The Little Theatre By the Sea (The Sunrise Coast #12)

Chapter 1

‘How do you know they won’t let you if you haven’t discussed it with them?’ Bridie said, lowering her voice to almost a whisper to match that of her fifteen-year-old niece, Layla.

They were sitting in the lounge of Bridie’s brother Jeremy’s North London home. It was rare for Bridie to get together with Jeremy and her sister, Kate, who was Layla’s mum.

Bridie could hear the clink of glasses and dishes and the murmur of muted conversation coming from the kitchen. Kate was helping Jeremy and his wife, Caroline, with the dinner.

Layla had closed the lounge door so that they didn’t overhear her talking to her aunt on one of the rare occasions they got together. Layla’s dad and younger brother were in Jeremy’s floodlit back garden playing football.

Bridie sat on the edge of the sofa wishing Layla hadn’t closed the door.

She wondered what they were talking about in the kitchen.

Bridie could just imagine – she expected they were talking about her and her unconventional lifestyle, as they saw it.

Not that her brother was too bothered about it; Jeremy always asked the family to cut her some slack if they got on to that subject, but she knew her sister and sister-in-law frowned on her profession as a theatre actress on the London stage.

They blamed it on their parents indulging and spoiling her because she was the youngest – and by the sounds of it, a child they hadn’t planned.

Not that her parents supported her choice of career either – far from it.

But they recognised she wasn’t academic like her siblings.

She loved theatre and the performing arts, and there had been no point in pushing her into staying on at school and going to university only to get a job that would make her unhappy.

Her lip curled in a knowing smile as she turned to Layla.

Kate ought to know that her oldest child, although only fifteen, had designs on being an actress, and unlike everyone else in Bridie’s immediate family, was impressed and rather in awe of her auntie – even though Bridie had impressed on her that she wasn’t a celebrity, and that working in theatre involved long, unsocial hours and hard work.

It wasn’t that she wanted to put Layla off – Bridie loved that there was someone else in the family, besides her grandad, with whom she could share her love of the stage.

But she didn’t want to give Layla any illusions that it was an easy career choice.

Not that Layla’s mum would call it a career.

A career, as far as Kate was concerned, was something along the lines of investment banking – Kate’s line of work.

Kate commuted from Suffolk every day, on the train bound from Ipswich to London.

Bridie thought her own working hours were long, but at least, unlike her sister, she lived in London, and didn’t have that commute, or an office job at the end of it.

Bridie couldn’t think of anything worse.

But then again, her sister was the main breadwinner in her family.

After getting pregnant in her final year at university, she’d married young, and had then welcomed another child four years later – a little brother for Layla.

They’d made the decision to buy a home in Suffolk and raise their children there, close to their childhood home where Kate, Jeremy and Bridie had grown up, and where their parents still lived. Kate’s husband was a stay-at-home dad so that Kate could concentrate on her career.

Kate and Bridie’s older brother, Jeremy, didn’t have the same commute.

Jeremy and his wife Caroline were both lawyers, working in the City, earning very good money and living in their lovely Edwardian terrace in a leafy street in suburbia.

They had no children – at least not yet.

They were still in their thirties, just, and Bridie knew her sister-in-law had been thinking of stepping away from her high-powered career to start a family when the time was right.

Kate had reminded her that there was no right time.

Bridie had been anticipating the good news for a while, but that wasn’t what they had gathered for.

That evening, over dinner, they would be discussing the arrangements for their dad’s surprise party to mark his retirement.

He’d worked for the same insurance company in London for thirty-three years, starting in the year of Bridie’s birth.

Their mum, a local GP in Suffolk, had already retired.

She expected that they were looking forward to spending more time together once her dad no longer had to commute from Suffolk into London.

She expected that Kate would miss sharing the commute with her dad. She picked him up every morning so they could drive to the station together. It would be a big change for both of them.

Bridie caught her niece’s eyes darting to the lounge door.

‘I can’t discuss it with them,’ Layla said. She was clearly afraid that her mum would overhear their conversation and immediately veto the idea.

‘You’ve mentioned it to your dad, though.’ Layla’s dad was the biggest soft touch.

‘I want to, I really do.’

‘But you’re afraid he’ll tell your mum.’

‘Yes. The thing is, I need the permission slip signed so I can attend the after-school drama club. Do you know that Mr Williams is trying to find a real theatre to stage the next play?’

Bridie had had no idea. She hardly made it down to Suffolk, and when she did, her visits were brief. She felt guilty for not visiting her parents more often.

‘Anyway, that’s what I’ve heard,’ Layla continued, ‘instead of just the school assembly room. Can you imagine, me on a real theatre stage?’

Bridie grinned. She knew that look, that longing to be on the stage. ‘Mr Williams?’

‘Yes, the drama teacher.’

Oliver. Bridie knew him well. She was just surprised he was still there, teaching at the school where they’d once been secondary school pupils.

Layla pursed her lips. She lowered her voice to barely a whisper.

‘I thought I could just forge one of their signatures. My best friend said she’d cover for me, and I can say that I’m going round to hers after school twice a week to do homework.

But then how do I get home? Have my friend’s mum pick me up and take me home?

She’d never agree to it if she found out I was telling lies. ’

Bridie was already shaking her head, aware that the plan wouldn’t work.

‘I just know Mum is going to put her boot in and say no.’

‘You can’t be sure. I would talk it over with your dad.

Tell him how much you want to join. Say your friends are joining and you don’t want to be left out.

You’re only fifteen. You’ve got plenty of time to make up your mind what you’d like to do with your life.

It doesn’t mean, just because you’re joining a theatre group, that you’ll decide to work in the theatre. ’

‘But it does. Oh, Auntie B, I so want this. I’ve never been so sure of anything in my life. When did you know that it was what you wanted to do?’

‘I think I knew ever since I was little. I just always loved performing.’

‘That’s just like me!’

Bridie grinned. ‘I know.’ She remembered. It seemed like only yesterday that Layla was five years old and was dressing up and performing in front of her family, always running up to Bridie to ask her how well she’d done, sensing even then her mother’s disapproval.

Bridie didn’t want to encourage her niece to lie, but it might be an idea for her not to be so enthusiastic about it if she wanted to join the drama club. ‘Look, all I’m saying is that you could put a spin on it that you’re only joining because your best friend is.’

‘But she’s not.’

‘She could join for a little bit, then drop out, if you want to cover your tracks. Do you think she’ll do that for you?’

‘Yeah, she’d do anything for me.’

‘That’s good then.’

‘But my mum’s not stupid.’

Bridie’s smile faltered. That was true. She had another idea. ‘You could say there’s a boy you like, and well …’ Bridie was pretty sure her niece didn’t have a boyfriend yet. She had a thought, ‘Or a girl you fancy …? And that’s why you want to join.’ She thought that was more plausible.

‘I’m into boys. One boy in particular.’

Bridie grinned. ‘You’ve got a boyfriend?’

Layla whispered, ‘No one knows. It’s early days …’

Bridie looked at her niece, with her expertly applied makeup accentuating her large hazel eyes, and her long blonde hair, expertly blow-dried with soft waves.

Bridie did not remember being that sophisticated and sounding so grown-up when she was Layla’s age.

But she did remember what it was like to be in love at fifteen with a boy from school.

‘What’s his name?’

‘Charlie.’

‘Charlie. So that’s really why you want to join,’ Bridie said, a little disappointed.

‘No, not at all. We both happen to want to join the drama club. It’s how we met.

Funny story. There’s a list on a board outside Mr Williams’ classroom, and a pen.

We both reached for the pen at the same time.

But would you believe, his parents – well, his dad – is being a right …

arse about it, just like Mum will be when I tell her. ’

‘Oh, that’s a shame.’

‘Yeah.’

‘Well, I’m afraid I can’t help with Charlie getting into the drama club as well.’

Layla sighed. ‘I know.’

‘But look, I’m sure if you spoke to your dad first, tell him how much this means to you, he could play it down a bit, just so you could join. It’s only an after-school club, after all. You’re not committing your whole life to it.’ They both knew she already had.

‘I overheard them talking about you … again.’ Layla dropped her eyes. ‘When Auntie Caroline and Uncle Jeremy come down to their holiday home in Suffolk at the weekends and pop in to see Mum and Dad.’