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Mariah hesitates, thinking.

“It will be fun...” I singsong the last word, then poke her in the ribs. She fights a smile, and I know I have her.

“Fine. Okay.”

“But—” I raise a finger “—we’ll duck out early. Between takes, I came up with an excellent plan to get back at Matt so we can get our unfinished business done and teach him his last lesson. It doesn’t feel right leaving Chilliwack knowing we’ve left a blatant fuckboy unchecked to continue harming the female population.”

Mariah nods, brightening at the prospect. “Agreed.”

We join the rest of the crew at a pub a few blocks away downtown, and soon the table is filled with delicious greasy food and cheap drinks. Mariah sits quietly, looking uncomfortablearound everyone else. They all ignore her, talking amongst themselves, and despite my best efforts to include her, none of them do. I immediately regret bringing her here, even though having her thigh pressed against mine under the table is my favourite part of the entire evening—even more than the random bouts of praise.

“You know, Ellie,” Marlene, the producer, says as she leans across the table to talk over the din. “We have another film coming up in two weeks’ time. Our lead actress has been a bit of a flake, and with recent press she may not be the best fit for the role.”

Yueyi, sitting next to her, nods.

Marlene continues. “She’s technically in breach of her contract. Yueyi and I have been talking, and we’re very impressed by your work as of late. Would you be interested in being the lead?”

My eyes widen into saucers.

“I know it’s short notice,” Marlene says, mistaking my stunned silence for hesitation. “But I have no doubt you could pull it off. You’re a professional Christmas actress, after all.”

Somehow I manage to form words. “Yes! Of course, yes!”

Marlene smiles. “Great. I’ll get in touch with your agent and send the contract and script over right away. The filming will be longer as it’s a skiing movie, which requires snow. We’ll do most of the filming in a few weeks and the rest once we have decent snowfall. Will you need lessons?”

I find a way to nod.

“We’ll get that taken care of. Your co-star will be Jack Winstron.”

“Jack...Winstron?” I feel faint.

Marlene and Yueyi share a knowing smile. “Yes.TheJack Winstron. He’s a method actor, too, isn’t he?”

Idefinitelyfell and smacked my head at some point. Is this real life? Simply breathing the same air as this man would up my game immensely. I want the job. I need it. “Yes. Please contact my agent. I’ll take a look.”Good. Yes. Play it cool.

Marlene purses her lips and raises a single eyebrow. My acting doesn’t fool her; she knows I’m giddy AF. The conversations drift away from me and I twist in my seat to face Mariah. I grip her forearms and give her the tiniest shake, even though what I want to do is climb onto the seat and jump up and down like Tom Cruise.

“Mariah, you can come with me! You can do my makeup on set again! I’m sure Marlene and Yueyi will hire you even if you’re not a local since you did such a great job here, and we can tell them we’ll bunk together to save on costs, and we can do it all over again! We can have another Christmas together, but up in Whistler this time. We’ll be in the mountains with the snow, oh my god, it will be amazing. Aren’t you excited?”

Mariah drops her gaze. Then, not even bothering to reply, she reaches for her drink and downs the whole thing.

“Mariah?” I try to pull her back to face me, but she refuses to look me in the eyes. I blink a few times, confused.

“You ready to go?” she asks, her voice low. “It’s getting late.”

I regard her for a moment, unsure of her sudden coldness. Is it something I did, or something else that’s bothering her? “Yeah. Sure.” I turn back to the table and say goodbye to everyone, which is met with a heartwarming chorus ofdon’t go, andcome on, we’re just getting started, which I didn’t expect.

My heart is being tugged in two different directions. I’ve worked on a lot of movies but I’ve never felt so part of a team as this, and tonight is our last night together. Even though I’ll likely see Marlene and Yueyi and some of the other behind-the-scenes people again in a few weeks, I may never work with Julia and Oscar again.

But then I look to Mariah. I ache to know what thoughts are swirling around in her mind right now. And then it clicks.

None of this matters as much as her.

I throw down a tip and we start making our way around the table when Julia perks up. “Oh yeah, you have a hot date tonight!”

I glance at Mariah, who freezes, unsure of what to say. “What?” I ask.

“That hot guy, Matthew?” Julia clarifies. “I still think you should have brought him.”