Page 104 of The Summer of Christmas

***

Nick saw the lightning flash in the not so far distance. He knew this was becoming too much to handle. He was about three hundred yards from shore. He tightened his life jacket, went to the front of the boat. He was going to try a flare gun, when it happened—one of the rarest things that could happen—but it happened.

KA-BOOM!

A bolt of lightning struck the radio antenna. The motor exploded, along with the back of the boat. The force of the explosion flung Nick into the lake, away from the fiery debris.

***

The warning from the National Weather Service was about the passing storm. There would be flash flooding, chance of lightning, potential power outages.

“Big storm,” Vera noted, looking over the shot list as she swallowed her lunch. “Ivy, we might have to go with the funeral scene. I have to give this movie an ending.”

“I’m trying…”

“Lunch is nearly over. Try harder, or Nick is dead.”

***

Nick’s arms were flailing. Grasping. He had been thrown into the water. He forced his way above the waves, which were now peaking at about ten to twelve feet. Nick had never experienced anything close to this.True Lovewas burning in the water. What was left of it. Nick realized he might die. All he could think about was Ivy and how much he’d always loved her and how she made his world so much brighter. And how grateful he should have been to have her in his heart.

***

Ivy was now writing on the set when the power cut out. The church was plunged into darkness. Bruce took charge—“Everyone stay where you are, find a place to sit down. We’ll get the generator going. But it might take a while.”

She kept writing by the light from her tablet.

***

Nick had surfed a few times in his life. He realized he needed to ride above the waves, no matter where they took him. It was too hard to swim to shore. The water was hitting him in his face. He was swallowing and spitting out half of Seneca Lake. He tried again to swim to shore, but he was going nowhere. The rain was blinding. Nick was struggling, barely staying afloat.

***

It was an hour since the power outage. Nick still had not texted Ivy back. By flashlight, the set decorators were staging the funeral scene. The casket was rolled in. Extras entered, wearing funeral clothing. Then—in the muted church, Ivy heard a shriek of terror. She recognized the voice saying, “Please, God, no!” It was Frannie. Something was terribly wrong. Ivy rushed up; her tablet fell to the ground. The screen shattered.

“Frannie, what’s wrong?” she said. J. B. was consoling her.

Frannie had tears in her eyes. “It’s Nick.”

“What happened? What happened?”

“I don’t know. He took his boat out this morning. Someone said they saw it was hit by lightning. And it exploded.”

Ivy gasped. “And Nick?”

Frannie couldn’t answer. J. B. looked at Ivy and said, “We don’t know.”

Ivy took Frannie in her arms. Frightened. Scared. Trapped by the storm outside, all they could do was hold on.

The word spread throughout the church. Ivy was not worrying about the script anymore, just Nick. As was everyone there, especially the extras filling the pews. The three Ivys started to sing “Silent Night” in the middle of this dark day. Slowly, everyone joined in. The extras, the crew, the cast.

Ivy was crying. She had killed Nick in the movie. This was all her fault.

Vera rushed over to Ivy. “I heard what happened. Don’t give up hope, Ivy. Nothing’s been confirmed.”

“Thank you, Vera.”

She was surrounded by her friends. Griffin. Bruce. Amari. Vera. All giving her words of encouragement. They hugged like a family. A film family.