Chapter 8
Chapter Eight
I t was no small miracle that Sophie wasn't fired that day.
After a forty-minute break, during which Sophie and Randy made thirty-two breakfast sandwiches and Sophie suffered a small grease burn from frying bacon, Derek and the assistant director still had not left the trailer. Sophie's heart pumped with nerves. What were they talking about in there? She washed her hands and craned her neck to see the door of the trailer, but there was no sign of what was going on inside.
Natalie came up to the table for a water bottle. Her smile was open and beautiful. "I can't believe you did that," she said, shaking her head. She looked mystified.
Sophie grimaced. "I don't know what came over me."
"I should have said something!" Natalie cried. "I heard myself reading those horrible new lines, and all the time, I was thinking 'This can't be happening. This can't be happening.' But in Hollywood, we're taught to do everything we're told. Otherwise, we might anger someone at the top and lose our careers altogether."
Sophie raised her shoulders. In a small voice, she said, "It just wasn't right."
"You're a good person, Sophie," Natalie said. "It's not a surprise, I guess. It seems like everyone in Willow Creek has a good soul."
Suddenly, Jeremy was at the culinary table. He puffed out his chest and looked from Sophie to Natalie and back again. Natalie smiled at him confusedly.
"Everyone's so proud of you, Soph," Jeremy said as Randy hurried to assemble his sandwich. "I told them it's all in a day's work for Sophie Masters. Remember when you saved that litter of kittens in New York City?"
Sophie wasn't interested in discussing her past with Jeremy, not now. But at the mere mention of a litter of kittens, Natalie melted with excitement.
"Oh my gosh! A litter of kittens? You have to tell me more," Natalie begged.
Jeremy was thrilled to have captured the attention of the beautiful actress. He moved his hands as he spoke about their trip to the Big Apple more than ten years ago. "We heard this little, sweet sound. I never would have stopped, but Sophie forced me to."
"I can't believe somebody would throw out a litter of kittens like that," Natalie said softly.
"We took them back to Willow Creek and nursed them back to health," Jeremy said proudly. "Sophie found homes for all of them."
Natalie turned to look Sophie in the eye. "Can you come back to Hollywood with me? I don't think I ever want to let you go!"
Jeremy shook his head as though he agreed with her.
But Sophie wanted to remind him, You did let me go! You dumped me!
Before she could, the trailer door opened. The assistant director came out without Derek and closed the door behind him as though he didn't want to let Derek out. He clasped his hands. He didn't need to say anything to get the cast and crew's attention. "Obviously, today is off to a bad start," he began with an ironic laugh. "I think it's best that we take the rest of the day off to regroup. Tomorrow morning, we'll proceed as scheduled."
"Which script will we be using?" Brent demanded.
The assistant director brushed his fingers through his hair. "Throw out the new script," he said. "We're going back to the old one."
After that, he bounced down the trailer stairs and strode through the cameras with his hands in his pockets. He looked pleased with himself.
Everyone hurried to get off set as quickly as they could and proceed with their surprise day off. Costumes were changed out of, the catering table was scrubbed clean, and the sound equipment was put away. Mike, Isaac, and Beck squabbled about how they wanted to spend the rest of the day. Beers? Video games? Catching up on sleep? It felt as though they were much younger brothers rather than three work colleagues in their twenties or thirties.
Sophie ached with fear. She had a hunch that the minute she got back to catering headquarters, she'd receive a message regarding her job with Silver Bells . She didn't want to fire her new hires. She didn't want to close the business.
Randy and Sophie drove the catering van back to the office and unloaded everything. A few staff members were there to prep for tomorrow morning, and Sophie didn't have the heart to ask them to go home.
On the off chance we were not fired tomorrow, we'd need that stuff prepped.
If we were fired, I could invite all of Willow Creek over for a spontaneous party.
Nothing would be wasted.
The food would be eaten.
Maybe Culinary Tastings wouldn't survive the year. Maybe that was okay.
She'd figure out a new career strategy.
She'd work in the elementary school kitchen.
She'd make sandwiches at the coffee shop.
Every idea felt grimmer than the last.
Randy removed his chef whites and offered a smile. "You said we'd talk about the Christmas Festival today?" he reminded her.
Sophie's heart jumped. "Of course. Right." The Christmas Festival was just a couple of weeks away. Sophie had agreed to not only cater but also help with the planning. She had five unread emails in her inbox that she supposed she could respond to today.
But she felt so exhausted. Too exhausted to write emails. Her shoulders were heavy.
"Let's talk about it tomorrow, okay?" Sophie said, grimacing.
Randy nodded. "Of course. Tomorrow."
Sophie collapsed in her office chair. Her heart pounded in her ears. Over and over again, she pictured herself standing up to Derek Brownlee, and over and over again, she asked herself, Why did I do that?
Suddenly, her phone buzzed. It was a message from Cindy.
CINDY: Hey, Sis! I just ran into your sound guy friends. Ike? Mike? Beck? I forget their names. Anyway, they said you're off for the rest of the day. I have a sitter for the kids. I'm going to come over and make you lunch.
CINDY: Meet at your place in twenty?
Sophie's heart opened. Sometimes it felt as though Cindy knew exactly when she needed her and just how badly.
Cindy got to Sophie's little house a few minutes before she did. She'd let herself in with a spare key and already gotten to work in the kitchen, slicing onions and garlic. Sophie removed her shoes and waved hello as she passed by the kitchen. She wanted to take off her work clothes and put on sweatpants and a sweatshirt, but Cindy chased her down for a hug.
Her eyes were lit up.
"They told me what you did," Cindy said. Her smile was enormous.
Sophie groaned and hung her head.
"Stop it!" Cindy ordered. "I think it's amazing. You stood up to that evil director! Somebody had to. He was on a power trip."
"But was it worth it? You know how much Culinary Tastings needs the money," Sophie whispered. "Now we're going to get fired. And Randy and Tommy and Fiona and Piper won't have enough cash for Christmas, and..."
"Shush," Cindy said.
"I don't know what I was thinking," Sophie added.
"You were thinking about everyone on set," Cindy reminded her. "You were thinking about Christmas and how important Christmas movies are to you. You're a romantic."
"Did they tell you I brought up Derek's wife?" Sophie asked with a grimace.
Cindy's jaw dropped. "I want to hear everything!"
Sophie groaned and tugged at the edge of her shirt. "Fine! One sec."
Cindy let Sophie go for now. She ran upstairs to change clothes and look at herself in the mirror, trying to gauge what she might have looked like when she stormed through the cameras and told Derek Brownlee what she thought.
Thirty-four, dark blond, five-foot-five. Soft face. Soft smile.
But standing next to true Hollywood beauties, Sophie guessed she was nothing.
Not that she cared if Derek Brownlee found her beautiful or not. That was far from her mind. Wasn't it?
Sophie returned to the kitchen to find Cindy stirring a soul-warming potato soup. Fresh bread from the local bakery poked out of a brown paper bag.
"I've never seen you so immersed in your work before," Cindy said. She sounded amused.
"I need to take a breather, don't I? Back up a little bit?"
"I think it's good to care," Cindy offered. "This is how I want my children to grow up. I want them to speak up for what they believe in. I want them to stand up for what's right."
"It's just a film," Sophie reminded her.
Cindy gave her a harsh look. "Just a film? Yeah right, Sophie. Are you really going to belittle the power of Christmas movies? How many Christmas movies did we watch after your breakup with Jeremy?"
Sophie groaned. Jeremy was the last person she wanted to talk about.
Cindy put a lid on the pot of soup and sat down across from Sophie. "So you brought up his wife?"
"I'm pretty sure Derek's wife wrote the original script," Sophie said softly. "I couldn't believe he'd want to distance himself from her story. But the minute I mentioned her name, tears filled his eyes. I've never seen anything like it."
"He's a broken man," Cindy said, crossing her arms over her chest.
"We're all a little broken," Sophie offered. "But there's no way around it. He hates me now."
"Or he's intrigued by you," Cindy said. "You showed how unafraid of him you are."
Sophie looked her in the eye. "I don't know about that."
"Maybe you tapped into something today," Cindy offered. "Maybe you forced him to look at himself in a different way. Somebody had to."
"Here's what's going to happen," Sophie said, flattening her palms on the table. "I'm going to get a call in, like, five minutes, telling me that they're going to hire another catering company for the film. Derek Brownlee will continue to terrorize everyone on set. Life will go on as usual. And Derek Brownlee will never think about me—or his trauma—ever again."
Cindy rolled her eyes. On the stovetop, the soup bubbled and spat.
"What?" Sophie demanded.
"I just don't believe you," Cindy said. She got up to stir the soup and slice pieces of bread. Out the window was another snowfall, soft white ticking across the windowpane. "What if you got to know him better?"
Sophie guffawed. "Derek doesn't want that. He fired his assistant last night. They were actually close, or they used to be."
Sophie's cell phone buzzed in her pocket.
"I don't want to answer it," Sophie breathed. "I don't even want to see who's calling!"
Cindy hurried over to touch her shoulder. "I'm right here. Whatever it is, we'll get through it."
Sophie inhaled sharply and pulled out her phone.
It read: CARA.
"It's her," Sophie explained. "His assistant."
"Answer it!" Cindy ordered.
Sophie did. With the phone pressed to her ear, she said, "Hello? Cara?"
Cara's voice was brighter than it had been this morning. "Sophie. Hey. I just got off the phone with our favorite Hollywood director. He wants me to come back."
Sophie's eyes widened. "He said that?"
Cara exhaled. "I'm sort of relieved. I'd already packed my bags to head back to California, but I don't have any jobs lined up out there. As you know, Derek's been a falling star for a few years. Since I've been his assistant throughout that time, I can't imagine I'm a hot commodity for future clients. That's a problem for another day." She paused. "Rumor has it you're the one to thank."
"I'm not," Sophie assured her. "But I'm really glad you're coming back."
"And I'm glad we're back to the original script," Cara said. "You were right, by the way. Georgia wrote it."
Sophie got up from her chair and walked to the window. In the neighbor's yard, a golden retriever scampered through the snow.
"I wasn't brave enough to say her name to his face," Cara said. "But you were."
Sophie pressed her hand against her chest. "I thought I was going to get fired."
Cara cackled. "I think we'd have an on-set mutiny if that happened. We're all in love with you, Soph. You're the heart and soul of the set. See you tomorrow? I owe you an after-work glass of wine."
"It's a deal," Sophie agreed.
When she turned back around, Cindy's grin was enormous. "It doesn't sound like you got fired."
Sophie giggled nervously. "Not yet, anyway."