned her attentions to Wayne, who glared at her from the kitchen table. “We can fit you in Friday afternoon. How does that sound?”
“Sounds delightful. I’ll forward you a time that fits my schedule. Have a lovely day!”
Although Karen hung up, Dahlia continued to hold her phone to her head.I can’t wait.At this rate, Karen would be her climactic moment of the film.
Chapter 11
