by Lyn Gardner
Chapter Eight
Alicia’s sitting room was filled with people. Theo was standing in the corner drinking a glass of red wine and chatting to Huff and Huff’s girlfriend, Ceri. Jack was with Tom and Pablo, and Jon was talking to a gaggle of pretty actresses. He’d given Olivia a hug when he had first arrived but he hadn’t said anything about Juliet. That was professional business and this was a private occasion – a small party arranged by Eel to celebrate Jack’s homecoming.
Olivia had been for another audition that morning. She’d had to learn the famous “Gallop apace, you fiery-footed steeds” speech, and this time Cassie Usher had been there to play the nurse, and the actor and actress playing Capulet and Lady Capulet had been called in too. The four of them had read the scene after Tybalt’s death when Juliet is told by her parents that she must marry Paris.
Olivia thought it had gone well, but while she had sensed real enthusiasm from certain sections of the room she was convinced that the man with the moustache still thought she was too much of a risk. She couldn’t bear her fate being in other people’s hands. Waiting to be chosen, or not, was horrible.
She knew from Kasha that in the gap between her auditions three more Juliets had been seen and dismissed out of hand, and that Cory Niven had had a call back. But even Howard Franks had agreed this time that, however many Twitter followers she had, it wasn’t worth casting a Juliet who sounded as if she had a permanent cold.
“They’ve got to go for you, Livy!” Kasha had said afterwards. “It’s so right it’s like it’s meant to be. It’s your destiny to play Juliet. I’m sure of it!”
Olivia glanced across the crowded room and saw Kasha and Abbie talking to each other in the corner. After a short while, Kasha left the room and Abbie went over to talk to Theo and the crowd of adoring fans who were surrounding him. A few minutes later, she slipped out of the room too. Olivia smiled to herself. She guessed that Kasha and Abbie were going to snatch a few precious minutes together in one of the rehearsal rooms. It had been her idea to invite them both to the party. She’d arranged for Kasha to leave his car behind and take a circuitous route to the Swan, then she’d let him in at the River entrance at the back just in case he was being followed by Tyler. Abbie had come in by the front door like all the other guests.
“This is an unexpected gathering,” said Tom. “I wouldn’t really have had Jack down as a candidate for a surprise party.”
Olivia grinned. “I think you’re right.”
“Eel’s doing?”
“Who else?” said Olivia with a wry smile. “Eel throwing this party for Jack is like giving someone else a present that you really want yourself when you know they have to share it with you. I was watching Dad’s face when she told him. I think he had been looking forward to a night in with Eel, Gran and me, and might have considered a fiercely contested game of Articulate or Cluedo if he really wanted to pile on the excitement. Instead he got this. Look, he’s barricaded himself into that corner with Pablo.”
“How did Eel get Alicia to agree?”
“Her usual low cunning,” replied Olivia.
Tom laughed.
“She chose a moment when Gran was distracted and asked if she could have a few people over. Gran said yes, and was rather surprised a few days later when Huff and Jon and people kept leaving her messages saying how much they were looking forward to Jack’s welcome-home party. It would have been embarrassing to cancel. But you know, I’m not sure I even recognise most of the people here. Certainly not all these women, and there are so many of them. I don’t think Jack can know half of them.” Olivia frowned.
“Well, funnily enough, Eel asked me if I knew any girls I could bring to the party. I said I could bring my mum or little sister but she said she didn’t mean those kinds of girls. She was a bit coy when I tried to question her further. Now I come to think of it, Jon and Huff and Theo all arrived with women in tow. They can’t all be their girlfriends.”
Olivia frowned again. She was certain that Eel was up to something but she couldn’t work out what it was. She watched her sister and Emmy enter the room with a woman behind them. Eel had a clipboard under one arm. Eel took the woman by the hand and led her over towards Jack, who politely stopped talking to Pablo and turned to the woman with a welcoming if slightly surprised smile.
“Who’s that?” Olivia asked Tom, who shrugged as if he had no idea.
But then he gasped and said, “I know who she is! She looks different without her white overall and cap. It’s that nice woman from the chip shop down the road. I know that Eel likes her. She told me that she always gives Jack extra chips when they go in together, which Eel’s decided means she must like Jack. Maybe Eel thought she’d get a load of free chips if she invited her to the party.”
Just then Pablo came over, looking puzzled. “What’s going on, Livy?” he said. “Jack and I are trying to discuss who to approach about the new high-wire act with you and Tom, and Eel keeps interrupting us and introducing all these strange women to Jack. He’s currently having a conversation with the woman from the chip shop about whether mushy peas or pickled onions are more popular with her customers!”
They all watched as Eel approached a group of young women, the ones Tom had seen arriving with Theo, looked at her clipboard and then beckoned one of them out of the room with her.
“Right,” said Olivia. “Time to find out what’s going on!”
She and Tom followed Eel down the corridor and saw her disappear into the Bursar’s little office. When they reached the door, they saw Eel and Emmy sitting behind the desk and the woman, a flamed-haired beauty, sitting in front of them.
“Are you afraid of heights?” asked Emmy.
The woman shook her head.
“Are you currently single?” asked Eel.
The woman nodded.
“Are you looking for love?”
“Who isn’t?” replied the woman with a little laugh. Olivia and Tom looked at each other. What on earth were Eel and Emmy doing?
At that moment, Aeysha walked past on her way back from the bathroom. “What’s going on?” she asked, seeing her friends hovering outside the office.
“Look,” said Olivia.
Aeysha peered through the crack in the door. She heard Eel say, “Which would best sum up your feelings about Jack Marvell? A: He’s somebody to be admired. B: He’s very attractive. C: He’s very brave. D: I’ve never heard of him but I’d like to know more. You can choose more than one option, if you like.”
Aeysha stifled a giggle with her hand.
“Do you know what’s going on?” hissed Olivia.
Aeysha pushed her and Tom away from the door. She was shaking her head in amazement. “I can’t believe it!” she said. “I never thought she’d go through with it. I thought it was just a game that she and Emmy were playing.” She put a hand to her head as if realising she had missed something. “I’m such an idiot. I should have guessed when I saw the guest list for the party. There are so many more women than men. I should have realised sooner.”
“Realised what?” demanded Olivia.
“That this isn’t really a party, it’s an audition.”
The others looked mystified. “An audition? But what for?” said Tom, bemused.
Aeysha took a deep breath and glanced anxiously at Olivia with the air of someone who has just realised there’s an unexploded hand grenade in the room and she’s the only one who knows about it.
“To be Jack’s wife,” she said quietly. “Eel is using the party to audition likely candidates to be Jack’s wife.”
“She’s doing what?!” screeched Olivia, so loudly that several people put their heads out of the sitting-room door to see what was going on, and Georgia and Katie came running down the corridor to see what all the fuss was.
They arrived just into time to see Olivia burst into the Bursar’s office and yell, “Eel Marvell, I’ve told you before that I’m going to kill you, but this time I’m actually going to do it!”
&nb
sp; Georgia and Katie gave each other a knowing look. “Sisters!” they said in unison.
The party was long over and everyone had gone home. Olivia, Eel, Alicia and Jack were sitting among the debris. Eel was unusually bashful.
“I was only trying to help,” she said plaintively. “I couldn’t bear the thought of you being lonely, Dad. I thought a wife was what you needed.”
“I know you meant well, Eel, but it’s not the way to go about things,” said Jack gently. “You can’t force people together.”
“How could you have done such a thing, Eel?” asked Olivia. “After the Imperial debacle I would have thought you’d have learned your lesson. You even said you would never do anything underhand and sneaky again.”
“But this was an emergency! Dad was lonely. I had to help. You said yourself, Livy, that it made you really sad to think of him all alone.”
“Listen, girls,” said Jack. “I’m really happy as I am. I’m not lonely. I’m completely fine and dandy as things are with the three of us and your gran.” He said it just a little too brightly, and Alicia, always alert to nuance and the undertow of emotion behind words, noticed.
“But you did say you were lonely, Dad,” insisted Eel.
“He did,” agreed Olivia, “but it doesn’t mean he wants a wife, Eel. He’s got us. And he still loves Mum. Nobody could replace her.”
“Oh, Livy,” said Alicia, putting her arm around her. “Of course nobody could replace your mum, but Toni has been dead many years. She’ll always be with you and with Eel and your dad too. But Toni is part of this family’s past, and she would want you all to have a future even though she can’t be part of it. She would want you all to live as fully as possible, and that means loving too. Humans are made to love. To deny them the opportunity is cruel.”
“Well, that’s fair enough, but Dad’s just not interested.” She turned to Jack. “Are you?” she demanded.
“Look,” said Jack hurriedly. “Let’s drop it, shall we?”
Olivia thought about what her gran had said. Then she thought of Romeo and Juliet, and of Abbie and Kasha, and how her mum and dad’s great love affair had cost them so much and had estranged them from their families for so many years. Years that were lost to eternity. She glanced at her dad, whose anxious eyes were fixed on her, and she saw the first tiny signs of age around his mouth. Time was racing by. She couldn’t stop it. She couldn’t bear the thought of him remarrying, but she knew her gran was right and she would be cruel if she refused him the opportunity to find love. It was just so hard to find the words.
Jack looked at his daughter. He knew that the closeness of their relationship would make it difficult for her to accept a woman in his life, but he could see from the struggle taking place in her face that maybe it wasn’t as impossible as he’d always imagined.
He squeezed Olivia’s hand. “Listen, chick. It will probably never happen. Let’s deal with it if it does.”
“You’re right, Dad. It will probably never happen.” There was the tiniest trace of relief in her voice.
Alicia felt the need to break the intense mood. “Tell me something, Eel. How did you get all those women to come to the party? Did they know they were being auditioned for the role of Jack’s wife?”
“Of course not,” said Eel. “I got the idea from that strange audition that Katie and Georgia went to, the one they said didn’t seem like an audition at all. Then I invited Theo, Jon and Huff and asked them to bring lots of women with them. But only really nice ones.”
“Didn’t they think it was odd?” asked Alicia.
“I just told them we had too many men coming and needed to even things out a bit.”
“And how did you get everyone to answer all those questions without making them suspicious?”
“Oh, that was easy,” said Eel. “I told them it was a school project about how people behave. They were practically queuing up. People love that sort of thing. They always want to prove how different and unique they are from everybody else.” She bounced off to get ready for bed.
“I suppose,” said Jack, “we can comfort ourselves with the thought that if showbusiness doesn’t work out for her she’s got an immensely promising future as a con-artist.”
Chapter Nine
Olivia jumped down off the high-wire.
“Dad, I really ought to go,” she said. “Otherwise I’ll be late.”
Jack looked frustrated. “Can’t we try it just once more? We almost cracked it that last time.”
Tom saw Olivia’s anxious face. “Actually, I think she ought to go.”
Olivia smiled gratefully at Tom. He really did understand.
“You’re right, let’s call it a day,” said Jack. “We’ll try again tomorrow. You go on. I’ll follow in a minute.”
Tom and Olivia walked down the stairs. Some of the pupils they passed looked at her curiously. They guessed she was off to another audition. Suzi Thorne, who was in Year Eleven, had an older sister who worked for the Romeo and Juliet production company. She’d told Suzi that Olivia was being seen for Juliet, and word had spread around the Swan like the flu.
Alicia was pacing in the hallway looking uncharacteristically nervous. “I was just coming to find you, Livy. The taxi is here. Are you sure you don’t want me to come with you?”
Olivia shook her head. “No thanks, Gran. Dad offered to come too but I know he’d be more nervous than me. I’m better off on my own.”
“I understand,” said Alicia. “Toni was the same. She couldn’t bear to have anyone with her at auditions. Always said they were a terrible distraction and she felt as if she had to look after them.” She put her hands to Olivia’s face. “Go and sock it to them, Livy.”
“I’ll do my best, Gran.”
“I know you will. Whatever was meant to be will be.”
Olivia raised an eyebrow. “That doesn’t sound like you talking, Gran. I thought you didn’t believe in fate. I thought you believed in making things happen.”
“You know me too well,” said Alicia lightly, but Olivia could see the tension around her mouth. This wasn’t just any old audition for any old part. It was her third call back. It was now or never. She knew how much it would mean to Alicia to see her daughter’s daughter play Juliet. She wanted to do it: for her mum, her gran and for herself.
“I’d better go,” said Olivia. She looked anxiously up the stairs, hoping her dad would appear. Where was he? It felt important to her that he waved her off. He was bending over backwards to support her, but she still sensed his divided loyalties: if she played Juliet, it was the high-wire act that would suffer.
There was still no sign of him. Well, she couldn’t wait any longer. She checked she had her copy of the play in her rucksack for the hundredth time.
“Good luck,” said Tom, and his hand brushed hers. “I’ll see you later.”
Aeysha, Katie and Georgia had already told her that they were keeping all their fingers and toes crossed for her, and Eel had made a massive good-luck card. Jon hadn’t said anything but they all knew that today was make or break. She couldn’t keep auditioning; pretty soon she would have performed the entire play.
“I’ll see you later,” said Olivia. Jon had told her that she would be at least two and a half hours. Tom was coming to meet her at the Clapham rehearsal rooms straight after school. Olivia was grateful. She knew he would say the right thing however the audition went and whether she got it or not. She walked to the car and slid in. She rolled down the window. “Time to go,” she said.
At that moment, Jack raced down the steps. “For a terrible moment I thought I’d missed you,” he said. “Good news! I’ve just heard from one of my French contacts. He’s very interested in our trio. Wants to see a DVD in a couple of weeks with a view to a booking in the summer. Maybe at several festivals, in Holland and Germany as well as France.” Jack’s face was ablaze with excitement.
“That’s great, Dad,” said Olivia, her voice flat. “But remember I might not be available in the
summer.”
Jack suddenly looked ashamed. “Of course. Sorry, chick, I was letting myself get carried away.”
Alicia examined them both anxiously. She so wanted Olivia to play Juliet, but she didn’t think she could bear it if it caused any kind of rift between Jack and his daughter. Whatever happened, it looked as if it was going to be a rocky summer.
“I really must go,” said Olivia. Everyone chorused, “Good luck,” and Olivia waved frantically as the car pulled away down the street.
Olivia swallowed the potion and collapsed on the bed. She lay there for a few seconds and then opened her eyes. She could see the smiles on the faces of everyone watching the audition. Even Howard Franks was nodding enthusiastically. She noticed Jon wink almost imperceptibly at Tish and Tish smiled back. Then Tish’s phone began to vibrate and she walked to the back of the hall to take the call. Something had changed in the room. For the first time it felt as if everyone was on her side, rooting for her. For a moment she dared to believe that she might be going to play Juliet.
“Thank you, Livy,” said Jon. “That was …” he paused, “… just lovely.” Olivia’s face broke into a smile so winning that even Howard Franks smiled back at her.
“Livy, can you just leave us for a moment?” said Jon.
“We won’t keep you long, Olivia,” said Howard Franks, who Olivia now knew was the lead producer, though she still thought of him as “the man with the moustache”. “We just need to discuss––”
Tish had walked up to the table and was making faces at Jon and pointing to her phone. Jon frowned at her. Howard Franks was glaring at Tish. “Is your phone call really more important than the business in hand?” he barked.
Tish turned red. She glanced anxiously at Jon and then at Olivia. She bit her lip.
“Actually, it’s about the business in hand,” she said. She looked worriedly at Olivia again, and then back to Jon, as if she couldn’t make up her mind whether she should say something or not. Everyone was looking at her expectantly.
