Chapter 30
Violet
Violet wrapped her fluffy robe around her and pulled the belt tight about her waist. As she wiped steam off the bathroom mirror, her hand squeaked on the damp glass.
She had a cut on her head just above her eye held together with butterfly strips, but otherwise, there were no outward signs of the accident.
Her shoulder and back hurt from the fall, but you couldn’t see that.
She had been wearing her seatbelt, so her injuries were less serious than those of a couple of the others.
It had been a terrifying experience, but it also looked and sounded a lot worse than it actually was. By the time help arrived at the scene, the minibus was in a sorry state, lying at least twenty feet below the road level. However, the journey to get there had been a masterclass in slow motion.
When the furious mini-bus driver, trying to squeeze past the telehandler who had created the jam in the first place, lost the front left wheel over the edge of the overgrown track, the bus had paused, suspended in mid-air for what felt like several moments before it started to pitch left.
Once it started to tip over, it had hit a young beech tree, which had drastically slowed its fall until the weight of the bus finally crushed the tree.
Then the bus started to slide down the slope, but there were so many young trees and shrubs that it never built up much momentum before sliding to a stop, almost upside down.
Violet and the other two passengers had mostly superficial injuries, but the driver had gone into shock shortly after being pulled from the vehicle and had been rushed to hospital.
Violet was brought up on a stretcher, despite the fact that she had pulled herself out of the vehicle with no problem.
As soon as the paramedics got their hands on her, she was strapped to a stretcher, her head was immobilised in a brace, and she was carried the rest of the way up to the road and put in the back of an ambulance.
Within five minutes, she was covered in wires and monitors, the ambulance doors were slammed shut, and she was bumping along the road to the hospital.
She didn’t remember much about the hospital itself.
From her prone horizontal position, she couldn’t see much, just people bending over her and prodding her.
At one point, she thought she heard Finn’s voice, but the neck brace meant she couldn’t turn her head to see.
She was sent for scans and tests, and eventually, satisfied there were no hidden injuries to her neck or back, they took off the brace and let her sit up.
Sometime after that, she was discharged and allowed to go. She called a taxi and went home.
Tim from craft was being kept in for observation after sustaining a head wound and some other minor injuries, and Mike had fractured his leg, but it had been set, and he had been sent home.
Her phone pinged again. She was touched by the number of messages she had received, some from people she barely knew. Rachael and Jake had both checked in several times, Chloe, Ethan, and Leanne had phoned, and Anna, of course.
And then there was Finn’s message, which she had picked up sometime after they took the neck brace off.
I know you were on the bus. Are you ok? Please just tell me how you are.
She had replied shortly before the hospital discharged her and said that she was okay and not to worry.
He had tried to call a few times, but she hadn’t been able to pick up. She almost called him back, but she knew nothing good would come from it. She needed a hot bath, food and sleep, in that order.
Pulling the towel turban off, she gently shook out her hair. Damp tendrils of wavy locks stuck to her cheeks.
There was a knock at the door, and she frowned. She wasn’t expecting anyone.
She hooked her feet into her slippers and shuffled down the stairs.
‘Your care package is here!’
It was Anna, holding a pizza box in one hand and a bulging supermarket bag in the other.
Violet stood back to let her in, and Anna, still dressed in cargo trousers and the oversized hoodie she had been in all day, kicked off her boots and marched down Violet’s neat little hallway to the kitchen.
Violet followed and pulled out some plates for the pizza as Anna decanted the contents of the bag onto the counter.
‘We have medicinal ice cream, prescription wine—I mean it’s rosé, so it’s hardly proper wine, anyway. Crisps, more crisps.’ She waggled a bag. ‘These are made of beetroot chips or something, so they are, in fact, a vegetable and therefore one of your five a day.’
Violet laughed and pressed a hand into her side as a bolt of pain shot through her ribs. Anna held up a large bar of milk chocolate.
‘Everyone knows chocolate creates oxytonon, or oxylonon or makes your brain make it, or something. Makes you feel good, anyway.’
‘You mean oxytocin?’
‘Aha!’ Anna banged down a box of Maltesers. ‘So, your brain wasn’t as badly cabbaged as the paramedics said. Good to know.’
Violet chuckled, careful not to laugh so hard it hurt.
‘Oh, and paracetamol.’
Anna tossed a box onto the pile of food and drink.
Violet giggled at paracetamol being the incidental item in Anna’s bag of medicinal support.
Anna stopped unpacking for a moment and stood in front of Violet, her face uncharacteristically serious.
‘Can I hug you if I am very gentle?’ she asked.
Violet felt her lower lip start to wobble, and she nodded. She was shattered, the trauma of the day suddenly announcing itself all at once. She placed a hand on the counter as tears filled her eyes and everything went watery.
Gently, Anna wrapped her arms around her. She smelled faintly like diesel and damp grass.
‘I can’t even cry properly,’ Violet sniffled, her chin propped on Anna’s shoulder. ‘I’ve got two cracked ribs, so it’s agony.’
Anna snorted but turned it into a cough.
‘I’m very glad you’re okay. I was in bits when I heard what had happened and then when I heard you were on the bus…’ She shuddered and gave Violet a gentle squeeze before letting go.
Grabbing the plates, the rose and some glasses, she said, ‘Come on. Time for some medicinal pizza.’
Violet smiled and shuffled after Anna into the living room.
Two slices later, they had dissected the events leading up to the accident twice over. Violet’s phone had beeped with three more messages, including another one from Rachael checking on her. But nothing else from Finn.
‘Who are the messages from?’ Anna asked.
‘Oh, the AD team, the producers, some of the standbys, production team, you know.’
Anna nodded and took a big bite of pizza.
‘And that’s all? Nothing from Finn?’
Violet’s face flushed. ‘One message earlier, and he’s tried to call. But like I told you, we’re not involved any more. I asked him to keep his distance, so I… so that’s what he’s doing.’
Anna’s brows knitted together, and she dropped a half-eaten pizza slice onto her plate.
‘You don’t know?’
‘Know what?’
‘Finn ran down the accident site, Violet. I mean, sprinted all the way down the hill. In costume. Left Jennifer in the green room and just ran off. He was there when the ambulance crew brought you up. Ed and Emma had a job keeping him out of the way while the paramedics checked you over. And my boss had to get between him and the telehandler driver when Finn worked out who that was. Jake calmed him down in the end, but he looked,’ Anna was studying Violet’s face. ‘He looked pretty wrecked.’
Finn had been there.
‘I didn’t see him,’ Violet said weakly.
‘Well, you were flat on your back on a stretcher with a neck brace on while they checked you over. I don’t suppose you could see much. He made Geoff follow the ambulance to the hospital.’
‘Oh God!’ Violet’s hands flew to her face. ‘What must everyone think?’
‘Violet, I think it was too chaotic for anyone to pay too close attention. If you’re still set on self-sabotage, I think you’re safe.’
Violet’s head snapped up. ‘What do you mean, self-sabotage? You know why I had to break it off. It was a bad idea in the first place.’
Anna shrugged. ‘Sure, and you know I respect your decision. But, as your favourite friend, you should also know I think you’re making a mountain out of a mole hill.’
‘Okay, well, thanks for bringing pizza and unsolicited advice,’ Violet grumbled, shoving her plate away from her.
‘Look, you’re vulnerable and injured and chocolate-deficient, and I don’t want to kick you while you’re down, but Violet, it’s time you knew. You are at risk of turning into your mother.’
Violet sucked in a sudden breath that hurt her ribs. ‘What? Anna, what are you talking about?’
Anna looked unperturbed by Violet’s reaction and continued calmly.
‘I’m not saying you come across the same, and no one would meet your mother and think you two are alike.
But much as it pains me to say it…’ Violet didn’t think Anna looked pained at all.
‘You and your mother have one key thing in common. You both prioritise work above everything else. To the detriment, sometimes, of the relationships in your life.’
Anna stopped and had the good grace to look a little sheepish.
‘I cannot believe you just compared me to Cynthia.’
‘Not compared you,’ Anna defended. ‘Pointed out one important parallel.’
‘You compared me to Cynthia. My emotionally unavailable, narcissistic mother. Are you seriously saying she and I are alike?’
Violet could hear how high her voice was getting.
Anna wiped her fingers on a paper napkin and looked Violet square in the face.
Violet glared back at her.
‘Look, ever since we have known each other, you have always said that work was her number one priority, and you and your dad were there to fill the gaps and support her when work was quiet. In your own way, you’ve made work the centre of your world, too.’
‘It is hardly the same thing! I am a trainee, I have a mortgage and bills to pay, there’s a lot at stake here, Anna! The situations aren’t the same,’ she said.
‘Not exactly,’ Anna conceded. ‘But they aren’t a million miles apart either.
I really think you’ve blown this into a much bigger issue than it really is.
Relationships happen on shows all the time, including between cast and crew.
Violet,’ she said softly, ‘I don’t know exactly what’s going on with you and Finn.
But I do know you have a habit of prioritising work, like it’s all or nothing, like your mum.
Without compromise. I’m just saying I don’t think you have to completely sacrifice this relationship to be successful in your job.
I mean, we’ll be wrapped on Huxton in a few weeks. ’
‘You can go off people, you know,’ Violet muttered, glowering at Anna. ‘No matter how long you might have known each other.’
‘Okay, okay,’ Anna held her hands up. ‘Just…just don’t make this decision all about what you heard a jealous twenty-something gossip about in the toilets!’
Violet changed the subject to what was going on with Anna and Ben which immediately put Anna on the back foot and took all the attention away from her and Finn.
As she listened to Anna talk about one of the most recent scrapes she and Ben had got into while on location, her mind wandered.
She wanted Anna to be right; she wanted it to be true that a relationship like theirs was not a big deal.
That she could be with Finn and not be viewed as the too-risky-to-hire AD.
But she just couldn’t see it. There were too many people chasing too few jobs in this field.
Over a hundred people had applied for the role she held now.
To succeed and progress, she didn’t just have to be good; she had to be exceptional and beyond reproach.
After an hour or so, once she and Anna had polished off the pizza and some of the crisps, Anna headed home. Violet persuaded her to take the beetroot crisps with her, but she kept the chocolate, for medicinal purposes.
Switching off the lights, she had one foot on the bottom stair when the doorbell went again. Anna had no doubt decided to lay claim to the rest of the rosé wine.
When the door swung open, she saw Finn. He was out of costume, but his hair still looked wild, he had smudges of makeup on the side of his face, and he was wearing the padded coat the costume team used for him on set. He was holding a large bunch of flowers, and he held them out to her.
‘I went back to the hospital, but they said you’d already gone home.’
After holding it together all day and telling everyone she was fine and not to worry, seeing Finn made Violet realise she was not, in fact, okay at all.
She was sore, exhausted and traumatised and wanted nothing more than to lean into him and be wrapped up in his arms. That was what would make it all better.
Not pizza, paracetamol or beetroot crisps.
A lump built in her throat, and she gripped the door handle tightly.
‘Finn,’ she shook her head and swallowed. ‘That’s kind…that’s really kind, but we shouldn’t…’
‘They’re not romantic flowers, Vi,’ he said in a low voice, taking a step closer. ‘They’re get well soon flowers.’ He held out the bouquet a little further. ‘You can take them.’
Violet tentatively reached out and took the huge bunch of roses, lilies and chrysanthemums.
‘Thank you,’ she said softly.
‘How are you? Does anything hurt?’
Violet swallowed. ‘Um, I’m okay. Bit bruised but nothing major.’
A muscle clenched in Finn’s jaw and he took a breath and nodded. ‘I’m glad you’re okay. I just wouldn’t have been able to sleep tonight without seeing for myself that you’re all right.’
‘I think it helped that I was wearing my seatbelt,’ Violet said.
Finn stared at her, then let out a long breath.
‘Of course you were.’ He started to laugh. He pushed both hands through his hair and shook his head. ‘Of course you were,’ he said again.
Violet frowned. ‘What do you mean, of course I was? What’s funny about that?’
He stepped towards her. ‘I’m not laughing at you, Violet,’ he said.
His eyes were so dark as he stood looking down at her. She could smell the oaky citrus notes of his aftershave and tried not to drag the smell deep into her lungs.
‘I’m laughing because I’m just so relieved you’re okay.’
‘There are signs on the bus that tell you, you should wear your seatbelt,’ Violet said, still not mollified.
Finn grinned. ‘I know. And I have never been more relieved in my life that you follow the rules.’
‘You make me sound boring,’ she huffed.
‘Does it matter what I think anymore?’ he asked flatly.
She opened her mouth but had nothing to say to that.
He turned to go, then looked back at her over his shoulder.
‘I don’t think you’re boring, Vi. I think you’re fascinating. I always have done.’
And with that, he stepped from her little garden path onto the pavement.