“You can? Oh my gosh, that’s so awesome. I bet we have a lot in common.”
“Well, we could find out if we got better acquainted at quilt camp. Are you in?”
“I’ll have to check with my agent to make sure I’m free, but I’d love to come. To be honest it’s a little awkward to join such a successful, long-running series so close to the end of its run, and I really want to make the most of the final season.”
“Season six might not be the final season.”
“Wait, what? My agent said it was, and at the meeting in August, Nigel and Ellen announced they were leaving, and Noah says he’s going to college—”
“I think we have more stories to tell,” Julia broke in, “especially given the romance between your character and Noah’s. There’s a lot to explore there.”
“That’s what I’ve been saying,” Paige exclaimed. “I mean, just to my mom. I wouldn’t, you know, complain in public where the tabloids might pick it up and run with it.”
“That’s very sensible,” said Julia. “Keep that up.”
“I will, promise. Speaking of Noah,” Paige said, too casually, “do you know if he’s coming to quilt camp?”
“I haven’t asked him yet.”
“Oh. I was just wondering.”
Julia sensed an opportunity and plunged ahead. “But I’m sure when he finds out you’re coming, he’ll be more interested.”
“Do you really think so?”
“Of course,” said Julia, ignoring a tiny pang of conscience. “It seemed to me that you two really hit it off at the premiere party.”
Paige drew in a quick breath. “Just between us, I thought we had a moment, but I heard he has a girlfriend.”
“I could try to find out. As soon as we hang up, I could call him and say, ‘Hey, Noah, I was just chatting with Paige, and she was wondering if—’?”
“Don’t you dare,” Paige protested, laughing.
“Are you sure? It’s no trouble.”
“I’m very sure,” Paige said emphatically. “Okay, Miss Julia. I’m all in for quilt camp. If Noah signs up too, fantastic. I’ll see him there. If not, he’ll be the one missing out.”
“I couldn’t agree more,” Julia replied.
But the fact was that if she couldn’t recruit more campers soon, Julia herself had the most to lose.
9
Even though quilt camp would not begin for another five weeks, something about the turning of the calendar from September to October made the task of enlisting cast and crew seem more urgent than it had just a few days before. Although Julia believed she could be more persuasive in a one-on-one conversation, there simply wasn’t enough time to meet with each potential camper individually. So first thing Saturday morning, Julia called Noah to plead her case over the phone rather than arranging to meet for lunch or coffee. She happened to catch him in the middle of a workout with his personal trainer, so she headed to her favorite yoga studio for a long, restorative workout of her own while she waited for him to ring her back.
“What’s up, Julia?” he greeted her when he called later that morning.
“Oh, so many exciting things, but there’s one in particular that concerns you.” She delivered her by now well-practiced sales pitch, adapting it on the fly in ways she hoped would make it more appealing to his demographic.
When she finished, Noah let out a groan that sounded genuinely regretful. “It would be great to hang with everyone, and I wouldn’t mind adding quilting to the special skills section of my résumé, butI’m fully booked pretty much now through Thanksgiving,” he told her. “I just started working with a tutor twice a week to prepare for the ACTs, and my parents and I have scheduled a bunch of college tours.”
“Any chance you could reschedule those tours?” Julia asked. “If you’re planning to visit schools on the East Coast, you could tour a few before quilt camp and a few after. You could save yourself a cross-country flight and enjoy quilt camp too.”
She knew it was a big ask, so she wasn’t surprised when Noah explained that it wouldn’t be possible. Everything had been carefully arranged, and if he pulled out one block, the whole structure would fall apart. “I’m sorry to miss the fun,” he said. “Maybe we could do another group trip another time, like to celebrate the series finale.”
“That’s a fine idea,” she said, forcing lightness into her voice. “Maybe we could crash at Nigel’s place, and he could show us around London.”
“That’s brilliant,” said Noah, with much more enthusiasm than he had greeted her invitation to quilt camp. “Arrange it for when I’m not in school and I’ll be there.”
