Chapter 10
10
‘Leo!’ she exclaimed. ‘What are you doing here?’
Leo grinned. ‘I had a gap between jobs so then I decided to come to Ireland for a break. It’s my aunt’s sixtieth birthday on Sunday as well and they’re throwing one of those great Irish parties. Thought I’d come and look you up as I was in the neighbourhood, so now I’m here.’ He drew breath. Dressed in a leather bomber jacket and jeans, he looked quite different to the shy young man she had met in London. His blue eyes sparkled and his cheeks were rosy from the wind.
‘Cork is not the neighbourhood,’ Vi said, laughing. ‘Or anywhere near it.’ She glanced behind him and spotted a motorbike on the gravel. ‘I like your mode of travel, though.’
‘Yeah, it’s great,’ Leo agreed. ‘My cousin was kind enough to lend it to me for the day.’
Vi opened the door wider. ‘Come in,’ she said. ‘Sorry to have you standing there without inviting you in. It was just that I was so startled to see you.’
‘I should have called you,’ Leo said, looking contrite as he hovered on the doorstep. ‘I’m sure you’re busy with your family.’
‘Not at all,’ Vi assured him. ‘I had lunch with my granny earlier and I’ve just had a long conversation with an old lady who knew Kathleen O’Sullivan when she was young. How about a cup of coffee?’ she asked over her shoulder as she walked inside with Leo following behind her. ‘Or tea or water? I’m afraid I have no beer or anything stronger.’
‘I don’t need anything stronger,’ Leo said. ‘I have to drive that thing back later. I only have it for the day. My cousin wants it back tonight. It’s his most precious possession.’
‘How kind of him to let you borrow it,’ Vi remarked as they walked into the living room.
‘Well…’ Leo paused, looking a little guilty. ‘I didn’t actually ask. It was there in the driveway with the key in it. So I thought I’d go for a bit of a spin. I love motorbikes, you see.’
Vi stared at Leo. ‘What? You just took it? Won’t he be furious when he finds out?’
‘Maybe. But he’ll be so happy to see it back in one piece he’ll accept my apologies and understand the reason.’
‘What reason was that?’ Vi asked.
‘That I needed to go and see a woman I’ll be working with I a few months,’ Leo replied. ‘You, I mean. Anyway, he’s a good sport and won’t make too much of a fuss once I take him out for a beer. We’re very close, actually.’
‘You’d want to be,’ Vi remarked. ‘Sit down and I’ll get some coffee. Or do you prefer tea?’
‘Coffee would be great,’ Leo said. ‘I had a burger and chips in town so don’t bother making me anything to eat.’
‘I wasn’t going to,’ Vi said, laughing. ‘But I could open a packet of ginger snaps if you like.’
‘Amazing,’ Leo said with a glint of laughter in his eyes. ‘I’m touched that you’d do that for me.’
‘Relax there on the sofa while get the coffee and stuff,’ Vi said and went into the kitchen. She was delighted to see Leo again. She had liked him from the start and had been touched by his kindness during the photo shoot. He was the only one of the film crew she felt comfortable with – except for Jack Montgomery, but that felt more like a flirtation she didn’t quite know how to handle. With Jack, she had been excited and slightly nervous, but Leo made her feel completely at ease.
Leo was wandering around the room when she came back with the coffee and biscuits, and turned from the bookcase as she put the tray on the little coffee table. ‘Some great books here,’ he said. ‘I haven’t seen such an eclectic library in a while. Poetry, detective stories, nature books, romance and history. Have you read them all?’
‘No,’ Vi said as she settled on the sofa and pulled her legs up under her. ‘Those are books my sisters left when they moved out. Lily likes detective stories and romance, Rose read a lot of poetry at some stage and Noel, her husband, is the nature and history buff.’
‘And what are you interested in?’ Leo asked as he joined her on the sofa.
‘I read everything,’ Vi said. ‘But I do love a good romantic comedy, I have to confess. And a cosy detective story is great too.’
He nodded. ‘I like that kind of book from time to time too.’
‘I also like a good horror story,’ Vi said. ‘Stephen King and so on. But never before going to sleep.’
‘I know what you mean,’ Leo replied. He leaned forward and studied Vi for a moment. ‘How about doing a horror film? Would you like that?’
Vi giggled. ‘Oh yes, I would. That would be such great craic. How about you? Do you like doing makeup for that kind of movie?’
‘Love it,’ Leo said. ‘Then I can really lay it on. I could make you up like a zombie. Black-rimmed eyes, dark lips and with your pale skin you’d be perfect. I’d paint a drop of blood beside your mouth too.’
‘That would make me look like a vampire,’ Vi said, laughing again. ‘But hey, why not? That’d be a hoot.’
‘Pity Kathleen didn’t do any of those movies,’ Leo remarked and picked up his mug of coffee. ‘She was mostly in romantic stories.’
Vi nibbled on a ginger snap. ‘Hmm, yes, but she was also in some historical dramas like Jane Eyre and A Tale of Two Cities by Dickens. I thought she was terrific in those. I hope I get to wear some of those costumes in the biopic.’
‘You might,’ Leo said. ‘That was around the time she met Don.’
Vi nodded. She drank her coffee and looked at Leo. ‘If you could go back in time to any period, what would it be?’
‘Oh,’ Leo said, looking thoughtful. ‘Paris in the nineteen twenties, perhaps. Have you seen the Woody Allen movie Midnight in Paris ? The guy in that story went back in time and met all those authors and painters. Wouldn’t that be something?’
‘Nah,’ Vi said. ‘I don’t think so. I’d go to London in the sixties. That was a fun period. The music, the clothes – what an amazing time it must have been. Some of those film stars and the musicians, wow.’
‘Mick Jagger, Paul McCartney,’ Leo said. ‘Of course, they’re still alive.’
‘In those days they would have been real rebels, I bet,’ Vi remarked.
‘Maybe we’re better off now, though,’ Leo suggested. ‘The past looks great in movies but I’m sure real life was full of negatives, just like it is for us.’
‘Yeah, I suppose.’ Vi took another ginger snap. ‘But it would be cool to go back and meet Kathleen, I have to say. I’d be able to ask her a few questions and then get back in the time machine and know exactly how to play her.’
‘Now all you have are the old movies.’ Leo put his mug on the table.
‘I have to watch more of them to get a real feel for her. But there is one thing I will find very difficult,’ Vi said, changing the subject.
‘What’s that?’ Leo leaned back on the sofa, looking at Vi with interest.
‘The smoking. In all those movies, everyone smokes, including Kathleen. It’s as if lighting a woman’s cigarette was a flirty moment.’
Leo grinned. ‘Oh yeah, I bet it was. You get in very close, light the cig and then gaze into her eyes with a smouldering look that says more than a million words. Then she gives a sultry look back and blows out the smoke through those red lips. Very suggestive.’
‘Yeah, but do I have to start smoking now?’ Vi asked miserably.
‘No, they always use prop cigarettes when filming now. It should be in your contract that you agreed to smoking on set, even if it’s only herbal cigarettes or vapes,’ Leo explained.
‘Oh, I see.’ Vi brightened. She normally paid so much attention to what she signed, but she’d been so excited when she’d eventually got the papers, desperate to get to Ireland. ‘I think I saw that when we went through the contract. To be honest, I was so delighted to do this part that I’d have signed anything. But now I feel better about that, so thanks.’
‘You’re welcome. I’m sure you can’t wait to get started.’
‘Of course.’ Vi nodded. ‘But I have to do a lot of work beforehand.’
‘Including having a drink with Jack Montgomery?’ Leo asked. ‘How did that go?’
‘Oh, it was great,’ Vi replied dreamily. ‘He was very charming and fun. We got on really well.’
‘Good, but don’t be too starstruck around him. He has quite a big head as it is.’
‘Of course he does,’ Vi exclaimed. ‘He’s a talented actor. Why wouldn’t he be proud of that?’
‘Yeah, I suppose he’s earned it.’
‘I’d say he has,’ Vi said. ‘But I feel there’s a nice man behind all the glamour. Right now he’s in his prime, I think.’
‘At his age, he should be.’
‘Thirty-six must be a good age for a man,’ Vi remarked. ‘It’s different for a woman. I’m already quite old for some parts.’
Leo looked surprised. ‘But you’re only in your twenties. I was just thinking about how I’m going to age you for the movie.’
‘I’m about to turn thirty,’ Vi said glumly.
‘Welcome to the club.’ Leo smiled at her. ‘I turned thirty last year. It doesn’t hurt at all.’
‘You’re a man and you’re not an actor,’ Vi retorted. ‘For me, the party’s over.’
‘Of course not,’ Leo protested. ‘The best is yet to come, you know. Life is not about age, it’s about your attitude to it.’
‘That makes me feel marginally better.’
‘That’s good to hear.’ Leo got up. ‘But now I have to get back or my cousin will call the Guards on me.’
Vi scrambled to her feet. ‘Okay. But it was great to see you.’
‘I’ll be back around Christmas,’ Leo said.
‘Give me a shout then and come over and meet my granny,’ Vi suggested.
‘If I can steal the bike again, I’ll come over,’ Leo promised.
‘Sure, there are buses and trains, too, you know,’ Vi retorted, smiling.
‘Of course. But the bike is more fun.’ Leo walked out to the hall and through the open front door. He zipped up his jacket and put on the helmet he had left hanging on the motorbike. ‘Good luck with the research,’ he said, his voice muffled by the visor of the helmet. ‘I’m sure next time we meet, you’ll be so like Kathleen we’ll think she’s back from the dead.’
‘Oh, go on out of that,’ Vi said, laughing. ‘I won’t go that far.’
‘Get some fake cigarettes and practise the smoking,’ Leo said before he kickstarted the bike. ‘Thanks for the coffee and chat,’ he shouted before he took off through the gates.
Vi shook her head and laughed as she watched the taillight disappear. What a fun guy Leo was. She knew she’d enjoy working with him. But while they chatted, she had felt a little shiver of fear at the pressure she was under. Everyone had such high expectations. If she failed to represent Kathleen accurately, she’d be out of a job. In the heat of their argument Rose had said Vi put her career before her family, and that one day she’d realise it wasn’t worth it. If she failed to play Kathleen to perfection, her sisters would be proven right.