by Carol Rose
He’d had no input into this, no opportunity to advise his client, which infuriated him. Holly had made an end run around him and now Mac stood to lose a great opportunity and a sizeable paycheck. What with the natural trickle down nature of agenting work, he was also getting the shaft. Just the thought made him clench his jaw more tightly. He wanted to charge her with trying to steal his commission, but he knew she couldn’t do that and that documentary work wasn’t the source of big money, anyway.
Holly shrugged again. “I got lucky. Mac actually cares about the Zambian poor—“
Levi threw his head back in disgust. “Yes, you got lucky, but Mac is jeopardizing being available for a more commercial, very remunerative film.”
“He’s committed to someone else?” She seemed puzzled. “He didn’t say anything about it.”
“Because I haven’t talked to him about it yet. You got to him first. There’s a very big project coming open—“ he started.
“There is always a big project developing somewhere.” Waving her hand again, Holly dismissed this. “My film won’t take all that long. I’m sure he’ll be available when the big project starts shooting.”
“Are you?” Levi couldn’t help the sardonic smile that twisted his mouth. “As it happens, this film will begin shooting next May. Exactly the week Mac has told you he’ll do your little project.”
“This May?” She stared at him. “A big budget project that’s just signing up its stars and they’re starting in May?”
Levi admitted, “Mac will be a replacement. Another actor had been signed up for this, but he’s backed out suddenly.”
Holly just looked at him. “Jail or rehab?”
“Rehab.” Levi turned and paced the small living room. “This is another whole level for Mac. It’s big and I wouldn’t be doing my job if I let him turn it down because of a smaller project—”
“Like mine,” she concluded belligerently.
“Yes.” He met her angry gaze straight on. “Like yours.”
She threw a hand up. “You don’t even know if Mac has this big role, do you?”
“No,” Levi responded, “but he’s on the top contender list of only three. Letting him tie himself up with your project will mean he comes off that list and definitely loses out on the job.”
“Well, I’m sorry, Levi, but Mac was the one who made this commitment. Not me. You’re upset because I didn’t go through you, but he’s the one who signed on the dotted line.” She stood in the small, cozy living room, her chin raised virtuously.
“He wouldn’t have had that option if you’d have used the proper channels,” Levi reminded her. This wasn’t the first time some sleazy filmmaker had snuck around him to approach a client directly, but Holly didn’t seem sleazy.
She blew out a disgusted breath. “Maybe you don’t know what it’s like to be a small filmmaker, but I’ve learned to grab my chances where I can. Having Mac introduce it and be the narrator will draw attention to a very worthy project.”
He shook his head, annoyed by her self-interest. It shouldn’t have surprised him—working in the film industry—but she hadn’t struck him that way, which made him even madder. “You just don’t give a crap about anyone but yourself—I said women were like that. You’re selfish, just like your mom. This is why I didn’t want my dad marrying someone he hadn’t seen since they were kids and who he hardly knows.”
Holly gasped.
“Your father would be lucky to have my mom—if she weren’t going to get an annulment as soon as I can make her see sense,” she snapped back. “He’d be very lucky.”
“So you say,” Levi sneered at her.
Hugging herself, she rubbed a hand up her sweatered arm. “You’re against him ever marrying, aren’t you? You might want to look at your motives. I don’t think this is about my mom at all.”
Caught broadside with that one, Levi fell silent for a moment.
“You know this marriage was an irrational, impulsive act,” he said finally.
“On both parts!” Her eyes sparkled militantly.
“Okay, but you have to know they need to call it a day.”
She answered more calmly. “Probably. Got any ideas as to how to get them to see this?”
“No, but I’m working on it.” His smile felt thin. “Even if we don’t agree on Mac, we can agree on this.”
“Amazing,” she said in a snotty voice and she pivoted on her heel and marched back to the kitchen.
***
“This is so much fun!” Audrey sent her new husband a sparkling smile.
Standing behind her, Holly felt like barfing. Her only bright spot in having been dragged to see the neighbor’s grandchildren’s Christmas play was that Levi looked even less excited about all this than she did. Despite her annoyance over their conversation about Mac Toledo earlier in the day, she felt some kinship in their shared misery now.
Hovering at the gymnasium door while Michael stuffed cash into the hand of the older kid selling tickets, she just wished she had something besides Levi to shield her against the cold air sliding down her back and sending icy fingers up her legs. Geez, she needed warmer clothes before she came to see her mom again. Or to convince the woman to move back to Florida. So what if Audrey had grown up in Minnesota? She left once before and she could do it again.
The line at the door wasn’t moving and Holly tried to be fine with Levi smashed up against her backside. At least he blocked the wind somewhat. They hadn’t spoken much since their argument that morning and Holly couldn’t help being glad of this. Levi didn’t seem like the kind of guy accustomed to having his boundaries ignored. Some agents got really pissy about that kind of thing.
“Can’t we just get inside?” Levi muttered into Holly’s ear. “It’s damned cold out here.”
“Just be glad you’re not wearing a skirt.”
Out of the corner of her eye, she saw him shake with startled laughter. “Oh, I am. Very glad I’m not wearing a skirt.”
It was the lightest moment since their argument and Holly realized she didn’t like fighting with him. Of course, she didn’t like arguing in general, but she really hadn’t been able to get out of this one.
“You know what I mean,” she hissed back. “I need to buy myself some warmer boots and a parka or two.”
“And lose the skirts,” he recommended. “Unless you plan to hook yourself a Minnesotan with those legs of yours.”
Holly tried to squash the little shimmer of satisfaction that he liked her legs.
Bundled Minnesotans clustered just inside the door, blocking the way and keeping them all stamping in the snow.
“Let me say this, you may go behind my back to make a deal with my clients,” Levi said, “but at least you’re not the one torturing me with a kids’ Christmas program.”
“Why complain to me?” she asked under her breath. “You didn’t protest when your dad brought the evening’s entertainment up.”
“I’m saving my arguing with him for the marriage thing.”
“Smart.”
The ticket transaction completed by this time, she hissed over her shoulder as they shuffled forward, “Anyone I hook with my fabulous legs has to be willing to live in a warmer area.”
“Good idea. The sooner the better.”
The line of friends and family moved forward slowly as various people trying to get into the gym stopped to hug one another.
“This is worse than the plane,” he groused in a low voice, his hands on her back as they shuffled through the crowd.
Acutely aware of his touch, Holly grinned over her shoulder at him. “Who’s complaining now?”
“Me,” he answered without apology. “Whose idea was this ordeal tonight?”
“I think our respective parents share that honor, despite your father having been the one to mention it. Their nature has a grandchild in the pageant. This apparently was reason enough for them to drag us here.”
Slowly they made their way through the gym to the row
of rickety folding chairs that were theirs.
“Here we are,” her mother announced, still smiling her enjoyment. “Go ahead, Holly. You and Levi go in first. I like to sit on the end.”
She knew her mother would spend most of the evening greeting people she knew from her younger days. It was ridiculous how many of them and their children still lived in the area.
At her mom’s urging, Holly sidestepped into the narrow aisle, Levi behind her.
“I feel trapped.” He leaned over to mutter into her ear as they sat down in the cramped area and Holly giggled.
“We are. We just have to make up our minds to endure seeing a bunch of kids dressed up like reindeer and gift packages.”
“And one with a fake white beard with pillows under his red suit.” Levi moaned comically.
The audience fell silent as the house lights went down.
Holly whispered, “I’m sure this won’t be the caliber of acting you’re used to. Then again, you might find the next child star here. I promise not to sign him for my next documentary.”
“Thanks.” Levi responded without gratitude.
A woman behind them hushed her urgently and he didn’t say more.
He nudged Holly with his elbow, handing her his phone, mumbling, “Give me your number.” under cover of the applause that broke out around them when the first kids came on stage.
Puzzled, Holly took the phone, warm from being in his pocket. Putting her number under the Contacts list, she handed it back.
Children danced on stage, singing off-key. The tinny sound system didn’t quite reach the back of the gym and various lines of dialogue got swallowed up as stage-shy children rattled their parts off nervously in low-pitched monotones.
Not able to share the audience’s rapture with what was happening on the raised stage, she nibbled at a cuticle and wondered how long the play would last. Suddenly she became aware low buzzing tone of her phone in her purse. As she reached down for it, she saw that Levi was watching her meaningfully. Holly took her phone out of her bag and saw that she had a new text message.
“Look at the big kid on the left” it said.
She glanced up and found a larger child at the back of the larger group. A trio of fairies were skipping about in a silly dance at center stage and the kid at the back, dressed as a cow, appeared to be mimicking the same choreographed movements.
With a stifled chuckled, Holly texted back, “He wants to be a fairy”.
“No comment. Now look at the woman on the right side of the stage” he texted back.
Holly obeyed, glancing over to see a large, older woman, who was also frolicking like the fairies…or it certainly looked like it. It took Holly a moment to realize the children in the stage were following the dancing teacher’s example.
Her phone buzzed again and she read the text that came up. “Do you think even one of those kids gives a crap about this?”
“No,” she typed back. “Not a bit. They want to go home and play Xbox.”
Beside her, Levi looked at his phone and laughed under his breath. He typed a response.
“What do you dislike most about the season?”
“It’s all so fake,” she tapped in.
“You don’t think the kids are enjoying the season of giving?”
“Yes,” she moved her thumbs quickly over the screen, “they care about what their parents are giving them. Not what they’re giving anyone else.”
“Cynic.” The message shot back and Holly didn’t even think about denying it. She’d been defending herself to Christmas enthusiasts for as long as she could remember, but Levi shared her blasé attitude about the season.
“It’s not just the kids, though. Everything. Santa in the mall. All the jewelry store ads that promise big returns on big gifts.”
“Uh, I must have missed that.”
“Couldn’t have. The men giving women rings and watches and various baubles and the women then throw their arms around the men and give them a kiss?”
“Oh that.”
“Yes, that.”
The guy sitting next to Holly sneezed into his hand and she made a mental note to herself not to shake his hand if her mother was inclined to introduce them.
“Yep. You don’t seem like you’re enjoying the program too much yourself,” she tapped into the phone. “In general, not into children’s performing?”
“Maybe I’m even more cynical about Christmas than you,” he texted back. “All those jewelry store ads, you know.”
“You dislike Christmas?” She couldn’t believe someone so deep into the Hollywood beauty world would admit to anything challenging the shallow.
“Reason for people to get things from other people. Meaning lost. Yes, I think it’s silly.” He shifted on his creaking folding chair, drawing a censorious look from a woman in front of him.
His fingers flew over the phone’s keyboard. “See that woman glare at me? No such thing as love for your fellowmen during this celebration.”
Sitting in the darkened gym on rickety folding chairs, surrounded by beaming parents—including her own mother—Holly shot a surprised glance at Levi. He looked up from his phone, one dark eyebrow flying up in a comical question. Startled by the reality that she felt a powerful connection to her enemy, she just stared at him. They both hated Christmas. How likely was that? And he wasn’t bad looking, either.
For a moment, she entertained a little fantasy about some step-sibling bonding before she caught herself.
“What?” The word shot from his phone to hers. “What? You look like you’re catching flies.”
She closed her mouth, tapping back a message. “Nothing. It’s just that I think Christmas is crap, too.”
“Yeah, I know we have that in common,” he responded, “and if you’d tell Mac to consult with his agent before agreeing to star in your documentary, we’d be good.”
“Fat chance,” she typed back, their temporary truce over their mutual dislike of the holidays now over. “He’s a grown man and he’s entitled to make his own choices. I’m sure you’ll get your percentage of his take.”
Levi shot her a look of distaste and she knew it was back on.
***
Headed down for a late-night snack after returning from the hideous elementary school program, Levi paused in the kitchen doorway. There at the white-tiled island, sat Holly, fork poised over a generous slab of devil’s food cake. He watched her dip the fork into the soft, chocolate and lift it to her lips, chewing with an expression of rapture. In his work world of toned and tanned beauty, most women barely picked at their food before disappearing to the bathroom to throw it up.
Holly’s relish in eating the cake felt kind of exciting, like she was a daredevil or a rebel.
“Umm.” He stepped into the room and went to pull open the refrigerator door. “I hope I’m not interrupting an intimate moment.”
She continued chewing, not appearing the least bit chagrined at him finding her here. “You are. Interrupting an intimate moment, I mean.”
Chuckling, Levi took out a container of milk and set it on the island. “Is this an on-going relationship or just a momentary lapse?”
“Relationship,” she said thickly, gesturing that she wanted him to give her a glass of milk.
Levi took another glass from the cupboard and poured some for her. “That program tonight was grueling.”
“I know. The kids didn’t remember their lines and I’m almost positive that was a girl playing the Santa Claus.”
Rubbing the back of his neck, Levi chuckled. “I thought we weren’t going to make it out of there alive when you laughed after those two kids got their elf wand things tangled.”
She put her fork down. “I know! I couldn’t help laughing at it. But those people sitting in front of us didn’t think it was funny.”
“That woman in front of me had already sent me a dirty look or two. When you started snorting and laughing—“
“I didn’t snort!” Holly denied, laughi
ng again.
“You snorted,” he repeated firmly, “while they were pulling on their wands to get them separated.”
She giggled. “Well, let’s not forget your belly laugh. It just about sent that one dad over the edge. Those people got really mad! It’s just a kids’ program. Wasn’t it crazy? You could feel the animosity rising around us. I thought it was silly. If a few others in the audience hadn’t started laughing, we might have been tarred and feathered. Safety in numbers, I guess.”
“True, they couldn’t get us all,” Levi agreed.
They subsided into silence and a musical clock in the living room played a silly Christmas carol tune. Around them, silence filled the darkened house. Only the Christmas tree lights had been left on and that—Levi was sure—in defiance of the fire code.
He lifted his glass, looking at her for a moment, her tumble of auburn hair falling over one shoulder. In any other setting, the picture—and her voracious enjoyment of the chocolate cake—might have had him acting on his body’s instincts.
“I’ve been thinking.” He paused. “Even if you have no right to deal directly with Mac Toledo, you and I are dealing with a mutual problem here.”
She looked at him for a meditative moment, continuing to chew. When she’d swallowed her bite, she said, “How so?”
“You’re no more thrilled with our parents’ impulsive marriage than I am.” He knew it sounded blunt, put like that, but he believed in getting directly to the issue.
Holly put her fork down before responding. “No, I’m not. My mom hasn’t even dated much since my father’s death. I don’t think she should accept the first guy she reconnects with, now that she’s moved out of her grieving years.”
“And I think my father doesn’t always make the best relationship choices.” He took a drink of his milk, licking the milk mustache off his upper lip.
“I don’t know why she decided to move back to her childhood home. Don’t people usually move south when they get older? This place is frickin’ freezing. Mom was perfectly happy in Florida.” Holly raised a hand in exclamation. “She has friends there. An active social group that does all sorts of things.”
