Olivia's Curtain Call (10 page)

Chapter Nineteen

Olivia and Jack were sitting at the table, poring over the map of France and plotting a route.

“When are you going to confirm all the gigs on the list?” asked Olivia.

“First thing in the morning,” replied Jack. “I might even make a start on the emails tonight after I’ve picked up Eel from Emmy’s. There’s still no news about
Matilda
and we can’t wait forever while they make up their minds.”

Olivia grinned happily. She was so looking forward to the summer.

“Livy! Jack!” Both of them looked up. Alicia was standing in the doorway. There was something about the way she said their names and the strange look on her face that made Olivia leap up and run to her gran’s side.

“What is it?” she asked urgently. “Is something wrong?”

Alicia shook her head, but she seemed to be having trouble speaking. “Something has happened. Something quite incredible. I’ve had Jon on the phone. He needs you, Livy. He wants you for Juliet.”

Olivia thought she must have misheard. “Me? Juliet? That can’t be right. What’s going on?” Her heart began to thump. She suddenly thought of Abbie. Had something happened to her? Her eyes darkened. Had Abbie and Kasha been found out?

“Abbie?” she asked.

“She’s fine, Livy. Well, that’s not quite true. She’s got type-one diabetes. She almost slipped into a coma during a rehearsal and now she’s in hospital. But she’s going to be completely fine once they get her medication sorted out and stabilise everything. I’m going to visit her tomorrow. She’ll be able to carry on acting eventually but there’s no question of her doing Juliet. So they want you.”

Olivia sank down on to the sofa. “Jon trusts me enough to do it?” she murmured wonderingly, almost to herself.

“Oh, Livy, you know he always wanted you for Juliet. He was under pressure to have Abbie,” said Alicia. But Olivia knew that they were talking at cross-purposes. She was astonished that Jon trusted her enough to give her the role even though he knew what she had done. He must realise that he was taking the most enormous risk, a potentially career-ending one. He couldn’t possibly know why she’d done it, so he was risking that she might do it again, maybe right in the middle of a performance.

Olivia felt real admiration for the director, and she remembered the speech he’d made after her audition about taking risks in the theatre. It made her think of walking the high-wire where the line between success and failure – getting to the end of the wire or falling – was always so fine. Only by risking that you might fail could you ever truly be any good.

The high-wire made her think about her dad. She glanced over towards him. He was sitting very still, watching her intently. If she said yes to Juliet, she knew that she would be letting him down. And Tom too. Could she do that to them? All the plans they’d made together for the summer would have to be junked. If she’d been
offered the role after Jack had started accepting the high-wire bookings they’d been offered, she would have turned it down in a flash. A deal was a deal. When she was travelling in the circus, her dad had done most of his business on the shake of a hand. But they hadn’t yet said yes to any of the gigs. No deals had yet been made. She almost wished they had, so any decision was taken out of her hands.

The tension was making her stomach churn like a cement mixer. If she said no to Juliet she would be letting Jon down when he’d shown such faith in her, and she would devastate her gran. She could see from Alicia’s face how much she wanted her to play Juliet.

She looked at her dad. He’d never really understood acting. Toni had given it all up to be with him; would he have given up the wire for her? “But what about the tour?” she said, still looking at Jack’s watchful face.

“You must make up your own mind what you want to do,” said Jack quietly. She longed for him to say more, to say that it would be OK if she did Juliet, that he would understand her choice, but he said nothing. She felt as if a silent battle was taking place in the room between her
father and Alicia.

The silence was broken by her
grand-mother
. “Livy, darling,” she said. “I know how much you wanted Juliet. This is your chance, maybe the only one you’ll ever get. Most actresses go through their entire careers without ever getting a shot at the role.”

“That may be true, Alicia,” said Jack, “but Liv isn’t an actress. She’s a high-wire walker who has done a bit of acting. Her heart has always been with the circus.”

Before she could stop herself, Alicia snapped, “The circus doesn’t compare with this, Jack! This is one of the great classical roles—”

“I know you don’t rate the circus, Alicia,” interrupted Jack coldly. “You’ve always thought it was a lower art form than the theatre but—”

“But what?” Now it was Alicia’s turn to interrupt. “Livy can walk the high-wire any time she likes; this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Of course she must do it.”

“The tour could be the start of her
high-wire
career. It could be just as important…” began Jack.

Olivia couldn’t bear to see two of the people she loved most in the world fighting
over her. It was as if they had forgotten about her completely, as if despite everything that had happened over the last couple of years they still inhabited entirely different worlds.

“Stop it! Stop it!” she shouted. “I can’t stand to hear you argue.”

Both Jack and Alicia looked abashed.

“Chick—” began her dad.

Olivia put up an imperious hand. “I don’t want to hear any more. You’re squabbling like children. I’m going to ring Jon to say thank you, and then I’m going to talk to Tom, and then I’m going to talk to Eel, who I sometimes think is the most sensible person in this family, and then I’m going to make up my own mind what I’m going to do. What I need to know is that you will both support me in my decision, whatever it might be.”

Jack and Alicia felt her dark, burning eyes on both of them and instantly felt ashamed of how they had behaved. They both nodded.

It was the middle of the night. Olivia was standing in her pyjamas in the living room talking to her mother. Or, rather, to her mother’s portrait. It was so lifelike that it seemed to Olivia
as if her mum was right in the room with her. She had told her dad and gran that she was going to talk to Tom and talk to Eel, but she hadn’t told them that she was going to talk to her mum.

Olivia had never felt in so much need of a mother. She knew that if Toni was alive she wouldn’t have been on Gran’s side or on Jack’s side. She would have been on her daughter’s side. She would have questioned her intently, talked her through the options, but she would have let Olivia make the decision. Not like Jack and Alicia, who had made her feel as if she was in the middle of a tug of war between them.

She had spoken to Tom earlier, who’d been as brilliantly understanding as she had expected him to be. Tom was always so easy to talk to. He’d said that of course he’d be disappointed if she chose Juliet over the tightrope tour. “I’m only human, Liv!” But he had pointed out that while they could do the tightrope act at Christmas, or sometime next year, this might be her only chance to play Juliet and if she wanted to do it, then of course she should.

“But what about Jack? Won’t he feel I’m rejecting him?”

“He loves you, Liv. Maybe he’ll be upset at
first. But he’ll get over it. And if he doesn’t, he can always adopt me.” They had both laughed at this.

Eel had been even blunter. “Listen, Livy, don’t get so angsty. It’s your life, nobody else’s. It’s not as if you’re like Juliet who has to do what her parents want or end up in a convent. Ignore Dad and Gran, and do what
you
want to do. You can’t live your life forever trying to please other people, however much you love them and they love you. You’ll just make yourself miserable.”

Now Olivia looked up at the portrait of her mother.

“It’s so hard, Mum. I want to do the right thing. But whatever I decide, I know that I’m going to end up upsetting and hurting somebody. I don’t know what to do. I wish you were here; I wish you were here to help me. Because you once had to make a big decision: to stay and maybe be the greatest classical actress ever or give it all up and go with Dad.”

In the morning Jack, waking early to go for a run, found her fast asleep on the sofa under the portrait. He went to put a blanket over her but she stirred and opened her eyes.

“I’ve decided, Dad,” she said. The air felt thick between them. “I’m going to do Juliet.” Olivia saw her father desperately try to hide a flash of disappointment, and fail. It broke her heart.

“Of course,” he said. “I respect your decision, Liv.”

But his voice was a touch too tight. Olivia stared at him. She didn’t want him to respect her decision. She wanted him to step up, tell her that he loved her and that she had made the right decision. Only a heartbeat passed before he moved towards her with his arms open, but somehow it was too late.

“You don’t understand, do you?” she shouted. “I’m not just your daughter. I’m Toni’s daughter too. You want me to be like you, but I’m like her as well. I’m a tightrope-walker but I’m also an actress. You want me to choose one over the other, like Mum had to choose between her art and you. Well, I won’t and I can’t. You’re being so unfair.”

With a huge sob, she ran into her bedroom and slammed the door. No amount of coaxing from Jack would bring her out, and when she emerged almost an hour later, ready and
dressed to go to the Clapham rehearsal room, her face was white and she walked straight past the anguished Jack without saying a word. He watched her go. He knew that at the crucial moment he had failed her, because in trying to hide his own disappointment he had failed to show her how proud he was of her. He just hoped she would give him a second chance.

Chapter Twenty

Olivia watched as Kasha climbed down from the balcony. He glanced back at her and his face was suffused with wistful love as if he knew that he would never see his Juliet alive again. She began to speak as she watched him go.

Olivia said, “Send him back” with such simple sincerity that several people in the room felt quite teary.

“Great,” said Jon. “We’ll leave it there.
Everyone go and get some lunch and we’ll look at Act Four, Scene One straight after the break.”

Jon watched Olivia and Kasha head off together. It was clear that they were going to be a terrific Romeo and Juliet. The on-stage chemistry between them was electric. Anyone watching them in the audience would be convinced they were madly in love. From looking like being the worst disaster of his career,
Romeo and Juliet
just might be his greatest success, and if it were, he would have Olivia and Kasha to thank. Jon’s only concern was that they were going to peak too soon; he was determined to make sure that they were both well looked after.

He realised that her decision had cost Olivia. When he asked her about Jack’s reaction, she clammed up immediately.

And Jon knew that Kasha was worrying about Abbie. She was making good progress, although her concern for her father wasn’t helping. He was anxious about the business, which was still doing badly. Jon had said that he would get his accountant to take a look at the books if it would help.

“I’d hate it if the business went under,” she’d told Kasha. “It was so much part of my
childhood, playing in the office while Dad worked. I even had my own little hidey-hole. I think Dad hoped that one day I’d take over from him. Cardew and Daughter. He was always teaching me how to read the spreadsheets, but I was more interested in acting.”

Liz had turned out to be right. The interest in a fourteen-year-old playing Juliet was massive. There had been several blogs by well-known critics saying it was doubtful that Olivia Marvell would be able to carry it off, and although Jon had insisted that Olivia should do no interviews during the rehearsal period, the papers had found other things to print. There had been several features about Olivia’s mother. Another paper had done a big article on the Swan calling it “The School That Makes Stars”. One of the tabloids had even found some pictures of Jack and Olivia on the wire together in the Swan Circus.

A few ticket-holders demanded their money back when it was announced that Abbie was pulling out, but replacing her with such a youthful Juliet had been box-office magic.
Romeo and Juliet
had the biggest advance sales of any West End Shakespeare production ever, which
Howard Franks said was just as well as Olivia’s age and Kasha’s commitments meant that the show was going to have a very limited run; they needed to sell every ticket to make any money.

Olivia and Kasha had found themselves a tiny little café down a maze of small back streets five minutes’ walk away from the theatre. They liked it there because they were unlikely to be bothered by the media, who were occasionally to be found hanging around outside the rehearsal room. Olivia had twice walked out of the rehearsal room to find a camera stuck up her nose, and she had even been asked for her autograph on the Tube, which Olivia found incredibly embarrassing. It made her wonder whether it might be a taste of what was to come if
Romeo and Juliet
was a success. If it was, she wasn’t sure that she was going to like it. But of course it was Kasha who attracted most interest.

“How’s Abbie?” Olivia asked, once they had settled at a little corner table and ordered mushroom risotto for her and egg and chips for Kasha.

“She’s coming out of hospital tomorrow,” said Kasha, and his face broke into such a big smile it was as if somebody had suddenly
turned up all the lights in the café. “And more good news is that Tyler seems to have backed off a bit. Abbie thinks it might be because he’s so preoccupied with the business. But it suits us. We might actually be able to spend some time together without constantly looking over our shoulders. Although we’re still going to have to be discreet.”

“And what will Hamo say about that?” asked Olivia.

Kasha shrugged. “Surprisingly little. Being attacked by Tyler was a bit of a shock. He actually said that he’s going to stop badgering to see the books and not pursue it any further. Said he thought his life was worth more than money. He’s going to be a dad, Olivia! His wife’s pregnant. It’s as if it’s made him realise there’s more to life than profit. Mind you, I expect the poor little tyke will end up being forced into the family business.”

They both looked up briefly to say thank you as the waitress put their food down in front of them.

“Like Dad just expected that I’d be a tightrope-walker like him,” said Olivia stonily.

“Oh, Livy, maybe you should give your
dad a break. He adores you and Eel. He’d do anything for both of you. Maybe he did let you down when you decided to do Juliet, but maybe he just couldn’t hide how he felt. It’s perfectly possible to feel happy for someone else and sad for yourself all at the same time. I bet in his heart, he’s really happy for you and the fact you are doing something you desperately want to do. Keeping up a feud with him is just plain silly. Make it up, while you’ve still got the chance.”

Tears began to fall down Olivia’s face. “I know you’re right. I just don’t know how. I saw how devastated he was when I batted away his attempts to make friends, and now he seems to have given up trying. Maybe it’s too late.”

Kasha leaned across the table and picked up her hand. He held it to his lips and kissed it.

“Oh, silly Livy,” he said with a mixture of brotherly affection and exasperation. “It’s never too late.”