The Boy I Love (20 page)

‘I am Eddie Graham, by the way, son of the Lord.’ The boy made a face and laughed. ‘It is always embarrassing at first. Hopefully you won’t hold it against me. Here, have
a glass of champagne. You look done in.’

Jeremy took the glass and desperately tried to pull himself together. What was the matter with him? He was trembling.

‘Um, thanks very much,’ he said, taking the glass and throwing the contents back in one gulp. ‘Yes, I am sorry to be so slow but it has been a long day. Could you pass me
another drink, do you think?’ Jeremy handed Eddie the empty glass and waited for the replacement. He couldn’t move from the spot. Eddie laughed and his whole face lit up. It was such an
open, beautiful face, thought Jeremy, losing himself once again in the moment, only to come back down to earth with a bump as he felt a hand on his arm moving him away from the bar – and
there was Giles, beaming down at him.

‘Well done, Jeremy. Fantastic performance! You’ve met Eddie? Good, lovely, well let me introduce you to his father, Lord Graham.’ Giles spun Jeremy round to face a tall
handsome man, who rather spookily resembled an older version of Eddie. Well, he would, wouldn’t he?
Pull yourself together, Jeremy, for God’s sake
.

‘How do you do, sir,’ he managed to mumble and shook the proffered hand.

‘Pleased to meet you, my boy. Thoroughly enjoyed the evening. This is my daughter Tilly, by the way.’ His Lordship stepped aside to reveal a strikingly pretty girl with the same open
face as her brother, and mountains of golden hair.

‘Hi,’ she said. ‘Congratulations on the play – it was fab.’

Jeremy was now completely at a loss as to where to go with any of this. The bar was so crowded and the noise level had reached epic proportions, and he felt a bit dizzy.

‘Do you mind if I just sit down for a moment?’ he asked no one in particular and Eddie jumped to attention.

‘Of course, sorry. There is a chair. I‘ll get it.’ And he had gone off before Jeremy could stop him.

Jeremy turned to the girl and tried to explain: ‘You must think me very odd just standing here, but the thing is, it is always rather overwhelming coming up to all these people after just
finishing a show. It is like coming out of one world and into another.’

‘Oh, please don’t apologize. I think it’s great you even bothered to come. I am not sure I would.’ Tilly smiled at him and he basked in the glow.

Eddie was suddenly at his side, saying, ‘Here you go. Please sit and relax. We rather bombarded you, didn’t we? Sorry, but it is so exciting being here and seeing all the actors and
everything.’

The two siblings spent the next few minutes chatting and generally being very pleasant. Jeremy still couldn’t quite bring himself up to speed and was desperate for some help to get him out
of his coma.

‘There you are – I have been looking everywhere for you. Oh, sorry, didn’t mean to interrupt.’

It was Sally.

She stopped and acknowledged the two guests.

Jeremy finally found his tongue. ‘Sally, this is Eddie and Tilly Graham. They have been to see the show tonight with their father Lord Graham.’

‘But don’t let that put you off,’ laughed Eddie. ‘We are quite nice really, aren’t we, Tilly?’

Sally smiled and shook their hands.

‘How lovely to meet you. I am sorry I barged in, but when my best friend goes missing I am always a bit concerned. He is not safe out on his own!’ They all laughed and Jeremy started
to relax for the first time in the evening. Thank goodness Sally was here to rescue him. But rescue him from what, exactly?

The bar was finally emptying out as the audience left. As usual the cast and crew had their eye on the pub and most of them had already left. Giles and Lord Graham were deep in conversation at
the other end of the bar so Jeremy ventured to invite their new friends for a drink with them.

‘Oh, that would be terrific, but I think Dad is on a bit of a mission to get back tonight as he has to be in London tomorrow,’ replied Eddie. ‘But it would be great if we could
meet up sometime. I would love to see backstage – but I don’t want to be a nuisance.’

‘No, no, of course you wouldn’t be a nuisance. We work every day until about five so if you wanted to turn up then we could show you round. It would be a pleasure,’ said
Jeremy, turning to Sally for confirmation.

‘Oh yes, absolutely,’ she agreed. ‘Listen, I hate to be a party-pooper but we need to get going, Jeremy.’

‘Oh yes, please don’t let us keep you. It has been a pleasure meeting you and I look forward to my guided tour.’

This little speech from Eddie was directed solely at Jeremy and it was picked up by Sally, who made a mental note to ask Jeremy all about it later. In the meantime she grabbed his arm and joked,
‘Don’t you know that a clean exit is always best? Stop dithering and say goodbye.’

‘Goodbye,’ Jeremy said obediently, watching the two beautiful young things cross the bar towards their father.

He felt the butterflies in his stomach again and turned guiltily to see if Sally was watching him. Fortunately she had her head down and was concentrating on dragging him across to the door. He
swallowed hard and tried to pull himself together. He needed to be alone to examine what had happened to him tonight. One thing he knew for sure: it had nothing to do with acting or his
performance.

Jeremy arrived at the stage door the next day to be greeted by a very excited Gladys, who handed him an envelope. The woman was desperately hoping he would open it there and
then, and put her out of her misery. Needless to say she had examined the envelope extensively, but it had given her no clues, except that it was expensive stationery. She watched Jeremy disappear
upstairs with a frustrated sigh. Oh well, you couldn’t win ’em all.

Once in the dressing room, which mercifully he had to himself, Jeremy tore open the missive. The card was also expensive and matched the envelope. The handwriting was smooth and flowing.

Jeremy could feel his heart pounding, and realized that he was holding his breath. He let it go with a big sigh, wondering what this was all about. Did Eddie feel the same way,
or was this just a polite note showing a mild interest in the theatre? Surely it was more than that. Deep down inside him a little voice was telling him that there
had
been a connection last
night – he was not imagining it. What should he do now? He put the card back in the envelope and pushed it down inside his bag. He would go and ask Sally.

He found his friend folding clean washing in the wardrobe department with Dora and Gwendoline and Janie. Now was obviously not a good time to discuss his life.

‘Hi, Jeremy,’ said Dora gaily. ‘You are looking a bit stressed.’

Sally crossed to Jeremy and took his arm. ‘Is something wrong?’ she whispered. ‘Come outside.’ She pushed him through the door into the corridor.

‘I have had a card from Eddie,’ replied Jeremy. ‘He wants a guided tour of the theatre.’

‘Well, that’s great. Say yes, you numpty, and get him here and then you can see how the land lies.’ Sally gave him a hug and said, ‘I have to work, let’s talk about
it later.’

Jeremy went back to the dressing room and reread the note, then lay on folded arms at his dressing table, trying to control the swirling thoughts going round in his head. Finally he fell asleep,
and was awoken an hour later by the lads arriving for the evening show.

Sally meanwhile had finished the laundry and had gone off to set the stage and check props. Dora called after her, ‘Hey, wait for me, sis! I need a favour. Giles has asked to see me
tomorrow during the lunch-hour to audition for the chorus, so will you just listen to my song a couple of times?’

‘Sure,’ replied Sally, making her way onto the stage. ‘Why don’t you sing for me now, onstage, while no one is around?’

Dora stopped in her tracks and looked around. ‘OK then, if you think it is all right.’

‘Yes – go on, go for it. I will whip up to the box – just give me a minute.’ And she disappeared out of sight.

Left on her own in the middle of the stage, Dora was suddenly very aware of the whole theatre. The auditorium in front of her, with the rows of red velvet seats creating a crimson sea, calm now,
but which would soon be rippling with life. She gazed upwards to the balcony, a distant land, and let out a small sound, aiming for the back of the theatre. Her tiny note floated away and was lost
in the crimson velvet tiers above her.

‘You will have to do better than that,’ came Sally’s voice from the semi-darkness. She sounded so close but when Dora looked up she could see her sister away in the box. It was
deceptive.

‘Sorry, I was just suddenly overwhelmed by the whole building. It really is so beautiful, isn’t it?’ murmured Dora as she moved to the front of the stage and peered over the
edge into the pit.

‘Come on, Dora, stop messing about and give me a blast,’ ordered her sister, and her voice chased the shadows round the theatre.

Dora cleared her throat and launched into a gutsy rendition of the opening number from the new musical
Lysistrata
. Her voice was strong and clear, and she really gave the high notes a
blasting. It was very rousing and just right emotionally for the scene, in Sally’s opinion. She was just about to say as much when she was stopped in her tracks by the sound of clapping. The
hands were very slowly coming together and each clap reverberated round the auditorium.

‘Encore! Bravo! You are hired, my girl, is she not, Timothy?’

The two sisters were trying to gauge where the voice was coming from. Sally left the box and came down to join Dora on the stage, by which time Giles and Timothy Townsend, the musical director,
were leaning on the edge of the pit in the stalls looking up at them.

‘Are you serious?’ asked Dora, unable to keep the excitement out of her voice.

‘Absolutely, my dear,’ replied Giles. ‘We have two talented sisters in our midst. Marvellous! Sally, I have been looking for you, because I want you to talk to Timothy here
about taking a solo number in the next show. At the moment it belongs to the leading character, but Tim and I agree you have a wonderful soprano voice and it would be a shame not to use it. So if
you are game, he can give you the song now so you have time to get it under your belt for rehearsals tomorrow. As for you, Dora – that is your name, I believe?’

Dora nodded her head so hard Sally thought it would drop off!

‘Well, if you could come with us now,’ Giles continued, ‘we will take you through the role and Timothy can check out your range, et cetera. See you in the rehearsal room in
five.’

The two girls were left standing staring into an empty theatre and silence prevailed. For a few seconds!

Then: ‘Oh my God!’ screamed Dora. ‘I am going to be in the show. I am going to be an actress. Oh my God!’ She grabbed her sister and proceeded to waltz her round the
stage.

‘Well done,’ said Sally, trying to catch her breath and at the same time work out what exactly had just happened and where she herself fitted into all this. A solo in the next show,
that was great – but how would Charmaine feel about losing a number to Dora, of all people? What would she have to say about that?

‘Hang on, can we stop, please? I need to think.’ Sally escaped from Dora’s arms and went across to the prompt corner to find a script of
Lysistrata
. ‘I just want
to check how all this fits together,’ she explained to Dora.

‘Does it matter?’ the other girl asked. ‘All we need to do is wait to be given our new roles – and away we go. I can’t believe I am going to be in
Lysistrata
. Come on, let’s go and tell everyone.’

‘
No
. Hang on, Dora, that is
not
a good idea. People are very sensitive about their roles and it is not your place to announce cast changes. Leave it to Giles to tell everyone
tomorrow morning. Please trust me on this.’ Sally took hold of Dora’s arm and looked her straight in the eye. ‘Do you understand? You do not want to start out at the beginning of
the rehearsals on the wrong foot, believe me. Promise me you will not say a word?’