was ironic that the line she had been struggling with was the first line they wanted her to deliver. She glared at it, willing herself to be calm, to get into character.
‘OK—from the top.’ Theo nodded over at Cal.
Kirsten watched him come into the room, walk over to the dressing table and deliver his lines perfectly. He was always such a damn perfectionist, she thought, so smugly self-assured. But she had to admit he was a skilful actor; he looked very much at home and at ease…and he also looked very good in that suit, she thought hazily; he was a very handsome man.
She suddenly realised that there was silence and everyone was waiting for her to speak.
‘Sorry!’ She glanced down at her sheet of paper, pulled herself very sharply together and delivered her lines.
‘You know I’ve always loved you, but this is impossible.’
‘Nothing is impossible, honey, if we just pull together.’ Cal came and sat down next to her on the bed.
His thigh was touching against hers; she could feel the heat of him burning through the delicate material of her nightdress. Suddenly she was reminded very forcibly of a night when Cal had come home and sat next to her like this and said words not dissimilar. Her mind blurred on the words she had to say next; her throat seemed to close over.
She heard Cal prompting her softly under his breath. ‘I know we’ll work this out…’
‘I know we’ll work this out,’ she repeated.
Then he leaned closer, his lips coming within centimetres of hers. Her heart was beating so fiercely she felt sure he’d be able to hear it. She looked upwards into the vivid blue of his eyes and felt as if she was drowning. Abruptly she pulled away before he could touch her.
‘How was that?’ She looked wildly around for Theo. He was standing shaking his head, looking very annoyed. For an awful moment she thought he was about to tear into her, but to her relief she found he was looking beyond her at one of the technicians.
‘Yes…all right.’ He waved a hand dismissively. ‘Go and get a coffee or something while I sort these lights out.’
Kirsten felt as if she’d had a reprieve from a death sentence.
‘You OK?’ Cal asked her as they walked together off the set.
‘Of course I’m OK; why wouldn’t I be?’ she said defensively.
‘I don’t know…you just seemed on edge. You look very pale as well.’ His eyes moved over her face with a kind of tender concern that tugged at her heartstrings.
‘Well, I’m fine.’ They stopped next to the coffee machine and she watched as he put a paper cup under the water.
‘How’s your dad?’ he asked her suddenly.
‘He’s had the second lot of tests, we’re just waiting for the results.’ She took the hot coffee from him, noting that he’d remembered she drank it black with no sugar.
‘If there’s anything I can do, you’ll let me know?’
‘There’s nothing any of us can do except wait.’ Her voice held a faint tremor. How was it he could upset her more when he was being kind than when he was being infuriating? she wondered.
She looked down at her coffee and remembered a time when he had been wonderful to her…when they’d been happy. She frowned suddenly. She couldn’t start thinking like that—it was a very slippery slope.
‘Hell, this is awful coffee, almost as bad as the stuff you used to make,’ Cal muttered, pulling a face.
‘There’s nothing wrong with the coffee I make,’ she replied indignantly.
Cal smiled. ‘You always made lousy coffee,’ he said softly. ‘Don’t you remember your breakfast specialty…burnt coffee?’
She tried very hard not to smile at that memory. He was talking about the time during their first few days of marriage when she had put a coffee pot on the stove to keep warm and then got distracted…by him, as she recalled. She had to admit the coffee had tasted awful, but she had been too much in love at the time to care. Her eyes narrowed on him. ‘No, I don’t recall that.’
Behind them on set, Theo was doing a lot of shouting and arm waving. Kirsten turned to watch him, glad of the distraction.
‘Where is Theo originally from?’ she asked Cal as he also turned to watch what was going on.
‘I don’t know. I think he’s part-Russian, part-Greek, apparently he speaks both languages fluently.’
‘He’s a bit fearsome, isn’t he?’ Kirsten reflected. ‘But then, I’ve heard he’s a genius and I suppose a lot of brilliant people are a bit eccentric.’
Cal smiled, but he didn’t have time to answer because Theo had left the set and was marching towards them. ‘We’ll have to shoot another scene,’ he said angrily. ‘Nothing is right on there…nothing. And time is money.’
He stopped next to them, raking a hand through his hair with an air of absolute distraction. ‘Come into my office, will you?’ he ordered. ‘There are a few things we need to talk about.’ Then he marched on ahead of them towards a door at the end of the corridor.
Kirsten caught Cal’s eye. ‘What do you think he wants to talk to us about?’ she whispered.
Cal gave a quizzical shrug and then grinned at her. Despite herself, she grinned back at him, then pulled herself up. What was she doing? Cal was not her friend and he was definitely not a co-conspirator. Turning away, she followed Theo down the hall.
Theo’s office was tiny, almost like a broom cupboard. There was just room for his desk, two chairs and a filing cabinet. Cal stood just inside the door while Kirsten took the vacant chair opposite the director.
‘OK…I just want to run through the details of filming next week.’ Theo was rifling through the untidy piles of paper on his desk as he spoke. ‘You know we are transferring to San Francisco; the locations manager has found a house that we will use for filming.’
Kirsten settled back into her chair, feeling a little more relaxed now that it was apparent Theo wasn’t going to talk about adding sex scenes to the film. She knew all about the move to San Francisco; she’d been told when she accepted the part.
‘Ah…here we are.’ Theo found a piece of paper and pushed it towards her. ‘That’s just a rough schedule of the scenes we will be working on day by day.’
Kirsten glanced down at the paper, wondering how accurate it would be when the scene they were supposed to be working on today had been changed twice already.
‘The studio will be providing accommodation for you in San Francisco, so you don’t need to worry about that. My assistant will give you the details at the end of the week when she issues you with your flight tickets.’
There was silence and, thinking the meeting was now at a close, Kirsten started to get up.
‘One last thing.’ Kirsten sat back down as Theo started to rifle through the papers again. ‘The PR people have been in contact with me this morning. They brought this to my attention.’
To Kirsten’s horror, Theo brought out a magazine from the depths of the chaos…the same magazine that Chloe had been at pains to show her this morning.
Theo slid it across the table; it was open at the picture of her and Cal leaving Charlie’s restaurant.
‘Let me tell you right now that there is absolutely no truth in that article whatsoever.’ Kirsten sat forward on her chair and looked over at Cal. ‘It’s complete rubbish…isn’t it, Cal?’
‘What is it?’ Cal reached over her and picked up the magazine. ‘Nice picture of you, Kirsten,’ he murmured lazily. ‘You’re very photogenic, you know.’
‘Never