An internship that had turned into a job.
“How is the promotion?” he asked.
“Good.” And cue Jonah…
“I can’t believe a reality show has a head writer.”
Cue family groans.
“You gotta stop the Dad jokes, Uncle Jonah,” Dom said in his ever-bored teenage boy voice.
“Can’t stop. Won’t stop,” Jonah shot back, and Dom rolled his eyes.
Josie’s brother had changed his hair. He’d been growing out the front in that Justin Beiber-esque flop that had ruled the world for a while. Now he seemed to have…a mullet?
Josie had so many questions.
“I cannot believe Adriane left Hank at the altar,” Stella, Josie’s cousin, was a die-hard fan of the show and was always up for gossip. “Did you know that was going to happen?”
“Producers had a pretty good idea,” Josie said.
She couldn’t spill all the secrets about her job as a writer at the reality TV show, even to her family. She’d signed a very scary contract that laid out just how much trouble she could be in if she did. And as executive producer she’d fired interns and assistants and some cast members for tweeting and snap-chatting and talking to TMZ. But once someone found out she worked on I Do/I Don’t, that’s all they wanted to talk about.
“But I really liked Jill and Sam,” Stella said.
“I did too,” Josie admitted. They’d agreed to pretend to be in a relationship to extend the social media glow they were both enjoying. It was about as contrived and business-focused as a show about love could be.
But they were decent people and total professionals.
Josie wanted to tell Stella what she was planning for the show. The pitch she’d created that the rest of the team was reviewing. Shifting the show from a contrived dating show to…a social experiment. Her plan was to bring people in from different walks of life, different races, religions, sexual orientations, and gender identifications, and instead of falling in love and forcing marriage, they’d talk to each other. Learn who the others were behind the differences that, in today’s world, seemed all-important. And create real communication and show real examples of how—at the heart of everything—humans were so much more alike than anyone thought.
Josie thought it could be groundbreaking. She believed it was groundbreaking. But her bosses were discussing it now, and even though things looked good for her plan, nothing was ever set in stone. But she had an excited energy in her stomach that told her this was going to happen. The show was going to be something they could all be proud of.
“Hey,” Dom said. “I saw that picture of you in People magazine.”
“Let’s not get carried away. You saw the picture of the side of my face,” she said. Ben, a stockbroker who’d been after her for a date, had finally caught her with tickets to a hot new Broadway musical. He’d spent the night trying to get their picture taken. It had been more than a little gross. But she’d met Lin-Manuel Miranda, so the night hadn’t been a total waste.
But that picture came out with her name in the caption and her family acted like she’d met the queen. It was adorkable.
“You’re so famous,” Mom teased.
Josie rolled her eyes.
“But honey,” Mom said. Her red hair had a little bit more gray in it than the last time Josie had seen her in the summer, but she was still a total knockout. Josie had her birth father’s height, but the rest of her was a carbon copy of her mother. She was grateful on all fronts. “Last year you were looking for a new job…”
This again. And at Christmas? Come on, Mom.
Last year one of the male contestants had said some really offensive things on Twitter and it had been the last straw for a lot of staff. There’d been a serious exodus of production people. She’d made the mistake of telling her mom that she was thinking about looking for a new job.
But honest to god, she’d just been too busy. Still was. Right now she could feel her phone in her back pocket buzzing with about seven thousand notifications from her messenger and email.
And her bosses had that sixth sense about anyone thinking of looking for another job, and they’d set the trap of a promotion and salary bump like putting out Christmas cookies for Santa Claus.
And everyone had fallen for it. She’d thought she’d be different.
She hadn’t been.
And then she got this new idea and this new energy. She just couldn’t tell her mom about it, yet. Not until it was a done deal.
“Why am I getting all the questions?” Josie laughed, setting her fork down next to the pear tarte Alice had made for dessert. “Am I the only one who has a million questions for Helen?”
“Yeah, yeah, she’s pregnant,” Daphne said, winking at her daughter. “Big deal.”
Helen smiled her cypher’s smile and ran a hand over her stomach.
“How long has everyone known?” Josie asked.
“Mom says she woke up in the middle of the night five months ago and knew something was different,” Helen said.
“I’ve always said you two were a little too close,” Alice said from her place at the end of the table, next to Gabe. And Stella, her daughter and only child, laughed.
“Mom,” the teenager cried. “You still ask if you can sleep with me.”
“I just like your bed better.”
It was a lie and everyone knew it. Even Gabe, who gave her a comforting pat on the shoulder. On the other side of the table, Josie had a hard time looking at Gabe and Alice, and chose instead to focus on Helen. Blonde and pregnant and looking so happy it was like she’d swallowed a lightbulb.
“You really are glowing,” Josie said.
“I really am happy.”
“Where’s Evan?” Josie asked. Helen’s longtime boyfriend and the father of the lightbulb.
“He’s still in DC,” Helen said. “He should be here on Christmas Eve.”
“Isn’t that cutting it close?” Josie asked. Because while Christmas as a whole was a big deal at the Riverview, the real star of the show was Christmas Eve. The outrageous number of traditions that had been piled onto Christmas Eve was nearly insane. No holiday should have to be so much to a single family. But the Mitchells were not like other families.
And Christmas Eve was only three days away.
“That’s the plan,” Helen said. Evan and Helen both worked for a nonprofit organic farmers’ association that lobbied state and federal government to try and change laws and regulations.
They were two very adorable do-gooders.
“And seriously…” Josie lowered her voice. “You’re not getting any flack about not being married.”
“Are you kidding me? With this crowd?” Helen looked around their assembled family. Gabe and Alice, who’d been married before and had three horrible miscarriages that had ultimately ended their relationship the first time around. But when Gabe opened the inn and needed a chef, he’d begged Alice to come and work with him. Of course they hadn’t been able to keep their hands off each other, and when she’d ended up pregnant she tried to keep it a secret.
Gabe insisted they get married but they didn’t actually do it until after Stella had been born.