Page 35 of The Summer of Christmas

“I heard Nick.”

“No, no. I said your dick. It’s amazing,” Ivy said as she quickly recovered.

He smiled. “Thanks.”

***

“Mmmm…this is so good.” And at that same moment, Nick was at his mom’s house, eating dinner with her. It was their Friday night ritual. It was almost eleven o’clock, but he’d worked late to close up the winery.

“How was the movie set?” Frannie wondered. She was serving him his favorite, pork tenderloin with her famous seasoned rub. It was a popular dish at the farm-to-table restaurant at the winery.

“It was nice.”

“That’s all? Nice?”

“Okay. It was weird. There was a guy playing me who didn’t really look like me. And he was late to pick up the Ivy character at the train station, which is total BS.”

“You’ve never been late a day in your life,” Frannie protested.

“I know. Ivy said it’s dramatic license,” Nick grumbled. “Besides, I never picked her up at the train station—it was always the smoke shop where the bus dropped her off. Ivy said that wasn’t cinematic.”

Frannie nodded sympathetically. “Dramatic license.”

He laughed. His mom always knew how to cheer him up. “This tenderloin is amazing. But I’m actually not that hungry. I ate too much at lunch.”

“Where?”

“Oh, the set had an amazing lunch spread. It’s called craft services. Not sure why since there were no arts and crafts involved. But the caterer was incredible. Reminded me of the stuff you like to cook.”

“That’s nice.” Now it was Frannie’s turn to be noncommittal. “What was the actress like who is playing Ivy?”

Nick paused for a moment, then smiled. “Hot. Really hot. I think she likes me.”