Page 4 of Fa-La La-La Land
Georgia shakes her head. “I can do anything when Iwantto do it…but I don’t think I want to do this. Not right now.”
I open my mouth to say something, but I have no words. This show was Georgia’s idea. She sold it to the network, and they’re paying her a lot of money. How do you stop someone from walking away from their dream…and millions of dollars? I know Georgia. If she’s saying she doesn’t think she can do something, it’s not because she’s afraid of failure. It’s because she’s changed her mind about doing it.
While I scramble for a response, she walks past me. I follow her back to the living room, where she steps between Sid and Zach. She gently backs Zach away from Sid, then turns to face him herself.
“This isn’t going to work. We’re done here,” she says. She’s totally calm—but firm enough to suck the air out of the room.
Then she takes Zach’s hand, and they walk to the front door together while I stare after them, wondering what this means for my job. The job that I followed her to LA for and that’s supposed to be my jumping-off point for getting even more celebrity clients and achieving my own dreams. The job that will allow me to start crossing things off my 30 Before 30 List.
Not good.
But my only option is to keep following her. Georgia’s my boss, not Sid. Plus, she’s family. Also, there’s the free room and board, so best not to take anyone’s side but theirs in this fight.
The three of us are quiet until we get to the driveway, where my car is parked next to theirs. Georgia clicks her fob, and the lights on her Range Rover blink as the doors unlock.
“Sooo, is that it? You’re done with the show?” I go old-school and use my key to unlock the door of my 2007 Chevy Equinox. The automatic locks haven’t worked in years.
“We’ll talk when we get home,” Zach says, stroking Georgia’s back before opening the passenger door for her.
Georgia looks at me, her big green eyes red-rimmed and tired. “Everything has changed with this pregnancy. Besides Sid demanding too much when I feel like crap, I don’t know how I can be on camera all the time with a baby.”
“You might have to cut back your hours, but there’s no reason the baby can’t be part of your content. Your fans will love it.” If this is actually Georgia’s last day on the project andnot just pregnancy hormones talking, I’m positive she’ll find some other way to grow her brand.
But Georgia shakes her head. “I can’t put a baby on camera. I don’t want our kid’s life to be public.” She glances at Zach, who purses his lips in a sad semi-smile before nodding. Then she looks back at me. “Neither of us wants that.”
“Okay, so we don’t put the baby on camera. That’s not a problem.” I shrug—no big deal—and ignore all the warning signs in front of me.
Georgia reaches for my hand and squeezes it. “What I mean is that we need to pull way back on filming altogether. Focus our accounts more on our products and projects and less on Zach and me.”
“Oh.” I blink as understanding slowly dawns. “Are you firing me?”
“No, Sparky.” Zach shakes his head.
Georgia touches his arm. “Call her Stella, babe.”
“Sorry, Stell. Old habits.” He shrugs affably, as though my biggest concern here is that he’s called me Sparky for as long as I can remember.
“We’ll still need you to create content for us, but there will be less to do if Zach and I aren’t on camera as much,” Georgia says slowly. She reaches for my hand and squeezes it. “I’m sorry. We should have said something to you sooner, but I kept thinking I could push through. Today, though, it finally hit me that pushing through isn’t worth doing if Zach and I are both unhappy.”
I nod along while Georgia talks, trying to stay positive and supportive while my mind races with questions about what happens next.
“Obviously, take as long as you need to figure out what this pivot means for you.” She worries at her lip, so I give her a reassuring smile. I can’t manage any words yet.
“The good news is you’ll have time to take on more clients and expand your business—like you want to.” Zach and I have joked about how we both inherited our Granny Sparks’s optimism. It’s something we’ve bonded over—something I’ve always thought was one of our best traits.
Until today.
“Yeah, true. But I was hoping to get a little more experience and notice asyoursocial media manager before taking on other clients,” I say through my smile.
I’m so happy they’re finally having a baby. They’ve wanted to start a family since the minute they got married, which was almost two years ago. Georgia’s gone through countless rounds of fertility treatments, ultimately so heartbroken by their failure that she and Zach decided to stop trying. This baby is kind of a miracle.
So…I don’t want to make this about me, but I left Paradise to work for them. To support them and their dreams of launching their renovation show in LA and growing their branded product business even bigger. While they were growing, I was supposed to be growing too, professionally and personally. They’re supposed to be my safety net while I gain my bearings. I’ve never lived outside Idaho.
Not that I didn’t want to leave Paradise. Living in LA has been my dream from the moment I watched the first episode ofSurf City High. My crush on Rhys James, who played Andy on the show, may have ended when I met him, but I only fell deeper in love with LA last summer. Since then, I’ve been itching to come back, but I waited for Georgia to finish her project in Paradise soAt Home With Georgia Rosecould move production from there to here.
I could have stayed here last year—like Britta did—but I went back to Paradise to run Georgia’s socials with the promise that she’d bring me to Los Angeles and make sure everyone inthe industry knew I was the one running her accounts. I could grow Sparks Media Management alongside her home renovation and design brand.
I’ve been here for a week. And now they’re talking about stepping back?
