Take a Bow (A Rivervue Community Theatre Romance, #3)

by Fiona Greene

  Lexi could hear frustration in his voice. ‘She’s just a child, and a very sweet child. I can see why pageants weren’t her thing. Some of those competitors would have eaten her alive.’

  ‘Ugly sport, in my opinion,’ Mark said. ‘I never wanted her to do it.’ He paused. ‘Thanks for letting me know. I’ll talk to her counsellor, see what they recommend.’

  Emma had a counsellor?

  ‘Okay.’ Lexi felt a little awkward with this oh-so-raw glimpse into Mark’s personal life. As though she’d crossed a boundary she hadn’t intended to. ‘Emma didn’t miss her slot, we’re still auditioning tomorrow. If she’s ready to try out, she’s more than welcome. And you know, if she’s not, there’s always next time.’

  If there was a next time.

  ‘Thanks Lexi. I’ll let you know tomorrow.’

  ***

  She never heard back from Mark, but the following afternoon, Emma, with Phantom shadowing her every move, did her first audition with CJ’s Youth Theatre and scored a callback.

  Pulling the cast together seemed almost impossible, especially when she received a video audition that threw any preconceived notions she might have had for the female lead out the window. Who knew that Kenzie Russell, her go-to props expert, was hiding a bucket-load of raw acting talent?

  They may have been a community group, but she applied the same rigor to casting as she would were she doing a call for a national production. A full frantic week later, having run the entire group, including CJ’s juniors through several auditions, with input from many of her regular actors and producers, Lexi was ready to announce the casting for Larrikin.

  She smiled as she typed the list:

  | | Ron de Vue – Toby Adams (young) / Mitchell Rainer (teen) / Richard Yeates (adult) | |

  | | Mary Devon – Emma Conroy (young) / Vanessa Carpenter (teen) / Mackenzie Russell (adult) | |

  But the smile became a full-on grin as she finished the list.

  With a guest cameo by Phantom North, as ‘the dog’.

  Chapter Six

  The first faint blush of dawn was streaking the sky when Lexi drove into the Rivervue car park the following Friday morning. Camp CJ’s was leaving from the theatre for its annual trip to Sydney. An exciting prospect for the kids but the timing was a bit off. That’s what happened when you dropped a big production in on top of a schedule that had been planned out almost a year in advance.

  The bus hadn’t arrived yet, and already there was chaos. The riverbank was normally peaceful, with only the dawn chorus, but today there were cars and teenagers littered across the tarmac. An astonishing number of suitcases, pillows and backpacks lined the sidewalk of the bus bay and as each new arrival added their gear, the cacophony of teenage conversation and laughter increased. Someone produced a selfie stick and was ribbed mercilessly, but the kids all gathered close for a photo.

  ‘Road trip,’ they yelled as one before breaking into grins.

  The flash illuminated the car park.

  ‘Morning.’

  Lexi jumped a mile as Mark materialised beside her.

  Today he was drool-worthy in faded denim, a lightweight knit shirt and boots.

  Mark in a suit was sexy. Mark in jeans was gorgeous. Mark without jeans …

  Not going there.

  This was the same Mark who’d insisted that the decision about delaying the revitalisation had to go before Council. Surely, it was in both their interests if it was done quickly.

  But there were no rubber stamps in Mark’s Council.

  Emma, clutching a huge hot-pink pillow, skipped over to join her friends for the next photo.

  ‘Sorry. Didn’t hear you coming. Morning.’

  ‘Someone needs coffee,’ Mark joked. ‘Seriously though, I’m surprised you can hear anything.’ As he spoke, the coach taking the kids to Sydney lumbered into the car park, adding to the din. ‘Can you imagine the headache that guy,’ he gestured to the driver, ‘is going to have after a couple of solid hours of this, all corralled in there.’

  Lexi grazed her teeth over her lip. ‘I should have organised with Milk’n’Honey to have a triple shot in a travel mug for him.’ She shot Mark a conspiratorial look. ‘It’s the least I could have done.’

  ‘There’s not enough coffee in all of Brachen,’ he laughed. ‘Poor guy.’

  The driver, clipboard in hand, hopped off the bus. CJ’s group leaders plus the two oldest members of the troupe, who were volunteering in leader roles, headed over to him. They had a quick chat, punctured with a lot of laughter, then the driver joined the leaders for a selfie.

  A thousand things from their planning sessions crowded into Lexi’s brain, things that needed to be checked and rechecked. Things that could go wrong.

  ‘I can’t see our list.’ She was stepping off the curb when Mark put his arm out to stop her.

  ‘Stop. They’re okay. You’ve done all the groundwork, now comes the hard part. Letting them go.’

  She looked at him as if to say What would you know? when it hit her.

  He did know.

  Emma was one of the youngest on the tour.

  ‘It’s just that …’

  He turned her towards him. ‘They’ll be fine. Emma tells me the group leaders have been meeting most afternoons with the volunteer leaders to practise.’

  ‘Practise what?’ She pursed her lips. How did he know about this, when she didn’t?

  ‘Adulting, I think. No, leading,’ he corrected. His grin faded. ‘Jokes aside, it is hard watching them strike out on their own, but you know you’ve done your job right if they’re confident and comfortable. Or able to tell you they’re neither of those things. They’ll be fine.’

  Her teeth grazed over her bottom lip again. ‘It’s their first trip without me.’

  ‘Why now?’

  ‘There’s so much to do with Larrikin and the Bicentennial Festival, and everything. I nearly cancelled the camp, but I know they’ll benefit from seeing live theatre produced by a top-notch troupe. Sometimes, when I am there, their learning isn’t really learning. It’s watching, with me repeating the lesson when they get back. By staying here, I’m forcing them to take responsibility to learn. If they choose not to,’ she shrugged, ‘then it’s their future with the group that’s at stake.’

  ‘Clever.’

  It didn’t feel clever. It felt as though she was putting her troupe on the Titanic and was waving them off at the port.

  A tiny hatch came hurtling toward the car park, slowing at the last second for the speed bump. ‘Good,’ Lexi said.

  Mark raised a brow as the hatch careened into the end spot on the row. ‘Good?’

  ‘That she’s here. Not good driving.’ Lexi smiled.

  Kenzie hopped out of her car, a crocheted hat atop her wispy blonde hair. Sometime in the last few days, she’d renewed the pink in her hair. Together with a lace scarf, knitted sweater, jeans and boots, she was every inch the young, happening actor.

  Complete with a honking great pair of eye-bags. Masked with makeup but impossible to miss—she, herself, needed an extra fifteen minutes every morning to redress the carnage of bad sleep. Kenz had said how much she was looking forward to this trip, so Lexi didn’t think it was that but … what else might it be? Was she reconsidering going through with playing Mary?

  Just what she didn’t need. To lose one of her leads at the eleventh hour.

  ‘Kenzie’s going?’ Mark’s voice rose sharply. ‘I thought she’d stay here. Working on the play.’

  Kenzie wrestled a duffel bag out of her car, then a hessian grocery sack loaded to the brim. She dropped the duffel off to the luggage pile and set the junk food down near the front of the bus. Seconds later, she was in the midst of the selfie group and the flash lit up the surrounding car spaces.

  ‘She is working on the play. The junior stage crew and actors need to know Kenzie. Successful theatre is about everyone having a job, and everyone delivering on that job when the show is in production. Some of the older ones
know her, but the younger ones don’t. This will be good team building.’

  ‘I don’t see the guy playing Ron,’ Mark scanned the car park.

  ‘Richard. No. He wasn’t able to take the weekend off.’ Lexi grimaced at the thought of Richard Yeates and his ego attending CJ’s camp. ‘Besides, it’s harder putting a solitary male actor into this sort of road trip. Don’t get me wrong, he’s got a working with children card and a clean criminal history check. But it’s always better to have more than one male employee if you can manage it. I asked Hamish and Bruce, but neither of them could make it either.’

  ‘Didn’t ask me.’

  ‘They don’t need project management. Besides, you’re a parent. You’re not invited by default. Imagine Emma’s face if you were one of the chaperones on her first camp.’

  ‘Hmmmh.’ Mark’s response was muffled, and Lexi wasn’t sure if he agreed with her or not.

  ‘They’ve got plenty of supervision. It will be fine.’

  They watched as the driver methodically stowed the mountain of luggage into the cargo space, and her camp leaders worked on lining up the teenagers.

  ‘I’ll just say goodbye.’ Mark strode over to his daughter and the two of them had a laugh about something before he wrapped an arm around her shoulder and dropped a kiss on the top of her hair. Just enough, not too much. The perfect parenting move.

  Executed by a man who looked the part of the perfect parent.

  Lexi walked over to the assembled campers and was struck by a wave of pride. These were her juniors, the future of Rivervue going forward. At some point, when she needed to hand the reins over and move on, it might be one of these guys she handed them to. She swallowed hard, trying to dislodge the lump in her throat.

  ‘Have fun you guys.’ Her voice was scratchy. ‘Stay together, stay safe, look after each other and learn heaps, okay?’

  There was a chorus of assent then someone yelled ‘selfie’ and Lexi was dragged into the group and engulfed by the kids of CJ’s. She smiled for the photo, but by the time the chattering teenagers were climbing the stairs into the bus, her eyes were burning.

  Not now.

  She swallowed hard. Sheesh. They weren’t even her kids.

  But this was as close to the parent experience as she was going to get. Minus the last-minute packing disasters.

  As the bus door swung closed, she snuck a quick glance at the other parents still on the sidewalk. There was a mix of indifference, boredom and downright delight on their faces. One mum took a quick photo of herself with the departing bus in the background, and quipped ‘Hashtag child-free time,’ as she set about posting the photo.

  Hmph.

  Why, today of all days, had her ovaries decided the grass was greener on the other side of the fence that divided the families with children from the families without? Most days that divide didn’t bother her, but today … Today the emptiness within her was pushing up and out.

  She had plenty of contact with children through CJ’s, and her friends in Brachen who were navigating parenthood the best way they knew how.

  So, why now was it a problem?

  Because Mark Conroy.

  She forced herself back into creative director mode. ‘Pick-up is five pm Sunday, here,’ she called out as the parents spread out, heading back to their cars. ‘I’ll post if they let me know of any delays.’

  ‘I saw that,’ Mark said as he came to stand beside her.

  ‘Saw what?’

  ‘The “letting them go” face.’

  ‘What face?’ Lexi forced a laugh. ‘If I made a face it was the “relief for my ears face”. That driver is a brave man.’

  Mark eyed her curiously.

  She pasted a bland smile on her face and stared back.

  ‘Want to get a coffee?’

  She checked her watch. ‘Sure, but Milk’n’Honey’s not opening til ten today. Dasha’s got a thing.’

  ‘Oh, that’s right.’ Mark checked his watch. ‘In Sydney there’s always one of those little hole-in-the-wall places near every car park and train station.’

  ‘It’s so hard, living out here in the sticks.’ Lexi loved Brachen dearly, but sometimes she’d love a little more too. Like a late-night-and-before-dawn coffee shop. ‘Imagine all the cyclists that’d come touring out this way if we offered great coffee early in the morning.’

  ‘A veritable Lycra army,’ Mark agreed. ‘I might mention that at one of our planning meetings. Council’s always looking for growth opportunity.’

  ‘Yes, I know.’ Lexi’s joy in the morning was tempered by the weight of responsibility. The threat to Rivervue was always hovering in the background, like an overzealous understudy in the wings.

  Mark had just delivered a timely reminder. Ever since Emma’s meltdown, and their late-night phone conversation, something subtle had changed between them. They’d connected and now she was having trouble defining their relationship. They might be getting along, and working well together, but he worked for the man who wanted to relocate her theatre. Brachen’s theatre.

  Sometimes it felt like she worked for the people of Brachen—more than he did.

  The play was protecting the theatre right now, but once the run was over, she was certain the mayor would come at them, full bore.

  Someone wasn’t going to get what they wanted. She just hoped it wasn’t her.

  ‘Hey, you drive past my place on your way home. I’ve got a machine. I’ll make you a coffee.’

  She knew that Emma lived in one of the apartments in a complex developed by the same team that wanted to get their hands on Rivervue. It had sleek lines in glass and metal. The whole development stood out next to Brachen’s original timber houses. Even the minimalist garden was hedged into narrow geometric shapes designed to section off tiny private gardens.

  A far cry from her rambling garden.

  Still, it was the same developer. Maybe she could use the visit to assess their workmanship? Maybe the developer’s biggest advertisement for not getting Rivervue was sitting in Brachen already?

  ‘Okay. Just coffee though. I’ve still got to get home then back to work.’

  ‘Easy,’ Mark promised.

  The drive to Mark’s apartment was quick and made her drive home look like a huge commute.

  ‘Driveway or street?’ she asked herself as Mark turned into the drive. ‘Drive.’ She pulled in behind him. Nothing moved in a small town like Brachen without someone seeing it, so there was potential for gossip wherever she parked.

  Remember, just two work colleagues getting some coffee.

  She wouldn’t even be worried if this was Kenzie’s place.

  But you don’t have history with Kenzie and Kenzie doesn’t make your heart beat out of your chest. Not like Mark does.

  ‘You can stay in the car,’ she told her subconscious. ‘This is business.’

  She followed Mark in through the garage, into a light and airy open-plan living space. ‘Wow.’ She turned a full three hundred and sixty degrees. ‘Good use of space. And windows.’

  ‘Yeah.’ Mark walked over and powered up the coffee machine. ‘I’m not sure I’d want to bring up a big family here, but there’s easily enough room for your average two point four kids here. Latte?’

  ‘Yes, please.’ Lexi was drawn to the living-room window, which had panoramic views across to the river. ‘I’m not sure I’d ever get anything done. I’d be looking at this all day.’ The faint hope she’d harboured that the developers might not be up to scratch faded as she took in the workmanship and attention to detail, while the aroma of freshly brewed coffee filled the air.

  ‘That opens full width.’ Mark put the cups down and opened the first slider. ‘Effectively doubles the living space, which is great if you’re entertaining. Let’s have our coffee outside.’

  Lexi stepped out onto the balcony and he followed.

  ‘Correction.’ Lexi turned as she took in the panorama. ‘I’d definitely never get anything done, including going to work, because I�
��d be out here my entire life.’

  ‘I like it. It’s convenient and it’s easy. That’s what I need right now. You’re in a converted church, aren’t you?’

  Lexi took a sip of her coffee. ‘St Anthony’s. Circa 1880. Decommissioned and moved to Brachen in the 1980s. Completely the opposite of this. All hardwood and not a clear pane of glass in the place. It’s either leadlight or it’s frosted.’

  ‘See, that’s the difference. This building is designed to showcase the beauty outside. At your place, the building is the beauty, designed to be admired from the inside.’

  Lexi tilted her head. ‘I never thought of it like that.’

  ‘Any ghosts?’

  ‘Some of my friends seem to think so. I’ve never experienced it.’

  ‘You know, it’s funny. A while ago Emma asked me if we could go out to your house. From the moment she could talk she had this imaginary friend. He was older than her, but she didn’t know how old and the only thing she told us consistently every time she mentioned him was that he had a bandaid where his heart should have been.’

  Lexi nearly dropped her cup.

  Mark shrugged and continued. ‘He disappeared around the same time that Skye and I broke up. I hadn’t heard her mention him for ages. I thought she’d grown out of him. Anyway, fast forward to the day after she signed up for CJ’s and out of the blue she asked to go out to your house to visit Caleb, her imaginary friend, who lives at your house.’

  Bile rose in Lexi’s throat and for a second the latte she’d just enjoyed threatened to come back up. All over Mark’s balcony.

  Oh so carefully, she lowered her cup to the table.

  ‘Bizarre,’ she choked out. ‘Maybe she’s sensing something from one of my puppets? I’m dropping into character without realising?’