The Holiday Switch(64)

Music blares from inside the Inn. Still, it can’t compete with the pounding of my heart. Jonah Johanson. Remy Castillo. Teddy Rivera. All in one place. Add it to my looming decision about the internship interview, and it’s like all of my emotions are bursting out at once.

    We walk through the employee entrance, and the passageway from the Inn to the gift shop teems with employees. Everyone is on their own trajectory, carrying product or speaking into walkie-talkies. And when we enter the gift shop, it is a whole other level of loud.

Mom grabs a flyer from KC, who tackles me with a hug before being pulled away, and eyes her watch. “Looks like everyone is hanging around here until the panel, which is in about ten minutes. And fireworks at midnight, then the book signing.” She presses the flyer against her chest with dramatic flair and breathes, “I can’t believe we’re going to meet Remy.”

I hug her, she’s so cute.

We’re interrupted by Mrs. Bruno, a nurse and one of Mom’s coworkers. As they start chatting, it’s the perfect time for me to escape. “I’m going to walk around to see who’s here.”

“Okay, Iha…” Her attention drifts back to Mrs. Bruno midsentence. Hence the reason why, when we attend parties, we have to give Mom a thirty-minute heads-up before our exit because her farewells are so lengthy. There’s always last-minute juicy gossip.

I’m sweating by the time I make my way to my library, where people are milling about looking at the spines. I feel a tug against my arm. It’s Teddy, dressed in his Bookworm Inn uniform. He gestures to the back, and with a final look at Mom, who has joined a circle with other Holly General staff, I follow him down toward the break room. He pulls me in, shuts the door, and locks it.

I burst into a giggle, then wrap my arms around his neck.

When he stares down at me with his brown eyes, arms encircling my waist, everything is perfect. I drink in both him and this moment. It’s already the best New Year’s Eve ever, and the festivities haven’t even started yet. And though it’s only been a day since we’ve seen each other, and only a half hour since our last text, it feels like too much time has passed. “How is it out there?” I ask.

    “Worse than that last night we worked together. So busy that no one can see the arrows on the ground. At one point, the line wrapped around the back of the store. And someone started humming the theme song and everyone joined in. It’s a whole other level of fandom.”

I laugh. “Well, I know something that might make you feel better.”

“Yes. Anything, please.”

I get on my tiptoes and kiss him. I mean for it to be chaste and silly. But he tastes like chocolate, and I go in for another kiss, and another one. His hands grip my waist, and I pull him down to me, because I can’t get enough of his lips on mine.

I hear the sound of jingle bells but I push it away. Then a second set of jingle bells chime, and Teddy looks up and turns his head toward the door. As we break contact, I slacken.

“It’s almost time for the panel. I’m assigned to help manage the crowd. You shouldn’t be late.” He grins, then kisses me on the nose. “Meet me at the pier afterward?”

“Okay.”

“I’ll walk out first. Give it a couple of seconds before you do.” He opens the door; then with a wink, he shoots down the hallway.

I’m not sure that even the panel can top that.



* * *





    I have stars in my eyes throughout the panel event. Despite sitting too far away, I’m swept up watching these two beloved actors recount their experience working on the film. Mom and I hold hands the whole time when she’s not taking pictures—we’re both that amped and excited.

Jonah Johanson is not such a heartthrob in real life—Teddy’s right, he’s more like a dad—but he’s still charming and can elicit a giggle from the crowd. He knows how to work it.

But Remy Castillo is a star. Her presence is commanding, and in a weird way, she reminds me of Mom—no-nonsense but quick to laughter.

After the panel, Mom hangs by the exit, showing me the fangirl, or perhaps the stalker, she really is. A few minutes later, Ms. Velasco exits with Kira. And…

Holy Heat Miser. It’s them.

“That was absolutely fantastic,” says Jonah Johanson. The timbre of his voice sends fangirl shivers up my spine. I take it back—up close, I can see Leo. He exudes confidence. With his salt-and-pepper hair and both hands hiked up on his hips, he brings me right back to the film, to the moment where his younger self stands up to a bully who happened to be picking on the younger Estelle.

And next to him is Remy herself.

Standing an inch or two taller than me, the connection is instant—er, at least on my end. And while wrinkles crinkle the sides of her eyes and mouth, she’s just as pretty. Jonah pales next to Remy. It’s already a once-in-a-lifetime moment, meeting a film star, and the fact that she’s one of only a handful of Filipino American actors on the big screen is overwhelming.

It’s like you don’t know what you’re missing until you get it.

“Oh, this is perfect,” Ms. Velasco says. “Remy and Jonah, this is my best friend Cat and her daughter Lila. Ladies, unfortunately we can’t hang out for too long. It’s time for a quick break for them before the countdown and fireworks.”