Page 17 of Before We Were Famous

‘Thank you for the call-back, it meant a lot to me,’ I said.

‘That was all Tamara’s doing and choosing. I wasn’t around for the first auditions, so clearly you impressed her too,’ he said.

I was relieved to hear this because the thought was running through my head that he had invited me for a drink to piss Heath off; he can’t have liked being turned down on his film offer.

Our champagne arrived in an ice bucket with two beautiful flutes. After it was poured, we clinked glasses and I savoured its crisp, bubbly, dry flavour.

It was my turn to study the very enigmatic Edgar Linton. ‘If you don’t mind me asking, how come you are auditioning without using the usual agency channels?’

‘A couple of reasons,’ he said, and he had another mouthful of champagne before answering. ‘When I made my first Indie film, I went to a lot of agents but my budget was piss poor.’

I smiled, knowing the feeling of trying to get a look in. Edgar continued. ‘But Tamara took me on. She had a medium-sized agency but she said she never turned down a client large or small because every chance for her actors to work was a wonderful opportunity. I love and respect that attitude.’

‘So right,’ I agreed. ‘And that film did okay?’ I teased.

‘It did well,’ he shrugged, modestly.

I laughed again. ‘It was a huge hit,’ I corrected him.

‘Yeah, well, I’ve had Tamara with me ever since and I won’t use anyone else. Plus, I like her to find fresh talent, to put out the call on the acting sites not just through agents. I didn’t have big names in my other films, and they did well.’

‘And now they are big names,’ I agreed.

‘That’s not to say I wouldn’t welcome a few of the bigger names to work with,’ he said, with ambition in his eyes.

‘Well thank you, Edgar, I’m extremely excited to play this role … to be stretched and to get the opportunity.’

He nodded acknowledging my words. ‘To beginnings,’ he said and filled up our glasses again.

‘To beginnings,’ I echoed and tapped my glass to his. We held each other’s gaze for a few seconds more than we should have, especially for a girl in love with someone else.

Chapter 9– A star is born

Later that night I got myself settled in bed, propped up with my phone and a book. I did this every night intending to have a long talk with Heath about his day and mine, but in four weeks he had answered only a couple of my calls, claiming he was still at the theatre with late rehearsals or meetings. I could believe that some of the time. I took a deep breath and rang. Heath answered; I was frozen waiting for either his face to appear or his message bank to kick in and it was him. Live.

‘Are you there?’ he asked.

‘Yes, yes, I didn’t know you were real,’ I said, and he laughed.

‘Cathy, how are you?’ he asked. Just the sound of his voice filled my eyes with tears – his baritone words resounding in my chest. He sounded a little happier. I wonder if he was warming to the idea of us being apart for work, or not missing me quite so much after our first month apart. The latter made my stomach tense; I always felt stress in my stomach.

‘Hey, I’m free this weekend,’ Heath said.

‘Really!’ I squealed better than Nelly. ‘Oh my God, Heath, that’s only four days away. Four days and then I will see you! I feel like I haven’t seen you for forever,’ I gushed.

‘I know, I’ve missed you,’he conceded.

This was sounding more like us, like the old Cathy and Heath, Heath and Cathy.

‘Not as much as I’ve missed you,’ I countered. ‘Will we go to Wuthering Heights or do you want to come to London?’

‘Let’s go home and walk the moors, go to our favourite café, sleep in our bed,’ he said.

‘Yes,’ I agreed and exhaled. ‘Perfect.’ I grinned at him like a Cheshire cat.

‘So, what’s new with you?’ he asked.

‘Heath, I got a part.’ He gave a loud cheer which would have woken up half his residency block.

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