Plain Jane in the Spotlight

‘But I am a philanderer,’ Travis pointed out.

‘Then try to pretend you’re not,’ Denzil roared. ‘You’re an actor aren’t you? So act!’

‘Act what? Do I lie to the girl and pretend it’s real? No way. That would be dishonest. Or do I tell her upfront that she’s being made use of, then see her go straight to the press?’

Denzil groaned. ‘Just get your life in order. There’s a lot at stake, Travis. Think career. Think money.’

‘All right. I’ll think money.’

‘And while we’re on the subject-about tonight-’

‘I’m not going to be at the dinner tonight,’ Travis said firmly. ‘There’s been too much bad blood between Brenton and me.’

He escaped, breathing out hard in his exasperation and relief. As he headed down the corridor his cellphone shrilled. It was Pete, his agent.

‘I suppose they’ve been onto you too?’ Travis demanded.

‘Denzil called me as soon as you’d gone,’ Pete said. ‘Apart from anything else, he’s cross because you won’t come to the dinner tonight.’

‘And I told him the answer’s still no,’ Travis groaned.

There was to be a celebration dinner for Frank Brenton’s sixtieth birthday. He was a studio big shot who’d invested a lot of money in the past and it was hoped he would put in more. Hence the big party.

‘He can’t stand me and I can’t stand him,’ Travis said. ‘He pulled every string he could find to stop me being cast in the show, and he hates my guts because he failed. Best if we don’t meet.’

‘OK, OK. I told Denzil I’d raise it. But about the other thing, he just wants to be sure you understood the message.’

‘But why have I got to be the only virtuous guy in Los Angeles?’ Travis growled.

‘Because it makes you different, and that difference puts a couple of extra noughts on the cheque. You haven’t suddenly stopped caring for money and success, have you?’

‘No way.’

‘Then get a grip.’

‘Am I supposed to live a totally moral life?’ Travis demanded, aghast.

‘No, I know you too well for that. But keep the fun stuff behind closed doors. In public, be seen only with ladies of impeccable morality. If they decided to replace you-well, there are several other actors just slavering to grab that part from you.’

He hung up, leaving Travis scowling at the dead phone.

‘Grr!’ he said.

He knew that both Pete and Denzil were right. Carelessly indulgent behaviour could imperil his career, and that was the last thing he wanted. He enjoyed the benefits of stardom too much. But what to do about it was a problem. The ‘respectable’ road definitely did not attract him.

But he couldn’t say that openly without risking everything that mattered to him: his career, his reputation, his pride, the money that was pouring in. That money told the tale of a successful man; not just to himself, but to others whose respect he cared for more than he wanted to admit.

‘They think it’s so easy,’ he mused. ‘If I play a guy who can soar above human temptations then I can be like that in real life. As if! All right, I was a bit careless with that girl in the nightclub, and I very nearly… But I didn’t! It took a lot of self-control, but I didn’t.

‘If I was really a heavenly being, I could solve the problem in an instant. I’d turn the next corner and find the perfect solution just waiting for me. But in real life that kind of miracle doesn’t happen. Ah well! Time to get to work. With luck, I might even get in touch with my virtuous side.’

He gave a wry laugh.

‘Whatever that means.’

* * *

Charlene took a deep breath as she neared the studio entrance. It was now or never. In another moment she would get through that door as a member of a party privileged to tour the studio. Or perhaps someone would spot that she was a fraud; that she was here to see Lee Anton, the man with whom she was secretly in love, who had once seemed to love her, and whose feelings she desperately hoped to revive.

A pause in the queue gave her the chance to regard herself in a wall mirror. She’d taken trouble over her appearance and knew she looked as good as possible. Which wasn’t very good, she thought sadly. Nature hadn’t made her a beauty. Not exactly plain, but not exactly pretty either. Lee had called her ‘Nice-looking’ and praised her eyes.

‘I like dark eyes,’ he’d said, ‘especially when they sparkle like yours.’

She’d clung to such remarks, and the fact that he sought her company rather than the beauties in the amateur dramatic society where they’d met. He was a professional actor, but back then his engagements were scarce and he’d been on the verge of chucking it in.

To pass the time he’d joined the amateur society, which was where they had met and quickly become attracted to each other. With her, attraction had soon become love, and she reached out to him with nothing held back. He’d responded eagerly, and the nights spent in his arms were the most joyful experiences of her life.

The play had been a triumph. She’d looked forward to the moment when he would ask her to marry him, and thought it had come when he said excitedly, ‘Guess what! The most incredible thing-’

‘Yes?’ she asked breathlessly. Out of sight, she crossed her fingers. Here it came. The proposal.

Lee was almost dancing with joy.

‘It’s so wonderful!’ he squeaked. ‘It just shows that if you wait for the right moment-’

‘And? And? And?’

‘There was an American agent in the audience.’

‘Wh…what?’

‘He wants to take me on. He reckons he could get me a part in The Man From Heaven. They’re looking for an English actor. Isn’t that great? Isn’t that the best thing you ever heard?’

‘Yes,’ she mumbled. ‘Oh, yes, great.’

Two days later he’d left for Los Angeles.

‘I’ll stay in touch,’ he’d promised.

And he had-after a fashion. There were emails, texts, the odd phone call, but no invitation for her to follow him. He was slipping away from her, and she couldn’t let that happen. She had something urgent to tell him, something that couldn’t be told on the phone.

Charlene had arrived three days ago, called him, leaving a message but receiving no response. Texts and emails went unanswered, and now she realised that he’d never given her an address. In the end she’d booked a place on the tour as the only way of seeing him.

She’d looked up the show online and learned the background story, and the role Lee was playing.

Up-and-coming English actor Lee Anton will be making his debut as Dr Franklin Baker, newly seconded to work at the Mercyland Hospital, where he rapidly becomes the friend and confidant of Brad Harrison, (played by Travis Falcon) and the only one who suspects his mysterious secret.

That morning she’d bought a newspaper, attracted by the headline-HEAVENLY ANTICS, the latest startling story from the show everyone’s talking about.

But to her disappointment there was only the briefest mention of Lee. Most of the page was taken up by a photograph of a man sitting with a girl on his lap, his shirt open to the waist, her hand seductively caressing his bare chest. His face was only half visible and for a fearful moment she checked in case it was Lee. But it wasn’t and she breathed again. It was only Travis Falcon.

Whoever he was, she thought, uninterested.

She knew she must be careful. Exposed to the glamorous temptations of Los Angeles, Lee was bound to have