The Boy I Love (34 page)

She went in search of Jeremy, who was usually in early. Sure enough he was up in his dressing room going through his lines.

‘Hi, how are you?’ he asked as Sally stomped through the door.

‘Not happy!’ she exclaimed. ‘Jeremy, if we don’t pull our fingers out, this production is going to sink without trace. What are the fight scenes like? Are you happy with
what Robert has done with them?’

‘What has brought all this on?’ asked Jeremy. ‘Since when have you been in charge?’

‘Oh, stop it! I am not in charge but I am worried that we are not up to speed. I have just tried to get Robert to give me a clue as to what is going on, but he was very
tight-lipped.’

‘Why do you think there is something going on?’ replied Jeremy. ‘Has something happened?’

‘No, not really, it is just that Giles and Robert seem to be constantly whispering in corners, and I know that there are problems with Isabelle which do not seem to be getting any
better.’

‘Oh really? I thought she
was
getting better. Dora seems to think she is going to surprise us all on the night.’

‘Huh,’ replied Sally, unable to hide her disapproval. ‘What does
Dora
know about anything?’

Jeremy laughed. ‘Oh dear, sisterly affection, eh? Are you sure it is not you who is seeing the world through very jaded glasses at the moment?’

‘What is that supposed to mean?’ retorted Sally. ‘I have been working my butt off to make this play work and no one appears to notice or care. Dora seems to think she is now
Isabelle’s understudy, which is ridiculous, and Giles won’t let me get back to the job I started. I was helping Rupert, and it was going really well until . . .’ She stopped
suddenly, aware that she wanted to burst into tears.

Jeremy got up and gave her a hug. ‘Come on, Sal, don’t give up now. You are being brilliant and once we have opened the play it will all calm down. I know you must be upset about
Rupert and Isabelle, but—’

Sally cut him off. ‘What do you mean? Why would I be upset? Upset about what? Just because the two stars are shagging each other? It is just a shame they don’t put the same energy
into their performances as they do in bed.’ Sally knew she was being unfair but she just could not help herself.

‘Well, well, Miss Thomas, I never thought I would see you crack. Don’t tell me you have become emotionally involved with a fellow actor. That is not how we decided it worked. Were
you not giving me hell just last week, for not focusing on my performance?’

‘Oh, don’t be ridiculous, Jeremy,’ Sally snapped. ‘That was a completely different thing. You are madly in love with Eddie and risking everything else. What is there to
compare with me? I am not madly in love with anybody.’

‘No, but you are infatuated with Rupert, and don’t try and deny it. I am your best friend, remember?’

Sally opened her mouth to protest and then changed her mind. It was the truth. Jeremy had got it right. Everything she was feeling was down to Rupert. She felt so stupid and angry with herself
for letting her feelings get the better of her. The ridiculous thing was that Rupert had no idea how she felt about him. As far as he was concerned they were great mates, and that was all. How
could he know she was so destroyed by his affair with Isabelle? How could she feel so betrayed by him? There was nothing
to
betray. She had created the whole thing in her head and now it was
spoiling everything.

‘Oh, Jeremy, I feel such a prat.’ Fortunately, she managed to stop the tears. The last thing she wanted at this moment was to let Jeremy or anyone else know how she felt. She would
deal with it in private.

‘Come on you, cheer up. You have done a fantastic job with the Dumb Show, and everyone knows how much you have contributed to Isabelle’s performance. With any luck she will go
missing and you will get a go. Imagine that.’ Jeremy kissed her on the cheek and turned back to his script.

‘Are you going away this weekend again?’ asked Sally.

‘Yes, of course. Why do you ask?’ Jeremy waited.

‘Oh nothing really, except I thought I might have a big Sunday lunch to get everyone together for the last week before we open. Bit of bonding, you know.’ She smiled.

‘Sorry, got my own bonding to do.’ Jeremy grinned meaningfully back at Sally.

‘Great,’ said Sally to herself and left the dressing room. She decided to go and visit the girls in Wardrobe for a cheer-up and a gossip. She found Gwendoline sewing beads onto a
gorgeous silk gown.

‘Is that for our leading lady?’ enquired Sally as she came in the room.

‘Yes, and she is thrilled with it,’ said Gwendoline, looking up at Sally. ‘I just hope she stays thrilled enough not to lose any more weight because I have to keep taking it
in.’

‘Blimey, if she lost any more weight she would disappear when she turned sideways,’ snorted Janie, who was ironing in the corner. ‘Mind you, I joke – but bloody hell,
girls, she is something else isn’t she? You know she keeps making herself sick. Practically every time I go in her dressing room she is puking in the toilet. I reckon she has got a
problem.’

‘What sort of problem?’ asked Sally.

‘You know what I mean – an eating-disorder type of thing. Anorexia, I think they call it. I was reading about it the other day in a magazine. Lots of film stars have it because they
have to be so thin for the films. They either don’t eat at all, or eat and then make themselves sick afterwards. Some people have even died, it gets so bad.’ Janie was warming to her
subject. ‘Mind you, she probably gets sick from all that dope she smokes as well. What?’ Janie looked up from her ironing to see Gwendoline and Sally staring at her open-mouthed.
‘Oh, don’t tell me you didn’t know? She is always rolling joints and stashing them in her make-up bag for later. Pete reckons that is why she can’t learn the lines. He says
she is basically stoned all the time. I am surprised Giles hasn’t noticed – or Rupert, for that matter. Let’s face it, he is such a lovely guy and so obviously not into drugs, yet
he spends all his time with her. Did I tell you I caught them at it in the dressing room the other day? God, it was so embarrassing.’

‘I thought you said she spent all her time with her head down the toilet,’ Sally said rather sullenly. ‘What a busy girl she is.’

Janie laughed. ‘Go on, Sally, tell it how it is!’

‘Sorry, but it does make me cross, Janie. People like her always seem to get away with murder, don’t they? Not much talent but all the luck in the world, and mugs like us prepared to
cover for her. Anyway, enough of all that, I came here to be cheered up and get the gossip. How is Sarah these days?’ For some reason Sally had suddenly thought about the girl and her
dealings with Percy. Peggy seemed happier of late so maybe things had gone back to normal.

‘Funny you should mention her,’ said Janie. ‘She is not my favourite person and she owes me money as it happens, but she is very quiet these days. I think something has
happened.’

‘She owes me money as well,’ joined in Gwendoline. ‘And I believe she has had money off most of the boys. She seems to have eased off on Percy, I noticed.’

‘I know Peggy was worried about all that,’ said Sally. ‘Do you think Sarah was actually sleeping with him?’

‘Yes, I do. She is a right little madam,’ blasted Janie. ‘And I tell you what I think, that she tried to get money out of Percy because he was in a right state a while back and
asked Pete about loans and such from the bank, and when Pete asked him why he needed the money, Percy got all tearful and admitted he was a bad boy sometimes and girls took advantage – but he
wouldn’t actually own up to it being Sarah. But let’s face it, we all know she has been all over him like a rash. Even Peggy knows the score. I reckon Peggy has fronted her up and told
her to get lost and that is exactly what she has done. Can’t blackmail Percy if the wife knows all about it, can she? So now she is keeping her head down – looking for the next victim,
I expect.’

‘I always suspected it was Sarah who told Geoffrey’s wife he was having an affair.’ Gwendoline let this statement hang in the air and all three girls digested the
information.

Sally found herself thinking what a sad world it was when people spent so much time and energy being horrible to each other.

The silence was broken by the arrival of Dora.

‘Hi, guys! Just been told I have to try on Isabelle’s costumes in case I have to go on. How cool is that . . .’ She stopped as she caught her sister’s glare across the
room.

‘You have to go on? Dora, how many times do I have to tell you
I
am Isabelle’s understudy?’

‘Don’t blame me, sis. Giles sent me here. Talk to him.’ Dora crossed to Gwendoline and started to undress.

‘Oh, don’t worry, I will,’ Sally hissed and marched out of the room.

Sally was fuming as she strode across the stage towards Giles Longfellow’s office. This was beyond endurance. Never mind the fact that her bloody sister was trying to
usurp her role, Sally had a contract with the theatre that stated that
she
was the official understudy. As she approached the door to Giles’s office she could hear raised voices. She
knocked loudly and the shouting stopped immediately. There was a pause and then the door was opened by Robert who looked at her briefly and then pushed past her and left.

‘Sally, come in, come in.’ Giles looked decidedly ill at ease and was mopping his brow with a silk handkerchief. ‘Please sit down, dear. What can I do for you?’

Sally took a deep breath and jumped straight in. ‘I am very disappointed to discover that somehow my sister Dora seems to have replaced me as the understudy for Ophelia. I have a contract
which states I am employed as an ASM, and to play small parts and understudy. Why have you not allowed me to continue in this capacity?’

Giles let out a long sigh. ‘Oh, Sally, my dear, do we have to go through all this now? I am so stressed, as you can appreciate. I value your time and your talent enormously, but you
can’t do everything. You have been engaged with the Dumb Show, which I hear is fabulous, and you have had your usual duties to perform finding props, et cetera. I felt it was impossible for
you to understudy as well.’

‘But you could have talked to me about the situation,’ said Sally. ‘You agreed I could put Dora on my other jobs, and once I had set up the Dumb Show I would have been free
once again to work with you and Isabelle. I have arranged the whole thing to fit round my duties, and there is not a problem. Please, Giles, it is only fair you give me back the job. Apart from
anything else, Dora is not experienced enough to hold the performance together, no matter what she thinks.’

Giles regarded Sally for a few moments and then remarked, ‘Do I suspect a trace of filial jealousy?’

‘Oh, for goodness sake!’ cried Sally. ‘I am so sick of people always resorting to that old chestnut. I brought Dora here to work. I am proud of what she has achieved and happy
for her, but that is not the point. I am the understudy
and I want my job back
.’

Giles laughed, a deep throaty sound that resounded round the room.

‘Well done, you! OK, Sally, you win. You are the official understudy and I will check with the printers that your name is in the programme. Make sure you let Gwendoline know about costumes
and then meet me onstage to go through all the Ophelia scenes with Isabelle. I might as well tell you now that there is every possibility that you
will
have to go on at some point, as the
girl has some medical problems that may need attention. Obviously we just hope and pray she is fine for the first night. Please keep all this to yourself,’ he added.

‘Of course,’ replied Sally, trying to keep calm and hoping Giles would not notice the flush of exaltation she could feel spreading over her whole face. ‘Thank you, Giles, I am
very grateful.’ She moved as swiftly as possible, without looking as though she was rushing, to the door. She just wanted to get away before he changed his mind!

Once outside, and out of earshot, she let out a whoop of delight and went to find her dear sister. Dora was still in the wardrobe department trying on costumes. Sally made sure she was very calm
and businesslike. It would not do at all for her to look as though she was enjoying her assignment.

‘Dora, can I have a word outside? Would you excuse us for a minute, ladies?’

Dora followed Sally out and up to the dressing room. ‘So what is so secretive we have to come up here?’ she asked.

‘I have just been talking to Giles and we have agreed that it is only right and proper that I get my job back as understudy to Isabelle. So I—’ Sally was interrupted by a very
petulant Dora.

‘Oh come on, Sally, that is not fair! I have worked really hard the last couple of weeks. I am perfect for the part, and Rupert and I have a very special bond.’

‘I am sure that is true, sister dear, and nobody is denying you have worked hard, but unfortunately you do not have a contract, as I do, stating that you are the understudy. I too have
worked hard for the last few months with this company, and it is only right and proper I get the perks of the job. Your turn will no doubt come one day if you continue to pursue your chosen career
with the zeal you have shown so far.’