Finding Love in Ivy Falls

Chapter Thirty-Six

MANNY

Cold Turkey

For the last few weeks, I’d done everything I could to stay busy. All the walls were primed and painted in the old Thomas Place. The house did not originally have heat or air conditioning. It took over a month, but we worked out the lines to put in two new HVAC units. The Hearth and Home crew were in a rhythm now, moving from room to room as the house became shiny and new.

Christmas and the New Year passed with an aching chill. We got a small dusting of snow, but I made a point of clearing our driveway so Lou could take her new scooter for a spin. She tried to smile, pretend she was having fun, but we’d spent the last two Christmases with Tess and the girls, which made this one feel hollow. Void of light.

Lou kept asking about playing with the girls. Having sleepovers or dinners together. I made excuses about Tess being busy with the new additions to the bookstore, but we were already into early February, and I wouldn’t be able to hold Lou off much longer.

‘Manny!’ Torran’s insistent voice broke through my thoughts. ‘Did you hear anything I just said?’

She stalked across the conference room at Hearth and Home’s corporate headquarters and planted herself in front of me. She’d been good about not pushing the issue of Tess. Not meddling. By her restraint, it was clear that Tessa had also warned her to leave me alone.

‘I asked if you’ve looked over the contract? If you were happy with how Maisey’s husband and his law firm renegotiated the terms?’

I blew out a long breath. ‘Everything’s fine except for…’

‘The social media and promotion parts,’ she finished.

‘Yes. I want to step back. Do the work but not be on camera. The audience loves you more anyway.’

She gave me the stink eye. ‘Since when do you start fibbing like that? You know damn well that the show works because we’re a team.’

I tugged a hand through my hair, and it got stuck on the parts that Lou insisted she gel into place. This morning, as she was helping me pick out a button-down and the only pair of dress pants I owned, she gave me a lecture about trying to look my best. How her teacher said that making a good first impression was the key to people liking you.

I corrected her by pointing out that people liked you if you were kind and honest. She waved me away like her teacher knew better than I did.

I was going to be in so much trouble in a few years.

‘We can be a team, and I can still be off camera.’

Tor gave me a hard look that quickly softened as her gaze ran the length of me. ‘Are you sleeping? Because you look like shit.’

‘Thanks. That definitely puts me in the mood to negotiate.’

She pointed to one of the expensive leather chairs at the table and then pulled out her own until we were facing each other. ‘I know things with Tessa are difficult right now…’

So much for the restraint.

‘Can we not talk about it? I have too many other things on my mind.’

She steamrolled ahead in her normal way. ‘How is Lou doing with the time away from Tessa and the girls?’

‘Not good. She’s confused about Billy and why we’re not seeing Tess and the girls like we regularly do. After two years of spending so much time together, it’s hard to go cold turkey.’

Her jaw ticced. ‘Are we talking about Lou or you?’

I dragged my hands down my face. ‘Both of us,’ I admitted.

It was no use lying to her. We knew each other’s tells, and I wasn’t good at hiding my feelings anyway. After years of therapy, I’d learned it was best to talk about my feelings, or I’d get lost in a spiral of darkness.

I pushed back from the table and walked to the wall of windows that faced the sprawling Atlanta skyline. Black storm clouds threatened from the east, and the forecast predicted heavy rain and ice. I wanted to get this meeting over. Hightail it back to Ivy Falls before the storm swallowed the city.

‘Where is Lauren? Wasn’t the meeting set for nine?’

Torran pushed back the sleeves of the green blouse she was wearing and glanced at her watch. ‘It’s still two minutes till.’

She approached me, moving uncomfortably in the skirt and flats she was wearing.

‘Don’t smirk like that. I know I look ridiculous.’

‘You don’t, actually. It suits you.’

She rolled her eyes. ‘I do my best work in overalls, you know that.’ There was a taut tone to her voice I didn’t like.

‘Things still weird with Beck?’ She ignored me but knew I wouldn’t let this go. ‘Did you talk to him?’

‘He told me he’s busy at work. That he and Pete are targeting another big account.’

‘And you don’t believe him?’

‘I do, but there’s something weird happening that I can’t put my finger on. Even Piper’s been quiet around me lately, which always makes me nervous.’

‘I know you and Beck have had some rocky patches, but there needs to be trust there too. Are you leaning a little too much into your past?’

‘Maybe.’ She looked at her fingernails like they were fascinating. ‘I think there must be something wrong with me.’

‘Well, I already knew that,’ I joked.

‘Shut up,’ she muttered. ‘What I mean is that I can’t relax even when things are going well. It’s like I’m Wile E. Coyote just waiting for the next anvil to drop.’

I pressed a hand to my mouth, trying not to laugh at the dire way she saw every aspect of her life. ‘First, I need you to take a breath.’

She gave me that annoyed look that said I should move on.

‘I’m not going to diminish what you’ve been through, Tor. The last couple of years have been rough, but not everything has to be doom and gloom. You have to live for the moments right in front of you. Both of us know that, especially after losing someone we loved with our whole hearts.’

She reached out and tugged me into a firm hug. ‘I wish there was something I could say to make you feel better about Tessa.’

‘It’ll work itself through,’ I offered, even though I wasn’t sure I believed it, especially after the incident at the Dairy Dip, and now the long weeks we’d gone without an honest conversation.

‘I hate Billy.’ She pulled back, her face morphing into a hard mask. ‘He may be attempting to change, act all contrite like he did over Christmas, but it doesn’t erase all the destruction and mayhem he’s caused. Tessa has to see that.’

‘Your sister is an adult. She can make her own decisions, and if you get involved…’ I broke off, not wanting to say my next thought.

‘What? She’ll be angry? Well, too damn bad. I’ve been protecting Tessa my whole life, and I’m not about to stop now.’

I was about to remind her that she needed to let her sister figure out the truth about Billy when Lauren and an entourage of suits entered the conference room through a wide glass door.

‘Good morning!’ Lauren practically vibrated, and I didn’t want to think about how many Nitro Cold Brews she’d had this morning.

She introduced the group of four executives, which included the head of the network, Mr Adler. He was easy to pick out, standing straight-backed with neatly trimmed white hair. His tailored gray suit with monogrammed cufflinks was a perfect fit to his thin frame.

We sat at the table and exchanged small talk until Mr Adler cleared his throat.

‘I want to start off by saying how thrilled the network is with your show. The ratings are some of the highest we’ve seen for a debut.’ He spun in the expensive leather chair and tapped at a panel on the table which opened. After pulling out a small black remote, he pointed it at a large screen on the far wall, and the contract for Season Three appeared. ‘By now you’ve probably read most of the boilerplate copy.’ His voice was thick with a gentle southern twang. ‘The payment per episode details. As I’m sure Lauren has told you, one of the things we’ve been thrilled about is the show’s social media numbers. Likes and comments are extremely high when we feature each of you individually and share more personal details. We’d like to see more of that in the next season.’

Adler nodded to a woman who sat across the table from him in a navy blue suit. Her hair was pulled back into an elaborate braid, and I quickly wondered if I could find a tutorial for it on YouTube.

‘Torran and Manny, it’s wonderful to meet you in person. I’m Hollis Barnhill, director of marketing and public relations. As Mr Adler stated, we see great potential in the show, and the audience loves you.’

She stood and moved around the table, taking the remote from Adler’s outstretched hand. Clicking it once, a slide appeared, showing the rising increase in the show’s viewership. I couldn’t be reading the numbers right.

Torran let out a small gasp and said, ‘Is that how many people watched our final episode?’

Ms Barnhill clicked the remote and highlighted a multicolored bar chart. ‘Yes, your numbers steadily rose each episode, eventually quadrupling by the end of the season. It was like people found Meet Me in Ivy Falls early on and spread the word like a grassroots campaign. It’s something we haven’t seen before at Hearth and Home. It usually takes at least two seasons before a show hits its stride.’

She clicked the remote again. The next slide showed impressions and likes from the big social media platforms. My throat went drier than the rough sandpaper I used to smooth off the edges of the custom furniture I made. The numbers were much higher than I expected – which didn’t bode well for me.

‘I pulled this data yesterday,’ Ms Barnhill went on. ‘Every week we are seeing an upward trend in followers for the show’s accounts. A lot of that is due to the early photos Lauren and her team took of the house on Huckleberry Lane.’

Lauren smiled and nodded along.

‘For the next season, as mentioned in the new contract, we’d like to see your follower count grow even higher. We think we can get there through a little more personalization of your posts.’

She moved to another slide. Torran and Beck’s smiling faces from the final day of shooting Season One appeared. Beside me, Torran shifted uncomfortably in her chair. Ms Barnhill clicked to the next slide, showing a screenshot of the post with the likes and comments highlighted in bright yellow. They were both in the double-digit thousands range.

‘As you can tell, your fans love it when we share personal images like this.’

Ms Barnhill directed her steady gaze at me, and my heart raced at what I knew was coming next. She clicked the remote again, and a picture of me holding Lou on my shoulders at the preview party we’d had in the square filled the entire screen. It was a candid snapped by one of Lauren’s assistants. When I noticed her take it, I immediately asked that it not be made public. I was involved in the show – my daughter was not.

‘Manny, this picture is precious. It shows how much you adore your daughter. Our viewers would love to see more of her.’

‘No.’ I spat out the word like poison.

Ms Barnhill batted her eyes at me. ‘What do you mean “no”?’

‘My daughter will not be part of any sort of promotion for the show. She deserves her privacy. I refuse to be one of those people on the internet who monetize their children.’

‘Manny.’ The quiet grace was gone from Adler’s voice. ‘It’s part of this deal. We need more people to fall in love with the show. To see that, in addition to being a master carpenter, you’re a good single parent. The audience will eat it up.’

I gripped the edge of the table. Pulled in a slow breath. It was rare that I lost my temper, but when it came to Lou, I wasn’t messing around. I’d promised Gina as she lay dying that I’d do everything in my power to keep Lou safe. This was a moment where I felt that promise most keenly.

‘I’ve already spoken to Lauren about this. I’d like to be more in the background of the show. Torran is better on camera anyway,’ I said, doing my best to keep my voice even. ‘As far as promotion goes, I will not do anything more than what I committed to this season. My daughter is already having issues at school because of the publicity. Hell, Torran had to put a fence up around her house because fans were bothering her at all hours of the day and night. I won’t subject my little girl to any of that bullshit.’

Mr Adler clasped his hands on the table and stared Lauren down. ‘Well, this was not anticipated. We’ll have to think about our next steps in regard to the future of the show.’

It was a dagger meant to change my mind, but my choices shouldn’t hurt Torran.

‘Why don’t you do the next season with Torran? You can say I had other commitments. She’s always been the real face of the show anyway. The fans love her.’

Adler’s cheeks went red. ‘You can’t walk away, Mr Parks. Not when we’ve had a successful debut and are planning for the next seasons already. Perhaps I need to involve our lawyers.’

‘Do whatever you need to, but my daughter will always come first. That is non-negotiable.’ My stare clashed with Lauren’s as I pushed away from the table. ‘Excuse me. I need some air.’

Torran gave me a sad smile, and I squeezed her shoulder before striding out of the room.

A part of me should have felt some loss at walking away from the kind of money and opportunity Hearth and Home was offering, but there was too much uncertainty swirling in my life, and it was causing Lou pain.

Once I stepped inside the elevator, I rested my head against a cool steel panel. The walls of my chest ached. I did my breathing technique as visions of Tess filled my head. Her smile. The way her touch loosened the stress in my jaw and back. How she was always ready to fight for Iris and Rose. Not until this moment did I realize that the decision I’d just made to put Lou first was exactly the same choice Tess had made for her own girls.