Chapter Three
Second week in November
Dan had only spent twenty minutes with Sid Humphrey and already he knew two things.
First, the guy was in the right profession — actually, no, he couldn’t exactly say teaching was right for him, he hadn’t seen him in a classroom.
However, he could categorically state that acting was the wrong one, despite what Sid seemed to think.
The second conclusion he’d come to was that he and Sid would never get on.
He’d not met a more stubborn, old-fashioned, prickly, self-deluded individual in all his life. It said something, considering the types the acting profession attracted.
The moment they’d shaken hands, Sid had started giving Dan a rundown of his amateur dramatic resumé, reeling off lines from most of the plays.
At first Dan thought he was doing it to impress him with the hope of getting a future part.
By the tenth reenactment, he figured Sid was doing it to make sure Dan understood who the more experienced actor was, and thus the top dog in their dubious double act.
Dan had nearly told him to relax, he had zero interest in taking over the damn play, but it had seemed mean when the old man was clearly enjoying himself. Now, finally, they were getting down to the real reason for their meeting. To choose the play.
‘A Christmas Carol.’ Sid glanced away from the school play website he’d been trawling through and gave Dan a satisfied smile before sitting back on the small plastic chair.
Dan was sure he could hear the chair groan under the weight.
They were sitting in a side room next to a classroom.
Dan wondered if it was where Sid brought unruly kids so he could torture them with some one-on-one time.
Just Sid and his bad breath. ‘Isn’t A Christmas Carol a bit dull for a primary school play? ’
Sid’s bushy eyebrows shot up. ‘Dull? Good God, boy. Charles Dickens was hardly dull. All those ghosts. A marvellous baddie in Scrooge. It’s a splendid story. Bound to go down well with the parents and the pupils. Yes, A Christmas Carol will do just fine.’
Part of Dan wanted to agree and be gone.
As he’d committed to come back in tomorrow to talk to the pupils and kick the whole thing off though, all he had waiting for him after he’d finished here was a soulless hotel, room service and watching shit TV.
But Anna, she of the sexy mouth and pretty eyes, was relying on him to make this year’s show less, what were her words?
Tediously boring, said in a husky voice that sent shivers down his spine.
Yep, he wasn’t going to roll over just yet.
Determinedly he swung his attention back to Sid. He of the pot belly, sweat stains under his armpits and hair that looked like it hadn’t seen a barber, or shampoo, in months. ‘How about something more contemporary?’
Sid shuddered. ‘You young people are all the same. You think modern is better.’
Dan had to work hard to suppress a smile. In his profession, thirty-six wasn’t young. It was moving from lead man to character acting. ‘Not better, Sid, but usually funnier.’
Sid’s eyebrows made another leap towards his unruly hairline. ‘Funnier? We’re putting on a Christmas play. Not a comedy act.’
‘The two aren’t necessarily mutually exclusive,’ Dan replied mildly, wondering if this was really worth the effort.
What did he care whether the play was funny or tediously boring?
Worst case he’d be out of here the moment the play was over.
Best case he’d be sent a BAFTA-bagging script and be out of here before the end of the month.
Yet Anna’s husky voice niggled at him. ‘Let’s explore some alternatives, instead of just picking the first one.
At least make it look like we’ve come to a considered conclusion. ’
Sid huffed, his chair squeaking as he leant forward to scroll down the page of the website he’d logged into. ‘Fine. Scrooge.’
Dan burst out laughing, only to tail off when he realised Sid was being serious. ‘Come on, mate, let’s have an option not related to a Charles Dickens novel.’
Silence, except for the occasional groans from the chair, and the click of the mouse. ‘Hansel and Gretel.’
Dan leant back and closed his eyes. Good God, what the hell was he doing here, sitting in this classroom, on a too-small chair, trying to talk sense into a dinosaur?
He could almost hear Pete’s reply. Unless you want to do cat food commercials for the rest of your life, suck it up, Danny boy.
Reluctantly, he opened his eyes again. ‘Can I have a search?’
Sid shifted closer to the screen, blocking Dan’s view. ‘You might think you’re a hotshot actor, but I’ve being treading the boards for more years than you’ve been on this planet. Tell me, how many school plays have you put on, exactly?’
The desire to tell him he could stuff his school play was almost overwhelming. ‘Let me think. Exactly, zero.’
Sid’s responding smile was beyond smug, dipping into shit-eating. ‘Thought so. Perhaps best to leave this to the expert, eh, lad?’
Lad? First boy, now lad. You young people, he could go with, but Dan was starting to feel like one of Sid’s pupils. There was no way he was giving in to the old codger now. No bloody way.
‘Look, old man, stop being such a troglodyte. I’ve been asked to help—’
He halted as the door to the room creaked open and Anna popped her head round. ‘How are we getting on?’
‘Good, good.’ Sid shuffled round his large body, complete with attached chair, to face her. ‘We’ve nearly agreed on the play.’
‘You have?’
Her twinkly hazel eyes swung in his direction and Dan swallowed, hard. ‘Sid’s found one he likes,’ he told her, hoping she’d read between the lines. Sid likes it, I think it’ll be more boring than Cinder-bloody-ella. ‘We’re still going through other possibilities.’
* * *
As Anna stared back at Dan, she realised what made him a great actor. In his single look he managed to convey a multitude of emotions; frustration, annoyance, disbelief and a side order of get me the hell out of here.
When Sid grunted and looked back at the computer screen, Dan mimicked slitting his throat. Anna bit into her bottom lip. Oh God, she couldn’t giggle. She couldn’t.
‘I can stay for a bit if that helps?’ She glanced down at her watch, more to get her laughter under control than to look at the time, which she already knew. Fifteen minutes until the bell went to signal the end of the school day.
‘Great idea.’ Relief positively oozed out of Dan and he rewarded her with the most dazzling smile she’d received from him so far. Received from any male, frankly.
Slipping onto the nearest chair, Anna tried to rejig her expression from fighting-not-to-laugh into one of serious interest. ‘Which play are you leaning towards, Sid?’
‘A Christmas Carol. An absolute classic, with enough in it to keep both the little ones and older kids absorbed.’
Don’t groan, don’t groan. ‘Are you sure the school hasn’t put that on before?’ It hadn’t in the four years she’d been here, but she felt sure Sid wouldn’t have passed it by.
‘We did it five years ago, but classics are classics for a reason. They stand the test of time.’
Dan, sitting just behind Sid, started making exaggerated yawning actions, which didn’t help her composure one little bit. ‘What are your thoughts, Dan?’
He snapped his body upright, eyes widening, like a kid being caught out.
‘Something more modern. Funnier.’ Sid eyed daggers at him and Dan gave him what was clearly a very practised smile.
‘I’m all for a good dose of Dickens, Sid, but come on, this is the Christmas play.
The kids want to have a laugh, the parents want to have a laugh.
’ He leant forward. ‘And we want to have a laugh, don’t we? ’
Sid grunted. ‘This might be a wheeze to you, but it’s my job. I’ve been proud to put plays on at this school for the last twenty years. I’m not about to have that legacy tarnished by some out-of-work actor coming in here and wanting to do a spoof play.’
Ouch. Dan flinched, and guilt riddled through Anna. Maybe she shouldn’t have forced the two of them together.
‘Have you been talking to my manager?’
Dan’s smile was tight, and Sid shuffled uncomfortably in the too-small chair.
‘I didn’t mean it to come out like that.
Why is traditional always dismissed as boring, though?
Kids still put out stockings at Christmas, don’t they?
They still believe in Father Christmas. Traditions are important.
They’re a way of bringing the young and old together. ’
‘You’re right.’ Anna thought of Maisie, and how much she enjoyed her time with her grandparents, playing cards, board games, doing crosswords . . . all things the modern world had left behind. ‘Traditional doesn’t have to mean dull. Not if we can show it in the right light.’
She glanced at Dan who had a small frown on his face, as if lost in thought.
Then he leapt out of his chair. ‘That’s it.
’ Jamming his hands in his trouser pockets, he started to pace, his expression animated.
‘Why don’t we put on a play about putting on a school play?
Like Noises Off, but for a school nativity play.
’ He swirled round to face Sid. ‘There could be parts for some of the early years in the traditional nativity, like the shepherds and kings. The older years can have a bit of fun playing teachers.’ Rocking back his head, Dan started to laugh.
‘It’s genius. I know that’s not for me to say, but hey, if the cap fits. ’
He looked at her expectantly, all glowing good looks and vibrating charm. She felt cruel bursting his bubble, and yet . . .
‘It might be genius,’ Sid huffed, ‘but if it isn’t available on a website somewhere, it isn’t happening.’
Anna gave Dan a sympathetic look. ‘It’s what I was about to say, too.’ Only not quite as pointedly.
Dan’s happy glow dimmed a bit. ‘We can write it though, can’t we?’
Sid spluttered out a laugh. ‘Write it, he says. And when do you propose we do that? In the lunch break? We should have it done in time for summer.’
Dan shrugged. ‘I’ll do it. As you pointed out, I’ve got stuff all else to do right now.’
Anna watched as Sid visibly squirmed. ‘I didn’t say it like that.’
‘No, but you could have, and why not?’ Dan didn’t sound cross, more resigned. ‘I was axed from Love Surgery, it’s hardly a secret.’
‘My wife used to enjoy that.’ Anna looked over at Sid in surprise. It was the first time she’d heard him mention Sally in years. ‘I thought it was twaddle.’
Anna held her breath, but instead of taking offence, Dan roared with laughter. ‘Why doesn’t that surprise me? Sounds like your wife has better taste than you.’
‘Had,’ Sid corrected quietly, hauling his overweight body out of the chair. ‘Fine. If you want to write the play, go ahead.’ He nodded over to Anna, his eyes suspiciously bright. ‘Do you need me for anything else?’
She wanted to hug him, but while she’d done that in the past, when she’d been his colleague, she knew he wouldn’t thank her for it now.
Not as his boss, and not in front of Dan.
Sid was a proud, private man. ‘Thanks, Sid, but you’re good to go.
I’ll work some details out with Dan and come back to you. ’
He lumbered out, a sad, lonely figure.
‘Damn, I planted my size-twelve feet right in the middle of that one.’ Dan’s expression looked pained as he watched the door swing shut.
‘You weren’t to know.’ Anna sighed. ‘Sid didn’t used to be so . . . tetchy. But when he lost Sally four years ago, he lost a big part of himself, too. Now he lives to work, and this school, the pupils, the play, are all he has.’
‘Then maybe I shouldn’t be helping.’
From what she’d just witnessed, that made sense, yet . . . handsome as Dan was, her job wasn’t to help him out. It was to do the best for the school. And she really believed having Dan help put on the play would benefit everyone. Even Sid, if he’d loosen up enough to let him.
Dan was watching her carefully, hands in his pockets, his long, lean body now resting against the wall. As her insides squirmed and fluttered, she had to think, was she really doing this for the school, or had she become hijacked by her hormones?
The shrill sound of the bell pierced through the school and Dan stood bolt upright. Anna smiled. ‘It’s the end-of-school bell. You get used to it after a few years.’ She hesitated. ‘I need to go and do gate duty. Would you mind waiting for me in my office so we can talk this through a bit more?’
‘Sure.’ He flashed her a smile. ‘Won’t be the first time I’ve been asked to stay behind after school by the head.’
Her insides did that funny jiggle again and as she dashed down the corridor she tried not to dwell on the fact that it was the first time she’d experienced such attraction, such giddy chemistry, since Chris.