A Moment Like This

Episode 6

Morning comes, and Valerie gets her things ready before leaving a cup of coffee next to Phoebe. Exiting the elevator, she opens her mailbox and pulls out an envelope that reads, "PAST DUE." She checks her phone and notices that she has a voicemail from her father, Nickolas. Valerie lets out a heavy sigh and gets into her car.

NICKOLAS: Hi sweetie. It's dad. I hope you're doing well. I- I just wanted to thank you. I went to the bank, and there was a deposit of over 15,000 dollars in small checks. Uh, please call me back when you get the chance. Bye, love you.

Valerie hangs up and wonders what he's talking about, so she calls him back. He doesn't answer, so she leaves him a voicemail.

VALERIE: Dad, don't touch that money. I didn't put it into our account. I'll call you when I figure it out.

She hangs up and puts her head against the steering wheel, letting out a sigh. She lifts her head bites her inner cheek, trying to figure out what to do. A slight headache grows as she looks at herself in the mirror and notices her eyes tearing up. She pulls out a tissue from her glove compartment, wipes them away, and drives to work.

She makes her way to her desk when her co-workers ask her more questions about the upcoming Holiday Attraction. She tries her best to answer each of them as a small crowd surrounds her.

COWORKER: Did you bring the references I asked for?

VALERIE: Yeah, hold on.

Valerie opens her backpack while answering questions. More people start surrounding her, and she starts getting anxious. She loses her grip on her bag while handing out papers, but all her papers fall out when someone bumps into her. Everyone steps away as the papers fall to the ground. Valerie kneels to pick up the mess, and so does someone else.

VALERIE: Thank you, I-

LEVI: No problem.

Valerie looks up and is relieved to see Levi. Valerie struggles to organize the papers in her hand, so she holds them against her chest, gets up, and rushes to her desk. Levi looks down, picks up an envelope with the stamp "PAST DUE'' on it, and follows Valerie. He places the envelope on her desk, and when she notices, she quickly grabs it and starts organizing the papers on her desk.

LEVI: Are you okay?

VALERIE: Yeah, I'm fine. Is there something you need?

She smiles.

LEVI: No.

He lightly taps her desk and walks into his office. A few seconds later, Jason approaches.

JASON: Hey, did you send those datasheets to the accounting team?

VALERIE: I did. I sent them to Phoebe.

She said while wiping her watery eyes.

JASON: Is everything okay?

VALERIE: Yeah, yeah. I just need a minute.

Valerie heads to the bathroom. Jason looks back at her and makes his way into Levi's office.

JASON: Levi, have you decided on the Christmas Holiday Attraction?

LEVI: I've seen what people submitted, but nothing seems good enough.

JASON: We can just do what we did last year and come up with something better next year.

LEVI: We could. I just don't know how we fell behind on this.

JASON: So I'll just put down the Christmas Tree decorations?

Jason notices Levi looking out his office door.

JASON: Is something wrong?

LEVI: Everything is what it used to be.