Christmas at the Little Clock House on the Green. Eve Devon

thirty whole minutes on a busy Friday night.

      But as if he knew she was about to argue, he added a, ‘That is a direct order, Danes.’

      ‘Sir, yes Sir,’ Emma shouted back, giving him a mock salute as she backed out of the bar doors into the kitchen.

      ‘Jeez, Emma, is there any chance you could come through the doors and not nearly knock me over?’

      ‘Sorry, Jade. You’re going to have to direct that stellar sarcasm, we’ve all come to know as wit, at DiNozo for the next few.’

      ‘Sure thing, shirker. Nothing I like better than having to repeat an order eleven million times over to the guy who can’t think for smiling at the ladeez.’

      Emma grinned because the way DiNozo was looking at Jade it really wasn’t going to take too much more of her wince-worthy wit for him to decide that the best way to silence that mouth of hers was probably with his. And once they locked lips…

      With a happier heart than a few moments before, Emma walked through the busy kitchen and headed up the steep staircase to Rudy’s office.

      Flinging open the door she took two steps and flung herself down on the fake leather Admiral’s chair. If she lowered her aching limbs to the equally fake Chesterfield sofa shoved along the wall beside the filing cabinet she was pretty sure she’d fall asleep and sleeping on the job?

      Yeah.

      Tended to be thought of as one of those things you didn’t do.

      Moving a crate containing a new brand of vodka off the desk, she decided thirty minutes was enough time to check Rudy had added all the forms for Christmas parties to the spreadsheet she’d set up for him.

      She got so engrossed that when the office door opened and in walked Rudy, she turned in surprise.

      ‘Relax,’ he said, holding out his hands. ‘Break’s not over. I couldn’t take the chemistry down there any longer.’

      ‘Jade and Tony? It’s True Love, Rudy. Can’t stand in the way of it.’

      Rudy groaned. ‘You and your match-making. Why can’t you let Tinder take care of all that?’

      Emma shuddered. Dating via an app took all the romance out of it. She knew because she had the unbroken heart to prove it. Dating in the movies was a whole lot different to dating when you worked in the movies. In Hollywood it was virtually impossible to even get a date without using an app and once you did, if you wanted anything more than a casual hook-up, then anyone from within the industry tended to only be interested in what you could do for each other’s careers and anyone from outside of the industry tended towards petty jealousies or secretly wanting into the industry anyway.

      ‘Tinder takes care of one thing and one thing only, Rudy. When it comes to matters of the heart, human intervention works best.’

      At least it did for others. If only she was as good at match-making herself as she was her friends. It was like when you saw an outfit in a shop window and knew instantly who it would look good on, but when it came to choosing one for yourself, you just couldn’t see it.

      Maybe she was just blind to ‘Eligible Guy Reveal Yourself’, because she only had eyes for, ‘Let The Actress See The Role’.

      ‘What am I going to do if they discover that the path to true love doesn’t involve working together?’ Rudy asked.

      ‘They’ll be fine. Trust me. Think of it this way, won’t it be nice to be around Jade when she’s singing like Cinderella instead of spitting nails?’ She grinned, and then gestured to the screen, ‘You need to order more glassware if you’re really going to say yes to this number of private Christmas parties.’

      ‘Yeah, yeah. Danes, listen up.’

      ‘It should be okay,’ she continued, not really listening-up. ‘As long as you don’t double book anyone.’

      ‘Stop about the holidays for a moment. Look, you keep running around here like you’re indispensable, I’m going to start wondering what I’d ever do without you.’

      ‘What are you talking about?’ She turned towards him and blinked. ‘When I get The Call, you’ll just hire someone else.’

      Rudy gave her a long measured look and then shrugged. ‘Okay. Yes. This is what I would do. But would they be as good as you? Would they practically run the place when I’m not here?’

      Emma’s heart skipped a beat. ‘Are you planning on going somewhere?’

      ‘Maybe. This place is doing well. Makes me think I might like to open another one.’

      Terrific. Was everyone moving onto something except her? ‘Where?’

      ‘New York.’

      Huh. If only she’d actually made the move to trying theatre. She’d have been in with a shot of getting a job to pay rent while going for auditions.

      ‘I guess I’m asking what you want more,’ Rudy said. ‘Your name in lights? Or, maybe, your name above this door?’

      Emma started shuffling the pile of party requests. He wanted her to run this place for him while he scouted out and set up a bar in New York? ‘I want my name in lights, Rudy. You’ve known this from day one.’ Her heart felt heavy because, okay, day one had been three years ago and she hadn’t been able to make it happen.

      Rudy looked at her shrewdly and then got up and headed for the door before pausing and saying, ‘You don’t have to answer now but think about it will you?’

      Left alone in Rudy’s office once more, Emma didn’t know what to think. Could she really manage this place for Rudy? Could she really give up chasing The Dream in favour of being surrounded by people who were pursuing that very same dream? Every night, could she watch happily as one by one they started their new adventures and made it in the industry, or would it make her bitter?

      Not much of an adventure for her, she thought and immediately felt awful because sweet, sweet Rudy was offering her more options than she’d given herself for the last three years.

      With a huge sigh she pulled up her emails hoping to distract herself.

      She was young and single with talent.

      When did she get to start her adventure?

      Idly she clicked on a new email from Kate:

       To: WritingHer‌OscarAccep‌tanceSpeech

       From: Kate Somersby

       Subject: Season’s Greetings

       Attachment: Invite

       Emma, Hi!

       Beyond excited to show you the mock-up of the invitation we’ll be sending out.

       Can you do me a massive favour and give me your honest opinion? We’ve been working on these for so long I’ve got analysis paralysis!

       Oh, can you pay particular attention to the last business and give me your thoughts?

      Intrigued, Emma clicked on the attachment and was hopelessly enchanted when an old-fashioned cream-coloured linen envelope, whizzed across her screen and came to a stop, looking like something straight out of a Jane Austen novel. It had her name and address written on it in flowing script, like it had been written with fountain pen and sent by messenger to end up on a silver tray, waiting to be sliced open with a beautifully engraved letter opener.

      A second later and it was turning itself over and opening up right in front of her eyes.

      The flowing script in the middle read:

       This Christmas you are cordially invited to the grand opening of The Little Clock House on the Green…

      Oh, wow. Emma squinted past