Page 102 of The Holidays with Mr. Mitchell

“What do you mean? What happened?” Jim questioned, sitting supportively at my side.

I showed him Cat’s staged text and waited for him to read it.

“That’s impossible,” he said. “There’s no way they can shut the set down without?—”

“Cat forgot to get the final safety checks done by the city,” I said, trying to think of something sad so I could cry and make it believable.

Crying wasn’t my thing, and Jim knew it. Instead of crying, I usually got pissed. That would be more believable to the man.

“That seems highly unlikely,” Jim said. “Cat is known for saving shit like this, not failing her clients. Ever.”

“I know! That’s why this is more shocking and upsetting than anything.”

“I’ll call her,” he said.

“Jim, I’m not a child. I don’t need you to call Cat and chew her out on my behalf.” I sighed. “Fuck!”

“Av, I’ve got millions poured into this event, and as the one who bankrolled it, I demand an explanation,” I said. “People have traveled from across the globe to this event at Christmastime. It’s unacceptable.”

“Fine. Call her,” I snapped in the bitchiest way I could to keep the drama high. “It’s not fixing anything.”

“Why don’t we do this? We’ll redirect the employees back to the venue from last night. They’ll love it,” he said in a supportive tone. “We’ll fix this, gorgeous. I’m only sorry you’re finding this out now.”

“Isn’t that how all of these things go?” I said, trying to cry again but failing.

“Hey, I prefer to spend Christmas Eve alone with my family anyway. Last night was fantastic, and I’m sure it will live in my employees’ memories for a lifetime,” he grinned.

“Well, the whole point was to make up for the cheeseboards you were going to legit screw over everyone in the company with.”

“Exactly,” he said. “Perhaps we put on Christmas Vacation or Scrooged with the girls and just enjoy a quiet Christmas Eve together.”

“We never watch those movies until after we unwrap our traditional Christmas pajamas,” I answered.

“Then that’s what we’ll do,” he said.

“Okay,” I said, inwardly too excited that this was going better than planned.

Even Cat was on standby with her excuse, just in case Jim called, but the man easily opted to relieve my fake stress by watching the Christmas movies he would be starring in within the next hour.

All I had to say to the girls was that we were unwrapping a present early, and they were in the living room in a flash.

After the girls opened their matching onesie pajamas, I unwrapped a stunning silk gown and robe that Jim had purchased while overseas. Then, Jim finally opened his.

“This looks strangely familiar?” he chuckled, holding a replica of Clark Griswold’s boss’s pajamas: the matching robe, slippers, and all.

“I was so excited to give those to you. It was a little thing I thought would be funny since we’re all calling you Frank Shirley this year,” I shrugged, trying to act depressed.

“Well, let’s all change and we’ll put the show on in the movie room,” Jim announced.

“What?” Addy said. “No. We’re going to Mom’s party, aren’t we?”

“Sadly, Mom isn’t able to have the party tonight,” Jim said, “and instead of being upset, we’re just going to have a simple family night here tonight.”

Fuck. I had to get out of here with the girls, and I needed to come up with an excuse quickly. Goddammit, I really didn’t think this through.

“This is all so depressing,” I said, being the drama for them.

“No, it’s not, Mom,” Addy said. “We can make it fun.”