Christmas Wishes (12 page)

T
he morning sun
woke Sophie long before her phone alarm was due to go off. Rolling over and putting her blanket over her head failed to help her get back to sleep, so she finally sat up and reached for her to-do list.

It had been a week since she’d helped Angie shop for a dress at the mall. A week since she’d felt those yearnings for a family of her own as she sat in the food court. A week since she’d felt the warmth of Mitch’s hug.

But unless he started giving stronger signals that he wanted to develop a relationship, she needed to get her writing career going. So she listed her tasks for the day, including follow-up letters to several agents she’d contacted.

Once that was done, she went downstairs to the kitchen. Joey sat by himself at the kitchen table, devouring a bowl of cereal.

“Morning, Joey.”

“Morning.”

“Where’s your mom?”

The boy shrugged. “Probably sleeping.”

Dave entered the kitchen, shrugging his suit jacket on. “Morning, Sophie. Hey, Sport.”

Joey grunted a response, still shoveling cereal in his mouth.

“I just got a text alert. You don’t have school today. We had a monster storm last night and the outlying roads are drifted over so the school buses can’t get through. Lucky kid, you don’t have to go anywhere.” He flinched when Joey screeched and bounded into the family room to watch morning cartoons. Turning to Sophie he asked, “Did you have plans to go anywhere today?”

Sophie shook her head.

“Great. I mean, would you mind…”

“I’ll keep an eye on Joey. That’s one of the reasons I’m here.”

Dave sighed. “I know, but I hate to presume. I know you’re trying to get your script writing out there too. Joey’s a good kid, but I feel better knowing there’s someone here with him, especially with Joanie so tired. Little Abbie still isn’t sleeping through the night.”

“No problem, Dave. We’ll have a great time.”

“Super. Well, I’d better get going if the roads around here are bad enough for schools to be closed. I’ll grab a muffin from the student center if I get there early enough. Thanks again, Sophie.”

The blast of cold air drifting in when Dave opened the door to the garage slapped Sophie awake nearly as effectively as a sip of coffee. Which, she remembered, she still needed to pour for herself. She shuffled over to the coffeepot, grabbed a mug from a hook, and poured.

Since Joey was occupied with cartoons in the family room, she decided to get started on her work. Perhaps she could find some more places to send samples of her writing. She brought her laptop downstairs and booted up. First order of business was email. There was the usual mass of advertising, which she quickly deleted. There was a message from someone whose name she didn’t recognize. Was it spam? Her finger hovered over the delete key.

Curiosity finally got the better of her. She opened the message and her jaw dropped as she read.

Hello, Sophia Gardner. I have read your script for
Endless Summer
and am very impressed with your writing style. I believe you have a clear talent for scriptwriting and would like to represent you. I have established contacts here in the film business and can promise you this script will be seen and read by top producers. I will do the legwork for you and follow up on any calls of interest for a very modest percentage of your earnings. All I ask is a $2000 administration fee to get your paperwork set up. Payments can be made online…

Sophie skimmed through the rest of the message. Finally, an agent had read and was interested in her work! She wanted to screech and jump for joy. An agent! She imagined herself at her next party. “My agent says…” Says what? Chuckling, she tried again. “Let me discuss this with my agent.” Not bad. She focused on the plant in the corner. “I talked to my agent yesterday…”

“Aunt Sophie, who are you talking to?”

Joey stood at the archway to the den. “I came to
get something to drink and I heard you talking about your agent. I thought maybe you were on the phone, but your phone is on the table. Is somebody here?”

“Uh, no. Sorry. I was just — uh — trying out some lines in a script I’m writing.”

“Oh. Cool.” He went back to his cartoons.

Pulled back to the present, she refocused on her laptop. She had more emails to sift through and her to-do list in her pocket, but she decided to share her good news first. She emailed her closest friends, and posted it on her social networking sites. “GREAT NEWS! I HAVE AN AGENT!”
Almost immediately, messages of encouragement and congratulations streamed in.

She couldn’t contain her excitement.

Her cell phone rang. Thinking it was one of her friends, she snatched it up without checking to see who it was. “Good morning!”

“Hi. You’re awfully cheerful this morning.”

“Oh hi, Mitch. I guess sound excited because I just got some great news. An agent in Los Angeles likes the script I sent him and wants to represent me!”

“That’s — that’s great, Sophie. So are you going to sign with him?”

“I suppose so. He says I need to send him some information and some money, and—”

“He’s asking for money from you? Why?”

“It’s for the administration fee.”

A brief pause. “Administration fee? Listen, Sophie. Before you send him anything, would you do me a huge favor?”

“What kind of favor?”

“Wait until I contact some friends of mine in LA. There are a lot of agents who are dishonest, and you don’t want to get stuck in contracts with them. I know some people who can check him out. Give me the guy’s name and I’ll find out for you, okay?”

“Uh, sure.” She read the name and contact information from the email.

“Got it. Okay, now the reason I called was to ask if there’s any way you could come over for a little while. I got some last minute Christmas orders I need to work on today and planned to do it while Angie was in school, but with the school closed, she’s home. She’s fine on her own, but when I’m working I tend to lose track of the time and I’d feel a lot better if there was someone else here with her—”

“I’d be happy to watch her, but I need to stay here with Joey.”

“Joey will be fine right here with me.” Joanie entered the kitchen, cradling the baby on her shoulder as she made her way to the coffeepot. “I’m not bedridden anymore, now that Abbie’s here. If Mitch needs your help, go ahead.”

“Okay, thanks.” Picking up the receiver, she continued her conversation with Mitch. “Joanie’s up now, so I can come over. Give me some time to get dressed and I’ll ski over as soon as it gets light.”

“Perfect. I’ll see you whenever you get here.”

An hour later, she glided across the new snow, breathing in the cold, crisp air. By the time she got to Mitch’s, she’d worked up a sweat. Mitch met her at his back door with a cup of hot coffee.

“Thanks again for coming.”

“No problem. It’s actually quite nice outside — but then I didn’t have to plow through the drifts to get here.”

Angie bounded in. “Hi, Sophie. What are we going to do today?”

Sophie opened her backpack. “I was going to polish my nails today. Do you want to join me?”

Mitch winced at Angie’s shriek of delight. “I’ll leave you ladies to it, then. Let me know if you need anything, otherwise I’ll be working.” He went into his office and closed the door.

Sophie and Angie spent a busy morning beautifying their fingers and toes and fixing Angie’s hair. At noon, Sophie prepared toasted cheese sandwiches and soup she found in the pantry. Mitch still hadn’t surfaced from his office, so she put everything away.

After lunch, Angie decided to watch some cartoons, so Sophie took out her smart phone and checked her email. She opened and read again the message from the agent, Jonas Mack. Reading the words gave her a warm feeling of pride. But then she thought about Mitch’s warning. Was it
possible the agent was a fraud? The message looked so formal, so official. There was a link to a website, and she checked it out. The man had his own agency. He boasted a success rate of 98 percent. He listed several well-known television shows that he’d sold scripts to. How could she go wrong?

“Is that the guy’s website?” Mitch asked from behind her.

She jumped. “I didn’t hear you come out of your office!”

“I’m at a good stopping point. So that’s the guy, huh?” He pointed at a photo of a distinguished looking man, well-dressed, and seated at his desk.

“I guess so. Sounds like he’s been pretty successful.”

“Anyone can say that. But asking for money up front makes me suspicious. There are a lot of sharks out there just waiting to take advantage of people.”

“You’re sounding a lot like my dad. He doesn’t trust anybody.”

“He’s probably smart. If you haven’t come in contact with people like that it’s hard to imagine it happening to you.”

“Well, I know how to take care of myself, in spite of the fact that I’m the baby of the family.”

“I’m sure you do. I just don’t want to see you throw a lot of time, let alone money, on someone who’s going to do you more harm than good. I don’t know how much time you’ve spent away from Zutphen, but there are a lot of shady people out there.”

Her eyes narrowed. “Are you saying I’m a naive country girl?”

“I’m not saying that at all. I’m just saying I spent ten years working in Chicago, which isn’t as big as Los Angeles, and it seemed like it was much easier to find a dishonest businessman than an honest one.”

“I appreciate your concern, but I think I can handle figuring out who’s one of the Good Guys.”
Especially if you’re not going to offer me a reason to stay,
her stubborn self added. “If Jonas Mack isn’t honest, then I’ll just have to keep looking until I find someone who is.”

She felt sick with frustration. That morning she’d been so excited at getting an offer from a Hollywood agent, and then Mitch had been the one to cast a dark cloud on her euphoria. Part of her wanted to rip into him for not being supportive. The other part of her wanted him to plead with her to ignore the offer and stay there with him. But he wasn’t doing either, and she wasn’t sure how to take it.

She only knew she couldn’t stay there.

“If you’ve got enough work done for now, I need to go.” She tossed her things back into her backpack and put on her coat, ignoring Mitch’s protests. A moment later, she was on her skis and gliding back to her sister’s home. She needed to get away before she embarrassed herself by declaring her undying love or something melodramatic like that. Maybe she could put it in her next script.

T
he next morning
she was still in a sour mood. She knew she was being unreasonable, but she couldn’t help it. Mitch could have said something like, “Good for you!” or, “Congratulations.”

Or maybe,
“I’ve got a better offer for you.”

Her cell phone chirped and she set down her coffee mug to answer it.

“Hey, Sophie. I’m glad I caught you at home. Mom says you’ve been really busy.”

Nate. She’d almost forgotten about him. How ironic. For months after he left, he was all she thought about. And now she was surprised to hear from him.

“I’ve been working at the roller rink and helping Joanie and Dave out with the baby.”

“Oh, cool. So you’re at Joanie and Dave’s house on Elm Street?”

“Yeah.”

“Would you mind some company?”

“I guess that would be okay.”
How ungracious. “
I mean, I’m sure Joanie won’t mind. What time were you thinking of coming?”

“I’m not doing anything now.”

His parents’ house was only a few blocks away. “Can you give me fifteen minutes? I just got up.”

“Oh, sure. See you in a few.” He disconnected.

She dashed upstairs to change her clothes. What to wear? Nothing dressy, of course. But nothing too ratty or old. Sweater, fairly new. Jeans, worn but not torn. Hair up in ponytail. Socks and slippers. No, not the scruffy ones.

Joanie called up the stairs, “Sophie, you’ve got company.”

Time was up. “Okay, I’ll be right down.”

Deep breath. It was show time. Only a few years ago she would have rushed downstairs. But she was older and wiser. Now, she needed to make him wait for her.

He sat on the sofa in the den. Joanie was nowhere to be seen. Of course, when Nate had disappeared, Sophie’s older sister had been extremely vocal about her disgust. Maybe it was better she’d left before she inflicted bodily harm.

Sophie stepped into the room. “Hi, Nate.” There. Her voice didn’t break and it didn’t sound too much higher than usual.

Nate looked up and stood. “Hey, Sophie.”

“Can I get you something to drink? Coffee, orange juice?”

“Coffee would be great, thanks.” He followed her into the kitchen.

Her hands shook as she poured another mug, but only a little. She got it to the table and set it beside hers, and Nate sat.

“So how—” he began.

“How is—” she said at the same time.

They laughed, awkward with each other, with the situation. She took a deep breath and decided to ask the question she’d wanted to ask for seven years.

“Why did you leave without me?” she blurted.

Nate reared back as if struck. His mouth gaped open and he said nothing for a moment. Finally he nodded and sighed. “I suppose you’ve wanted to ask that since the day you found out I’d gone.”

“Yes. Do you have an answer?”

“Yes and no. I went because I had a lead on a part. There was a casting call for a role I would have been great in. I had to get out there right away.”

“Would have been great? I take it you didn’t get the part.”

He seemed to shrink even more. “No. When I showed up, they weren’t even taking people anymore. Said the part had already been cast.”

“Why didn’t you come back?”

“I was embarrassed for one. I didn’t want to come back until I’d at least done some acting. And money, for another. I couldn’t afford a return plane ticket.”

“You had a one-way ticket? So you didn’t plan to return for me.”

“It wasn’t like that, Sophie, I—”

“You never even hinted that you were leaving. We went out for dinner the night before you left, and you never said a word.”

“I wasn’t totally sure I was going at that point.”

“You had my phone number.”

“I know, but I—”

“Did your parents even know you were leaving?”

Nate lowered his gaze and shook his head.

“I can believe that. They didn’t show up at church for a month afterwards. The beauty shop was closed because your mom couldn’t bring herself to get out of bed. We were all worried for her.”

“I never meant to hurt her.”

“Well, you did. If it had been just me you hurt, I would have been devastated. But you hurt other people I love, and that made me mad. After I made sure your mom was okay, I went to New York for a couple of years. I didn’t think about it at the time, but I probably wanted to be as far away from you as I could. And I went to culinary school. I’d always liked to cook, so I thought maybe I could make a living at it.”

“That’s cool. You’re a great cook.”

“Thanks. But I realized it’s not what I want to do all the time. I mean, I like to cook for my friends and family, but I don’t want to cook for people who are going to complain about what they get. So I quit and came home. I thought maybe I was right the first time, and I need to be a playwright. So I went to Grand Valley State and got a degree in theater, with a minor in creative writing. I’ve been working on scripts and screenplays ever since. Now all I need to do is relocate so that I can start working.”

“So you’re going to make a go of it?”

“That’s my plan.”

“When are you leaving?”

“As soon as my agent gets back to me.”

“You’ve got an agent? Who?”

“It’s an agency called Scribes Limited. They’re in North Hollywood. I got a letter from one of their agents who said he’d read my script and wanted to represent me.”

“I’ve never heard of that agency. Who’s the agent?”

“Jonas Something-or-other.”

Nate sat up, his eyes widening. “Not Jonas Mack, I hope.”

“Could be. Do you know him?”

“Yes, I do. Sophie, trust me. He’s bad news. I know I’m the last person you want to believe, but promise me you won’t send him any money or go out there until you check him out. If you don’t trust me, I’ll put you in contact with a dozen other would-be actors and screenwriters who’ve been burned by him. He takes your money and spins you a line about shopping you or your work around. The only contacts he’s got are with the police department.”

Sophie stared, not sure what to say. Mitch had warned her about this, but she didn’t want to believe it.

“I don’t believe you.”

Nate held his palms out to her, as if to show he hid nothing. “Soph, I’m telling you the truth. I haven’t dealt with the guy directly—”

“Then how do you know for sure? How do I know you’re not just telling me this to discourage me from going? For all I know you might just want to keep me here in Zutphen because you’re afraid I’ll have more success than you did.”

As soon as the words were out of her mouth she regretted them. If his dreams of an acting career hadn’t worked out, he was probably devastated enough. She sighed. “I’m sorry, Nate, that was uncalled for. But I’m getting tired of everyone thinking I’m not capable of looking out for myself.” She got up and paced a few steps, trying to gain her composure, then turned back to him. “Look, I promise I’ll do some research on the guy before I pack up and leave. Will that satisfy you?”

Nate’s face cleared and he nodded. “Sure, that works. Well, I guess I’ll go. This elf job ends in a few weeks, and I’ve got to look into a real job. There’s not much call nearby for an out-of-work actor, and I wasn’t smart enough to get training in anything else.”

“Maybe you could go to school to learn something else.”

“Me, go to school?” He laughed. “I barely made it through high school.”

“But if you’re studying something you’re interested in, it’s different. I spent six years in college — not because I loved it so much, but because I kept changing my mind about what I wanted to study. I didn’t mind, because I was interested in what I was learning.”

“I doubt it would be that way for me, but it’s something to think about.” He hesitated before adding, “So, can I call you sometime?”

She had to think about that. Did she really want to spend time with him? “I suppose. It’s not going to be like it was. Just coffee and conversation. And I’m tied up with the Christmas Pageant, so I’ll be pretty busy for another few weeks.”

“Fair enough. I messed up, so it’s up to me to prove I’m a changed man.” He leaned over and kissed her cheek. For some reason, Sophie felt — nothing. No excitement, no pounding heartbeat, no feeling of anticipation. Just a brotherly kiss.

As she stood at the window watching him trudge back to his car, it hit her. A nudge, a feeling, a realization. Everything became clear. The whole screenwriting thing and going to California. It had never really been her dream. It had been Nate’s idea. Since she wasn’t into acting, he’d suggested it as a way they could work together. It had been her way to stay connected to Nate, even after he’d left. Later, she’d thought she could get back at him by gaining greater fame and recognition than he’d managed to get, but that no longer mattered.

Those childhood dreams had been replaced. She had a new dream now, one that included a rugged single dad and his adorable daughter. And they were right there, in her own back yard.

It was time to work on making her new dream come true.

~
~~~

Mitch sat in
his office, staring at his monitor but not seeing anything on the screen.

She was going. He
’d known it was going to happen and he’d tried to stay uninvolved. But his heart hadn’t cooperated and now it was going to be broken. He would be left with an emptiness in his life, larger than the one created when Sarah died. This time he wasn’t sure how he would cope.

He didn
’t know how long he sat there, but a little angel’s voice pulled him out of his trance. Angela. He’d argued for that name and now he knew why. Because she was here, and right now he needed an angel.

“
Daddy?”

Mitch lifted his head. He blinked, trying to focus on his daughter
’s face. Why did he have so much trouble seeing? It was as if — oh good grief, it was dark! The sun had set while he was thinking of his own sorrow.

Guilt immediately replaced the sadness. What kind of father was he if he forgot about his daughter? He
’d come out here determined to be there for his little girl, and now his heart had put someone else in his mind. Maybe this was a sign that he needed to forget about Sophie. Angie should be his main concern.

“
I’m sorry, sweetie. You must be hungry. I’ll get something—”

“
I’m okay, Daddy. I had some cereal. Do you want some, too?”

Great. His six-year-old daughter had eaten a bowl of cereal for her supper while he
’d been sitting there feeling sorry for himself.

“
Sweetheart, you need something more than cereal. Why don’t we go and get some burgers down at the Burger Den? You can have some ice cream for dessert.” He plastered a smile on his face, determined to put up a good front for Angie.

But even though Angie normally loved going to the Burger Den, she didn
’t show any enthusiasm for his offer. Instead, she tilted her head and studied him.

“
Why are you so sad, Daddy?”

There was no hiding it. How much should he share with her?
“I — got some sad news today.”

“
Did somebody die?”

“
No, nobody died. Someone is moving away, and I’m sad I won’t see that person anymore.”

His little angel wrapped her arms around him.
“I was sad when we moved here, because I wouldn’t see my friends any more. But now I’m glad I’m here, because I have new friends. We’ll have to find you some new friends.”

He laughed in spite of the knot in his stomach. Hugging her tight, he stood, carrying her on his hip as he went about turning lights on.
“I guess you’re right, sweetheart. Make new friends.”

“
Who’s moving away, Daddy?”

He stilled.
“It’s — I don’t think I’m supposed to tell anybody.”

“
I hope it’s not Miss Sophie. Because she’s the best friend you ever had. She makes you smile.”

He stared at her.

“If she goes away, we’ll have to follow her.”

“
Follow her? But then you’d have to find new friends again.”

Angie
’s face clouded, and she swallowed. But then she took a deep breath and straightened. She looked into his eyes and spoke with determination. “That’s okay. She’s our best friend. If we’re all together, it won’t matter.”

Mitch reached out and hugged his daughter.
“You’re an angel, you know that? And I’ll bet you’re hungry, even after eating cereal. Go get your coat, and we’ll get some burgers to fill your angel tummy.”