Page 34 of The Summer of Christmas

“Awful. I can’t believe he did that to you,” Kathy said in support. “I don’t care what those judges said, I don’t think it tastes that good.”

Ivy smiled. She loved how supportive her friends were and regretted drifting apart.

“What have you all been up to?” she asked, trying to be polite and shift the conversation away from herself.

“I’m lifeguarding at Watkins Glen this summer. Then I go back to my second graders in the fall,” Kathy replied.

“Still working at the hospital. Working on getting my master’s in nursing at night,” Lauren said. “But tell us more about LA. It sounds so exciting. I wish I could get out of here.”

Ivy looked at their shining faces and wasn’t sure what she should reveal.The heavy traffic? The fall fire season? Earthquakes? Gloomy days of rejection?No. She couldn’t let them down. “The beaches are great. So is hiking in the Hollywood Hills. And the movie theaters are like palaces,” she said to her friends, who hung on to her every word.

“What about the guys? Are they hot?” Kathy asked.

“They’re not too bad.” Ivy smiled as she looked over at Drew.

After the neighbors left, Drew lingered. He moved closer to Ivy on the couch. For some reason, that felt awkward to her. Probably because Mitch and Linda were sitting across from them. Linda noticed the awkwardness and went to a cabinet to take out a photo album.

“Want to see little Ivy, Drew?”

“Mom,” she protested.

“I’d love to see little Ivy.” Drew smiled.

As they flipped through the pages Ivy noticed that she had been a pretty cute baby. She was an adorable toddler too. But then around age five, she started to look a little goofy with her big hair and glasses. At age eight, Nick started to show up in the background of photos. At the school field trip, the soccer team, and of course the church pageant. As the photo album pages were turned and they got closer to high school homecoming and prom photos, Ivy closed the book. She wasn’t sure if it was because she didn’t want Drew to see photos of her with Nick or because she didn’t want to think about how in love she had been with Nick back in high school.

“Sure are a lot of pictures of Nick.”

Ivy didn’t know what to say. Mitch noticed the awkwardness. He turned to Linda. “We really should get to bed, honey. Lots to do tomorrow. To get the house ready for filming.”

“The production designer is doing a beautiful job without us,” Linda said.

“Honey…” Mitch glared at her.

“Oh, right. Yes. Besides, I’m so tired.” Linda got up and put away the book. “It was really nice to have you over, Drew. We’ll have to do it again. And maybe next time I’ll serve something you can eat.”

After Ivy’s parents went upstairs, she was finally alone with Drew. They started making out. It felt so good to feel his tongue in her mouth. She moaned with pleasure.

“I’ve got a really nice hotel room at the Belhurst,” Drew said between kisses.

“So I’ve heard.”

His blue eyes twinkled invitingly. Ivy was enjoying the flirtation with him.

“Okay, but I’m not going to tell my parents. I’ll come back before morning, all right?”

Drew nodded. Ivy took his hand, and they tiptoed toward the door. They opened the door slowly, but it let out a bigcreak.

From upstairs, they heard Linda call downstairs, “Bye, Drew. Bye, Ivy.”

Ivy just laughed. There was no way she could ever put something over on her mom.

***

At the Belhurst Castle, in Drew’s darkened hotel room, Ivy discovered that having produced-writer sex was a lot better than having struggling-writer sex. She wrapped her legs around Drew. Moaned with pleasure. “Oh, Nick…”

“What? You said Nick.” Drew stopped and looked confused.

“I saiddick.”