Page 27 of Her Christmas Fix
“Then Sadie made hot chocolate with those fancy marshmallows you sent. She says hi, by the way.” Riva adjusts her hat, her expression shifting from playful to serious. “Can we spend New Year’s at your Grammy’s house instead of in California?”
My stomach twists. “I’m not sure about that, sweetie. I have a meeting about a new movie on the second, and?—”
“Mom.” Her voice carries that particular teenage tone that suggests I’m being deliberately obtuse.
“Riva.”
She leans closer to the camera. “I want to meet your newfriendGriffin.”
I roll my eyes.
“And you told me the town is cute. I also want to meet Edgar.”
“That seagull is a menace,” I say with a laugh.
“So I can come?”
My throat tightens. “It’s complicated, Rivs.”
“Is it?” She doesn’t wait for me to answer. “You taught me that we always have choices, even when it feels like we don’t. Remember when you were filming in Prague and missed my school play? You felt terrible, but you said sometimes we have to choose between two things we want, and that’s okay as long as we’re honest about what we’re choosing.”
I close my eyes, remembering that conversation, and wanting to slap myself for choosing work over my daughter. I’d told myself I was making the right choice for my career and our future. But the truth was I’d been scared to say no to the director, scared to put my personal life first.
“This is different,” I say weakly.
“I don’t think so. You’re picking what’s safe instead of what you really want.”
Perfect. My thirteen-year-old daughter has called me out more effectively than a therapist ever managed.
“When did you get so wise?” My voice is thick with unshed tears.
“I learned from my mom.” Her smile softens. “She’s pretty smart.”
“I love you, Rivs,” I whisper. “I’ll think about it, okay?”
After we hang up, I sit in the silence. The house might have turned out perfectly, but without people to share it with, it feels empty. A space I see so much of Griffin in, even without him here. While I was busy protecting myself, he was busy showing me he cared in a hundred small ways I was too afraid to admit meant something. Everything, if I’m being honest.
Something shifts in my chest, like a locked door suddenly swinging open. Riva’s right. I do have choices. I let myself believe that my life was something that happened to me—Daniel’s betrayal, the paparazzi, the demands of my career.
But I chose to walk away from Griffin last night, and I’m the one who has the choice to take on a role that will keep me away from home for months on end. I’m this close to choosing safety over happiness.
I think about the call I need to make to my agent. The franchise Harrison wants me for—three films guaranteed, possibly more. It would mean a minimum of eighteen months away. Morocco for the first one, then New Zealand, then who knows where. It’s the kind of opportunity that could make people forget about the disaster with Daniel.
It would also mean missing more of Riva’s teenage years. She spends the school year in Colorado now, but I still try to make it to plays and parent-teacher conferences, and fly her out whenever she has a break.
It would mean giving up any chance of a life in Wild Rose Point, this town that’s welcomed me like I belong.
And I’d lose Griffin before I even had the courage to fight for him.
I’d get eight figures over the course of the trilogy, but I have money. What I don’t have is time. Time with my daughter. Time to figure out who I am when I’m not performing. Time to build something real with a man who sees past the celebrity to the woman I’d forgotten how to be.
Grammy’s voice echoes in my memory.Houses like that aren’t for people like us.
But she was wrong. Not about the houses but what we’re allowed to want. Beautiful things—real, meaningful, special things—are for people brave enough to fight for them.
And I’m finally ready to fight for the man who taught me that love isn’t about performing or being perfect. It’s about showing up, getting your hands dirty, and choosing each other even when it’s hard.
I don’t know if Griffin will forgive me for choosing fear over love. Or if we can make this work with my complicated life and his need for a quieter one. But I have to try.
