“No, not recently. Have you?”
“Let’s just say that particular opportunity might come along soon.”
Olivia’s eyebrows rose. “Really?” She sipped her smoothie, thoughtful. “But it wouldhaveto be soon, wouldn’t it, since season six will be our last?”
“Maybe it will be, maybe not. In my opinion, we have another few years of exceptional storytelling in us. I’m not ready to wrap just yet.”
“Neither am I,” said Olivia. “I need all the gigs I can cobble together. You know who else you should invite? Paige.”
“Who?”
“Paige Lyons. She’s new to the cast, but she was at your season premiere party, so you must have met her. She plays Anabelle, the beautiful niece of railroad baron Theodore Wedgington.”
“Jesse’s love interest?” Julia asked. “The girl who looks like a young Elizabeth Taylor? I thought her name was Paula. Or Pamela.”
Olivia shook her head, amused. “It’s definitely Paige. Quilt camp would give her a chance to get to know the rest of the cast before we begin table reads for season six. She only appeared in that one scene in the season five finale, and I think Noah was the only other actor on set with her that day. And like me, she might want to increase her skill set so she can wrestle her way into more scenes.”
“Good idea. I’ll reach out to her.”
“She’ll beveryhappy to hear from you,” said Olivia, a note of warning in her voice.
“That’s good, isn’t it?” asked Julia. “Certainly better than the alternative.”
Olivia only smiled cryptically and sipped her smoothie.
Later, back at home, Julia found Paige’s contact information among the Evite list for her season premiere party and dashed off a breezy email. “Hello, Paige,” she began. “I hope you’re enjoying our hiatus and looking forward to our first table read in January. Would you have time for a quick chat sometime soon, just us? Cheers, Julia.”
She spent the afternoon pleasantly in her sewing room, finishing up her Harriet’s Journey block and listening to classical music on the radio. It didn’t occur to her to check her email until she passed by her computer on the way to prepare supper, and she was surprised to see that Paige had responded to her note not quite five minutes after she had sent it. “Hello, Miss Julia!” Paige had written. “It’s so awesome to hear from you! TBH I can’t wait for our hiatus to be over and for filmingPatchwork LifeSeason 6 to begin! I’m visiting family in North Carolina at the moment but I’d be thrilled to talk with you anytime, day or night!” She signed off with her phone number and the postscript, “Call me whenever!”
Julia glanced at the clock, added three hours, and mulled over whether it would be too late to call. Not for someone Paige’s age, she decided, and certainly not after an invitation peppered with so many exclamation points.
Julia poured herself a glass of sparkling water, added a slice of lime, pulled up a stool at her kitchen island, and dialed Paige’s number. She answered on the first ring. “Hello?” she said breathlessly, barely audible over a wild tumult of fiddle, electric guitar, drums, and a cheering crowd.
“Hi, Paige. It’s Julia Merchaud,” she said, raising her voice. “Are you at a concert? We could chat another time.”
“No! No, I mean, I am at a concert but it’s no big deal. Let mejust—” There was some scraping and thudding as if the phone had been covered with a hand or tucked into a pocket. Julia waited, and before long the music abruptly faded. “There. Sorry about that. I’m outside now. My brother has a band.”
“They sound very good,” said Julia generously.
“Oh my gosh, I’ll tell him you said so. They’re the Smoky Mountain Shredders, Asheville’s most popular country bluegrass metal band. They have a CD. I could bring you one.”
“That’s very kind,” said Julia. “Thank you. Listen, I’ll make this quick so you can get back to—”
“It’s fine, really. Take all the time you need. Did you want to discuss our characters? I can’t wait for Anabelle and Sadie to meet. I really hope they like each other. I’m so tired of stories that pit women against each other, fighting over a guy, you know what I mean?”
“Well, Sadie already has that sort of relationship with Charity, over Ben.”
“Oh my gosh, Miss Julia, I wasn’t thinking of that,” Paige blurted, mortified. “I didn’t mean to criticize.”
“No, that’s fine. I didn’t write it. To your point, though, I hope our characters have a cordial relationship. I don’t want Sadie to be a stereotypical overbearing mother-in-law. Grandmother-in-law. Whatever. The fans would revolt.”
“Yes, a grandmother-granddaughter relationship would be wonderful,” said Paige warmly. “So refreshing. And it would be a dream come true to have you as a scene partner in stories that celebrate supportive bonds between women.”
Julia decided that Paige would fit right in at Elm Creek Quilt Camp. “Let’s trust the writers. They almost always get it right. If something feels off at the table read, we can bring it to Ellen. But that’s actually not why I wanted to chat.” Julia quickly gave her the sales pitch for Elm Creek Quilt Camp, emphasizing what a wonderful opportunity it would be for Paige to get to know some of the cast and crew better, and to improve her quilting skills before filming began.
“I already know how to quilt a bit,” Paige said. “My mom’s a quilter, and so are both of my grammies. They’ve been coaching me. They wanted to teach me when I was young, but I couldn’t sit still long enough to learn. I always just wanted to be singing and dancing and putting on little plays for my family and the kids from the neighborhood, you know?”
Julia smiled. “I can relate.”
