Chapter 3
Chapter Three
I t was the final day of November and the Saturday after Sophie's first week of catering for Silver Bells . Joe and Mary were hosting a family dinner at the house where they'd raised Sophie and Cindy—a house on the other side of the Willow Creek library, directly next to the elementary school. Sophie was able to walk from her little light-blue house, which was two streets from the courthouse. It was a relief not to drive. After an incident with her engine, the only operational vehicle she technically owned right now was the catering van. Currently, it reeked of the pork sandwiches she'd made for the cast and crew yesterday. Plus, it was difficult to parallel park.
A few minutes before five, Sophie finished icing the carrot cake she'd made for dessert, packed it into a cake carrier, donned her winter coat, and set out. As usual, she arrived long before her sister. Now that Cindy had two children and a husband, she had an excuse for being late. But the reality was, Cindy had always been late—even when she'd been unmarried and child-free.
"There she is! My film caterer!" Her mother, Mary, carried the carrot cake into the kitchen, and Sophie removed her coat and hung it on the rack near the door. Her father was on the phone in the next room, talking to someone about going hunting last week. Now that he was retired, his life had opened up for him, and leisure activities were his every day.
Sophie often wondered if she would ever have enough money to retire. She certainly wouldn't be able to by sixty-one.
Maybe she'd retire by eighty-five? Ninety-one?
"Sit down and tell me everything," Mary ordered when Sophie entered the kitchen. "Don't leave anything out."
Sophie laughed. "Catering for the movies is a lot like catering for anyone else."
"But being on set must be magical!" Mary said as she stirred the curry she was making for dinner. "The actors! The makeup trailer! The costumes! The sound people! The director!"
Sophie wrinkled her nose. "The director is a piece of work."
"Now there's some gossip!" Mary said with a smile. "I want more of that!"
Joe got off the phone in the next room and strode in with a big smile. "My daughter! Where have you been?"
Sophie laughed and hugged her father. "You were out hunting and didn't miss me at all."
"Not true," Joe countered.
It was true that she'd often spent more time at her parents' place than she had since she'd started catering for the film. Long hours on set forced her home after work for as much sleep as she could get.
"Try your mother's Christmas cookies," Joe ordered, opening the fridge to grab himself a beer. "She tried a new recipe. She might have outdone herself."
Directly beside her husband, Sophie's mother blushed. "Be honest with me," she ordered Sophie. "I'm supposed to make six dozen of them for a Christmas party for foster families in Willow Creek next week. If they're garbage, I'll use a different recipe."
Sophie knew that her mother respected and upheld Sophie's opinion when it came to baking and cooking. But as she took a cookie from the jar, Sophie reminded her, "I learned everything about baking from you!"
"You're the one who went to culinary school," Mary said.
"But you're the brilliant baker who made me fall in love with working in the kitchen!" Sophie took a bite, closing her eyes as the creamy icing and buttery cookie melted in her mouth. "Mom! This is insane!"
Mary clasped her hands together. "Insane in a good way? Or a bad way?"
Sophie laughed and ate another bite of cookie. "It's the best Christmas cookie I've had in years. You have to share the recipe. Maybe I can bring some to the set soon."
"That's right. A Christmas film needs Christmas cookies," Joe said, tapping his nose.
Sophie remembered the director, who'd made fun of her Christmas decor that first afternoon. "You'll never believe it, but the director hates Christmas," she explained as her mother stirred the curry. "He asked me to tone down my Christmas decorations at the catering stand."
Joe's jaw dropped. "The director of the Christmas film hates Christmas?"
"He should be arrested." Mary scoffed.
Sophie giggled. "I don't think it's illegal to hate Christmas."
"It should be if you're directing a Christmas film," Joe countered. "He's taking advantage of other people's Christmas spirit! He's profiting off it!"
"Take more Christmas decorations from the attic," Mary ordered. "You need to shove Christmas cheer into that horrible man's face!"
"I'm going to tell Mayor Ackey about this," Joe grunted as he headed back to the living room with his beer and a cookie. "Maybe he can throw this director out of town."
Sophie laughed. Her heart swelled. As ever, her parents were on her side, so much so that they took it too far.
Suddenly, the front door opened, and Cindy, Vic, Annie, and Peter came through the foyer and into the kitchen like firecrackers. Annie was already crying; Peter was already demanding a Christmas cookie. Cindy had lipstick all over her face and explained, as she kissed them hello, that she'd tried to put on makeup in the car. "It was a disaster, obviously," she pointed out.
Sophie split a Christmas cookie down the middle for Annie and Peter and led them into the living room to kill time before dinner. Cindy was in the bathroom to fix her makeup, and Grandpa Joe was putting on the grandkids' favorite television show so that he and his one and only son-in-law could talk about basketball. Sophie sat on the floor with her niece and nephew, watching their captivated faces as their favorite brightly colored characters came on screen.
It reminded Sophie of five or six years ago when she and Jeremy had agreed they would "never, not in a million years, let their children watch television" for the benefit of their brain development. They'd been so naive.
Sophie hated that she missed Jeremy more around Christmastime. But it wasn't hard to imagine Jeremy here at the house, talking about sports with her father and brother-in-law. He'd grown up alongside her and fit so easily into her life.
And then, he'd wanted out.
It's okay. I have Culinary Tastings. I have my career , she thought.
Maybe it was like Jeremy said. I was too obsessed with my career. I still was. Perhaps that was why I'd never have a family of my own.
Maybe that was okay?
Peter and Annie turned to look at Sophie with big, eager smiles. Sophie's heart melted.
She thought, I'll be the best aunt in the world. I'll come to every elementary school performance. I'll come to every soccer game. I'll be the first one on my feet, applauding at high school graduation.
"Dinner's ready!" Mary called from the kitchen.
Sophie and Cindy hurried to set the table and pour wine for whoever wanted it. Vic put the kids into high chairs as he continued to focus on what Joe was telling him about the Knicks. Sophie and Cindy locked eyes across the table and chuckled as Mary bustled in with a big vat of curry. "I made naan from scratch!" she announced.
"Of course you did," Cindy beamed. "You're the perfect hostess! Just like Sophie."
Sophie rolled her eyes and turned to help Peter with his bib.
"Sophie was just telling us about her evil director," Mary said as she scooted her chair closer to the table.
Cindy wagged her eyebrows. "Handsome, though. Did you mention that?"
Mary's eyes widened. "You did not mention that!" She sounded accusatory.
"Do Derek Brownlee's looks really matter here?" Sophie asked. "He's a sinister, Christmas-hating Hollywood director. He probably hates Willow Creek and everything we stand for."
"Dad's idea was for Sophie to cram as much Christmas cheer down his throat as she can," Mary said to Cindy mischievously as she tore into a piece of naan.
"That'll show him." Cindy laughed. Her eyes flashed. "You've been working crazy-long hours, haven't you?"
Sophie nodded. "It's more rigorous than I thought. But I can't complain."
The film is literally saving Culinary Tastings' life.
Suddenly, Annie knocked over her bottle of milk, and Cindy fell to the ground to grab it before it rolled away.
"Those are the reflexes we need for the Knicks this year." Joe snapped his fingers. "Cindy, have you considered going out for the team?"
Cindy guffawed and clambered to her feet, fixing her hair as she went. "Do they have free childcare at the Knicks?"
"They better," Joe said.
"Then sign me up," Cindy declared.
Everyone laughed as Cindy settled back into the chair beside her daughter. For the thousandth time, Sophie realized how suited Cindy was to motherhood. She enjoyed the chaos. She took it in stride.
Sophie had always been the more responsible one. The workaholic one with a steady boyfriend and an uncomplicated future.
Why did everything fall apart?
"I have another idea for your anti-Christmas director," Joe said, reaching for another serving of curry. He always ate faster than everyone else. "You should hire the church choir to do some caroling during lunch!"
Cindy clapped her hands. "That's a brilliant idea."
"He'll melt on the spot," Mary agreed. "Like the Wicked Witch of the West."
Cindy and Sophie caught one another's gaze. How many times had they watched The Wizard of Oz as children? It seemed like they had it on almost constantly. It had been such a favorite that Cindy had thrown Sophie an Oz-themed girls-only engagement party—one separate from their engagement party at the convention center. She bought Sophie an adorable Dorothy costume, and all of her friends, Cindy, and Mary dressed up like characters in the film.
Mary winced as though she'd just remembered. Sophie thought she didn't want to make an Oz reference and remind me of everything I'd lost.
"Who wants more naan?" Mary asked, breaking the tension.
After dinner, Annie and Peter fell asleep in Cindy's old bedroom, and Cindy, Sophie, and Mary went to the kitchen to clean up. Vic joined Joe in the garage to look at an old motor that Joe wanted to fine-tune.
"Another retirement project?" Cindy asked as she lined plates in the dishwasher.
"He's only been retired two weeks, and it's like he's a different man." Mary smiled. "I swear, he's going to stress himself out with all these new hobbies. He told me the other day that he wants to learn French!"
Sophie giggled and poured herself a little bit of wine. Warmth flooded through her, as it always did when she was with her mother and sister.
Suddenly, Mary's eyes were on her. "I don't suppose anyone on that movie set has captured your attention?"
Sophie winced with surprise.
"Mom!" Cindy laughed. "Sophie is a business-minded woman. She's there to do a job."
"That doesn't mean she can't date," Mary quipped.
Sophie's stomach tightened. "Jeremy is working on set."
Mary and Cindy turned to gape at her.
"What's he doing?" Cindy demanded.
"He's directing traffic away from filming," Sophie explained.
"He's meddling where he doesn't belong. That's what he's doing," Mary said.
"He's perfect for that role. If I was driving toward Jeremy, I'd turn around, too," Cindy quipped darkly.
Cindy's loyalty was sturdy and never-ending.
Mary pulled a towel over the counter. "Are you thinking about, um..."
Silence hung between them.
"Getting back together?" Mary finished.
Sophie guffawed. "No. I mean, absolutely not."
But didn't she sometimes think about it? Didn't she sometimes think it would be easier than anything else? She and Jeremy knew each other better than most people. They knew each other's flaws. They knew what the other liked to order at restaurants. They knew each other's favorite films.
Plus, the rumor was that Jeremy had broken up with his new girlfriend.
How did that make Sophie feel?
"I wanted to tell him to leave the retirement party," Cindy announced. "But he slipped away from me like a snake."
Mary shook her head. "I always liked him before. Why didn't I see what was wrong with him? How did I miss it?"
Sophie waved her hand. Stupidly, she'd started this conversation, so she had to end it. "Jeremy is just a person," she reminded them. "It's probably good he broke things off. I wouldn't want to spend the rest of my life with someone who wasn't sure about me."
Cindy and Mary gave her a look that meant, We don't believe you, but we love you, anyway.
Sophie rolled her eyes and changed the subject. "Give me more ideas to torment Derek Brownlee," she said, turning away so her sister and mother couldn't see her face. "Help me take the Christmas spirit to new heights."
Immediately, Mary and Cindy spoke over one another excitedly, coming up with more and more ridiculous ideas. They suggested that Sophie dress up like Santa Claus or ride onto set with a sleigh or wear a Christmas sweater with the name "Derek" knitted across the front. The ideas were so wild and unpredictable that Sophie was soon keeled over with laughter.
This is what Christmas is all about , she thought. Laughter in a warm kitchen. Buckets of love.
I wonder if Derek knows?