The Boy I Love (38 page)

‘Do I suspect a faux pas here?’ asked Sally. ‘I take it Lord Graham does not have any idea that you two are an item?’

‘Oh my God, no! That would be a disaster. Can you imagine the repercussions? Poor Eddie would probably be disinherited.’

‘But surely he is going to have to come out one day?’ said Sally. ‘He can’t pretend for the rest of his life.’

‘Lots of people do,’ replied Jeremy sadly. ‘I don’t know what is going to happen – I just know I love Eddie so much I couldn’t live without him.’

Sally squeezed his hand and said kindly, ‘Come on, let’s go and join the others. I feel a Mrs Wong coming on.’

They crossed to where the rest of the company were beginning to assemble ready for a mass exodus to the pub.

‘Hi, guys,’ said Pete. ‘We cracked it, didn’t we? No thanks to the management, but—’

‘Ssh, Pete!’ cautioned Janie. ‘The management is about to give a speech.’

Giles Longfellow was tapping his glass and getting nowhere in his attempts to silence the crowd, until finally Simon put two fingers in his mouth and produced an ear-splitting whistle. The rest
of the cast whooped with delight.

‘Ladies and gentlemen, it gives me great pleasure to stand here tonight and express my delight and gratitude to the citizens of Crewe for making this evening possible. To the members of
the council who work with us on a daily basis to keep our theatre running. To all the members of staff front of house for their hard work, and to all the wonderful cast and crew for their tireless
commitment. It has not been easy but I think I can honestly say tonight has made it all worthwhile. And finally I would like to extend a huge thank you to Lord Graham for his support. Nothing would
happen without his generosity. Thank you, sir, and thank you, everyone. Enjoy the rest of your night!’

Jeremy looked across the room to see Eddie, flanked by his mother and father, shaking hands with Giles and making their goodbyes. He caught Eddie’s eye and his lover flashed him a
heart-melting smile.

‘Quite a boy, isn’t he?’ said a voice at his elbow. Jeremy looked at Robert and tried to gauge what he was driving at, but it was impossible to read the man. Jeremy was always
left with a feeling of unease, as if Robert were about to divulge a terrible secret. But then it was true, wasn’t it? He did know a terrible secret and if he did divulge it they would all be
ruined.

‘Coming to the pub, Robert?’ was all he said and he made his way to the door.

Sally sat opposite Giles in his office and tried to take in what he was telling her.

‘I am afraid Isabelle will be leaving at the end of the week. This, of course, means a huge upheaval for the cast, and we will have to rehearse you in. For you it is an even bigger
challenge, but one I know you will embrace with your usual professional approach. It is an extraordinary situation, I must say, and I feel very frustrated that my hands are tied.’

‘But what about her contract? Can she legally just bunk off like this?’ Sally could feel her anger bubbling up.

‘Legally it is not credible, but the circumstances are so unusual I have agreed to her dismissal. The trouble is, Sally, between you, me and the gatepost, Isabelle is a liability. The fact
we managed –
you
managed – to get her on at all is a miracle. Her agent can provide a letter from a specialist confirming that she needs medical attention as soon as possible, so
what can I say?’

‘But she is going off to Hollywood to make a film,’ protested Sally. ‘Is that a euphemism for “medical attention” or is that simply taking the mickey? I can’t
believe people can get away with these things.’ She was growing angrier by the minute, and Giles was irritating her as well, because he was being so pathetic.

‘I know, I know, it is a hard pill to swallow. But the good news is, you are going to be playing Ophelia! Now I have called the company for two o’clock to explain everything, and by
then we will have a rehearsal schedule worked out. It is going to be very tough for everyone, as we have to start the next production at the same time. Thank God it is Victorian Music Hall. Not too
much to rehearse, just learning the songs really. Timothy is so good he will soon have everybody off their song-sheets, and Sarah is going to help me stage some of the numbers.’

‘Sarah?’ said Sally. ‘Why Sarah?’

‘Oh, she has done a lot of Music Hall and I went to see her at the Leeds Variety last year. She was wonderful. She came to me earlier in the season and asked if she could assist, and now
it will be a great help, because I will be rather busy for the first week sorting out your performances. By the way, I have given Dora your big number since I thought you will not be so free to
rehearse. So I hope you don’t mind that I have given her “Burlington Bertie”. Is that OK with you, dear?’

‘Yes, of course.’ But Sally wanted to weep. She had been so looking forward to doing that number and had already learned it. She was going to be sidelined again. Still, it
wasn’t all bad. She was going to play Ophelia with Rupert for a whole week! The thought drove everything else from her mind.

‘Right – well, I had better get off to Wardrobe and sort out costumes. Thank you, Giles, I will not let you down,’ she told him.

‘I know you will be marvellous, and by way of reparation I have invited a top London agent up next week to cover your performance. He is going to come with James Langton, who I know is an
old friend of yours.’ Giles looked very pleased with himself.

‘Oh, that
is
fantastic news!’ exclaimed Sally. ‘Thank you so much, Giles.’ And she practically hopped with joy out of his office.

The rest of the cast were thrilled with her news, although they were not so thrilled by the thought of more rehearsal.

‘I will do my best to learn it all quickly,’ Sally promised them. ‘Listen, I know most of the play because I have been working on it.’

‘Can I take over all your stuff then?’ chimed in Dora, always quick to jump on an opportunity.

‘Yes, you can,’ said Sally. ‘We will need to work on that, obviously. We will have to co-ordinate times with Timothy and his rehearsals. Congratulations, by the way, Giles has
told me you are going to do “Burlington Bertie”.’

Dora had the grace to look slightly sheepish. ‘Oh thanks, Sally. I am sorry you have missed out but you are going to be brilliant as Ophelia.’

‘I hope so,’ her sister said.

Rupert was beside himself when Sally found him in his dressing room.

‘How can she do this to me?’ He was nearly in tears. Sally wanted to console him but she was actually annoyed that he seemed more upset for himself than for the situation, and the
fact that the stupid cow had dumped everyone in the proverbial, not only him, for her own selfish reasons.

‘How can she do this to
us
, you mean,’ she chided. ‘Come on, Rupert, the girl is a mess and has completely lost the plot. She has got away with murder. Giles has
released her from her contract so she can gallivant off to Hollywood. She is completely selfish.’

‘I know that, Sally, but I love her. We were going to get a place together. We had the West End production to look forward to – what will happen to that now?’

‘I am sure they will find it very easy to engage another actress. Hopefully one with more talent than Miss Isabelle James.’ Sally no longer cared what Rupert thought of her harsh
words regarding the love of his life.

‘Please don’t be mean about her, Sally. This is very hard for me. I know you will be brilliant as Ophelia, and believe me, I will give you all my support, but just understand how I
am feeling right now.’

Sally looked at Rupert sat there feeling bereft. She longed to hold him and comfort him, but the actress in her took over. There was no time for all that now. She had a performance to create,
and he was going to help her no matter how heartbroken he was. This was her time now, and she was going to make the most of it.

‘Come on, you. Time enough to weep later – we have work to do,’ she told Rupert.

Isabelle had the good sense to keep well out of everyone’s way, and only came into the theatre at the last minute to get changed and ready for the show. She seemed to sleepwalk through her
performance, as though she was already on the plane to La La Land.

‘Good riddance, I say,’ remarked Gwendoline. ‘You are going to be so much better, Sally. Now try this dress on and let’s see what has to be altered.’ The
alterations were all straightforward but when it came to the floaty number there was an underwear problem.

‘The thing is, whatever you put on by way of underwear will show through this material. Isabelle didn’t wear anything underneath. Are you happy to do that, Sally?’ asked the
wardrobe mistress.

Truth be told, Sally was horrified at the thought of wearing a see-through dress with nothing on underneath. But a little voice was telling her to get over herself. She was an actress, and she
would do whatever it took for the good of the scene. She could quite clearly see the benefit of being naked under the dress, not just for the line of the dress, but basically for the whole
atmosphere of the scene. She would feel so much more vulnerable, and it would help the madness and the feeling of loss somehow; she knew she had to do this.

‘Yes, that’s fine,’ she said firmly, hoping to convince herself in the meantime.

The rest of the week was crazy. Sally hardly ate or slept. She started to watch Isabelle from the wings but decided it did not help her. She was better off just creating her own performance
without any other influences. Rupert was wonderful as ever and they were able to create a real energy between them. By Saturday night everyone was quite happy to bid farewell to Miss James. There
was even relief for Rupert, who had struggled all week knowing she was leaving but needing to keep everything smooth as they had to work together. Isabelle had a studio car coming to pick her up
after the show and drive her to London, as she was booked on a flight the next day to LA.

‘I won’t have time to shop or anything,’ she whined to Sally, who wanted to be sick.

To save Rupert facing a lonely Sunday in Crewe Sally had invited him to lunch. Dora decided she would cook and let the actors chill out as she put it. It turned out to be a very good idea as
Sally was so nervous she could think about nothing except the play, and Rupert was beyond conversation as he wallowed in his misery. Dora drank copious amounts of red wine as she stirred her chilli
con carne and couldn’t care less about anything. Every now and then she would burst into a chorus of ‘I’m Burlington Bertie, I rise at ten thirty,’ and strut around the
living room. She even managed to glean a smile from Rupert.

‘That’s better!’ she exclaimed. ‘Right, you guys, come and eat my chilli, and all will be well.’

Sally watched Dora flirting with Rupert and tried to be generous of spirit. Her sister was not a mean or malicious person. She was just young maybe? Sally thought back to their childhood and how
most of the time they had been very happy as sisters. Sally was always the sensible one though, the older sister in charge. She had a mental picture of Dora standing on a low wall outside a holiday
cottage singing at the top of her voice, and their parents rushing out and blaming Sally for letting her sister climb up and put herself in danger. Looking at her sister over the table at lunch,
Sally felt a surge of love for Dora and made a mental note to make sure that once she had opened next week, she would talk to Dora about all the goings-on so far, and try to mend some bridges.

By seven o’clock on Monday night Sally was a wreck. She could not stop shaking. She sat in her new dressing room, recently vacated by Isabelle, and brushed her hair
slowly, trying to restore some calm. The cast had all been round with little gifts and cards, which had made her cry!

‘Five minutes, everyone. Five minutes.’ Heather’s voice through the Tannoy was strangely reassuring. There was a knock on the door.

‘Come in,’ she called out.

The door opened to reveal Giles Longfellow with an enormous bunch of lilies followed by Robert with a huge box of chocolates.

‘Good luck, my darling,’ Robert said as he leaned over and kissed her on both cheeks.

‘Yes, good luck, dear. I know you will be marvellous.’ Another set of kisses from Giles and they were gone.

‘Beginners for Act One, please. Beginners for Act One.’

Sally was not on straight away, but she could not bear to sit up here in the dressing room on her own, so she decided to go and stand in the wings. She stopped at Rupert’s door and
knocked.

‘Come in.’

Sally popped her head round the door. ‘Just wanted to wish you good luck and apologize in advance for any cock-ups.’

Rupert rushed to the door and opened it and gave her a big hug. ‘Oh Sally, I am sorry, I should have come to you, but I have been going through my lines again. Please don’t worry
about tonight – you are going to be wonderful. You have been all along, let’s face it. I am so looking forward to acting with you. Good luck.’ He planted a huge smacker on her
lips.

Sally stood in the darkness of the wings and wrapped her cloak around her. She could feel the audience like a living breathing creature waiting out there to devour her. From where she was
standing she could see the first few rows, and the lights onstage shone on the faces of the people watching. Eventually she heard her cue and walked into the light. She was hit by the warmth
onstage after the draughty wings. It was the heart of the building, its soul – and she was slap bang in the middle! She had a split second of sheer panic as she opened her mouth to speak and
her mind went blank. It felt like an eternity, a huge empty space and everything seemed to be moving in slow motion. She saw Jeremy, as Laertes, her brother, coming towards her, his mouth moving
but no sound coming out. She wanted to scream and as she took a breath . . . her words flowed out with ease. She was off and running!