Sinclair keeps looking at me. ‘“She speaks,”’ he whispers. ‘“Oh, speak again, bright angel, speak and let me hear your voice.”’
‘“Oh, Romeo,”’ my voice is shaking and I’m praying he won’t notice, ‘“Romeo, this is all a bad joke. Why are you my enemy, a Montague, a man I may not love? As though, once I’d seen you, my heart had any choice . . .”’
Sinclair says nothing, so I look at him. His eyes are on me, he’s stopped kneading the dough.
‘Now you.’
He twitches. His voice sounds rough as he continues: ‘“OK, she’s talking to herself here and eavesdropping is seriously uncool. But who knows when we’ll ever meet again? We can’t be seen out in the town. If our families knew . . . I can’t leave now. I must speak to her.”’
I glance down at the script before continuing with Juliet’s monologue. ‘“Refuse your name and give it to me. I mean what I say. Let me be yours and I will no longer be a Capulet.”’
‘“Let me be by your side”?’ Sinclair suggests, as I frown. ‘Otherwise it makes her sound like an object.’
I have to smile. ‘Yes, better.’
‘“Your name is the only thing that makes it impossible for us to be together,”’ I continue. ‘“Love found me yet I must push it away for the sake of a name. But what’s in a name? Put your name aside and take me in its place, I beg you; O sweet heaven, give me this man.”’
Sinclair turns to me. ‘“I’ll take you at your word.”’ His voice trembles, his yearning is making me dizzy. ‘“Tell me that youwant me and I’ll forget who I am. Listen to me, Juliet, the Capulets can’t stand in my way. Your eyes are more perilous than their swords.”’
He looks me right in the eyes. His lips are flushed.
I have to stay as Juliet. ‘“Wait, who’s there? What kind of a creep are you, listening in when I’m talking to myself by night?”’
‘“It’s me, my love. And I will take your name, don’t doubt it. My own is hateful to me because it is an enemy to you.”’
‘“Is that you, Romeo?”’
‘“It is, my love.”’
‘“Wow, we only spoke a few words to each other at that ball yet I know your voice. Romeo. A Montague . . .”’
‘“Not for a day longer if you dislike it.”’ How can he sound so sincere about this unreal thing? I don’t get it. How did he get to be this stupidly talented?
‘“What are you doing here? It’s madness! My parents will have a fit if they find out that you’re in our grounds. Come on, Romeo, you know that.”’
‘“I have night’s cloak to hide me from their sight.”’ He truly believes it; he sounds so proud – and I’m finding it endlessly attractive. The dash of arrogance that he usually lacks. ‘“It couldn’t interest me less, Juliet. I will not allow the pointless feud between our families to stand in the way of our happiness.”’
‘“I fear we do not really have a choice.”’
‘“Why not? You said it yourself. I’ll cast my name aside. It’s all the same to me. All that matters is that we can be together.”’
‘“Oh, Romeo, those were just glib words.”’
‘“Is that so? It sounded very much like the truth to me.”’
I hesitate. ‘“OK, you’re right. Let’s stop beating around the bush. I’m sick of acting like I don’t want you. But don’t you go thinking I’m a pushover, that I was only playing hard to get so you’d put some effort in. Nothing could be further from the truth.”’ I stop and jerk up my head abruptly.
‘We’ll change that,’ says Sinclair, before I can open my mouth. ‘It’s bullshit, isn’t it?’
I nod slowly. ‘It’s a bit unnecessary.’
‘Of course Juliet’s not easy. Besides, even if she was, why would that be a problem?’ he says, and I can hear real annoyance in his voice. ‘Because it’s unladylike?’
‘They were different times,’ I say lamely.
‘Yes, but inthesetimes, a woman should have the self-confidence to say that she wants a man, just the same way he can.’
My mouth is suddenly dry.
