Page 65

On the train on the way home, her mother leafed through a pile of papers that the man had given her.

‘This is pretty,’ Fliss said, playing with the new brooch on her mother’s dress. ‘It looks like a flower.’

‘Clever girl, it’s a rose. I’ll treasure this, and one day it will be yours.’

‘Soon?’ Fliss asked.

‘Not too soon,’ Jacqui smiled. ‘Did you have a good day, darling?’

Fliss nodded, because spending the whole day with her mother like that was the best thing she could have asked for.

‘What about the man we met, did you like him?’

Fliss shrugged. ‘Who was he?’

‘Just a friend of mine, darling. But remember, don’t tell Daddy what we did today.’ Her mother had leaned down and planted a kiss on Fliss’s head, as she played with her new doll.

Fliss’s heart was pounding, her chest rising and falling rapidly as her breath came fast. When she looked at herself in the dressing-room mirror there were spots of colour high on her cheeks, her eyes wide with alarm. How had she forgotten that until now? Was that man her father? She tried desperately to remember his features, but the harder she pushed, the more the memories seemed to evaporate like mist, the man’s face a frustrating blur that she couldn’t recall.

As Fliss snatched up her bag, an unexpected thought began to crystallise: she wouldn’t go to America. She’d say no to her agent, she would stay here with Kit. He was the man she loved, and he loved her in return. That was rare and it was precious. She had no doubt that her mother had loved John in her own way, but she had lost out on the man she really wanted to be with, and Fliss had no doubt that Jacqui’s heart had been broken irreparably.

Fliss wasn’t going to make the same mistake. Life was so short – her mother and father had proved that – and if it had taught Fliss anything, it was that love was the most important thing in the world. She should stop at nothing to seize her chance at happiness, and all the career success in the world meant nothing if she had no one to share it with.

‘Thanks for today, Fliss,’ Jo called, as Fliss walked out of her dressing room and along the corridor to the exit. ‘Great job as ever.’

‘Thanks, Jo. Enjoy the rest of the afternoon.’

‘You too. Doing anything nice?’

Fliss smiled, feeling almost giddy that she had made her decision. She was going to see the man she loved, tell him how much she … ‘Yes, actually. I’m going to surprise Kit.’

Chapter 31

‘If you loved me, you’d die for me.’

‘I would die for you.’

‘Prove it.’

Kit and Tara were in character as Tom and Emma, as they prowled around one another on stage at the Duke of York’s theatre. It was a rehearsal, but the air crackled with chemistry and sexual tension. The two of them had slipped back into their roles in This Is Us with ease. It was like putting on an old pair of boots that fitted perfectly, the lines still fresh as they reinhabited the characters.

Kit and Tara were playing young lovers, whilst Jim Broadbent and Penelope Wilton had resumed their roles as the older versions of the same characters. This meant that most rehearsals were scheduled with only two actors at a time; only the climax of the play involved all four actors on stage at the same time.

It was an intense show, both emotionally and physically, with big themes of love and passion. It required a lot of them as actors and they had to dig deep into their emotions. Kit and Tara also needed to be extremely comfortable with one another physically, to convincingly play a couple who were deeply in love, their relationship tactile and sexual. It was an immersive, demanding process, and to make it truthful the actors needed chemistry and a genuine connection so when the director, Pippa Elliott, called for a break, it took Kit and Tara a moment to come back to real life.

‘I’ll see you back here in fifteen,’ Pippa said, before disappearing backstage.

‘Sure,’ Kit agreed. As opening night was only a couple of weeks away, they had moved from the rehearsal room to the theatre. There was still a show running in the evenings, but they could rehearse on stage during the day, and right now the theatre was deserted.

Kit jumped down from the stage and sat down in the front row where Pippa had just been. Kit reached into his bag and grabbed his bottle of water, taking a long drink. He glanced up to see Tara standing on the edge of the stage, her hands on her hips as she looked down.

‘Be a gentleman, Kit,’ she complained, with a pointed look. She was at least a head shorter than him, and the drop was long.

‘Sorry,’ he grinned, jumping to his feet and heading over to her. He held out his hand to help her down, but she raised an eyebrow.

‘I’m not jumping. If I break my ankle, Pippa will kill me.’

Kit laughed and reached up, putting his hands on Tara’s waist and lifting her down.