Page 100 of The Summer of Christmas

“I think you should know what happened in the hotel room.”

“Amari, I don’t care what happened. It doesn’t matter to me.”

“It should. Nick was the first guy who ever jumped out of a window to get away from me.”

“What?”

“After you left, I was able to unlock the bathroom door. Nick was gone. The window was open.”

“He climbed out?”

“That’s how much Nick loves you. He’d rather climb out a two-story window than be with me. I thought you should know that. I’m so sorry. Please forgive me. And come back to the set,” Amari said tearfully.

And in that moment, Ivy had her own light-bulb moment as she realized that without Amari, her film might not have been green-lit. Her words would have languished on the page without the wattage of a star like Amari.

Ivy got up from the table and gave Amari a big hug. “Thank you,” she said. “I’m so happy we can be friends again.”

As they were hugging, Griffin skulked back into the room. “Looks safe to come out,” he joked. Everyone laughed. Amari looked over at him and smiled.

“So this is where you’ve been hiding out,” she teased.

“Best place in the world. I love this family. And these breakfasts!”

“French toast coming up!” Linda said enthusiastically.

Everyone rushed to their seats.

“Take a seat, Amari,” Ivy said with a smile.

“Don’t you have to get to the set for your call time?” Mitch asked.

“Not till ten a.m.,” Amari answered.

“You don’t want to miss this French toast,” Griffin told her.

Amari joined the Green family and Griffin, and they ate breakfast like one big happy family. When Amari suggested that they go to the set together, Ivy agreed. But first she needed to see Nick. But when they got to the lake house, he was gone. They noticed that his boat slip was empty.

“Looks like he tookTrue Loveout,” Amari said.

True Love!Ivy thought. He bought a boat and called itTrue Love. She hadn’t known he’d named itTrue Love.There was one summer where the Geneva Theater showed classic movies each Sunday night. Ivy dragged Nick to all of them. Nick had surprisingly likedThe Philadelphia Story. It was one of Ivy’s top five. The name of the boat in that movie wasTrue Love. In the movie, Katharine Hepburn and Cary Grant hated each other but wound up back together, married at the end. She told all of this to Amari.

“True love. You two were meant to be,” Amari said.

“I hope so. First, I have to rewrite this ending. So Nick isn’t killed.”

“You mean Rick.”

“I think we both know that this story is completely autobiographical.”

“Yup. I think everybody knows that. Especially Drew.”

“He’s starting to get it,” Ivy agreed.

“Come on, let’s go to the set together.”

***

There was a sense of excitement and a sense of relief, a feeling of exhilaration and a feeling of exhaustion at the church that July 31st morning, the final day of filming. Conversation filled the air, not just about what they had to do on that day but of small talk of where they might go next. A family—one that was formed from the shared love of making movies—was going to be splitting apart once Vera called “That’s a wrap.”