“Oh, but Jewel always brought me to interesting places, like, they loved rock climbing, so they taught me how to climb on a weekend trip to Yosemite.” Sophie cocked her head as she thought a bit more. “Hmm…but Carla knows a lot about astronomy and took me stargazing at the planetarium once, which was also super sweet.”
“Which ex is Carla?” Dash hadn’t heard that name before.
Sophie shook her head, then studied her hands as she answered. “She was my longest relationship. We dated for close to a year. If there’s anyone who I could see a second chance with, it’s her.”
He frowned. Something about that made his throat go completely dry. Was he actually jealous? No, he couldn’t be jealous of the fact that Sophie had dated someone and might want to date them again. Still, he was suddenly choked up. He reached for the bottle of water in the cup holder, undid the cap, and took a sip. “I’m hearing a lot about what all of your exes like, but what about what you like?”
Sophie blinked, then sat back in her seat. “How do you mean?”
“Like, if I were to take you on a date, where would you want to go? How would you want to spend the day?” He was phrasing this in a very weird way, because apparently, he wasn’t capable of a normal conversation when he was with Sophie. He should just let her do the talking from now on.
Sophie stared at him, then shrugged. “Well, I mean, obviously I love books. It would be cool to do, like, a literary tour of LA. Maybe hopping around to different places? Like Joan Didion’s house in Hollywood. And Nora Ephron used to love eating at Langer’s Deli downtown. And then getting to visit all my favorite bookstores—Book Soup, The Last Bookstore, Chevalier’s, and ending at The Ripped Bodice, which is my actual happy place. That would be a perfect day.”
She gazed off somewhere in front of them with the hint of a smile that caused the apples of her cheeks to pop. He imagined what it would feel like to make her happy like that, like she had nothing in the world to ever worry about.
“It’s cool that books are your life. Not everyone finds their thing that way.” Dash certainly hadn’t.
“Do you want to be acting more?” she asked.
No, he absolutely did not. Just the thought of having to read a script made his shirt collar way too tight. “No, I’m done with acting.”
“Oh.” Sophie sounded genuinely surprised.
And then he realized he’d told her something he hadn’t yet told the rest of his family. He seemed to have a problem when it came to Sophie, in that all his closely kept secrets were spilling out. First the mention of his TikTok account, and now his plan to leave acting permanently. Only Chris, and now Sophie, knew the truth—which was probably not the smartest decision, given that Sophie might tell his sister.
“Please don’t tell Poppy that, though. I don’t want her to worry.” He glanced at her, and she gave him a concerned look. “My parents want me to be acting, but I never liked being in the spotlight. It was their dream, not mine.”
“Are you really done with acting?”
Dash sighed. The problem with sharing this decision was that it was complicated. He wasn’t just quitting acting because he was bored. He’d decided to leave the industry to save his life. “I’m done,” he simply said.
She fiddled with the silver pinkie ring on her hand. “I’ve seen all your movies. They were kind of what got me through high school, if I’m being honest.”
That wasn’t the first time he’d heard a similar sentiment. He’d come of age on-screen, and a lot of his fans had grown up along with him.
When he glanced at her, she blushed and quickly looked away. The color in her cheeks only highlighted the freckles that dotted them. He wanted to rub his thumb across her skin and feel the flame of her there, but he stopped himself.
“You created these incredible characters. And if I was having a bad day, I knew I could turn on a movie and escape with you for a bit. I felt like I knew you, in a way. That probably sounds weird.” She laughed, then searched his eyes for a reaction.
The truth was, she didn’t sound weird to him at all. If he didn’t know any better, it sounded like she might’ve had a crush on him when she was growing up. Why was that making him feel self-conscious and proud at the same time?
“Only a little weird,” he finally said. Dash’s mouth quirked up, and he fought to suppress it.
“What do you want to do, if you’re not acting?”
He cracked his neck. He always felt like a loser when faced with this question. But this was Sophie, and for whatever reason, he trusted her not to judge him. “That’s the zillion-dollar question. My parents projected onto me what my life would be, so now I’m having to sort out who I am without their input. It’s harder than I thought. It probably sounds ridiculous to say. I’m thirty-six and should know what I’m doing, but I’m still figuring things out.”
“So am I.” Sophie smiled, and Dash was surprised by how grateful he was to see a kind of warm, understanding look cross her face. “It’s sometimes like everyone already got their membership to the Adulting Club, except me. I don’t know what I’m doing either. Don’t feel bad about it.”
And, for the first time since deciding he was done with acting, he really didn’t feel all that bad about it.
“What would you do, if you weren’t writing?” He shifted in the seat and pointed the air vent toward his face. His whole body had warmed from accidentally telling Sophie about his career change. He wasn’t used to opening up, and it made him sweat, literally.
“That’s just it,” Sophie said. “Writing is the only thing I truly want to do. It’s this big, wild dream my mom always wanted me to achieve. And getting a book published made me so happy because I knew she’d be deeply proud. Just knowing people read something I wrote lit this fire inside me. And I don’t know that there’s anything else in the world that would make me feel as fulfilled as writing does.”
“Then, that’s what you have to keep doing,” he said. “Don’t ever give up.”
Sophie was so quiet that all he heard was the whoosh of the wind around the car as they continued to drive. When he turned, she watched him, her expression appreciative. But he’d never done well with other people’s emotions, so he avoided her gaze and refocused on the road.
Only he couldn’t ignore how hard his heart raced as they flew down the highway together.
When they pulled off at the Ojai exit, Sophie looked out the window, and he saw what she saw—grand mountains set against a blue sky dotted with comically puffy white clouds. The place was idyllic and quaint. The air was warm, but also crisp with the smell of lavender coming from the slight breeze, and it made him relax instantly.
“I’m getting small-town vibes.” Dash spotted a billboard for the upcoming town parade and strawberry festival. “Is the town mayor a golden retriever?”
She laughed so loudly that it hummed in his ears and made him smile. He’d made her laugh.
“You’re thinking of Idyllwild, and they really do have a dog as the town mayor. But it’s still small here. You really couldn’t get away with much.” She instructed him to turn down a side street and smiled at something ahead of them. When he followed her gaze, he saw a vine-covered structure with a placard out front that read Bart’s Books.