Page 26 of Wrapped in You

"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 hishands. 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 withSilver 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?