“Oh, I have no doubt they did,” Olivia replied archly. “But not at the piano.”
Julia gasped as if scandalized. “What are you suggesting?”
“Exactly what you’re thinking,” Olivia countered, grinning.
Later, when Julia came down to join breakfast already in progress, she noticed that neither Paige nor Louis was there. “Have our Perdita and Florizel put in an appearance this morning?” she asked Nigel in an undertone as she took the seat beside him.
“I haven’t seen either of them, neither separately nor together,” said Nigel, glancing surreptitiously around the room. “Perhaps their ‘bud of love, by winter’s ripening breath, may prove a beauteous flower when next’ they appear—if you’ll pardon the paraphrase of the Bard, and the change of play.”
“I don’t mind the paraphrase,” said Julia, “but let’s not liken our friends to Romeo and Juliet. I’ll takeA Winter’s Taleand its happy ending any day.”
“And yet,” murmured Nigel, looking past Julia to the doorway from the foyer, “perhaps, as a tragedy,Romeo and Julietis more fitting after all.”
“What do you mean?” asked Julia, turning in her chair to look. She drew in a breath at the sight of Paige and Louis entering the banquet hall, his arm around her shoulders, her face streaked with tears.
Conversations faded as the company became aware of the young woman’s distress. “What’s the matter, honey?” Edna called.
“She’s had some bad news,” Louis said as he led Paige to a seat at the nearest table. She sat down woodenly, and when her gaze fell on the napkin at her place, she picked it up and dabbed at her eyes.
“How bad?” asked Jason, brow furrowing. “Is your family okay?”
“Yes,” Paige said, nodding, and then shaking her head. “Yes, everybody’s fine.”
“Even so, a cup of tea wouldn’t go amiss,” said Nigel, touching Julia’s shoulder in passing as he went to fetch Paige a cup.
The gesture roused Julia from her paralysis. “What happened, kiddo?” she asked, hurrying over to take a seat by her side.
“It’s—well, I had a call from—” Paige’s gaze traveled from Julia to the rest of the company as they gathered around. “I’m sorry, guys. I didn’t mean to scare y’all. I’m just—sad. And disappointed. And confused.”
“Why?” asked Julia. “What happened?”
“Maybe we can help,” said Dylan, folding his arms over his broad chest.
“Don’t I wish. I just got off the phone with my agent.” Paige took a deep, tremulous breath. “I probably mentioned that she’s been trying to line up a new project for me for afterPatchworkwraps.”
Everyone nodded—except for Julia, who froze.
“All week she’s been super busy working out the details for this fantastic movie role I really wanted. It’s a lead in a big, sweeping, historical epic—lots of drama and romance, gorgeous costumes, on-location shoots in real castles, you know.”
“We know,” said Olivia, wincing slightly as if bracing herself for the reveal, which they all had guessed by then.
“I totally thought I had the part.” Paige shook her head, bewildered. “Then, just this morning, my agent got an email from the director’s assistant withdrawing the offer. My agent called the director right away, but all he would say is that he’s going in another direction, whatever that’s supposed to mean.”
A murmur of dismay went up from the company. “That’s a dreadful blow, my dear,” said Nigel, handing her a cup of tea, which was no doubt well fortified with milk and sugar. “This ill-mannered director will rue the day he squandered the chance to cast you, of that I’ve no doubt.”
“Thank you, Nigel.” Paige took a careful sip of the tea. “I just really wanted this part. Ineededthis part. It was going to be my breakthrough role.”
“You’ll have another chance,” Julia said. “We’ve all been passed over for roles we thought were in our grasp. It’s painful and demoralizing, but something else always comes along.”
“Julia’s right,” said Olivia, offering Paige a commiserating smile. “Unfortunately, rejection is a part of the industry. It’s never fun, but we all have to learn to deal with it.”
“Stiff upper lip, my dear,” said Nigel, his baritone rumble kind and consoling. “Julia is right: Something better is certain to come along soon. When that happens, you’ll be glad you’re not committed to this other picture.”
“Maybe,” said Paige, clearly dubious. But as her fellow actors chimed in with stories of their own dream roles that got away, and Ellen and Jason threw in tales of beloved scripts that were optioned and never produced, the doubt clouding her expression began to lift.
Julia shared a story of her own, one she had confided to only a small circle of close friends. Nigel and Maury knew, of course, and the Cross-Country Quilters, but very few others. “When I first came to Hollywood right out of college, where I’d been the star of every theater department production, I struggled for about five years, waiting tables, auditioning like mad, and being grateful for every bit part I was given,” she said. “Somehow I managed to get an agent, which led to better roles and some critical acclaim, but that breakthrough role still eluded me. Then the day I had longed for finally came. My agent told me I was in the running for the part of Marian Paroo inThe Music Man.”
“But Shirley Jones played Marian,” said Jason, puzzled.
