“Yes, and I freely admit it. Shall I elaborate?”
“No need, Julia, darling.” Nigel smiled fondly. “When you put it that way, how could I refuse?”
10
In the weeks that followed, Julia convinced six actors who played recurring characters to join the company heading to quilt camp, but although twelve guests were better than none, she had hoped to enlist at least twice as many. Fortunately, Ellen and Lindsay came through for her. When Ellen extended the invitation to the writers’ room, one of her screenwriters accepted—Jason, a sardonic fellow barely three years out of UC Berkeley and the last person Ellen would have expected to willingly take up needle and thread. “He said that if the experience doesn’t inform his season six scripts, he might be able to use it in a novel someday, so it won’t go to waste,” Ellen explained. “He might have been kidding. I can never tell with him.”
Lindsay recruited five members of the crew, including a costume designer, a production assistant, a stunt coordinator, an apprentice prop maker, and an assistant from set design. Julia wasn’t sure how quilting classes would benefit the stunt coordinator on the job, but she wasn’t about to turn anyone away. Their set designer was perpetually overextended, so she had sent her assistant—Louis Clemence, the handsome pianist from her premiere party—in her place to do technical and historical research.
By the last week of October, Julia had assembled a company of eighteen, including herself. After sending Sylvia the final head countand guest list, she put together a dossier for each camper with a travel itinerary, packing list, and brochures from Elm Creek Quilt Camp describing the manor’s amenities. She chartered a flight not only for the sake of comfort, privacy, and convenience, but also because she had promised her colleagues a luxurious retreat experience from the moment they met up at LAX on the morning of November 7.
“This is amazing, Julia,” Lindsay said, eyes shining as she prepared to board the gleaming blue-and-white jet. “My mom always flies coach and takes a shuttle from the airport when she goes to quilt camp.”
“This must be costing you a fortune,” said Ellen in an undertone as she paused on the bottom step to take in the size of the aircraft.
“A small fortune,” Julia admitted. She’d pay it a thousand times over to keepA Patchwork Lifegoing.
“Quick question,” Jason said as he approached, hair tousled as if he’d just rolled out of bed, eyes concealed behind round, blue-tinted glasses. “How’s the internet access at this place? Is it wi-fi or Ethernet?”
“Dial-up,” Julia replied, but when his jaw dropped in horror, she quickly added, “I’m just kidding. The wi-fi is strongest on the first floor of the new wing, but you can access it in most of the second-floor guest suites. Some of the suites have Ethernet connections, if you’d prefer. Just ask when we check in.”
A few members of the production crew boarded next, followed by Paige, her dark hair in a thick French braid, a pastel lavender Fjällräven knapsack on her back. “Hi, Miss Julia,” the younger woman greeted her, a bit shyly. “Thanks again for inviting me.”
“Thanks for agreeing to come,” Julia replied warmly. “I thought you might still be in North Carolina. It would have been a shorter trip to Pennsylvania from there.”
“Yeah, it would’ve been, but I’ve been back in LA for a couple of weeks. I had some auditions and meetings.” Paige shifted herbackpack as she glanced up the stairs and behind her, where a few latecomers were joining the queue. “I guess Noah isn’t coming?”
She looked so crestfallen that Julia felt a pang of guilt. “No, unfortunately he couldn’t join us. He has college application business to attend to.”
“Oh, really? That’s a legit reason.” Paige’s cheeks flushed, and she managed to look both relieved and unhappy. “I thought—well, I thought he might be—I don’t know, skipping this so he could hang out with his girlfriend.”
“Noah?” Julia shook her head. “No, that wouldn’t be like him. He takes his work very seriously.”
“It’s just that I read that he’s dating Jayla fromHigh School Harmony. There was a photo of them holding hands at a Starbucks, but everyone knows Noah prefers independent local coffee roasters, so I was hoping it was fake.”
“Oh, I see. Well, I can’t speak to whatever photo you saw, but I do know that Noah and Jayla have been on again, off again for years.”
“I guess they’re probably on again,” said Paige, forlorn.
“May I offer you some advice?”
Paige nodded.
“Apparently you’ve been reading the tabloids,” said Julia wryly. “One thing I’ve learned the hard way through the years is that it does you absolutely no good to drink from that poisoned well. Sometimes paparazzi and tabloid writers can be cruel with their facts, and sometimes with outright lies. If there’s something in those rags that you really ought to know, trust your agent to bring it to your attention. Your time would be better spent reading better things.”
“Thanks, Miss Julia,” said Paige, managing a small smile. “I’ll keep that in mind.”
She continued up the stairs, looking a trifle more cheerful than before.
Nigel, who disliked flying and subjected himself to it asinfrequently as possible, was one of the last to board. “Julia, darling, I trust this luxurious country estate has a pool?” he inquired. “You know how I loathe to miss my daily workout.”
Julia thought quickly. “It doesn’t, but there’s a college nearby with an excellent rec center. I can look into getting you some day passes.”
Olivia, two steps above, glanced back at them over her shoulder. “I’m happy to lead a Zumba class,” she called, smiling winningly as she adjusted her oversized sunglasses. “It’s quite a workout, as Julia can attest.”
“I’ll take you up on that,” Julia called back. “Nigel, if we can’t get you into a pool, come Zumba with us. It’s dancing. You’ll love it.”
“I might just do that.” Satisfied, Nigel nodded and continued up the stairs.
