Page 51 of The Summer of Christmas

“Thank you. I must say, I like my new digs. Quite a lot.” He smiled.

“I’m glad it’s working out.”

“I’ve been meaning to ask you—and just for my character and my personal curiosity. When was the first time you thought that you knew you and Nick were forever?”

“It’s a long story.”

“I’ve got time.” Griffin laughed. “I’m not leaving this house. Can’t risk giving up my hiding place.”

Ivy poured herself another drink and got comfortable on the couch. “It was senior year of high school. Nick and I convinced our parents to let us go to New York City by ourselves. I wanted to see the tree and check out NYU. Nick wanted to check out Columbia. Of course he already knew he really wanted Cornell so it was just a ruse. A way for us to get into the city. Without our parents.”

“Oh, this is good. But pour me some more wine,” Griffin said. “So then what happened?”

“My parents approved the trip because we’d be staying with my twenty-five-year-old cousin who they trusted. But they didn’t know that my cousin practically lived with her boyfriend on the Upper East Side.”

“Scandalous.”

“So, my cousin threw me the keys and left. And suddenly Nick and I had complete privacy for the first time in our lives. We pretty much spent the entire day in bed.” Ivy smiled at the memory.

“Oh, baby.”

“It was getting dark when we realized we were starving. We stumbled outside to discover a winter wonderland. Over the course of the day, snow had been steadily falling and we’d had no idea. Christmas lights sparkled in the restaurant windows.”

“Sounds magical.”

“It was. We ran out onto Fifth Avenue and the roads were all white and covered with snow. We held hands walking through the empty streets to Rockefeller Center. I’ll never forget that moment. Looking up at the giant lit tree while Nick was kissing me and snow was falling all around us.”

“And you fell in love with Nick and with Christmas.”

Ivy nodded. “And when it came time to write a script, I knew it had to be about Christmas.”

“And Nick,” Griffin added.

“And Nick. Our screenwriting professors were always telling us ‘Write what you know.’”

“That’s why the script feels so authentic. So real. What happened between you two?”

“He dumped me in front of Santa.”

Griffin noticed that she teared up a bit in the telling. “That is cold. Guys can be such assholes.”

Ivy opened another bottle of wine. “Wow. I can’t believe I just told you that story. I haven’t talked about it in years.”

“We’ve come a long way since you nearly hit me with your car on Main Street.”

She blanched. “That was so awful. Did you realize who I was?”

“Of course. Before the shoot, I Googled you. Saw your cute face at Sundance.”

“Ugh. I was worried about that.”

“Why? It’s not like it was a bad photo.”

“I was sure that you were going to drop out of the film at that moment.”

“Ha-ha. I couldn’t. I loved the script too much. You know I took a pay cut to do this film?”

Ivy did know. Drew had bragged about it to her. But he’d made it sound like it was because he was a great dealmaker and not because of her script. She nodded. “I’m just so happy that you agreed to star in it.”