Chapter 12
Finn
‘I’ve got a bone to pick with you,’ Finn growled at Violet when he saw her in one of the upstairs corridors. He saw Violet’s eyes dart about, but they were on their own.
‘Well, can you pick it while we walk, please? I need to get a new battery for my radio.’
It was their final day at Mauden Hall. After spending an entire day in each other’s shadows two days earlier, Finn hadn’t seen Violet for the past forty-eight hours. It had been oddly quiet.
Finn fell into step beside Violet. ‘Did you say something to anyone about… you know, anything that I said the other day?’
Violet stopped short and faced him, her brows knitting together. ‘What are you talking about?’
‘About, you know, what happened, you know about you touching me—’
‘Finn!’
‘I mean, maybe about some of the jokes I made about it afterwards?’
‘You mean the jokes you made all day at my expense?’ Violet hissed. Spots of pink bloomed on her cheeks. ‘No, Finn, I didn’t say anything. I would rather erase that entire day from my memory altogether.’
Someone from the locations team appeared around a corner. Finn abruptly changed the subject.
‘Well, anyway, thanks, Violet. I do appreciate you bringing me that new script… that’s great, thank you…’ They passed on by as he trailed off.
‘They’ve gone,’ Violet said.
‘I had one of the most awkward conversations of my life yesterday,’ Finn hissed.
‘Really?’ Violet looked delighted. ‘Why? What happened?’
Finn narrowed his eyes at her, looking for signs that she was in any way responsible for his humiliation. Closing his eyes briefly against the memory, the embarrassment was all too fresh. One of the producers, Emma, had stopped by his trailer on wrap.
‘Finn,’ she had said, sitting across from him at the little table. ‘This is awkward, but did you, um, look… we had a report from a member of the crew, that you may have been using language not entirely fit for the workplace.’
For a second, his mind had gone blank. He didn’t use inappropriate language at work.
Then the blood had rushed from his face, and a cold sweat broke out.
His teasing of Violet after she fell and touched him.
With no context and no idea of his historic relationship with Violet, that would have sounded very bad indeed.
He had done his best to explain to Emma that he had been joking with a colleague, an old friend, in fact, while leaving out what had started the jokes, to spare everyone’s dignity, and apologised profusely.
Emma had nodded and acknowledged that long-established relationships might have different communication styles, then given him a clear steer on what was expected in a professional context.
He had gone home feeling equal parts cross at having let himself down when he had such a great career opportunity, and furious that Violet must have taken the opportunity to complain about him.
Opening his eyes, he was met with a level stare from Violet. She didn’t give any indication that she knew what he was talking about. She was a better actress than he gave her credit for.
‘One of the producers came to speak to me to make sure I wasn’t using inappropriate language in the workplace.’
Violet looked shocked, then snorted. ‘Why? What did you do?’
Two costume juniors strolled along the corridor towards them. Finn glanced around for somewhere more private to have this conversation and saw a door just behind Violet and to the right. Turning the doorknob, he stuck his head inside.
‘Come in here,’ he said, sliding through the door.
Violet shook her head. ‘No. We’re not supposed to go into any rooms except the ones we have approval to use.’
Finn rolled his eyes.
‘No one will know. It’ll be two minutes.’ He beckoned her.
Violet folded her arms. ‘It doesn’t matter if no one knows, those are the rules.’
Finn clenched his jaw. ‘Rules are made to be broken.’
‘Obviously not, Finn.’ Violet’s nose wrinkled. ‘Rules are made to be followed. That’s the entire point of them.’
He reached out, grabbed her jacket and pulled her inside the room. The door clicked shut behind them.
‘Finn!’ Violet slapped his hand off her coat and stepped back.
A huge canopied four-poster bed sat at one end of the room, and a sash window that ran nearly floor to ceiling looked out over the parkland.
Little signs on stands dotted around the floor showed the history of the room and the visiting royal nobles and politicians who had stayed there over the centuries.
It was clearly one of the areas that was usually open to the public.
Turning to face Violet, he hissed, ‘I have to watch a sixty-minute video about Behaviours in the Workplace.’
Violet stared at him blankly for a second, then burst out laughing.
‘This is in no way funny, Violet! The producer literally thinks I am swearing and making rude jokes in front of the crew!’
‘You did swear and make rude jokes,’ Violet retorted.
‘Because you touched my…you touched me!’ Finn was apoplectic. ‘You literally felt me up!’
‘It was an accident!’
‘You are the accident, Violet! You’re going to get us both fired!!’
‘If you hadn’t carried on making a joke about it—like you always do—thinking you’re the most hilarious guy that ever walked the earth, then maybe no one would have had the chance to hear anything they shouldn’t.’
‘Just keep away from me from now on!’
‘That is what I have been trying to do from the beginning!’
‘I should just complain about you, and then you’d be gone, and you can go and make someone else’s life a misery!’
‘Oh, go on then, Finn,’ Violet snapped. ‘Get on and do it!’
They were both breathing heavily, glaring at one another. Violet took a breath and let out a heavy sigh.
‘Look. I didn’t say anything about you, even though you probably deserved it.’
Finn opened his mouth to protest, but she kept going.
‘You’re right. We’ll both end up in serious trouble or jobless if we don’t rein this in.
Let’s just…keep it civil. Formal, almost. No more jokes about what was clearly an accident.
’ She glared at him. ‘And I will just bring you your coffee, and if we ever have to go anywhere, we can just walk in silence. And I will always wait outside, away from you. We’re almost a month in; we’ve got two months to go. We can make it.’
‘Fine,’ Finn said. ‘Civil and formal it is.’
His anger had cooled to a slow simmer. He actually believed Violet when she said she hadn’t reported him for anything; it hadn’t seemed like her style.
Which meant someone else had complained.
He needed to keep his nose clean then, or rather, his language, and get through the rest of the shoot without incident.
‘We need to get back out there before anyone realises you’ve gone,’ Violet was saying, as she marched toward the door, her boots loud on the bare floorboards. There was a pause when she reached the door, then she muttered, ‘Shit.’
Finn frowned. ‘What is it?’
Violet turned to look at him and moved her body out of the way of the door. He could see the doorknob spinning in her hand, turning endlessly, opening nothing.
Finn crossed the space between them in three long strides and nudged her out of the way.
‘Let me see.’
Finn grabbed the doorknob and turned, but it just spun in place. He turned it first one way, then the other, but it spun like a roulette wheel.
‘Oh fuck.’
Finn ran a hand through his hair. This wasn’t a good look, getting himself locked in a room.
‘Okay. Radio Leanna. Or Ethan,’ Finn said. ‘They can let us out.’
Violet’s hand went to her radio cord, then she dropped her arm and shook her head, her expression grim.
‘It’s dead. I was on my way to get a new battery when I saw you!’
Finn huffed. ‘Some AD you are. Well, phone someone then.’
‘There’s no signal here!’ Violet said, her eyes wide. ‘This place is in the middle of nowhere!’
Finn felt his heartbeat quicken. They were actually stuck. ‘Let’s bang on the door then,’ Finn said, turning and raising his arm.
‘We can’t,’ Violet said, grabbing his wrist. ‘What if it echoes through the house? They’re shooting a scene downstairs right now.’
‘Okay.’ Finn glared at her. ‘What do you suggest we do?’
Violet glowered at him.
‘Why is it up to me to find a solution? I seem to remember you were the one who said, hey, Vi, come in here, and got us both into this.’
She jigged on the spot.
‘What are you doing?’
‘Nothing.’
She crossed her legs and waddled away from him.
‘Why are you walking like a duck?’
Violet sighed and rested one hand on the back of a wingback chair.
‘Because I need the loo, Finn,’ she sighed. ‘I really need the loo. I’ve had too much coffee, and I was on my way to get a new battery and then go to the loos, which are miles away for crew, when I saw you, and you dragged me in here.’
Violet tottered towards the window, phone in hand, and started waving the handset around like a divination rod.
‘One bar,’ she murmured excitedly, holding the phone dead still while she tapped at the screen. Finn watched, not moving lest he disturb the fragile signal. After a few seconds, Violet sighed and held up the phone. Even from across the room, Finn recognised the ‘call failed’ screen.
They really were stuck.
‘Try again!’ he said to Violet, and he reached for the door handle once more.
It spun smoothly in place. Finn tugged at the door, then pushed it, just in case.
Bending down, he peered through the gap between the door and the frame.
He could see the catch firmly in place. He leaned his head against the door and sighed.
Glancing up, he looked at Violet, who was now pressed into the other corner of the window, arm almost fully extended upwards.
Her thighs were crossed, and she was trying to place a call while squinting upwards into the bright daylight.
After a moment, she dropped her arm, turned to him and shook her head.
‘Okay. Let’s think this through,’ Finn said.
They were two smart adults. This couldn’t be that difficult. He turned and crossed the room, sitting down in a spindly chair. As he sat, there was a crack of wood. Violet gasped at the splitting sound, then Finn felt something sting him on the arse and jumped to his feet.
‘Oh, Jesus, holy fuck! What the hell?’
He was leaping around in a circle, trying to look over his shoulder and reach his hands around behind him. Was it a bee? A wasp?
Violet burst out laughing, but her hands flew to her belly, and her thighs, and she looked as pained as she did amused.
‘Finn! What are you doing?’
Red-faced, he glared at her.
‘Something bit me on the arse,’ he said.
Hands reaching behind him, something stabbed at his finger, and he pulled his hand back sharply.
‘Ouch!’
Violet left the window and stepped towards him, holding her hands out.
‘Stop for a second. Let me see.’
Finn, feeling most discomfited, stopped moving.
‘Turn around and bend over.’
Violet made a spinning gesture with her index finger.
‘Vi, there is no time for you to touch—’
Stepping back, Violet put her hands on her hips. ‘If you crack a joke right now about me wanting to feel you up or get my hands on you, you’re on your own.’
Finn clamped his lips together and made a zipping gesture across his mouth. Violet gestured for him to turn around.
Finn did as he was told. Violet prodded him on the shoulder, and he bent forward, pulling his costume shirt and jacket up to give her a clear view.
He felt rather than saw Violet squat down to look at his bottom. She seemed to be down there an awfully long time. Then he heard something that sounded like a muffled snort.
‘What?’ Finn tried to crane his neck around. ‘Vi, what is it?’