Melanie described her sporting passion as football which caused confusion for one moment until Tom realised what she meant and pointed out she was referring to American football not football. Tom enjoyed watching what they agreed to call Soccer to save confusion but had never followed any one specific team, although recently he had made a few trips to the new Amex stadium to see Brighton play. Tom was mostly a fan of the big tournaments when he would avidly watch England play. Melanie seemed surprised to learn the USA had a half decent soccer team and several Americans played in the Premier League.
Melanie’s football team was the Pittsburgh Steelers. She had gone regularly with her Dad when she was young and still went whenever filming commitments allowed. Tom had watched a few games on television over the years but never been to a live game, which news was immediately met with an invitation to see a match from Melanie’s private box. She also offered to take him to the Super Bowl if they made it to the final, which she assured Tom was a real possibility. Tom wasn’t a great fan of what he’d seen on television, as he didn’t like the start / stop nature of the games but a trip to a Super Bowl would be a great sporting occasion. He liked the way Melanie became animated and excited about her team. Tom felt the same way about going to Cheltenham or Royal Ascot.
Melanie had refused to hear of him staying anywhere other than the Imperial and he found it difficult to argue with her logic, especially after the vintage port, that it would be nice to have breakfast together. For a second he had kept a straight face and then Melanie had realized what she’d said and looked a little aghast at the idea. This in turn prompted Tom to mock her for making the idea of sleeping with Quasimodo seem so horrific and they had both fallen in to a further bout of laughter.
Melanie had organized the suite and asked for it to be added to her account. On reflection Tom thought it was not unreasonable that she should be paying for the whole evening, though it was an unusual experience. He didn’t feel there was any sense of his abusing her hospitality or taking advantage of the fact he’d helped her out. She was a fantastically wealthy woman and wanted to say thank you, so he would graciously accept and in a day or two life would go back to normal and Melanie would no doubt return to the States.
The alarm call that awoke him had been ordered for eight o’clock, which Melanie had suggested was a bit early but he had pointed out he really did have to get into his shop today, to check the staff hadn’t run off with his money. He wasn’t serious of course but it was unfair to leave Ben shorthanded for another day, even if some of the meetings were getting cancelled because of the weather. Melanie was going to meet with the press, whom she had so far kept at arm’s length but they were clamouring to hear her side of the story and she had a press conference organized for two o’clock.
Tom had some poached eggs on toast with a side order of bacon but Melanie admitted to feeling a little more delicate and settled for toast and coffee. He noticed how everywhere Melanie went both men and women looked at her and wondered if it was because of her looks or her fame. It must do strange things to your mind he thought. She seemed not to notice but Tom found it a little unnerving and decided on balance, he probably wouldn’t like to be a film star.
“Could you get me a part in a film?” he suddenly asked. “Preferably one opposite Julia Roberts that involves some intense love scenes.”
Melanie laughed. “I’ll introduce you to Julia sometime.” She drank some coffee then looked up. “Love scenes aren’t much fun you know?”
“You certainly wouldn’t get me undressing in front of millions of cinema goers,” he agreed. The images of Melanie naked in a couple of her films had occupied his mind more than once over dinner.
“I’m lucky because I have complete control over these things nowadays. I haven’t had to do a real nude scene for several years.”
“But I saw your last movie. And frankly saw quite a lot of you too!”
“Not really you didn’t. That was mostly body doubles. Certainly they weren’t my breasts or my ass.”
“That’s not right,” Tom exclaimed. “I paid good money to see your breasts not someone else’s,” he continued, feigning indignation. “I could probably sue you under the trade descriptions act.”
“You’re mad,” she succinctly remarked.
The more time Tom spent in Melanie’s company, the more he found he really liked her. Sure there was a bit of physical attraction as well but that was just added spice.
“Completely bonkers I have to agree,” he admitted. “Would you like to go racing later this week? There’s a meeting at Kempton on Friday evening.” Melanie had told him over dinner that she would be heading back to the states at the weekend and Tom wanted the chance to see more of
