Chapter 9
Chapter Nine
C all time the following morning wasn't until nine thirty. Cast and crew returned bright-eyed and well-rested after a nearly full day off work, calling out "hellos" to one another in a way that suggested they still really liked each other despite everything. Sophie, Fiona, and Tommy set up the catering stand and passed out piping-hot cups of coffee and blueberry pancakes for anyone who wanted them. Sophie watched as syrup was drizzled decadently across the fluffy pancakes—a recipe she'd perfected last year with her father.
Sophie was surprised nobody mentioned yesterday's drama. It was as though everyone had decided to forgive and move on. Maybe that was the beauty of working on such an enormous team. You had to push forward. You couldn't let bad days get you down.
The sound guys swung by for pancakes en route to begin the first scene of the day. Mike ate a pancake with his hands and then begged for another one.
"I can't get enough of your cooking, Soph," he said. His Australian accent was especially pronounced.
"We're going to gain fifteen pounds by the time this shoot is over," Beck agreed.
Sophie laughed. "What scene are you filming today?"
"It's about three-quarters of the way through the film," Isaac explained. "Natalie's and Brent's characters misunderstand each other and decide to take some time apart."
"But neither of them wants that, I guess," Sophie said, smiling as she remembered the typical beats of a romance story.
"Of course not!" Mike said with a laugh. "It's the last thing they want. They're falling in love!"
Suddenly, Derek was at the catering table. Mike, Isaac, and Beck gaped at him with surprise as Derek assessed the platters of hot pancakes and the steaming coffee. Just as ever, he wore all black, and his curly hair puffed out of his black hat.
His eyes were tender, Sophie realized.
It was almost as though he'd been up all night crying.
But that was impossible. Derek's heart was as hard as stone. Wasn't it?
Derek rubbed the back of his neck. Mike, Beck, and Isaac left Sophie alone, hurrying off to set up their equipment. Mike stuffed the second half of another pancake into his mouth.
"The pancakes look good," Derek said as he took a cup of coffee.
Was this his version of an apology?
Sophie was jittery. She watched as Derek's eyes scanned the rest of the snacks she'd set out, plus the Christmas decor that grew more extravagant as filming progressed. She just couldn't help herself. Usually, if she stopped at the grocery store or the hardware store, she picked up another package of tinsel, another string of lights. She wanted the Silver Bells set to feel cozy and homelike.
Keep your guard up, Sophie , she told herself.
"Can I make you a plate?" Sophie asked finally.
Derek raised his eyebrows and placed his hand on his stomach. She half expected him to explain his strict diet. It seemed to be a hobby for Californians—
creating a strict diet for themselves and making themselves miserable as a result.
Instead, Derek surprised her. "That sounds good."
Sophie put two of the best-looking fluffy pancakes on a plate and drizzled them with syrup. She could feel Derek's eyes on her. What was he thinking? Wasn't he angry that she'd stormed up to him during filming? I was just the caterer. It wasn't my place.
"Can I ask you a question?"
Sophie froze. She imagined all kinds of insults jumping out of him now. Maybe he'd ask: Why are you so rude? Why are you so entitled? What makes you think you know anything about scriptwriting?
Instead, he asked, "How do you get the pancakes so fluffy?"
Sophie was so surprised that she nearly dropped the plate. She smiled and passed it over to him. "My dad and I worked for weeks on the recipe last year," she explained. "It's a secret family recipe."
Derek's smile was so handsome and pure that it nearly made Sophie forget what a monster he was. Nearly. He cut the pancake with his fork and took a bite, closing his eyes as he chewed.
"I know people in LA who would go insane for these pancakes," he said. "You could open a breakfast restaurant and charge thirty dollars for a short stack."
Sophie snorted. "Thirty dollars should get you thirty pancakes."
"Not in LA," he said.
Sophie raised her shoulders. "I can't compromise on my morals like that. Not where pancakes are concerned."
Derek laughed openly. "You wouldn't make it a day in LA." His eyes dropped. "I used to feel the same way about myself."
Sophie tilted her head. Was he opening up to her? Why would he do that?
And what did she feel about it?
"I mean, I'm not a native Californian," Derek hurried to add. His eyes burned into hers. "I'm a small-town guy. Or I was."
Sophie was too captivated to speak. She bit her lower lip and tried to imagine Derek as he once had been—a man from a small town with buckets of dreams.
Maybe I would have turned evil if I'd lost someone I'd loved, too.
Well, Jeremy did break up with me pretty harshly. That didn't turn me "evil."
It did alienate me from ideas of love, though.
Suddenly, the crowd parted, and Cara breezed through, buttoning her peacoat and looking at Derek with a strange gleam in her eyes. She was frightened, Sophie realized. She wouldn't trust Derek again for a while. Maybe she never would again.
"Hey," she said as she approached him.
Derek raised his plate of pancakes. "Hey. You have to try these."
Cara looked down at the pancakes as though they might bite her. "Maybe later. Can we talk in your trailer?"
"Sure," Derek said. He then glanced back at Sophie as though he wanted to say something else. He muttered, "Thanks," then sped off, guiding Cara past the sound guys and cameras to the trailer into which he'd disappeared yesterday.
A sharp blast of cold wind went through the set. Sophie zipped her coat all the way to her chin and crossed her arms over her chest. For a moment, she closed her eyes and filled her lungs. But when she opened them again, she found Jeremy peering at her curiously from between two cameras. The minute she spotted him, he raised a hand to wave.
But already, more cast and crew members lined up at the catering table for pancakes and syrup. Sophie busied herself in her job, praying that Jeremy's watchful eyes would move elsewhere.
Throughout the chaos of the morning, Sophie made more than four hundred pancakes and sent Randy to the grocery store for more syrup twice.
Lunch was even crazier than breakfast.
"I can't believe these people are still hungry after the pancakes," Randy grumbled.
But Sophie just laughed. "We work in catering. It's up to us to serve these people till they're full!"
"I don't think it's possible for them to be full," Randy groaned.
Luckily, Fiona and Piper swung by during the lunch rush to give Randy and Sophie much-needed assistance. It was such a panicked time of sandwich-making and soup-pouring and coffee-making and snack-fetching that Sophie nearly missed Derek and Cara when they swung by for theirs. Again, Derek's eyes seemed so tender and soft, and he caught Sophie's gaze for a split second longer than normal. A shiver went down Sophie's spine.
Cara interrupted Sophie's daydream. "You still up for a drink after work today?"
Sophie turned to look at Cara with surprise. She'd forgotten Cara had asked to buy her a thank-you drink over the phone.
"That sounds great," Sophie said. "I have to take everything back to headquarters after we finish today, but I'll be ready after that."
Derek glanced from Cara to Sophie and back again, as though he wasn't sure what to make of their budding friendship.
"Hey, Derek?" The assistant director hurried over, touching his headpiece. "We have an issue."
Derek and Cara excused themselves and went with the assistant director to put out another metaphorical fire.
"Soph?"
Sophie nearly jumped out of her skin. She hadn't realized Randy was right behind her. Laughing, she said, "What's up?" and touched her hair nervously.
"Remember, we have to talk about the Christmas Festival today," Randy said.
Sophie snapped her fingers. Did I really let myself forget about the Christmas Festival?
"Let's do it as soon as the line fades," Sophie said, gesturing toward the cast and crew who remained, eager for their hot lunch.
But the line seemed to grow longer and longer. Just as soon as they'd served everyone, the original people they'd served were back in line again, eager for seconds. There was no time for a conversation about the Christmas Festival, not that afternoon and not that evening.
Sophie knew this was potentially hazardous. The festival was just a couple of weeks away.
But as Randy got ready to head to the grocery store to buy more supplies for the set's dinnertime catering, Sophie heard herself assure him. "We've done the Christmas Festival a few years in a row now. Maybe we can find our old notes from last year, buy the same ingredients for the food stalls, and throw everything together?"
Randy looked at her wearily as he strung his scarf around and around his neck. "You want to just throw the Christmas Festival together?"
Sophie balked. That doesn't sound like something Sophie Masters would do.
But between catering the film and the Christmas Festival and the stress with Derek and Cara and Jeremy, Sophie wasn't sure how she could manage everything at once.
"We won't just throw it together," Sophie assured him with a strange laugh. "We're professionals. It's going to be fine."
But as Randy hurried back to the grocery store for the third time that day, Sophie's stomach twisted with nerves.
Maybe she didn't have everything under control.
Maybe she never had.
Cara met Sophie at the catering headquarters later that evening. Beneath a black sky sparkling with stars, they walked together to The Thirsty Bucket, where Sophie opted for a Diet Coke and Cara went with a hot tea.
"I have to keep my wits about me," Cara said of the tea. "I'm worried about Derek's emotional patterns, and I don't want to react emotionally to something he says or does. And I'm more emotional if I have a glass of wine."
"Aren't we all?" Sophie said with a smile.
Cara crossed her arms over her chest. Around them, the bar was sparse, void of even the sound guys, who'd taken up refuge at The Thirsty Bucket frequently since Sophie had introduced it to them.
"You have a really calming presence, Sophie," Cara said suddenly. "Has anyone ever told you that?"
Sophie raised her shoulders. Jeremy used to tell her that all the time. After he'd broken up with her, he'd tried to call her on the phone a few times; he'd wanted to use her "calming presence" even after dumping her. He'd said, ‘I miss you, Soph.’ But she'd known that what he'd really missed was how she'd made him feel—good about himself.
"I don't feel entirely calm up here," Sophie said, pointing at her head.
"Who does?" Cara said with a laugh. She sipped her hot tea. "Today went better than I expected it to. I'm so thrilled that we're back on schedule."
"Derek seemed... nicer?" Sophie said, then winced.
Cara laughed. "He asked me how I was liking life out here. He never asks me how I am. I mean, he used to." She folded her lips. "My mother used to say that grief makes people selfish. I think, in Derek's case, that's entirely true. It's been impossible for him to feel what other people are going through. It's just been him, his dying career, and his broken heart. And yesterday, he tried to drag the entire cast and crew along with him. I'll spend the rest of my life trying to figure out why it was you he listened to."
Sophie's heart pattered.
"I hope you'll be careful," Cara said after a long time.
Sophie raised her eyebrows. "Careful?"
Cara was quiet. At the bar, Alan was jumping from one radio station to the next, trying to find the perfect Christmas song.
"What do you mean? Be careful about what?" Sophie pressed.
"Don't worry about it." Cara waved her off. "I'm sure I'm just imagining things."
A split second later, Cara changed the subject so well and so deftly that Sophie wondered why Cara hadn't become an actress herself.