Hamish walked to the door with a swish of his long tan coat. ‘After all,’ he said, opening the door an inch, ‘there are hundreds of actresses out there who could do this job better than you. You’re just awfully lucky you’ve got a father whose wallet is larger than his brain.’ Hamish left and closed the door with unnecessary force, leaving Fawn alone once more with tears in hereyes. But this time they didn’t fall, and instead of dwelling on that awful moment, she got dressed, re-did her make-up, then ripped a clean sheet of paper out of the notebook on her dressing table and scribbled on it as fast as she could. She folded it twice and wrote an address on the blank side then folded it once more, concealing the name.
Despite her heels, Fawn took the stairs downto stage door two at a time. She reached the bottom and pulled her thin shawl around her cold shoulders and clutched it tightly in her hand, the piece of paper clenched in the other. As she reached the first set of double doors, she could see Hamish was already waiting for her on the pavement outside, a cigar between his thin lips. A young girl outside was first to see her through the small windowand she raised a pen and an autograph book and called her name before Fawn had even opened the door.
‘Looks like you’ve got some admirers,’ smiled Lenny from his seat through the hatch. ‘Well done tonight, Miss. You did good.’
‘Thank you. I don’t suppose I could ask a favour, could I?’
‘Anything,’ Walter said, moving to lean against the table where the sign-in sheet sat. Fawnsmiled at his eagerness but not too widely as she could feel Hamish’s looming presence.
‘I have a letter of great importance that needs to be read rather urgently. I just know thatyouare the one to get it where it needs to go.’ Fawn gently winked with her right eye so that Hamish wouldn’t be able to see were he looking, which he most likely was. Walter took the letter, careful not totouch her hand although desperate to.
‘Absolutely.’ He nodded. Fawn stepped to the left and Walter followed. She stepped to the right and Walter stepped the same way.
‘Sorry I just need to…’ she mimed writing.
‘Oh! The sign-in sheet. Yes, of course.’ He stepped out of the way. Fawn looked at the clock above the desk and wrote the time in the ‘out’ column next to her name.
‘Coming, sweetie?’ Hamish put his head through the door and breathed out a plume of stinking smoke that practically filled the small space between both sets of double doors.
‘Yes,’ Fawn replied without a trace of feeling. Hamish held out his arm and Fawn took it with cold fingers and a grip lighter than a breeze. Fawn stepped out onto the pavement and the air filled with voices callingher name, camera flashes filling the street.
‘Seems like she won a few hearts tonight,’ Lenny said, closing the double doors to drown out the rabble outside. Fawn turned and caught Walter’s eye the split second before the door clicked shut, but it was just enough time for her to flash him a smile that made his stomach flip and his cheeks burn.
‘More than a few, I’d say.’
