She picked up the script ofA Christmas Carolfrom her bedside table and began flicking through it to find Belle’s lines, highlighted in yellow. She’d always loved the story and had a faint memory of her parents reading it to her and her sisters one Christmas Eve when they’d been too excited to sleep, her father doing the voices of all the ghosts. She didn’t know if it was a true memory or something Aoife or Mimi had told her – but it was a nice one either way.
She snuggled down and began reading Belle and Ebenezer’s scenes together, the familiarity of the words comforting her. It would be so much fun playing this with Sam and watching him discover himself as an actor. She just had to nail that audition tomorrow…
2
A stiff breezechilled the air the following afternoon as Sive walked to Halfpenny Lane. Leaves fluttered from the trees, turning the pavement beneath them into a carpet of russets, oranges and golden yellows. She resisted the instinctive urge to pick up and pocket the shiny brown conkers that lay beneath the horse chestnuts along their road. She loved this time of year. The sharp, earthy scent of the cool air and the crunch of crisp leaves underfoot conjured powerful childhood memories, triggering a back-to-school sense of anticipation and the promise of new beginnings.
As a child, autumn was a time of excitement and magic. It was the squeaky shine of new shoes, the smell of books and freshly sharpened pencils. It was kicking through piles of leaves on the way to school, collecting the smooth, brown chestnuts scattered among them. Best of all, it was the thrill of roaming the streets with your friends on a dark Halloween night, importuning the neighbours for chocolate and sweets.
Now the season brought the more grown-up joys of pumpkin spice lattes and the Dublin Theatre Festival, though she and her sisters still celebrated Halloween as enthusiastically asever, decorating the house with pumpkin lanterns and autumn wreaths, and donning witches’ hats to answer the door to trick-or-treaters.
She reached the cobbled streets of Temple Bar and waved to Chloe in the bakery at the corner as she turned into Halfpenny Lane. Chloe paused in loading pastries into the counter display case to give Sive a cheery wave in return. The tantalising aroma of warm dough wafted through the door as she walked by. She rarely passed Chloe’s place without going in to buy something, but she’d spent the morning baking brownies to take into the theatre – largely as a means of distracting herself. She was more nervous about this audition than she even wanted to acknowledge to herself, and she’d always found baking a calming, soothing activity.
She was far too early for her audition, but it didn’t matter. She was always happy to hang around the theatre, and it would give her a chance to catch up with Sam. She pulled open the stage door and climbed the stairs to the backstage area. She found Sam sweeping the floor outside the green room, where the auditions were being held, and her heart gave a little leap. He was such a sweetheart. How had it taken her sisters – and especially Mimi – so long to warm to him?
‘Sive!’ He greeted her with a cheery grin.
‘Hi. Long time no see. How’s it going?’
‘Great. Living the dream!’ He stopped sweeping and spread his arms wide.
Sive giggled, though she knew he wasn’t being sarcastic – he actually meant it. ‘You need to dream bigger, my friend.’ She dug in the tote bag on her shoulder and pulled out a large plastic container.
‘What’s this?’ Sam folded his arms on top of the brush and rested his chin on them.
‘Just some brownies I made.’
‘Trying to butter up Alan?’ He jerked his head in the direction of the green room, though Sive assumed Alan, the director, wouldn’t be back from lunch yet.
She shrugged. ‘Can’t hurt, can it?’
‘Can I try one?’
‘Of course.’ She peeled back the lid of the plastic container, the rich smell of chocolate rising into the air.
Sam took one and ate it in two bites. ‘Oh my god, they’re amazing!’
‘It’s a family recipe,’ Sive said as Sam took another one. ‘I thought I’d just leave them here for anyone who wants them.’
‘I’ll take care of it. We can’t have the talent doing the catering.’ Sam took the tub from her and set it down on the small table serving as a coffee station.
‘Well,you’rethe talent now and you’re sweeping floors.’
Sam gave an affable shrug. ‘I like to keep busy. Anyway, I wear many hats – a multitude of hats. Today I’m just a lowly assistant stage manager running the auditions.’ He glanced at his watch. ‘You’re very early.’
‘I know.’ Sive’s audition was the first of the afternoon, so there was no one waiting on the small row of chairs outside the green room door.
‘Well, Alan’s ready for you, if you want to go in.’
‘Really?’
Sam nodded. ‘He was back early from lunch and he’s rearing to go. He said I could send you in whenever you’re ready – no need to keep you waiting until your allotted time.’
‘It would be nice to get it over with.’ Sive didn’t mind auditions – she quite enjoyed them, in fact – but she hated the waiting.
‘You’ll be making my job easier too. It’d help to get started early and have a bit of extra time in case there are any delayslater on. I’d like to avoid an actress pile-up in the waiting area if I can.’
Sive laughed.
