“There were a couple years when things were really tough for us.Money was tight, but she’d been sensible and had made some wise investments with her earnings and other endorsements she’d gotten during her tenure on the soap.Mom knew that she had to do something else, so she started to make movies in other countries and was gone for months at a time.It was easier to leave me home with the housekeeper than drag me to various locations.She phoned often, but she missed a lot of special events.”
“That must have been hard.”Tilly appreciated more having her mom always be there for her and her sisters when they were sick or had special events to go to.Having her mom greet her after a hard day at school with a kiss and hug always made things better.
Zach didn’t have that, but she also understood Kathryn’s need to provide for her son.Had that been the start of their fractured relationship?
“It wasn’t easy, but with her working, it meant I still lived in the house I’d known my whole life.”He smiled at her and some of the sadness in his eyes was lifting.“I have to admit I liked the freedom of not having her looking over my shoulder all the time.What teenage boy wouldn’t?”
Tilly laughed at that.“I suppose that’s one way to look at it.”
“Anyway, Mom is very business savvy, and when she’d decided she’d had enough of making films overseas, she came back home.She could see that social media was an untapped medium and got into it before it became trendy to be an influencer.The companies that endorsed her were different from the ones who’d backed her early on in her career.Quite a few were start-ups, and because of her medium success overseas, she wasn’t a total unknown.Also, people love a good redeemed villain.”
“Nothing like a good redemption arc,” Tilly agreed.
“A new producer, one who didn’t care about what had happened years ago with Mom, could see her potential.Could see how the public related to her and lobbied hard for her to be the face of a new talk show.And the rest is history.It worked out, and so here we are.”
Did he know that when he talked about his mom and her achievements, his voice was full of pride and not anger or contempt?
“Thank you for telling me that.I know it must have been hard, considering how your relationship with her is at the moment.”
“No matter what it’s like now, Mom never let anything hold her back.You have a little of that determination.”
Tilly scoffed loudly.“Determination to give up when things get tough.Ha!That is something your mom never did.Me, on the other hand...I run away and then try something new.”
“But you didn’t this time.”
“Anything can happen between now and Christmas Eve.”
Which is only a couple of weeks away.
Tilly didn’t want to think about how quickly time was passing by, but at least they had the star locked in and that was the biggest hurdle she didn’t think they’d get over.
“What do you want to do, Tilly?”
“Well, that’s a little out of the blue.What do you mean?”
“I mean, what do you want to have as your career?Do you want to do data entry for the rest of your life?Not that there’s anything wrong with that, of course, but...”
Where was this coming from?The change of conversation from his mom and her career to Tilly’s job future was quite the leap.And a topic she didn’t want to address.
“I don’t mind my job,” she said, trying not to take offense.“It pays the bills.”
It was safe and reliable.Not to mention, she had the flexibility of working from home.
“When we picked out my tree, you talked about how you loved helping people pick outfits they never would’ve considered.You were so passionate then.So full of fire.Why not do something like that?”
Dammit, she’d been hoping he’d forgotten about her little outburst.“It’s just a fun thing I do.It’s not exactly a stable career choice.I like my independence and a regular paycheck.”
“Personal stylists make a lot of money dressing the stars.”
“Yes, but we’re not in Hollywood, are we?There’s not the clientele here in Marietta like there would be there.”
Why was he pushing this?
Even with the population expanding, it wouldn’t be a sustainable career for her.Not to mention, the female residents of Marietta may not want her suggesting outfits to them.
“No, but that doesn’t mean you couldn’t travel to other places, like Livingston.Or into Bozeman.”
“I am happy doing what I’m doing, Zach.”
