Her Determined Husband

‘I don’t know…you just seemed on edge. You look very pale as well.’ His eyes moved over her face with a kind of tender concern that tugged at her heartstrings.

‘Well, I’m fine.’ They stopped next to the coffee machine and she watched as he put a paper cup under the water.

‘How’s your dad?’ he asked her suddenly.

‘He’s had the second lot of tests, we’re just waiting for the results.’ She took the hot coffee from him, noting that he’d remembered she drank it black with no sugar.

‘If there’s anything I can do, you’ll let me know?’

‘There’s nothing any of us can do except wait.’ Her voice held a faint tremor. How was it he could upset her more when he was being kind than when he was being infuriating? she wondered.

She looked down at her coffee and remembered a time when he had been wonderful to her…when they’d been happy. She frowned suddenly. She couldn’t start thinking like that—it was a very slippery slope.

‘Hell, this is awful coffee, almost as bad as the stuff you used to make,’ Cal muttered, pulling a face.

‘There’s nothing wrong with the coffee I make,’ she replied indignantly.

Cal smiled. ‘You always made lousy coffee,’ he said softly. ‘Don’t you remember your breakfast specialty…burnt coffee?’

She tried very hard not to smile at that memory. He was talking about the time during their first few days of marriage when she had put a coffee pot on the stove to keep warm and then got distracted…by him, as she recalled. She had to admit the coffee had tasted awful, but she had been too much in love at the time to care. Her eyes narrowed on him. ‘No, I don’t recall that.’

Behind them on set, Theo was doing a lot of shouting and arm waving. Kirsten turned to watch him, glad of the distraction.

‘Where is Theo originally from?’ she asked Cal as he also turned to watch what was going on.

‘I don’t know. I think he’s part-Russian, part-Greek, apparently he speaks both languages fluently.’

‘He’s a bit fearsome, isn’t he?’ Kirsten reflected. ‘But then, I’ve heard he’s a genius and I suppose a lot of brilliant people are a bit eccentric.’

Cal smiled, but he didn’t have time to answer because Theo had left the set and was marching towards them. ‘We’ll have to shoot another scene,’ he said angrily. ‘Nothing is right on there…nothing. And time is money.’

He stopped next to them, raking a hand through his hair with an air of absolute distraction. ‘Come into my office, will you?’ he ordered. ‘There are a few things we need to talk about.’ Then he marched on ahead of them towards a door at the end of the corridor.

Kirsten caught Cal’s eye. ‘What do you think he wants to talk to us about?’ she whispered.

Cal gave a quizzical shrug and then grinned at her. Despite herself, she grinned back at him, then pulled herself up. What was she doing? Cal was not her friend and he was definitely not a co-conspirator. Turning away, she followed Theo down the hall.

Theo’s office was tiny, almost like a broom cupboard. There was just room for his desk, two chairs and a filing cabinet. Cal stood just inside the door while Kirsten took the vacant chair opposite the director.

‘OK…I just want to run through the details of filming next week.’ Theo was rifling through the untidy piles of paper on his desk as he spoke. ‘You know we are transferring to San Francisco; the locations manager has found a house that we will use for filming.’

Kirsten settled back into her chair, feeling a little more relaxed now that it was apparent Theo wasn’t going to talk about adding sex scenes to the film. She knew all about the move to San Francisco; she’d been told when she accepted the part.

‘Ah…here we are.’ Theo found a piece of paper and pushed it towards her. ‘That’s just a rough schedule of the scenes we will be working on day by day.’

Kirsten glanced down at the paper, wondering how accurate it would be when the scene they were supposed to be working on today had been changed twice already.

‘The studio will be providing accommodation for you in San Francisco, so you don’t need to worry about that. My assistant will give you the details at the end of the week when she issues you with your flight tickets.’

There was silence and, thinking the meeting was now at a close, Kirsten started to get up.

‘One last thing.’ Kirsten sat back down as Theo started to rifle through the papers again. ‘The PR people have been in contact with me this morning. They brought this to my attention.’

To Kirsten’s horror, Theo brought out a magazine from the depths of the chaos…the same magazine that Chloe had been at pains to show her this morning.

Theo slid it across the table; it was open at the picture of her and Cal leaving Charlie’s restaurant.

‘Let me tell you right now that there is absolutely no truth in that article whatsoever.’ Kirsten sat forward on her chair and looked over at Cal. ‘It’s complete rubbish…isn’t it, Cal?’

‘What is it?’ Cal reached over her and picked up the magazine. ‘Nice picture of you, Kirsten,’ he murmured lazily. ‘You’re very photogenic, you know.’

‘Never mind that. Will you please tell Theo that the article is rubbish? We were just having lunch—’

‘I can’t think why Theo would be interested.’ Cal put the magazine down.

‘I’m not,’ Theo replied. ‘It’s the PR people that want me to draw it to your attention. They like this kind of thing…it will help sell the film. Sue Williams says she wants to come down to talk about it with you. Set up some interviews. I think she wants to do that in San Francisco—’

‘Sue Williams?’ Kirsten shook her head. ‘Who—?’

‘She’s in charge of the PR department. Anyway…’ Theo ruffled through the papers on his desk again ‘…they’ve asked me to tell you to play up this angle…this question…that there might be a rekindling of your romance. The publicity will be good; our film will keep getting a plug. Everyone will be happy.’

‘Well, I’m not happy,’ Kirsten said quickly. ‘In fact, I’m furious. There is no truth in that story. Cal and I are not getting back together—’

‘It doesn’t matter if it’s true or not,’ Theo said patiently. ‘It’s just a publicity stunt. If you’ve got any complaints, take it up with Sue…she should be dealing with this, not me. In the meantime they want you and Cal to attend a première together.’ He reached under the papers and drew out an envelope. ‘Here we are. It’s on Saturday night. The studio have asked that you pick Kirsten up at around seven-thirty, Cal, and they want you to attend the party after the film and then take Kirsten home about midnight—’

‘And do we have to go to bed together as well?’ Kirsten asked scathingly. ‘Cocoa at twelve-fifteen and satin pyjamas off by twelve-thirty?’

Theo’s eyebrows rose. ‘They haven’t made any suggestions as to what happens after midnight—’

‘I think that’s when Kirsten turns into a pumpkin,’ Cal put in drolly.

Kirsten shot him a look of annoyance. ‘Well, at least I’m not going to turn into a rat like you—’

‘Now, now!’ Theo interjected warningly. ‘We must have a good working relationship here.’

Kirsten shook her head angrily. ‘Work is here at the studio; this is encroaching on my private life. Besides, I’m already going to that première, but I’m attending with Jason Giles.’

Theo shrugged. ‘That’s up to you. But the people upstairs won’t be happy…there’s a lot of money riding on this film and they will expect you to be co-operative.’

The implied threat hung heavily in the air. Kirsten stared at Theo. Did he mean if she was difficult that the studio would just refuse to work with her in the future?

‘But this isn’t right…’ Kirsten looked around at Cal, hoping that he might support her. ‘We are not going to do this, are we, Cal?’

He met her eyes steadily and shrugged. ‘I’ve had to do worse things for PR. I’ve no real objection to posing for a few photographs or ferrying you backwards and forwards to a première. I draw the line at the cocoa, though…I hate cocoa.’

Kirsten’s eyes glittered a bright, intense green. She might have known that he wouldn’t back her up.

‘OK, that’s settled.’ Theo got up from his desk and put an envelope into Cal’s hand. ‘That’s your invitations for Saturday. Let’s get back to work now.’