Ollie felt a groan rise from his gut but managed to suppress it, knowing that the footage from the live stream camera that was trained on him right now would be analysed by countless celebrity bloggers and armchair detectives within minutes. Or was this story already out there? Was that why Stevie had bailed on him today? Surely not. She knew him better than that and she understood that there were people out there that made crap like that up.
‘You know, Pippa, I usually make it a policy not to comment on rumours, because it just shines a spotlight on them, but no – definitely not true.’
‘And neither is the one I heard about me being on that Ozempic stuff,’ his mum added, artfully moving the focus off him. She’d taken to the whole media stuff like a natural. ‘Clearly that’s not true either,’ she said, proud, as always, of her curves. ‘Life’s not worth living if you can’t have a pie.’
For the first time in the last hour, Ollie’s laughter was genuine. ‘We should write that line on your gravestone, Mum.Life’s not worth living if you can’t have a pie.’
God, she was brilliant – and that brought all of his doubts from this morning storming back. If he quitThe Clansmanand the Academy couldn’t maintain its funding, a whole generation of kids from this area would miss out on the chance to benefit from Moira’s words of wisdom. Could he really risk that? He thought he’d decided what to do, but now, with Stevie’s bombshell, he was second guessing himself. And he was running out of time to make up his mind.
He managed to keep the worry off his face as they wrapped up, took some still shots, adlibbed a couple of fifteen-second promo pieces and they said their goodbyes.
He didn’t speak again on the way back to the office because the corridors, like the rest of the public areas in the building, were all wired for cameras and sound. Only when Calvin had ushered them in and closed the door behind them did he exhale and let his shoulders slump.
‘Son, are you still stressing about the stuff we talked about this morning? Because, hells bells, I could sense your tension right through that flash suit you’re wearing.’
He should have known better than to think he could get any kind of worries past Moira Chiles. She was the emotional equivalent of a heat-seeking missile. For a second, he considered telling her about Stevie’s call, but he decided against it. His mum loved Stevie, but it wouldn’t be fair to drag her into this or upset her. He had to sort this out with his girlfriend – or was thatex-girlfriend? – before he got anyone else involved. He probably shouldn’t have said anything to Ginny either, but he’d been in panic mode when he’d bumped into her.
‘No, I’m fine, Mum. It’s just… we’re almost at the deadline for signing or rejecting the contract and I still haven’t decided for sure.’
She asked the reasonable question. ‘Can’t you extend it to give yourself a bit more time?’
Calvin was the one to answer that. ‘LA have been calling every fifteen minutes for the last two hours. They’re being absolutely categoric that the offer expires at 6p.m. Something to do with a board meeting this afternoon. They want to announce it because there are some merger talks going on and they want to confirm their roster.’
Ollie glanced up at the clock on Moira’s wall. He had five minutes to make the most difficult decision of his life so far. And he had no idea what he should do.
If he didn’t sign, he’d risk losing his career and the Academy.
If he signed, he was going to wrap up his life for the next six years – the one year left on his existing contract and then five more – and rule out any hope of living the normal, stable life that Stevie craved in a partner.
Yes, the Stevie who had just dumped him by telephone because she wasn’t sure that she wanted to be with him.
Yet again, his brain was overloaded with more questions than answers. Had Stevie somehow got wind of his quandary and decided to make the choice for him? It was undoubtedly the kind of thing she would do and that selflessness was just one of the reasons that he loved her.
But no, it couldn’t be that. The only two people who knew about the deadline were sitting in this room with him and he trusted them both implicitly.
‘So what do you say?’ Calvin asked, pulling the document out of a folio he’d left on Moira’s desk. He placed the contract on the table and then took a pen out of his inside jacket pocket and placed it down next to the blueprint that offered a mountain of cash in return for five years of Ollie’s life.
Ollie pulled his phone out, dialled Stevie’s number again.Answer it. Please answer it.
It went straight to voicemail.
Damn it.
He tried Ginny. Maybe she’d reached Stevie and would have some answers by now. Her number went straight to voicemail too.
He got up, walked over to the desk, stood in front of the contract and picked up the pen.
Sign it. Don’t sign. Sign it. Don’t sign.
Calvin’s phone rang and he answered it with a sharp, ‘Hello’ before putting his hand over the mouthpiece. ‘It’s LA. They want to know if you’ve signed.’
‘Tell them…’ Ollie began, then paused, before regrouping. ‘Tell them…’
And that’s when the electricity cut out and the whole room went dark.
It seemed more like someone was trying to tell him something.
18
