“Anyway, as long as the tabloids are distracted with you as my mistress and don’t catch wind of him being her ex that she cheated on with me, I’m good. That story makes me look like a fool. This one makes me look like a jerk, but I prefer that to a fool.”
“Gotcha,” Holly said, again, speechless.
Jack, who had been hovering nearby, as usual, had apparently had enough of this conversation. He held up a hand to get the director’s attention. “Can we get this show on the road? Aren’t you going to lose your light or something?”
“Chill out, meathead,” the director fired back. “It’s on when I say it’s on.”
“Aye, aye, Captain,” Jack retorted before winking at Holly.
The director cleared her throat. “Alright, we’re gonna lose our light. Are they pretty enough over there? Can we get this moving?”
The makeup artists laughed and went back to their tent, so Bill and Holly stood up to get ready to take the scene from the top. Out of the corner of her eye, Holly spotted Robin coming toward the set. She absently wondered if she’d get the nerve to actually talk to Jack this time, or if she was going to just stand around and be available if he decided to make the first move.
“Action,” the director called, and Holly got to work.
9
Nick
Nick grunted under the weight of the wooden pillar as he brought it from its resting place to an upward position. He was in the middle of constructing the facade for Santa pictures in the corner of the ballroom. His mom and dad used to play Santa and Mrs. Clause, but the owner of the hardware shop on Main Street had stepped in with his own wife when Nick’s dad had gotten sick. The show must go on, and Santa and Mrs. Clause had been available for pictures and Christmas wishes since the first year of the Gingerbread Ball.
He wiped his brow and stooped to pick up his water jug. He wished he could enjoy a short break while people watching out the windows of Colonial Hall, but whenever a movie was filming, there were fake interiors erected in front of the windows so the ball prep didn’t interfere with filming outside.
“Hey, we’re gonna take a lunch break,” one of the volunteers called out to Nick. “See you in thirty.”
Nick nodded and waved, having been in the middle of taking a drink from his water jug. He should think about food, too. He always got so distracted with work that he forgot to eat half the time. He checked his watch and figured now was just as good a time as any. Everyone had to use the back door of the hall in case they stepped into a movie scene out the front door, so he made his way out back and then came around the side of the building toward Main Street.
The usual crowd of townspeople were milling about in the bright sunlight, enjoying the clear winter day. Some were trying to get a glimpse on set, others were clearly being used as extras, but most were just going about their day and largely ignoring the production set up in town square. Nick noticed they’d shifted focal points since the last day he’d checked out the set. They’d constructed their own Santa pictures facade on a much grander scale than the one he was working on inside Colonial Hall. Nick figured they’d spend some time shooting scenes with it before breaking it down and moving on. In that way, what this crew out here was doing resembled a lot of what they did every year for the ball.
“For someone who hates the movie biz so much, you sure are interested in the set today.”
Nick spun around to see Holly walking up from behind him. He couldn’t help the wide smile that spread across his face. “Just admiring your Santa set-up.”
“Ah, yes. We have a lot to get done today and tomorrow with that set. Lots of kids as extras, which is really cute. Robin’s daughter is one of them.”
“Who, Abby? Huh. I’m surprised Robin’s into that,” Nick said.
Holly shrugged. “She seems excited about it. And she’s also spending a bit of time sharing looks with my brother without actually talking to him.”
Nick followed Holly’s gaze and saw Jack talking to one of the guys from the crew, and Robin and Abby standing a few yards away, both of them looking in the other’s direction every few seconds. “Do you think there’s something going on there?”
“If there is, he’s a big fat hypocrite,” Holly said under her breath.
“Why’s that?”
Before Holly had a chance to answer, Jack called out to her. “Hey, fifteen minutes til your scene.”
“Thanks,” she called back, then turned to Nick. “So, what are you doing out here besides checking out the set like a Christmas movie fan?”
“I’ve been in there getting the hall ready for the Gingerbread Ball. Mom likes it to be as decked out as Disneyland by the night of, so it takes us about a month to get it all set up.”
Holly squealed in delight. “I love that you guys have your very own ball and everyone gets all dressed up. It sounds magical.”
Nick smiled slightly, thinking about how Julia had thought it was kind of cheesy. And that was back before she turned into a fame-hungry psycho. She must have just been looking down on him and his small-town traditions from the beginning and he just hadn’t seen the signs. He shook his head to clear the memories.
“I wish we didn’t have to leave the morning of the ball,” Holly continued. “Even I can tell how excited the whole town is for that night. It’s contagious.”
A loud commotion stirred behind them, causing them both to turn toward the sound. Bill and Julia rushed out of the café with four paparazzi on their tails.
“Is it true you’re having an affair with your co-star?” one of the photographers yelled.
“Julia, are you jealous of Holly? Does it bother you when they kiss on set?” came the shouts of another.
As the paparazzi continued to harass Bill and Julia until they were safely ushered onto the set by security, Nick couldn’t help but cut a glance in Holly’s direction. “Uh, what was that about?”
“Oh, you didn’t see?”
Nick shook his head.
Holly pulled out her phone, tapped around a few times, then turned it around and handed it to him. It was the cover of a tabloid magazine with a headline that read, “Bill Winters’ mistress jealous of date night with wife.” The photo was a zoomed-in image of Holly sitting on the window seat in her room at the inn, looking down, with a smaller bold-framed photo showing Bill and Julia getting out of their car. Holly’s expression looked pretty blank to him, but the photo coupled with the headline made the story seem legit.
With a whistle, Nick handed her back her phone. “Wow.”
“Yeah, I’m a real peach, having an affair with my married co-worker and then glaring at them from my bedroom window. It’s just ironic because at that moment, do you want to know what I was really thinking about?”
“What?”
“I was thinking that I would hate to be them. They can’t even get out of the car and into the building without being hounded by those jerks. Don’t get me wrong, I still get the occasional interest from the paparazzi, but nothing like they do. I would hate that kind of attention.”
Nick started to respond when he saw a camera out of the corner of his eye. “I think you spoke too soon. C’mon, follow me.”
He grabbed Holly’s arm and pulled her down the street toward the back of Colonial Hall. He barely registered the look of confusion and then anger on Jack’s face as he saw them take off and then saw who was chasing them. Nick ushered Holly toward the safety of the hall, figuring Jack would take care of the paparazzi.
When they got to the back of the building, Nick practically carried Holly through the door and slammed it shut behind them. They stood in the back of the stage area, panting from their escape. Then, Holly burst out laughing, and soon they were both in stitches.
“Thanks,” Holly said once she was able to take a break from the giggles.
“Anytime.”
“Not gonna lie, I should’ve seen that coming. I mean, I am the mistress, after all.”
One corner of Nick’s mouth quirked up. �
�Does it bother you? Them making you seem like that?”
“I mean, anyone who really knows me will know this article is crap,” she answered, holding up her phone. “But yeah, it’s the one thing about this job that I hate. The spotlight.”
“What do you like about it?”
Holly blinked up at him, seemingly unsure what to say. “My job?”
He gestured toward a table off to the side and they took a seat to wait for the all-clear. Nick leaned forward in his chair and looked at her seriously. “Holly, I’m just being honest, I really don’t like most of the celebrities who blow through town. Sure, you have some cool ones. Usually it’s the guys who I get along with most, it’s always football season and most guys can put aside their lifestyle differences when the game’s on. But a lot of the actresses who come through seem to only care about their image—their career. I thought Julia was different when I met her three years ago, and then I watched her turn into that kind of person over the year we were engaged. As different as I thought she was back then ... you’re even more of a mystery.”
He wondered if he’d said too much. He told himself he should have just kept his mouth shut. But there was just something about her, some invisible pull, that made him want to be near her and be honest about whatever he was thinking or feeling. He never felt that way with Julia, or anyone he’d dated before her. Nervous that he’d overstepped, he sat back in his chair and tried to come up with a way out of the conversation.
“No one has ever challenged me on whether or not I like what I do,” Holly said quietly.
Nick held up his hands. “Hey, I’m sorry, it’s not my place.”
Holly got up and began pacing the stage, looking at all the decorations for the ball as she spoke. “It’s okay, it’s just ... honestly, I do it because I just ... do. I got the role in Jemma’s because of my love of cooking. It was something my mom and I did together, and at the time, I really loved it. Then my mom died, and I had Harriet taking care of me personally and professionally. When Jemma’s got canceled, Harriet didn’t waste any time getting a new job lined up. And since Jack was in the Marines and never around, I kept taking one job after the other to stay busy. I’ve been in daytime soap operas, Hallmark movies, a couple of movies that hit the big screen, and even had a Netflix series that got a ton of great reviews. It’s been a long five years full of one project after the next, and I can honestly tell you, I didn’t do any of it to further my career. It was just ... my job.”
“Wait, so when Jack came back from the Marines and you hired him as your bodyguard, couldn’t he tell you weren’t happy?” Nick stood and joined her near their small set for The Nutcracker dance.
Holly frowned. “I’m not unhappy.”
“But you just said you don’t love what you do.”
“No, I said it’s my job. There are a lot of things I love about it, but it’s not like my heart beats for this every day. I always just figured I’d do it until I found something worth quitting for. But that doesn’t mean I’m unhappy.”
He looked down at her face, her eyes looking back into his with all the honesty of the moment plainly visible. She wasn’t like Julia. She wasn’t like any of the other actresses he’d met over the years. She was just a girl who worked in the movie industry, was apparently good enough at it to keep getting hired, but didn’t let it come before anything that meant something to her. Maybe his mom had been right. He sure didn’t think he’d find love with anyone he knew in town, but if he didn’t give this thing with Holly a chance just because of what she did for a living, he’d be a fool.
The back door swung open, revealing Jack’s silhouette in front of the bright sunlight. “Holls, they need you on set. I’ve been out here clearing away your stalkers, but Harriet just called me and freaked out saying you’re late.”
Nick didn’t mind Jack. He knew he was just a protective big brother and bodyguard, just doing his job. But if he and everyone else didn’t stop bursting in right when Nick was about to kiss this girl, heads were going to roll.
“Thanks, Jack,” Holly said to her brother before turning back to Nick. “I’ll see you later?”
Nick nodded. “See you later.”
He watched them go, then hung his head back and stared at the ceiling. Perfect, more wasted mistletoe. He was beginning to think that dumb plant was cursed.
10
Nick
“How’s it going in here?”
Nick turned to see Holly coming into Colonial Hall from the back door and smiled. “Great, thanks. Finished shooting for the day?”
Holly nodded. “Finally, yes. The last scene had about a million takes.”
“Feel like picking up a paintbrush and helping me with this photo booth?”
The large wooden facade had a cutout in the middle for kids to stand and pose for a photo. Nick watched Holly examine the sketches on the wood, her brow furrowed in confusion. She tilted her head from side to side, clearly trying to understand what was supposed to be painted on the front.
“It’s upside-down,” Nick said, gesturing with the brush in his hand.
“I can see that ... but, why?”
Nick pointed to several parts of the design while he spoke. “It’s an upside-down mantle. Here’s the top down here, and the bottom has the wood up there. The kids are supposed to stand in the cutout and put their arms up, then we take the picture with the Polaroid camera, and when you flip it around it looks like the kids are hanging upside-down from the chimney.”
As he explained the intention behind the upside-down hearth, he watched as Holly’s eyes lit up with appreciation.
“That is fantastic. Did you come up with that?”
He shrugged. “I just thought it would be more interesting than the cutouts for their faces with a Christmas scene on the front. We try to do something new and different each year and put the year on it somewhere.”
Holly beamed at him. “I’m impressed, Mr. Patterson.”
“Thanks.” Nick scratched his head, grateful for the compliment but unsure what to say next. “Ah, anyway, wanna paint? It’s all outlined so it’s just like color by numbers.”
“Sounds fun.”
Nick grabbed an extra paintbrush and handed it to her, the brief contact his fingers made with hers sending a buzz through his arm. He couldn’t deny the way she affected him. He pointed out a few of the areas that needed to be painted red and then they got to work on their separate sections of the wooden board.
For a few moments, they just worked in companionable silence, only filling it with the occasional need for a sponge or more paint. Nick couldn’t help but appreciate that while he enjoyed chatting with her, he also really enjoyed just being near her, not talking at all, but working together on a project. He was a hands-on kind of guy and didn’t usually have a lot to say, so this was nice. But then, after a little while of that, he found himself actually wanting to talk to her.
“So,” Nick said, instantly regretting it because he hadn’t yet figured out what he wanted to talk to her about. He wracked his brain for something easy to start with. “How’s the movie turning out?”
Holly smiled. “I think it’s going to be really cute. I bet a lot of people will like watching it all curled up on the couch with a cup of cocoa. Especially since it was filmed here in this town with all of its Christmas cuteness.”
“Sounds like a Christmas movie star’s dream outcome.”
“Absolutely. I wish I could just specialize in these holiday movies.”
Nick lifted a brow. “Why can’t you?”
“Well, I guess I’ve just never thought about it until now. It would be fun ... and I know other actresses who are kind of Christmas movie royalty. I’d love that.” Holly dipped her brush into the paint tray and chuckled to herself. “I guess we’ll just wait and see how this one goes. If it’s a hit, maybe they’ll let me. But I won’t know until after next Christmas season when they air it.”
“Man,” Nick said with a whistle, filling in the grayish g
rout between the bricks he’d finished painting. “That’s a long time to wait for it to come out.”
“I’m kind of used to it. TV isn’t as bad, though. Our filming season ends a few months before the season airs, as opposed to the full year we sometimes see in between filming a movie and its release date. Usually, I’ve already completed several other projects in between filming and releasing one movie.”
Nick sat on the ground so he could reach the bricks that were lower on the wooden board. “Do you take time off in between?”
“Usually, yeah. And Harriet takes such good care of me that I make sure she gets time off, too.”
“How about Jack Frost?”
Holly chuckled. “Yeah, him, too. But he has no life, so he usually just sits and plays video games at his apartment for a week straight. Speaking of Jack, he and Robin are so funny. You can see they like each other but they barely even talk.”
“Yeah, that makes sense, though. Robin’s probably not ready to jump into anything right now.”
“Why not?” Holly asked, then held up her hand. “Sorry, it’s none of my business. You don’t have to tell me.”
“It’s not really my story to tell so I won’t go into details, but she lost her husband in the line of duty last year. He was a cop.”
Holly’s free hand flew to her mouth and she stopped painting the section of brick she’d been working on. “Oh, my goodness, that’s terrible.”
“Yeah, now it’s just her and Abby. Mom likes to help her out a lot and the town really rallied around her after Rick passed. Most of us have all known each other since we were kids, growing up here.”
She sighed wistfully. “I love that. Sorry, not what happened to Robin, I love the sense of community in the town. The fact that everyone has known each other for their whole lives. I was born and raised in L.A. and Jack is still the only person I’ve known my whole life.”
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