Page 45 of Once Upon A Christmas Song

“I can’t believe she’s The Picky Blackbird. I’ve read all her pieces.”

“Why is that her name? The Picky Blackbird. It’s weird.”

“Well, I’m thinking the picky part is probably because she’s discriminating about what she thinks is quality, and her last name is Amsel, which means blackbird in German.”

I squinted at her.

“What? I took German in high school. Didn’t you have to take a language?”

“Yeah. Spanish. How often are you using your German in everyday life?”

“Let me understand this, you’re trying to shame me for my language choice?”

“Just—”

“Lots of amazing recipes in German and French,” she declared.

“Why are you bringing French into this? I was talking about German.”

“Are you two all right?” Dawson asked.

Georgine suddenly crossed her arms and glowered at him.

“What did I do?” he asked her.

“Listen, I am stunned to be standing in this room with you because I have all three of your albums, but Simone explained that in the past you weren’t good to Chris, and that concerns me because Chris is my boy.”

“Actually, he’s my boy, and as I said in the meeting, I’m here to fix it.”

“Yes, you did, and I found that very sweet and sincere.”

“Mom!” Cami yelled from down the hall, sounding really annoyed.

“You better go,” I told her. “Nicole needs to gush about your kid saving her kid.”

“She told me that part already,” she said, her face scrunching up.

“What?”

“I just think it’s sad that Prudence didn’t tell her mother.”

“That’s not your issue to fix,” I told her. “You know it’s not. Your kid tells you everything, so let that go.”

After a moment, she nodded.

“Nicole also wants to schedule a time to interview you.”

“You’ll be okay in here?”

I shot her a look that I hoped conveyed how stupid that question was.

“I’m a mother, I worry. Tell me you’ll be fine.”

“I’m a grown-ass man. Of course I’ll be fine.”

She glanced at Dawson.

“I promise not to hurt him while you’re gone.”