Page 33 of October
“Hey, you two,” a woman said as she walked out from the back. “I saw your name on the to-go order, Bryce. I didn’t know you were back in town.”
“For a week, yeah,” the woman who, Finley now knew, was named Bryce replied.
The other woman looked over at Finley and Molly then, squinted, and approached their booth.
“You’re Logan and Rory’s friend, right?” she asked.
“Sort of,” Molly said. “New friend.”
“I’m Candace. I own the bar. I think we met before.”
“Yeah, briefly,” Molly replied. “You made me a drink and asked if I’d have it at my wedding. Nice to see you again.”
“That’s right! You too. Can I get you anything else?”
Molly checked with Finley before shaking her head.
“I’m okay,” Finley replied.
“I said I was sorry, Sophie,” the woman named Bryce said as she stood facing the woman named Sophie.
“You’ve wanted to move here since we started dating, and now, you’re looking at houses in LA? You said you didn’t want to move to California. You can write from anywhere; that’s what you told me.”
“I know. And that’s still true; I like New Orleans. I just feel like I have an opportunity in LA. With the movie getting delayed until next year, they have two more scripts they want me to work on. One, they want me to fix, and the other, they want me to write, Soph. That’s a huge deal.”
“It is, babe, but you said you wanted to be here.”
“I want to be with you,” Bryce replied.
“What’s going on there?” Molly asked Candace.
“Bryce lives in Tennessee, and she was supposed to be moving here because she’s with Sophie over there,” Candace explained quietly. “But now, she wants to move to LA. It’s a whole thing.”
“LA?”
“She and Sophie had this whole viral relationship thing. Basically, the two met, and it was all perfect and amazing, but they got separated. Bryce was a popular food blogger, so she started a blog about Sophie to find her, and it got very popular.Someone we know saw it and told Sophie. They’ve been together since, like, March, I think.”
“March? And they’re already moving in together?” Finley asked.
“One of those things.” Candace shrugged a shoulder in response. “A production company for queer movies reached out to Bryce to work on a script.” She sat down next to Molly. “They’re making a movie about how they found each other again.”
“Really?” Molly asked. “A movie about them?”
“Yeah, it’s a big deal. They were scheduled to film here, in New Orleans, this December. Low budget, but not ano-budget kind of thing. Pre-production has been going on, but Soph told me last week that they’ve postponed filming it until next year. I guess they ran into some issues; no clue. Anyway, Bryce had been planning on moving here with Sophie, but they’ve offered her more work between now and next year. I overheard her talking on the phone once last month about moving there instead.”
“Shit,” Finley said.
“Yeah, shit,” Sophie stated, walking over. “Thanks for giving them the download on my life, Candace.”
“You weren’t supposed to hear me. I was talking quietly for a reason.”
“She has good ears,” Bryce said, joining her. “And yes, all of that is true, and Soph is upset with me.”
“Which I have every right to be.”
“Yes, you do,” Bryce agreed with a nod. “And yes, Icanwrite wherever, but it’s not just writing. They’ve really liked working with me these past few months and want to see if there’s potential for me to come on staff full-time in another role, Soph. It’s not a lot of money, but it’s enough, and I do think I’d reallylike that. They produce a few TV shows, too. It could be regular work. I’d have an office and everything.”
“We should talk about this at home,” Sophie suggested. “You looked at houses, Bryce.”
