Page 44 of Game Changer

She smiles at me. “Well, you’ve helped solidify my decision. I’m fed up working God awful hours for some of the most unappreciative sods in the world. Don’t get me wrong there are a few hidden gems like Buckie. He’s wonderful to work with. Okay, so he’s late to interviews sometimes and he backchats the studio execs. Oh and he point blank refuses to hire a PA, but all in all he’s a good egg. He’s nice to me.” She motions through the air. “I want to be sitting back in a plush office somewhere nice and have someone else do all the babysitting.”

The waiter arrives with our drinks, and I notice movement at the podium.

“Oh, here they come,” Shelly says taking a long swig of her drink.

I watch the podium as a slender young woman walks up the short steps on the other side. Her light blue satin dress clings to her body. Under the lights the fabric looks like water rippling every time she moves. Her long blonde poker straight hair is sleek and shimmering and she looks every inch the movie star. I recognise Annalise from photos I’ve seen of her. She’s very beautiful.

“Annalise the diva. She’s the type of unappreciative person I was talking about. I swear to God if she were on my books, I’d have parted ways with her before now. She’s a wonderful actress but she’s a nightmare to work with. Her PR team must have to work overtime spinning her life. Her poor PA is madly in love with her, and she treats him like a complete patsy.”

I snort and almost choke on my drink. “How do you know he’s in love with her?”

“Because he looks at her the way Buckie looks at you.”

I raise my brows at her suggestion. “Enlighten me.”

“You don’t see it because you see him all the time. When we were at the BBC yesterday, I watched you both. I noticed him stealing glances at you every now and then when you weren’t looking. I know love when I see it and he truly does love you. I know how you guys started out in your relationship. It must have been hard when he had to leave.”

“He told you. My God I’m so embarrassed.”

“What’s to be embarrassed about? You weren’t doing anything wrong. You didn’t hurt anyone. Well okay maybe yourselves, but don’t be so hard on yourself.”

Her smile is warm and comforting. She’s easy to talk to and I can see why Buckie likes working with her.

“I love him too. I always have. Our relationship has been a weird one from the beginning. I mean don’t get me wrong it was fun having a friend’s with benefits thing. But you can’t spend all that time with someone the way we did and not develop feelings for them. We each didn’t know how the other felt and I think we were both silently heart broken when it had to end.”

Shelly takes my hand, the cold condensation from her drink still lingering on her fingers. “You’re good for him. You’ve made him realise that there’s more to this life than work, eat, sleep, repeat. He’s a hard worker, too hard sometimes, but I’ve always felt something was missing in his life. He talked non-stop about you when he first went to the States.”

Her words are a jumble in my head. I know we’re good for each other. But it doesn’t stop the nagging feeling that he’d be giving up a lot of opportunities to move back to Scotland. He said he was planning on doing it anyway, but I’m not sure I wholly believe that.

“And there’s the man of the moment.” Shelly lets go of my hand and opens her Filofax.

I look up at the podium to see Buckie emerging at the top of the stairs. He’s goddamn handsome in that kilt outfit. I feel my cheeks flush because I know the situation he has going on under that wool. He takes his position next to Annalise who immediately attaches herself to him like a limpet. The top half of her dress appears to consist of pieces of material going from the top of the skirt and over her breasts. It's all held up only by a couple of spaghetti straps that criss-cross over her back. The skirt has a long split that reaches right up to her hip. It’s extremely revealing, and I’m not surprised when I see the photographers all trying to get a better look.

Shelly is writing furiously in her diary and looking at things on her phone. She’s completely oblivious to what’s going on outside. She’s obviously a dab hand at this and knows Buckie can take care of himself out there. I, on the other hand, am becoming increasingly jealous with every passing second. Annalise is being a little too friendly with my man. It’s the same pang of jealousy I used to get every time I saw a photo of Buckie with a beautiful woman in Hollywood. I shake my head trying to remind myself that this is his job and he’s already declared his love for me. I trust him with my life, and I have to trust him with my heart. But somehow, I can’t shake the horrible feeling that he’d be better with someone of status like her than me.

The interviews for the YouTube stream take around twenty minutes. It’s not long after they’ve left the podium that we are ushered inside the cinema. The Royal Box is reserved for us, and our seats have our names on them. The cinema is kitted out with recliner seats. The buttons on the armrest put you in a comfortable position for watching the movie. It’s very spacious and gives the best possible view of the screen.

Shelly and I take our seats and the place fills up quite rapidly. I watch as the excited fans, movie buffs, competition winners and critics take their seats. Scanning the crowd, I see a host of celebrities all looking as though they’ve stepped right out of a magazine. To say I’m overwhelmed by all this is an understatement.

The loud chatter of the audience fades in seconds as music starts to play. A beautiful haunting Scottish lament played on a solo cello by the sound of it. The hairs on my arms stand up as the sound wafts up into vaulted ceiling of the auditorium. And then my breath catches as Buckie walks onto the stage arm in arm with Annalise. The audience goes wild, and they each take a bow as they are joined by some of the supporting cast. All the men are in kilts and the women look stunning in their beautiful dresses.

Buckie and Annalise take turns introducing the movie and invite everyone to stay for a Q&A session at the end.

“Hello Leicester Square. We hope you’re all excited to be here,” Annalise starts. The crowd cheers.

“Sit back and enjoy this wee Scottish love story. We’ll see you later so that you can grill us,” Buckie says, flashing his cheeky and oh so sexy grin. The lights go down as they all leave the stage.

I get comfortable in my seat, making sure my dress isn’t creasing under me, and wait with anticipation for Buckie to be back by my side.

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