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Ivy went home to look at old photos for research. Not just any photos. The ones practically hermetically sealed in a shoebox under her childhood bed. The box readIVY & NICK CHRISTMAS MEMORIES. They had started going Christmas shopping when they were thirteen. It was their tradition. They wouldn’t buy any presents for anyone until they could go together. The older they got, the more presents they bought, and their holiday bounty was harder to carry. But it was such fun. They both shared the love of giving. For her Girl Scout Gold Award, Ivy created a toy drive that still continued with the local Girl Scouts chapter. After all the shopping, she and Nick would always visit Santa Claus. Ivy was lost in her memories when she heard a voice:You really have to move on already.She felt the voice had come from behind her. It did. It was her sister Carol.
“How long have you been there?”
“Long enough. This is not healthy.”
“It’s not what you think, Carol. I have to adjust a few scenes for the movie.” Carol didn’t believe her. She just started writing in her notebook. “Nick and I have talked. He’s moving on. I’m moving on.”
“Did he say the thing about moving on, or did you?”
“He did,” Ivy admitted. Carol nodded. “Well, I was moving on. But then I came back here. Now I don’t know what I’m doing. What’s the opposite of moving on?”
“You’re the writer.”
“Stuck. Okay, I’m stuck. But when this movie is done, I will be unstuck, and I’ll move on back to Los Angeles.” Even Ivy wasn’t sure she believed what she was saying. Carol left. Ivy dug deeper into the box. She found the inspiration she was looking for. A picture of her and Nick Christmas shopping on Main Street. It was hard to say what came faster: the words or the tears. Ivy finished the rewrite two hours later.Done,she said to herself.Donewas the email heading. “Done,” she said to the picture of her and Nick.
***
The next morning, it was all hands on deck at the closed down mall. The extras poured in. Denise had flooded social media with a casting call.Come to the old mall for Christmas shopping. The movie needs you!Wyck used one long row of storefronts. He and his crew put fake snow on the floor. Lampposts wrapped with garland were in front of some stores. Christmas lights lined each store window. Even Ivy’s mom and dad got into it. Linda brought over boxes of Christmas decorations from her Christmas shop in town. They set up their store facade in one of the vacant windows. All the little Ilsas and Ricks were there. Ivy saw them as a ten-year-old Ivy and Nick, a middle school Ivy and Nick, and a young teenage Ivy and Nick, and Amari and Griffin as the present-day Ilsa and Rick, aka Ivy and Nick.
Amari was chatting with some extras. It took a moment for Ivy to realize the extras she was chatting with were Ivy’s childhood friends, Kathy and Lauren. They started giggling. What were her friends telling Amari? Ivy couldn’t go over there. She was working. Vera addressed the actors and crew and the extras. “We’re going to do it in one long shot. First Ilsa and Rick go into one store, they come out older with different presents. The extras are going to wipe the frame so they keep going into stores and they come out in different looking outfits, depending on the year. Might take a while. If we have time, we’ll do Rick at the jewelry store.”
Everyone applauded. Ivy was confused. Rick at the jewelry store? “That’s not in the script.”
Vera told her, “We added it. It was Amari’s idea. She thought it would be more impactful if the audience knew Rick was thinking about asking Ilsa to marry him before he dies in the snowmobile accident with the ring in his pocket.”
“Okay,” Ivy said, processing this news. “I’ll start writing it.”
“No worries. Amari already did it. Not bad. Small scene. All visual,” Vera said. Ivy blanched.Since when do the actors start writing the script?But Vera was too busy to notice her horrified reaction.
Vera yelled “Action!” The shooting began. Ivy wanted to scream “Cut!” on the whole affair. Amari was not just hanging with Nick; she was now rewriting the script. Ivy hated herself for tearing up when Rick looked in the jewelry story for an engagement ring.
Lunch was at the food court where J. B., the super chef, made high class, off-the-chart mall food. Thin crust pizza, deep fried chicken, and gourmet sausage dogs. J. B. cooked, and Nick’s mother Frannie was there cooking alongside him.
When J. B. called her for a second date, Frannie was thrilled. This time he’d remembered to tell her that having lunch with him meant that she’d also be helping him to cook lunch on the mall set.
Frannie noticed Ivy seemed sad and asked her if she was feeling all right. She lied and told Nick’s mom that she was just very busy. But Ivy did wonder what Frannie was doing on the set.
Ivy sat down with her old friends, Kathy and Lauren. She thanked them for coming and being extras in the movie. They let Ivy know Amari had invited them to a sleepover at the Belhurst. Ivy smiled, not wanting to ruin her friends’ fun. People loved meeting celebrities. Why should her friends be any different?
Ivy found Amari. “I like the scene you wrote.”
“Thank you. I had the idea the other day when I was with Nicky,” Amari revealed.
Nicky?Ivy couldn’t believe he was allowing himself to be called Nicky! “It’s a good add,” Ivy had to admit. “So, I hear you’re having the girls over for a sleepover.”
“I told you I like to immerse myself into a character. There are things you’re hiding that aren’t in the script. What is your secret, Ivy?”
“I don’t have a secret.”
“Everyone has a secret. Once I find out what yours is, I’ll let you know.” Amari grinned as she went back to the set.
The shooting went perfectly, just as Ivy had imagined it. Drew was thrilled with her, as was Vera. Ivy had saved the day. But why was there a sad minor-key film score playing in her head? She watched Amari and Ivy’s friends head out. Ivy was leaving when she noticed that one of the extras, who had come to the set in his own Santa suit, was taking pictures with the cast and crew who were into the idea that it was actually Christmas-time. Santa saw Ivy.
“What does our own Ivy Green want for Christmas?” he bellowed out. “Another foreign copy ofPride and Prejudice?” How did Santa know that?
Ivy joined the line to meet with Santa. It was Mr. Fowler! He used to own Fowler’s Books, her favorite bookstore growing up. It had closed years ago. “Hello, Mr. Fowler,” she said.
“You mean hello, Santa!” he bellowed. Ivy nodded. “So, what does our famous screenwriter who brought all this movie magic to our town want for Christmas?”
The truth was Ivy didn’t know what she wanted anymore.
