Page 41 of The Girl with the Irish Secret
‘Anything in them to add to the script?’ Jack asked.
‘Yes, actually. I think so.’ Vi paused. ‘Don and Kathleen were constantly arguing, it appears. Don was sometimes jealous of Kathleen’s leading men. They both had hot tempers which resulted in screaming matches, door slamming and sulking and near break-ups. Then they made up and all was well again. Until the next row.’
Jack laughed. ‘That sounds great. I must get on to Liz and tell her the script should be adjusted to add a few ding-dong fights. In fact, I’ll put in some suggestions and email them to you for a start. And then we could read the new material together to see how it feels. And then do the make-up scenes, of course. Won’t that be fun?’
‘Maybe.’ Vi felt her face flush as she thought of the make-up scenes. ‘It’s all a big challenge for me. But there is still time to get used to the idea. In any case, I’m getting a handle on Kathleen just by reading these letters. I’m beginning to like her a lot.’
‘At least she wasn’t boring.’
‘Anything but,’ Vi agreed. She stifled a yawn. ‘Sorry. I’m very tired.’
‘I know. It’s late. I’d better let you go. I’m still feeling wide awake, though, so I’ll work on the script and then you should have the new stuff in your email tomorrow morning. Let me know what you think of it.’
‘That would be great,’ Vi said, excited at the thought of working on the script with him.
‘Good. I’m glad we had this chat. I really just called to hear that lilt in your voice and to tell you how much I enjoyed seeing you. And meeting your grandmother. Wonderful woman.’
‘She is,’ Vi said proudly. ‘She’s having us all over for Christmas dinner in the big dining room. She has invited any of the tenants in the apartments who are alone to join us.’
‘That’s very kind,’ Jack remarked. ‘I’d say you’ll have a wonderful day with all your family.’
‘Yes, I’m so looking forward to it,’ Vi said. ‘And Rose and I have had a talk, so all is well between us again. Lots of things going on beforehand, too, like the ballet school’s Christmas show. My little niece will be a fairy. I have promised to go and watch her and that is something I mustn’t miss.’
‘You’d better not,’ Jack agreed. ‘I’ll be going to Yorkshire to spend the holidays with my mother and sister and her family. Haven’t seen them for a while. Looking forward to going there and closing the door to the big bad world out there.’
‘I’m sure that’ll be lovely,’ Vi said.
‘Yes, it will. Well,’ Jack continued, ‘I’d better let you sleep. Thanks again for taking the call.’
‘No problem. Nice to talk to you.’
‘It was. I’ll be in touch. Goodnight, Violet. Sweet dreams,’ he said softly and hung up.
But after turning off her phone, Vi found she couldn’t go to sleep. Jack hadn’t said anything important or startling, he wasjust lonely and needed to hear a friendly voice. But his warm voice had made her feelings for him stronger and now she wondered if he felt anything at all for her. These thoughts made her worry even more about how she was going to deal with him when the cameras stopped rolling. How was she going to handle all this confusion?
There were no manuals on this, or any tips in any acting courses about how not to fall for your co-star. She knew this happened from time to time between actors and that the relationships then crashed and burned afterwards, more often than not. She didn’t want that to happen to her as she was sure it would eventually end in tears. But then she pushed all those thoughts away, chiding herself for being so unprofessional. She would have to do what other actors did – be cool off-set. That was probably what Kathleen herself had done, so Vi would have to do the same – if she could.
Vi checked her email as soon as she woke up and found a message from Jack with an attachment.
Just a quick sketch, he wrote.A scene I thought would work. An argument between Kathleen and Don where he is jealous of her leading man, as you hinted that that was an issue with them. Read it through and then we’ll discuss it when I call you tonight.
The scene he had written was very well done, the dialogue snappy with an undertone of distrust from Don and huge distress from Kathleen when she was trying to explain that she only loved Don and that her attraction to her leading man was simply good acting and not real in any way. The subsequent storming out by Don was dramatic and true to the impression Vi had had from reading Kathleen’s letters to Fidelma. It felt very real to Vi and she was amazed at Jack’s writing skills.
‘You’re so good at writing dialogue,’ she told him when he called that night on FaceTime.
‘I just had that gut feeling about Don and Kathleen based on what you told me,’ Jack replied, smiling at Vi. ‘But thank you. So… are you ready to read this with me? Starting with the first line on the top of the page.’
Sitting on the sofa, Vi picked up the pages she had printed. ‘I’m ready.’
‘They are in her trailer during a break from filming,’ Jack explained. ‘Kathleen is in period costume, including a very tight corset. You need to feel that as you say the lines.’
‘Great image. I’ll bear that in mind.’
‘Good. So… action!’ Jack exclaimed.
‘“What do you mean I must be in love with him?”’ Vi said in the Kathleen-voice she had practised. ‘“It’s not real attraction. It’s called acting.”’
‘“If that’s only acting you’re doing an Oscar-winning performance,”’ Jack/Don growled in a slight Texan accent. ‘“I could tell that you’re more than acting in that last scene. It was in your eyes and in the body language.”’
