And to complicate matters further, one of the other principal actresses had a stalker. She was young and beautiful, and played an ingénue on the show. The stalker was an obsessed fan who claimed he was madly in love with her, and constantly left her letters on the set, or on the steps of her trailer. It became so extreme and intrusive, they had to get a security guard to accompany her everywhere she went. The fan seemed relatively harmless, but you never knew with someone like that if he could suddenly turn and become violent when he realized that his sentiments weren’t returned.
A few days later, Elizabeth Cornette’s assistant gave notice. She had worked for Elizabeth since the beginning of the show, but her boyfriend was moving to Paris and she wanted to go with him. After six years with Elizabeth, she gave her a week’s notice, and Elizabeth was frantic to have them find her someone else now. People were away for the summer and on the day the girl left, the PA still hadn’t found a replacement, Elizabeth was having a tantrum over it, and the PA turned to Winnie in desperation.
“You do it,” she said, looking desperate.
“Me?” Winnie looked horrified. “I can’t be her assistant. I don’t know what the job is. She’s the biggest star on the show. I’ll screw it up and she’ll kill me.” Winnie was panicked.
“All you have to do is help her get dressed, put on her jewelry for her, answer her phone if she wants you to. Call hair and makeup when she’s ready for them and keep the paparazzi out of her trailer. It’s not very complicated. What you’re doing now as an errand girl for the cast and crew is harder. And when she’s on the set, you get to read a magazine. Working for one person is easier, and she’s not crazy like a lot of actresses. She probably won’t even want you around most of the time, so she can sneak around with Bill Anders. You’ve got to do it for me, Winnie.” The production assistant was near tears. “I don’t have anyone for her. I’m going to get fired over this. Just do it till I find someone. I’ll owe you my life if you’ll do it.” Winnie hesitated and felt sorry for her. She was a nice girl, about ten years younger than Winnie, with a lot of pressure on her and constant demands. She was always jumping through hoops of fire for someone.
“Okay, but only until you find a real one. I guess I can fake it until then.” She wasn’t enthusiastic about it. She was doing it as a favor to save the PA’s neck.
“You might get to like it. Assistant to the star of the show is a cushy job, and a lot of perks come with it. People will be giving you presents all the time to get to her.”
“I like the job I have. I don’t have to deal with any personal issues or divas. All I have to do is run around the set, and do everyone’s errands. What you’re describing sounds like being a lady-in-waiting in the court of Marie Antoinette. That’s too complicated for me.” It actually sounded like being a lady’s maid on the show too, which didn’t appeal to Winnie either. But she thought she could do it for a short time.
She showed up at the star’s trailer half an hour later, knocked, and stepped in when Elizabeth answered. She looked surprised when she saw Winnie, and remembered her immediately from when she’d had the big fight with Bill about his wife. But things had calmed down since.
“Hello, reporting for duty, Miss Cornette. I’m your new assistant.” Winnie felt awkward when she said it, because she could see that the star remembered her from an unpleasant moment.
“You’re my new assistant? Aren’t you the errand girl on set?”
“I am.” Winnie didn’t try to deny it. “It was the only job they had open when I applied here.”
“Have you ever been a personal assistant before?” She looked skeptical.
“No, I haven’t. I’ll do my best until they find you a real one. I’ll try not to screw up too badly,” she said humbly, and Elizabeth Cornette smiled.
“Don’t worry about it. I forget my lines every day. We’ll manage till they find somebody.” Winnie nodded, and hoped it would be soon. This was more of a job than she wanted, with a high-strung actress and an abusive boyfriend, it sounded stressful to her.
“What can I do for you?” Winnie said, feeling like the lady’s maid she didn’t want to be. She felt faintly obsolete, or anachronistic, and could almost see herself wearing a black maid’s uniform and lace cap and apron.
“I’m going out to dinner with Bill tonight. Will you help me get dressed? Call Angelica in hair, and Ivan to do my makeup.” She had already taken her stage makeup off. “If there’s press out there, I don’t want them to see me like this.” Winnie didn’t dare ask her how things were going with Bill’s wife. “There’s a white silk dress with a pleated skirt and beading around the neck in my closet. Why don’t you grab that? You may need to press it. I’ll wear the high-heeled silver sandals,” she said and then started sending text messages, while Winnie went to look for the dress and shoes. She found them easily, and mercifully the dress didn’t need ironing. She would have been terrified to do it and ruin what was obviously a very expensive dress. She called Angelica and Ivan in hair and makeup, and they showed up five minutes later. As they got started, Winnie asked Elizabeth if she wanted something to drink.
“I’ll have a glass of water,” she said easily, and chatted with her hairdresser, which left Winnie with nothing to do.
An hour later, Elizabeth was dressed and ready. She looked very glamorous, and thanked Winnie for her help. She left as soon as Bill showed up, looking equally dashing, and Winnie tidied up the trailer and left a few minutes later, feeling as though she had climbed Everest. It was stressful being there, tending to someone’s every need. Nigel was waiting for her outside in the Jeep.
“Where were you? I haven’t seen you all day.” He had missed her.
“I’m not sure if I got a promotion or a demotion. They haven’t been able to find an assistant for Elizabeth Cornette. Hers quit. So they asked me to fill in until they find one. I’m kind of a lady’s maid, waiting to cater to her every whim. It scares the hell out of me. What if I screw up? I’ll get fired and they’ll send me away, after she kills me, but I guess by then it won’t matter.”
“She’s usually pretty decent, or that’s what I’ve heard. She’s nice to the tech guys on the set. Was she tough on you?”
“No, she was fine. I was just scared to death. I hope they find someone for her soon.”
“Listen,” he said to her seriously, “that’s a big deal. Assistant to the star is a plum job around here. And I’m sure you’ll be fine at it. It’s way more money and half the universe will be kissing your ass trying to get to her.”
“That’s what the PA told me today. I don’t need to have my ass kissed. I just want to do my work.”
“Maybe you need to be more of a diva yourself,” Nigel said, glancing at her. “You’re so easygoing and helpful, you never demand anything for yourself.” It was how she had gotten through eleven years with Rob, expecting nothing, which was pretty much what she got. Nigel was right. “There’s nothing wrong with your making some demands too. Everyone will respect you more if you do.”
“My old boss at the printing company was always rude to me. He was rude to everyone, so I figured it wasn’t personal. Except of course, he was charming the girl he was sleeping with, who got the promotion I was supposed to get. He acted like the rest of us were cockroaches, and I was no different.”
“You know, Matthew Stevens is smart about these things. It shows in what he writes. The people he writes about demand respect, they have boundaries, most of the characters don’t take crap from anyone. The ones who do always take it on the chin and have to learn the lesson. It’s something to think about.”
“I never thought about it that way, but I think it’s why I love the show so much. The good guys are very clearly that, and you know who the bad guys are, and they usually get their just deserts. And the weak ones learn to be strong. It’s the way we all want to be. Funnily enough, I think it’s why I quit my j
ob when I didn’t get my promotion. It happened right after an episode where Annabelle finally put her foot down and stood up for herself. So I quit, and threw Rob out when I found him in bed with my best friend. I think the show gives me courage.” He smiled at what she said. “I’ve been feeling guilty about it, but lately I’ve been thinking about when I dropped out of college to take care of my mother. I never insisted on going back. I loved her dearly, and I had some precious moments with her, but I sacrificed seven years of my life, and all my dreams. And after she died, it seemed too late, so I just gave up. But my sister never helped or offered to pitch in. She was having babies by then, and she just assumed I would do everything since I wasn’t married and didn’t have kids. She should have helped. It’s water under the bridge now, but looking back, after that it didn’t matter to me that I had a job I hated, and a boss who treated me like shit. The pay was good so I put up with it. And I didn’t expect Rob to treat me any differently. I kept telling myself it was just temporary, but one day temporary becomes your whole life. You wake up, and you’re not twenty or twenty-seven anymore, you’re thirty-eight and you’ve given up all your dreams. I don’t want to do that again. That’s why I came here. From now on, I want things to be different, and this was the first step. I want to make decisions, not just float along letting life happen to me. I want more than that.” He was touched, listening to her.
“I want that too,” he said gently, “as long as it lasts.”
“What does that mean?” she asked, frowning at him. It sounded like he expected them to fail. She was disappointed to hear it, now that she had decided to take a chance on him. He was an improvement over Rob, but he had his own issues, since he was still single at thirty-nine.
“We’re in a business where everything is temporary, Winnie. It’s all stage sets and illusions. Nothing is built to last. The show feels like it’s forever, but it isn’t. One day we’ll get canceled, or Matthew will want to stop writing it, take what he made and go live in the South of France, or start another project, and then the coach turns into a pumpkin, and we all turn into white mice and scurry off in separate directions. It’s hard to have a relationship living like that.”
“Is that what you see happening to us?” She looked sad as she said it. She was hoping for better from him. He seemed to be so willing to be defeated. He was already preparing for it, which Winnie found discouraging.
“I’ve been on a lot of shows and that’s how it happens,” he said, convinced that he was right, and they would lose in the end. “No matter how much people like each other while they work together, when the show is over, they scatter. Beauchamp Hall looks solid, but nothing ever is. And it’s damn hard for two people to get jobs on the same show. When the time comes, we’ll have to figure something out if we’re still together. I told you, it’s a nomadic life. That’s why a lot of people in this business are single. Or eventually, you give it up, and find a different way to use what you know. That’s why I want my own sound business one day, maybe in London, working on commercial videos and films, either for industry or advertising. I’ve thought about it a lot. It’s the only way I’ll be able to settle down, get married, and have kids. It’s in my plans,” he said, smiling at her, as they got out of the car. She hadn’t thought as far ahead as he had. She had just arrived and was new to the business, but she was impressed that he was making plans for the future. She suspected that a lot of the people in the business didn’t. They just moved on, and created new relationships wherever they went. Nigel was smarter and more thoughtful than that, and at least he wanted a more stable life. It was why she was falling in love with him. Maybe she could help him start his business one day. For the first time, she was starting to think about her future. For Winnie, it was a big change. She had drifted from year to year till then. And woke up at thirty-eight.
They cooked dinner that night in her tiny kitchen, and went to bed right afterwards. They made love until after midnight and fell asleep in each other’s arms.
* * *
—
Working as Elizabeth’s assistant was less frightening than Winnie had feared it would be. It was even fun at times, and interesting. She was learning a lot. They did research together in books and magazines on her costumes and hair styles, which Winnie then transmitted to the costumer. And Elizabeth took Winnie’s advice seriously. Winnie was intelligent and had good taste, and was supremely efficient. The rest of the time she was a combination social secretary, psychiatrist, and maid.
Elizabeth’s affair with her male costar was turbulent. Winnie discovered that he drank a lot, and most of the time when he was abusive to Elizabeth it was because he’d been drinking, but he was also a fierce narcissist, and felt that the world should revolve around him. His wife was still threatening to divorce him, not just over Elizabeth, but because of the dozens of women before her, and every time his wife upped the ante and wanted a bigger settlement from him, he blamed Elizabeth. He even suggested that she should contribute to what his wife wanted. She asked Winnie what she thought about it, and Winnie told her it was outrageous. He had to take responsibility for his own behavior, and bear the weight of it himself. Winnie saying it gave Elizabeth the courage to stand up to Bill. He didn’t like it, but he had new respect for her after she did. He didn’t ask her to contribute again, which was a victory for Elizabeth that she attributed to Winnie. The two women were becoming friends. Elizabeth was two years younger, although she looked older than Winnie, who had more natural looks. The artifice of Elizabeth’s makeup, hair, expensive clothes, and jewels subtly aged her, but it was part of her identity and essential to her career.
After two weeks, they hadn’t found her a “real” assistant yet, and Winnie was surprised by how comfortable she was in the job, and startled when she got the wrong pay envelope. She opened it by mistake, and was mildly envious of the salary the other person made, whoever it was. She took it to the production assistant and ruefully handed it back.
“I got someone else’s salary by mistake,” she said, smiling. “I’d love to know what they do. I could use some of that.” The PA looked inside the envelope, checked some notes in a stack on her desk, and glanced back at Winnie.
“That’s not a mistake. It’s your salary, as personal assistant to the star. We’re still paying you in cash.” She was still part of the budget for “miscellaneous expenses on set,” since she didn’t have her visa yet.
“That’s what I make as an assistant?” She looked shocked and grinned. “But I’m just temporary.”
“Yeah, but it’s what you’re doing right now. She’s crazy about you, by the way. She says she’s never had such an efficient assistant. I haven’t found anyone for her yet. Are you sure you don’t want the job?” The salary was five times what she’d been making as the errand girl on the set. Winnie hesitated for a moment, thinking about it. It was tempting and she was enjoying the work. She liked Elizabeth more than she’d expected to. The one she didn’t like was Bill Anders, he was pompous, pretentious, and the most self-centered human on the planet in Winnie’s opinion. And Elizabeth was madly in love with him. She and her husband had just separated officially, so she was free now, but Bill was hanging on to his marriage, and didn’t want to give half of what he owned to his wife. “Let me know if you decide you want the job. HR tells me we can get the work permit to go with it,” which they couldn’t do for her as an errand girl so they paid her in cash.
The next morning, she had made her decision, she wanted the job. Elizabeth was thrilled and so was she. They celebrated with champagne at lunch.
“Now you’re really my assistant,” she said, looking pleased. Winnie had talked it over with Nigel the night before, and he agreed. She discussed all her decisions with him now, he wanted to be involved in every part of her life.
Everything was going smoothly until an actor came on the show who’d been signed on for three episodes, as a brief romance for one of the yo
unger female members of the Beauchamp family. He was sexy, handsome, and thirty-two years old. He looked like a player, and two days after he arrived, he was trying to seduce every woman on the set, and had slept with one of the hairdressers on his first day. His name was Gillian Hemmings, he was one of the hot new young talents, and had just made a movie in the States. He was expected to become a big star, and it was a coup to get him on the series for three episodes. They were considering making him long-term, but he hadn’t agreed so far. He was more interested in feature films in Hollywood than a British TV series.
He had Winnie go out and buy his new underwear, he said he’d run out. Then he needed T-shirts, a bathing suit, a prescription filled for a sore throat. He wanted a bottle of very expensive malt whiskey in his dressing room. And then asked Winnie to pick up a box of condoms for him, the largest box available, for an extra-large penis, he explained to her, with ribbed sides. He asked for it as though he was ordering a ham sandwich and she did it equally straight faced, although she reminded him it wasn’t her job.
“I’m Elizabeth Cornette’s assistant, Gill. I don’t have time to do your errands.” She had done it to be nice, but he was stretching her boundaries with the box of condoms, and his precise instructions supposedly to show off his size.
“They told me you were the errand girl on the set,” he said, looking boyish and apologetic. “Besides”—he lowered his voice conspiratorially—“I thought maybe you’d like to try out the condoms with me, and let me know how you like them. I’m staying at the Hoste.” He had come down from London, driving a new Rolls, and was starting to ruffle feathers on the set. Bill Anders particularly didn’t like him, and said that he would object strenuously if they kept him around for more than three episodes. None of the men liked him, but most of the women adored him, and were flattered by his attentions, which were indiscriminate. He had already hit on most of the younger women, and considered Winnie a challenge since she paid no attention to him. She thought he was ridiculous and she was happy with Nigel, sexually and otherwise. Their relationship was growing like a flowering plant.
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