“You will be nominated, if the voters have any sense,” Vinnie said emphatically, “so put me down for season seven.”
“Don’t budge the line,” Donna teased, feigning indignation. “I’ll be Julia’s plus-one for season seven.”
“If there is a season seven,” Julia said.
One of her friends gasped; she couldn’t tell who. “Why wouldn’t there be?” asked Megan.
“I’ve been dying to tell you for days. To be honest, I’m desperate for your advice.”
“My goodness,” said Vinnie. “How foreboding.”
Taking a deep, steadying breath, Julia confided the miserable tale, tearing up as she remembered how happy and proud she had been at the premiere party until her friends’ revelations had blindsided her. “If Ellen and most of the leads quit, that would mean the end of theshow,” she lamented. “I honestly don’t see howA Patchwork Lifecould continue without them.”
“Oh, Julia, dear, that’s simply awful,” said Vinnie. “I don’t understand why anyone would want to leave such a charming series.”
“I don’t either. We haven’t even peaked yet. We have so much more of Sadie’s story to tell.”
As Megan and Grace murmured sympathetically, Donna was curiously silent. “Hold on,” she eventually said. “Is the show officially canceled? Has everyone been fired? Lindsay hasn’t mentioned it, but it would be just like her not to worry me until she knew for sure.”
Too late, Julia realized the implications of her news for Donna. “It isn’t officially canceled yet, and we still have season six to film,” she hastened to assure her friend. “Don’t worry about Lindsay. She already works on other programs when we’re on hiatus. WheneverPatchworkeventually ends, I’m confident she’ll move on to bigger and better things.”
“The same could be said for you, Julia,” said Grace.
“Thanks, but thereisn’tanything bigger or better for me thanA Patchwork Life.”
“You don’t know that,” said Megan. “You were an acclaimed actress before the series began and you’re even more popular now. I’m sure your agent will find you a new show, or maybe a movie. There must be dozens of directors who would be thrilled to cast a five-time Emmy Award–winning actress in a starring role.”
“Six-time, after Sunday evening,” Vinnie declared. “But that’s not the point. Julia doesn’t want a new show. She has a perfectly good show right now.”
“And a perfectly lovely cast and crew I’d hate to see go our separate ways,” Julia added, glad that Vinnie, at least, understood. It was unsettling to hear Grace and Megan echoing Maury’s talking points. “I’m touched by your confidence in my ability to land another part, but trust me, there isn’t exactly a wild abundance of compelling roles for women my age.”
“Or any guarantee that a new series would last more than a single season,” Donna said. “Some series get canceled after a few episodes if the ratings are too low.A Patchwork Lifeis a sure thing. It’s popular and the critics love it. I can’t imagine it would be in any danger of cancellation if not for those irresponsible, reckless people who’ve suddenly decide to bail.”
“Networks rarely cancel their most successful shows,” Julia noted, although she winced to hear her friends described in such terms.
“All good things come to an end,” said Grace.
“That doesn’t mean they should,” Vinnie countered.
“Maybe not,” Grace replied, “but when change is forced upon us, we honor ourselves best by adapting and moving forward with dignity and hope.”
“Or,” said Vinnie, “we fight like the dickens to hold on to what we have for as long as we can.”
“I know a little something about how wellthatworks,” said Megan. “If I learned anything from my divorce, it’s that—”
“Your first husband was a louse?” Donna finished for her.
Megan laughed. “Well, yes, but what I was going to say is that when someone decides they no longer want to stay, you have to let them go. You’ll only demean yourself by clinging desperately to something that to them is over and done with. What’s worse, you’ll never know what wonderful future you’re denying yourself by refusing to move on.”
“Like your marriage to my grandson Adam,” Vinnie exclaimed, delighted. “Wait. Wait. Scratch that. I’m not agreeing with you, dear. I mean, I am, but only about your marriage. Not about Julia’s series. She absolutely should cling desperately to it if that’s what she wants.”
“Thanks, Vinnie,” Julia said wryly. “Is that really how I seem? Desperate?”
“Not at all,” said Donna.
“Yes, but in a good way,” said Vinnie brightly.
“Maybe a little,” said Megan.
