Love Believes (Sully Point, Book 5) (6 page)

He was completely surprised. To hear that kind of
depth from someone her age was not at all what he'd expected.

Beth called out to him. "Sorry, but I had to
say something since I was up here." He could see her beaming smile easily
and was struck again by her beauty. He knew in an instant that the stage was
right where she belonged. Often through the years he'd get a feeling and he'd
just know when someone was right for a part. He immediately knew who he would
cast as Corie Bratter, the newlywed wife in
Barefoot in the Park
, the
first play they were doing in Sully Point.

He watched her walking back toward him and thought
irrelevantly that the town gossips were going to have a field day with this. He
turned to face the designer and carpenter. "Now, Milton, what seems to be
the problem?"

"This man refuses to follow my plan!"

"Nobody is refusing anything. I'm just
telling you it can't be done the way you drew it."

Beth walked up then and Mr. Christopher held up
his hands. "Hold on a second. Beth, this is our designer, Milton, and our
carpenter, Angelo Caronelli. Gentlemen, this is my assistant Beth Carter."

Milton nodded stiffly, while Angelo held out a
hand to shake hers.

"Anyway, I think I've told you before,
Milton, that we need to listen to Angelo as he's the one with the woodworking
experience."

"Clearly not enough experience!"

"Excuse me, Milton?" Beth firm voice
interrupted. "Obviously you aren't listening. If the man who does this for
a living says it can't be done, then it can't be done. Why are you causing an
uproar over something like that? Just re-work your design."

"I don't need the opinion of an assistant,
thank you very much," Milton said, and folded his skinny arms across a
concave chest.

"Oh this time, I think you will hear my
opinion," Beth said, holding a hand out to Mr. Christopher, clearly not
wanting him to interfere. "You see, I'm not just an assistant. I'm also
the sister to one of the main investors. You know, the ones who sign your pay
check? If you aren't capable of working with an experienced man like Mr.
Caronelli here, we would have no problem in bringing in someone else to finish
the project."

Milton gasped, as if he was suddenly quite short
of breath. "I--I--you can't! It's going to be my masterpiece!"

"Only if you pay attention to Mr. Caronelli.
Are we clear, Milton?" Beth asked with a stern look on her face.

"Quite, uh, quite clear."

She smiled in response and Milton's relief was
obvious. "Mr. Christopher," she said, turning to him. "I'd love
to see the backstage area."

"Certainly, Beth. Right this way," he
said, struggling to keep his laughter from spilling out at the look on Milton's
face.

The backstage area and dressing rooms were close
to being done and they poked around there for a while. The whole time he
wondered who he could get as Corie's husband in the play that might do justice
to Beth's acting ability.

Finally, they were through with the tour and left
the building. He glanced at her as they began the walk back to the office.

"I want you to play the lead."

"What?"

"In the first production. We're doing
Barefoot
in the Park
. I want you to play Corie."

Beth stood still, staring at him. He faced her and
continued. "I had no idea you were so talented. That monologue you just
did was perfect. You have what the Corie character needs. Fire, but with
vulnerability. Will you do it?"

Beth's emerald eyes were open wide with what
looked like shock. "Would I...of course I would! Seriously? You really
want me for the part?"

"Absolutely. I have a knack for casting.
You'll be great. And...just to be clear...no strings."

She smiled at him. "Thanks, for saying that.
And thank you so much for offering me the part." She started walking again
beside him. Suddenly she burst out laughing.

"What? What is it?"

"Oh my word, what is Maelynne going to say
about us now?"

He smiled at her. "That thought crossed my mind.
But we aren't going to let a little gossip stop us, right?"

"Right!"

Once they were back at the office, he set about
looking for the stack of scripts he'd ordered. Beth found the box they were in,
and accepted one from him and held it to her chest.

"You've made this one of the best days ever.
Are we done for the day? I want to go home and read this."

He gave her an indulgent smile. "Yes, yes, go
ahead. Have a good time."

"Thanks!" She grabbed her handbag and
flew out of the office, clattering down the stairs. When he heard the front
door close, he let himself laugh. That had felt really good. Making her smile
was...not where he needed to go! He was just happy, as a director, he told
himself. Happy to have found the right actress for a part. That was all.

He nodded firmly to himself. Picking up the tablet
from the desk, he decided to take it home and play with it. Maybe it would
start to feel more natural. It would be good to impress her tomorrow with his
new skills.

* * * *

Frank Grainger called his daughter Anna, and then
Maggie, to invite them over with their spouses for supper. When he tried
calling Beth to invite her, he was shocked to be turned down. Politely, but
definitely, he'd been given a refusal to his invitation. He immediately let
Maggie know.

Beth was sitting curled up in the cream brocaded
chair reading when her phone rang again. "What?" she answered
absently.

"Beth! Is that any way to answer a
phone?" she heard her sister say.

"Oh, hi Maggie. What's up?"

"What's up is that you refused an invitation
from Frank for dinner."

"I've got something I'm doing so I figured it
would be okay to pass on it."

Maggie's sigh transmitted clearly over the phone.
"No, it's not okay. Honestly, Beth. What is so important that you wouldn't
show up?"

"Maggie, the most wonderful thing has
happened," she answered. "I've got a part! A real honest-to-God
part!"

"A part? In L.A.?"

"No, no, no. Here, in Sully Point. Mr.
Christopher just gave me the lead in the first play he's putting on in the new
Playhouse. I've got the script right here and I was going to read it
tonight."

There was silence for a minute on the phone, and
then Maggie said, "Congratulations, that's great. But it's no excuse to
miss dinner at the Grainger house. Now set the script down, and brush your hair
and change clothes and show up. In an hour, okay? We can celebrate your
news."

"That would be fun, I guess. All right, I'll be
there. Give me directions."

* * * *

Maggie was on the phone to Julia as soon as she
ended the call with Beth. "Julia? Have you heard the news?"

"Yes! I couldn't believe it. And it all
happened right out in the open, so everybody knows."

"Everybody knows?" Maggie said. "What?"

"The confrontations, both of them. Isn't that
what you meant?"

"What confrontations?"

"Look, I need to get home and change. You'll
be at Frank's, right? I'll explain everything there. Gotta run."

Maggie stared at her silent phone. A
confrontation? Two confrontations? What did that have to do with Beth?

"Eric," she called down the hall. "We
have dinner at Frank's tonight, and a mystery to solve."

* * * *

Beth arrived at the same time as Maggie and Eric,
and ended up walking up the front steps with them.

"Beth, were you involved in a confrontation
today?" Maggie asked at once.

"No. Oh Maggie, can you believe it? A real
part on a real stage. I'm so excited!"

They walked into the house and Frank greeted them
and led them into the living room.

"Here she is, everybody. The conquering hero,
or is it heroine?" Frank announced.

"What?" Beth asked.

"What is going on?" Maggie asked in a
rather frustrated voice.

Frank smiled. "Maelynne was given her
comeuppance today in the deli by none other than Beth here."

"Oh yeah, that," Beth said. She
shrugged. "I should have guessed it would get all over town since it was
in front of so many people."

"Tell us everything you said and everything
she said," Frank urged.

"Well, I wasn't the only one to read her the
riot act. Mr. Christopher chastised her as well."

Frank nodded. "Yep, I heard from the folks at
the Lobster Shack. He heard them saying bad stuff about you and he jumped up
and told them off."

Maggie looked from Beth to Frank and then to the
others who were in the room. Sam and Anna looked back at her blankly. Julia
smiled and nodded like she knew what all this meant. Her husband Cody looked
like he wasn't surprised either.

"Somebody, anybody, tell me the whole
story," Maggie said, sitting down on the couch.

Frank proceeded to tell the story he'd heard about
Mr. Christopher confronting Maelynne. Then Beth told her part of it.

"So you see, we each ended up defending the
honor of the other, as well as our own. I'm pretty sure I made an enemy today
in that Maelynne," she said with a frown.

Maggie grinned at her. "Don't worry. I
already did that when I yelled at her in the street before my wedding."

By the time Beth had heard that story, Frank was
calling them all into the dining room to sit around the large rectangular
table. He'd prepared a feast of beef stew with potatoes and carrots, steamed
broccoli and rolls from the Bakery. Betsy, Frank's wife, had made fruit compote
for dessert.

As they talked and ate, Beth felt herself relax
into the family atmosphere. She had missed being with family. If only her
parents and her other sister Rose could be here, the day would have been perfect.
Everyone was excited for her about the part in the play. She made it clear that
she would still be working as his assistant, even if Mr. Christopher was to be
her director.

"Let's face it. The man may be a brilliant
director, but he is awful at organization. Everyone in the project will be
better off if I continue working for him."

"It sounds like you'll be the perfect
assistant for him," Maggie said.

"If we can manage to get along," Beth
said. "He can be difficult."

"I still can't believe both of you smacked
down Maelynne today," Frank said, and chortled.

"All I can say is that I had a very eventful
first day."

Beth left shortly after dinner, dying to get home
to read the script. Once back at home, she put on silky coffee-colored pajamas
and settled into bed with pillows propped behind her back. She remembered
seeing the film version with Robert Redford and Jane Fonda, but that was long
ago and she was anxious to read
Barefoot in the Park
with a fresh eye
from an adult perspective.

Hours later she finished and sighed contentedly.
It was a great play. Wonderful comedy, with just enough touches of realism to
ring true. Corie would be a blast to inhabit on stage. She fell asleep
contemplating the character.

The next morning she was up and at the bakery early.
She was anxious to get into the office to start tackling that job. The sooner
she had things organized, the sooner she could get to work with Mr. Christopher
on her part.

Kayla asked, "What'll it be? Scones are good
today."

Beth looked at the girl quizzically. "Isn't
everything in here good every day?"

"Well, yeah, but I like to say something is
good every day. Helps people make up their minds."

"Good strategy. Okay, I'll take a scone and--oh
wow, is that a chocolate frosted donut?"

"Yep. Want one of those instead of the
scone?"

"No! I want both."

Kayla frowned. "I thought that actresses had
to diet all the time."

"Not this one. I've always had a lucky
metabolism. Although I don't just eat donuts and pastries. I try to eat healthy
most of the time."

Kayla put the items in two separate bags and Beth
paid. Before she left, Kayla asked, "What's it like? Working for
him?"

"Mr. Christopher? It's...an experience. He's
a busy man so it is a busy job."

"I don't care what Maelynne says about him, I
think he's dreamy."

"What's she saying?"

"That he's rude and mean and he should be
fired."

"That woman!"

"She isn't saying very nice things about you
either," Kayla said. "But you seem okay to me."

Beth grinned at her. "Why thank you,
Kayla."

She left and ran back to her apartment. Coffee and
pastry were calling to her. She wondered just what nasty things that awful
Maelynne woman was saying about her. Munching on her scone, she decided that
whatever it was, it didn't matter. There was always something no matter where you
lived, she thought. And at least here, she had family to stick up for her.

Her closet provided dark brown pants that were
comfortable if she had to kneel over boxes. She paired them with low-heeled
ankle boots in brown leather, and a silky cream top. A brown velvet blazer
finished off her look. A gold bangle bracelet and gold ball earrings shined
when she moved. Looking in the mirror as she finished brushing her hair into
shiny waves, she decided she was not too casual or too dressy.

"There," she said aloud to the mirror.
"He shouldn't find anything wrong with me today."

Then she paused and thought about what she'd just
said. "Not that it matters what he thinks, especially about how I
look!" she said quickly and gathered up her handbag and phone.

A bit disconcerted by her own words, she left her
apartment and decided to drive over to Julia's Place. There was a chill in the
air, plus she might want to go somewhere at lunch. The Thunderbird purred to
life with the turn of the key. It was a great car. Sam always did have good
taste in cars.