Page 27 of The Summer of Christmas

“I’m glad you think so, but Nick said he won’t let us use it.”

“Oh, that’s ridiculous. There’s no downside for us. A great free advertisement that we can use for years. I can see the busloads of people stopping by—just to see the location whereMary and Josephwas filmed.”

“When Joseph Met…” Ivy started to correct Frannie but then stopped. “I’m glad you love the idea, but what about Nick?”

“Well, I am the co-owner. And I think it’s a terrific idea. I’ll talk to Nick.” Frannie smiled.

“Oh, Mrs. Shep—I mean Frannie, that would be so great,” Ivy gushed as she finally leaned in for that hug. She had forgotten how wonderful Nick’s mom was. Back in college, when she used to think that she’d get married to Nick, her friends would tell her how lucky she was going to be to have a mother-in-law like Frannie.

As the hug ended, Frannie said, “I am really sorry about what happened. You know that Nick can be an idiot at times.” Ivy suddenly knew that Nick had told his mother the truth. At least he’d done that.

Back at the van, Ivy climbed in with Drew, Vera, Lane, and Bruce. Everyone looked at her expectantly.

“So, did you get it?” Vera asked.

“I’m working on it,” Ivy said.

“Did you talk to Nick?” Vera wondered.

“I talked with his mother. She’s the co-owner.”

Vera smiled and high-fived Ivy. “Great idea! We won’t shoot the winery location for a few days. See what you can do.”

Drew smiled broadly. Pleased. And Ivy realized that he wasn’t jealous of Nick. In fact, he didn’t care about Nick at all. All he really cared about was getting the right location. But at that moment, it didn’t really matter to Ivy because tomorrow her movie was going to start filming, and she was ecstatic!