“What do you mean, got the girl?” Alarm is trilling down every nerve ending.
“His co-star. I forget the name. Callie? Candy? Cassie? Something like that. Let’s just call her Cassie. They were dating.” Serena shrugs like it was common knowledge. Celebrity gossip not being one of Anna’s weaknesses, she is floored. “Yep, one of Hollywood’s golden couples.”
Sucking in a long slow breath, Anna lets it out in a quick, “Oh!” She tries to turn it into a question with a raised eyebrow.
“Well, until last month, that is. They hadn’t been seen together for a while and it emerged she’d been banging her personal trainer. Such a cliché, don’t you think? When asked about the reason for their split, she replied, ‘It turns out he wasn’t Mr Darcy.’ Although I’m not so sure how much her trainer is like Darcy either. I suspect she’ll be disappointed yet again.”
The relief is a tsunami, leaving Anna wordless.
Serena continues happily into the silence: “You would think an actress wouldn’t make the mistake of confusing a character with the actor. But word on the street is, he’ll have the last laugh.”
“Why?” Anna nibbles a piece of chorizo.
“He’s up to become the world’s most famous spy!”
“Nooo?” Anna’s eyes widen. Then sense returns and she wrinkles her nose. “Nah! That’s got to be one of those rumours. Every successful British actor gets named at some point.”
“No, seriously.” Serena leans across the couch as if she is confiding state secrets. And perhaps she is. “We’re doing the location for it. I promise you, this is mint.”
A thought crosses Anna’s mind. “Does that mean you know him?”
Serena laughs her deep throaty chuckle and in that instant Anna understands why Frankie has found it so hard to stay away from Anna’s amazing cousin.
“Oh, Anna!” Serena says when she can finally speak. “Tolly Hyde is not for the likes of me!”
“What do you mean?” Anna is genuinely perplexed. In the British class system, Tolly and Serena are about equal. True, Tolly’s family has more money, but Serena’s father is an ambassador and the son of an earl. At their old school, they rubbed shoulders with the children of rock stars, princes, fashion moguls. Why would Serena feel Tolly is in another league? Is she referring to something else? Race maybe? She has always thought Serena’s mixed heritage exotic and wonderful. She would hate to think others, Tolly included, would denigrate her because of it.
“I mean, he is a star. And I am a nobody.” Serena must see Anna’s confusion because she continues. “I’m a great location manager. Half my films wouldn’t get made or wouldn’t get made within budget if not for me. But value doesn’t matter in the Hollywood bubble. It’s about fame and recognition. I am not famous and I never will be hopefully. There are thousands of us in the movie business. Crucial to the industry but regarded as entirely disposable. The only ones who count are the stars. And a few directors and producers. It’s the way the industry is.
“So no. I don’t know Tolly Hyde. But keep quiet about what I said until they announce, eh?”
“Cross my heart. Hope to die.” Anna matches the actions to the words.
Serena giggles. “Sometimes I think you’ve never grown up.”
“Funny! I think the same about you.”
The two of them snigger together, like the girls and co-conspirators they once were. Then Serena says, “Now tell me about Jasmine.”
“Where to start?” Anna lifts her hands, palms to the heavens. “She’s only had two exes. She still hasn’t forgiven the world for the death of the first, and now she has to work for the other. The man who abandoned her in her darkest hour. Pretty awful for her.”
“Your sister is made of stern stuff. I might even have to pity the ex. I’m sure she’ll get vengeance. I think she’s the scariest of the lot of you.”
“Considering someone recently thought I was a psychopath, that’s saying something.”
Serena is horrified. “Who said that? They obviously don’t know you. You’re a pussycat.”
Anna puts her head on one side and looks at her cousin.
“Okay. A tiger, perhaps? Or a panther? Sleek and dark. Oh!” Serena’s eyes light up. “You’re Bagheera!”
“Tosh!” scoffs Anna, but inside she feels pleased. Mowgli’s grumpy mentor and guide. It’s not a bad fit.
It takes time to cover the antics of each of Anna’s sisters in turn and then for Serena to update Anna on her own family. There are also countless other cousins to discuss, as well as memories to be rediscovered. It is later than Anna expects when her cousin puts her arms around her and hugs her farewell. The visit, as proposed by Eleanor, was meant to help her cousin through her heartbreak. Hopefully, it has achieved something, given a message of family and support. But Anna, too, feels herself rebalanced and more at peace with the world.
She thinks about everything Serena has told her about Tolly and the Hollywood gossip grapevine. She could probably have gleaned it from the internet, but the true parts would have been buried under a ton of speculation and misinformation. Tolly broke Eleanor’s heart to come to Hollywood, then had his heart broken by his co-star girlfriend. Done publicly, nastily even. She can’t help feeling some sympathy for the poor man, even though she should hate him for her sister’s sake. There’s that karma again. As Anna climbs into her hotel bed, she cannot help thinking about Tolly and wondering where he is, whether he still hurts. A romantic like him will have felt the betrayal deeply. But he had not mentioned her when they talked. There was cautious happiness for his mother, expectant hope for his sister, and a satisfaction with his own life. Had he moved on from his broken relationship or was the pain too deep to bear mentioning?
The Ugly Truth
