Page 60 of The Summer of Christmas

“Really?” Ivy smiled. She noticed that he was checking her out. She felt tingly inside. Before either could speak the assistant director called out, “Quiet on the set.”

Nick sat in a director’s chair. Ivy sat in the chair next to him, making sure to cross her legs and let the high slit of the dress do its work. She kept seeing him sneaking looks at her.

“It was nice to see your mom and dad the other night. I told them they need to stop by the winery for lunch.”

“Nick, you’re such a good friend,” Ivy said, leaning closer, putting her hand on his thigh at the edge of inappropriateness. Nick didn’t seem to mind. Amari did. She could see from where she was standing for the scene.

“Hi, Nick,” Amari called out. He waved but returned his focus to Ivy. Amari was frustrated. Why wasn’t he paying attention to her? She tried to leave the hot set, but Vera stopped her.

“Where are you going? We’re shooting the scene. Everyone back to their marks. Let’s roll.” The scene started.

“Betcha never thought you’d see me again,” Griffin said in character. The cameras continued to roll.

“I’ll always be there for you, Nick,” Amari said in character.

Vera called out, “Cut!”

“What was wrong with that?” Amari asked.

“You said Nick, not Rick,” Vera told her.

“No, I didn’t.”

They tried filming it again. Amari kept flubbing her lines. Ivy noticed that Amari was messing up and smiled to herself. Vera called over the script supervisor to feed Amari the lines. “I hope we don’t need to put this on cue cards.” Vera glared at Amari. Amari glared at Ivy. Ivy only had eyes for Nick.

“I like this new look. Got a hot date or something?” Nick asked.

Ivy laughed. Did he really think she had a date?Is he jealous?“Just a date with hair and makeup. It’s the magic of the movies.”

“I never really understood that.”

“Let me show you.”

“A time machine?”

“There’s no time machine.”

Ivy took his hand and led him.

“Come on. I’ll show you our twelfth-grade English classroom. Remember what happened there?”

Nick laughed. “Oh no! It might not be safe for me to go back there!”