Page 7 of The Summer of Christmas

Chapter 3

An anxious Ivy walked into the Ivy, a hip restaurant in the heart of Los Angeles, to meet the actress who might be playing her alter ego inWhen Joseph Met Mary. Ivy had never been to the Ivy but knew it was a place where stars liked to hang out and get noticed.

She had spent that morning searching Google for stories and images about Amari. She wanted to dig deeper than the celebrity magazines that littered the newsstands. She had seen Amari’s face many times on television, Instagram, and the covers ofPeopleandUs Weeklymagazines. Amari had become very popular on a reality television show. She was a walking, talking exclamation point. She’d won all of America’s hearts, which led to a one-song “fail” at a singing career. Next, Amari tried movies. Sexy, outspoken, and street-smart, she was not afraid to go after what she wanted and show vulnerability when she didn’t get it. From the reality show, she was cast as one of the bridesmaids in a wedding comedy calledBeer Boy. She stole the movie in a now-famous scene where she crashed the bachelor party. The buzz around town wasAmari was rising. She had many movie offers, but Amari was drawn to Ivy’s script.

Ivy had stared at Amari’s flawless complexion on her computer screen. She had noticed that Amari Rivers was truly stunning, and she had immediately felt intimidated. Ivy had added another coat of mascara and looked at her face in the mirror and sighed. She had realized she could never be as pretty as Amari and she had suddenly felt unnerved and had wondered why she needed to meet the beautiful actress at the Ivy restaurant. But Drew had insisted that she go because Amari really wanted to get to know her, and they needed Amari to formally agree to be in the movie.

That was two hours ago, and now there was no turning back. As she looked around the restaurant, she realized that she recognized lots of people seated around the tables. But these weren’t friends of hers. They were studio executives she’d met on her many bottled water tours. There were also movie and television stars that she’d watched over the years. Someone was waving at her, someone who actually seemed to know her. Ivy instantly realized that it was Amari Rivers and that she was even more gorgeous in person. Amari got up and hugged her, which felt awkward to Ivy, but she did her best to hug Amari back.

“I should have warned you that I’m a hugger.” Amari laughed.

“Hi, I’m Ivy. It’s so nice to meet you.”

“You too. I had to meet the girl who wroteWhen Joseph Met Mary.It’s such an incredibly sweet story. My agent wants me to do this thriller. But I told him I like your script better. It speaks to me. Plus, this will be a movie my nana can watch. I had too much T&A in theBeer Boymovie. It’s frightening to think how many men and women fantasize about me.”

Ivy wasn’t sure how to respond. Was Amari Rivers saying that she wanted to do her movie?Her movie?“You were so good inBeer Boy.”

“Thanks. I am very career conscious. Reese wasLegally Blonde, Jennifer fought for her life inHunger Games, and Emma wasEasy A—all smart career moves. People know me from the reality show, they liked me naked in suds of beer, but now I need to show that I can act. And not just with my boobs. You have written a great script and a great character. That is why we are having this lunch. I want to know a little more about you before I say yes.”

“Of course, whatever you need to know,” Ivy managed to say. But inside she was freaking out, and a raucous party in her head interrupted her rational thoughts. Amari was seriously considering signing on. Ivy wanted to run to the bathroom and call Drew with the good news. Then she thought,I should wait until there is good news.

“So, have you really known the Rick character since second grade?” Amari asked.

“Yup. We met in elementary school. His real name is Nick,” Ivy confirmed. And like everyone else from Geneva and the Finger Lakes, she pronounced the wordelementarywith five syllables and put the emphasis onmenso that it sounded like “el-uh-men-ter-ry” as opposed to the more common pronunciation with four syllables: “el-uh-men-tree.”

“El-uh-men-ter-ry,” Amari said, trying to say it with Ivy’s pronunciation. Ivy wasn’t sure why Amari was repeating what she’d just said. “Oh, sorry, I was just trying to get into character. Which is why I really wanted to meet you. To see and sound like you. I mean like Ilsa. My agent said this script was autobiographical, which I absolutely love.” Ivy was about to tell Amari what she’d told Drew, which was thatWhen Joseph Met Marywasn’t autobiographical, but then Amari continued: “Honesty and integrity are so important in movies. I think that’s what really attracted me to your story.” Ivy realized that for the first time in a while she was going to have to be honest. “So, what happened to Nick?” Amari inquired.

“We broke up.”

“But then he died in a terrible snowmobile accident,” Amari said.

“Well, he didn’t actually die in real life,” Ivy admitted.

“Oh, what’s happened to him?”

“I kind of fell out of touch with him,” Ivy said, which was true. But it hadn’t stopped her from regularly stalking him on social media. Actually, Nick had no social media accounts of his own, so she searched his sister’s socials for snippets of his face or mentions of his whereabouts. She didn’t learn much about Nick during those recon moments, but she saw that he was still as handsome as ever. She also knew that he still had the same cell phone number because one drunken night she called him but when she heard his voice, she quickly hung up. “He’s still living in Geneva. Running his family’s winery,” Ivy told Amari. This was something that she only knew from Nick’s sister’s Facebook post.

“Did you really meet at the church pageant?”

“Yup. I didn’t want to go, but my mom was busy at her Christmas boutique and needed a place for my sister and me to hang out for a few hours. So, we went to the pageant rehearsal, and I was cast as Mary,” Ivy said.

“Wow. I bet every girl wanted that part.” Amari winked. “You were the lead. There’s no Christmas without Mary.”

“Probably, but since we were at church, everyone had to pretend to be happy for me. Nick was the cutest boy there, and when he was assigned the Joseph part, I couldn’t believe my luck.”

“Then all the girls really hated you.” Amari laughed.

Ivy smiled at the memory. It had been a long time since she’d thought about her “meet-cute” with Nick. But that’s what it was in rom-com terms—a “meet-cute” where the boy and girl met in an incredibly cute way.

“I hope you didn’t start dating in second grade.”

“Oh no. We waited until fifth grade.” Ivy laughed.

Amari took out a notepad and wrote that down. “I like to take notes when I’m researching my character. Part of the actor’s work. So, where did you first say I love you to Nick?”

Ivy furrowed her brow. She knew exactly where they first said I love you, but she didn’t want to reveal this too quickly to Amari. She wanted her to think that maybe she’d forgotten about it and had to dig deep into her memory. She paused for a few moments. But no, it was right there on the surface. “Hmm… I think it was at his family’s winery. It was Christmastime, and we were sitting on the deck, staring out at the lake,” Ivy finally admitted.

“You were sitting outside in the snow?”

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