‘Okay. Look, I’m really sorry I got you into this mess. Thanks so much for getting us out of it. I wish there was something I could do to repay you.’
She moved her shoulders in a motion halfway between a shrug and curling them in. ‘It’s no problem. It was an adventure. And it got me out of going to the pub for drinks. I should thank you really.’
He smiled. ‘Anytime.’ She looked him in the eye properly, as though checking his sincerity and the corner of her mouth lifted, but she didn’t say anything. ‘I’ll see you in Sicily, then.’
‘Well. That’s up to Sibyl, I guess. I hope so.’ She flushed. ‘I mean, I hope she decides to take me, so I’ve got a job. Not that I wouldn’t like to see you again. You’re very nice.’ She pressed her lips together and squeezed her eyes shut for a millisecond. ‘Anyway. Bye, and congratulations on your new nephew.’
‘Thanks. Bye.’ It was like trying to hang up the phone when you were a teenager. He didn’t want her to go. But, as she’d just reminded him, he had a baby nephew to go see. Still, he stayed and watched her hurry up the stairs. She looked over her shoulder quickly, and, catching his eye again, gave him a small wave.
It took him longer than he thought it would to find his way through the corridors of the ground floor to the front doors and just as he was about to finally escape the building he heard the unmistakable drone of Sibyl’s voice, getting louder, coming down the stairs. He paused at the doors, crossing his fingers in his head that Lila had been able to drop the keys off and leave without crossing paths with her again.
‘I can’t take her with us Sally – she’s completely inept.’
‘She’s bad at the job?’
‘Well, no. Not exactly—’
‘Sonotcompletely inept. What’s the problem then? One particular area?’
‘She’s got the confidence of a self-conscious possum. If anyone so much as looks at her, it’s like she goes blank and plays dead. How is that going to work with the cast? And don’t even get me started on how long it took her to put away a few products in the storeroom. I think she had some kind of bodily dysfunctional problem, which is just mind-boggling in a grown woman.’
‘What?’
Sibyl’s voice lowered so that Rowan couldn’t hear – but he didn’t need any more details. She was talking about Lila. About not taking her with the production to Sicily because he’d locked her in the room, and then asked her to hide that fact to save his reputation, basically making her look incompetent. Dammit. He knew he was risking drawing all the wrong kind of attention if he got involved but this was his fault. He couldn’t let Lila lose her job because she’d been trying to protecthim. There was a difference between him damaging his career and someone not being able to pay their rent or feed themselves.
He turned away from the doors just in time to meet them at the bottom of the stairs, wondering if he’d ever be able to leave this building today.
‘Oh, Rowan, hi. You’re still here.’ Sibyl frowned but offered him what just about passed for a friendly smile on her face. ‘Everything okay today?’
‘Yeah, fine thanks. Listen. Were you just talking about your new junior MUA?’
‘You know Lila? She’s only been here this week. You’ve not even been into makeup.’ Sibyl crossed her arms over her chest, and raised her eyebrow over the rim of her glasses.
Right, she was already suspicious – he could just imagine how quickly she’d jump to conclusions if he told her the truth.So, improvise, you idiot,he told himself.
‘No, but I bumped into her when I hurt my hand not long ago.’ He waved the lump of bloody cotton wool strapped to his hand towards them. ‘She helped me see to it, but I made her promise not to tell anyone.’
‘Why wouldn’t you want anyone to know?’
‘So I wouldn’t get delayed by doing a health and safety report, or have to explain the really embarrassing way I managed to cut my hand open.’ He rolled his eyes and feigned chagrin. Not his finest performance. ‘So, you see, you can’t sack her because of that. It was entirely my fault, and she was really helpful. Surely you want someone like that on your team?’
‘I want someone who is happy to keep secrets from me, hermanager, on my team?’
Bloody hell. He supposed he hadn’t thought about it from that perspective.
‘But I put her in that position. That’s my fault again. It wasn’t fair to ask her to do that. She was between a rock and a hard place.’ That was all true – hopefully the honesty of those statements would help.
‘Then why are you telling me now?’
‘Because I can’t let her get sacked because of me.’
‘She wouldn’t be sacked. Just not taken on under contract. This week was a trial run.’
‘Come on. You said yourself, she’s not bad at the job. Just a little shy. The movie business could use a few more quiet people if you ask me.’ He gave a shrug to try and maintain a little nonchalance, even as his chest tightened as he waited to hear the verdict.
‘I don’t make a habit of asking you about which crew to hire though. Why are you so bothered if you don’t even know her?’
Good question he supposed. ‘Because…’ He shrugged. ‘I suppose, I owe her one.’
