Page 16 of The Summer of Christmas

“Drew! How are you?”

“There you are,” Drew said, quickly putting away his phone. Something which Griffin took note of. After his parents and agents and lawyers, he had come to not trust anyone.But this is Drew,he thought.Always a stand-up guy.“I’m so sorry. The rest of the crew is at the Hilton down the road. I figured your fan base would camp out there. Instead, they stormed the castle. I don’t know who tipped them off, but when I find out, someone is getting fired. Let’s get you checked in. I have to run to a meeting.”

“Welcome to the Belhurst Castle,” the white-haired receptionist greeted them. Griffin took a moment to admire the design of this classical castle that was a hotel. He took in a long deep breath, something his therapist or Apple Watch had told him to do—remember to breathe, to take it all in. Drew watched Griffin in his zone and grew a little impatient.

“I have Griffin James checking in—”

“No,” Griffin said, snapping out of it. “It should be under the name Archibald Leach.”

“Who’s Archibald Leach?” Drew wondered.

“Cary Grant’s real name,” the receptionist answered as she tapped away on her keyboard.

“Oh, yeah, right. Got a lot of balls in the air. I just wanted to tell you, Griffin, how happy I am to be working with you on this. We’re going to make a great movie.” Drew made Griffin feel better and then hustled out.

Griffin went to his room and looked out the window overlooking Seneca Lake. He loved the water. Calming. He showered and went to get changed when he noticed his luggage was not in the room. He called downstairs, and the receptionist was baffled. She had no idea where his suitcase was. It was supposed to have been brought up to his room.The Griffineers,Griffin thought. One of them must have gone rogue and gotten into the hotel.

Griffin put back on his travel clothes and the newly acquired HWS outfit. He walked to town, keeping his head down. He passed the entrance to Hobart and William Smith college and realized what the HWS stood for. Students there for summer classes wandered the downtown streets. Griffin blended right in. He found a secondhand thrift store and bought some clothes that were trendy enough for Melrose but at a much lower price.

For the first time in his life, Griffin had to watch his money. He had sold the house he bought for his mom and dad to pay off the credit card debt his parents had accumulated plus the cars they had bought. So here he was, one of the most popular celebrities of his age, financially endangered, without a permanent address, and doing an indie. But he was happy. And intended to stay that way. He looked around the college town that was going to be his home for the next four weeks and smiled. There were mom-and-pop stores. Hip coffee shops. But what got his attention was the ornate movie theater. Closed down. The marquee read: SAVE OUR CINEMA. It made Griffin sad. The movies were his church, his religion. While his mom and dad would go off on their failed auditions, their neighbor whom Griffin came to call his aunt Laura was his babysitter. Aunt Laura didn’t have any children, was all alone in the world, but loved movies. She would take Griffin to see everything everywhere—from the Rialto in Pasadena to the Bruin and the Fox in Westwood to the TCL Chinese Theatre in Hollywood. Griffin loved the movie palaces. Now he was looking at the gorgeous movie theater that was closed and dying. He was drawn to it, the movie magic pulling at his heart. He stepped into the street, not hearing Ivy Green honking the car horn…the car driven by the screenwriter about to hit the star of her movie!