Page 76 of Christmas at the Movies
Holly nodded.
‘Would you like to be in the film?’ asked Noa. He looked at his assistant. ‘Surely we can find something for her to do – maybe she can be a carol singer?’
‘If she’s under eighteen she’ll need a chaperone at all times,’ said his assistant.
‘That’s fine. Sarah will be there,’ replied Noa. ‘I need her on set in case we need any last-minute rewrites.’
James felt his hackles rising. He didn’t like how Noa seemed to be staking a claim on his whole family.
‘The cinema needs to stay open,’ insisted James. ‘We’ve got our customers to think about. We can’t just shut in the middle of our film festival.’
It wasn’t just for the customers’ sake – he needed it to go ahead so that Sarah could see all of the films. So she could see how important their relationship was to him.
‘We’ll be sure to keep disruption to a minimum, and to repair any damage,’ said Noa. ‘We’ll be out of your hair well before Christmas.’
Everyone was looking at James now. He knew what they wanted him to say. This was clearly the answer to their prayers. So why was he hesitating?
Sarah turned to James. ‘It sounds good to me. We can plough the money back into the cinema and pay back some of the loans.’
James pushed his misgivings away. Sarah was right – they needed the money to keep the cinema going. ‘All right,’he said. ‘Let’s do it. As long as it doesn’t interfere with the festival.’
‘Of course, of course,’ said Noa breezily. ‘We can add in a clause about that.’
‘And can I be in the movie?’ asked Holly, turning to her parents with pleading eyes.
‘Yes,’ said Sarah. ‘As long as you make up the schoolwork.’
Holly let out an ear-piercing shriek. ‘Oh my God! This is so cool!’
James stared at his wife in surprise. When Holly had asked to go to the open casting call, they’dbothagreed that she shouldn’t miss school. Why hadn’t Sarah even consulted with him before saying yes? Come to think of it, she hadn’t asked him before accepting the scriptwriting job either. Obviously, he would have told her to go for it. But it would be nice to be asked. They were supposed to be a team.
It’s because you’re irrelevant, thought James. That was how he felt right now. It was Noa who was turning his family’s fortunes around, not him.
Holly squealed and threw her arms around her mother’s neck. ‘Thanks so much, Mum.’ She hugged James. ‘And Dad.’
Aaron stepped forward nervously. ‘Um, hi, I’m Aaron. I just wanted to say what a fan I am.’ He shook Noa’s hand. ‘ANZACis, like, a total masterpiece. We watched it in my film studies class. I want to be the sort of director you are – an auteur.’
‘How would you like to do work experience on the film?’ said Noa. ‘We can always use an extra runner.’
Aaron’s eyes lit up. ‘Seriously?’
‘Naturally,’ said Noa. ‘We film-makers of colour need to support each other.’
Aaron looked at James and Sarah anxiously. ‘Is that OK?’
James forced himself to smile. ‘Why not.’ It would have been churlish not to let Aaron take up Noa’s offer, even though it was going to make things difficult for himself. With Sarah chaperoning Holly, and Aaron working on the movie too, James would be running the cinema single-handedly.
It’s only for a few weeks,James reminded himself. Maybe he could persuade Roger to come out of retirement and do a few shifts.
Everyone crowded around Noa as he regaled them with anecdotes about filmingANZAC.
Nick came over to stand next to James. ‘Mum looks happy,’ he said quietly.
‘Mmm,’ murmured James, putting his arm around his son. ‘She does.’
They watched Sarah laughing as Noa described how seasick several members of the cast had been. Shedidlook happy. James just wished that he’d been the one to put that smile on her face.
‘What a brilliant night,’ said Sarah as she smoothed night cream on her cheeks.
