Plain Jane in the Spotlight

CHAPTER SEVEN

THEY got out a few blocks from his home, and went to dine in a small restaurant.

As they relaxed over the main course, Charlene said, ‘We need to talk about money. You give me too much.’

‘You deserve every penny. I want you to take more and equip yourself with more clothes.’

‘Then I’ll buy them myself.’

‘At LA prices? No way.’

‘I mean it. I’m your useful piece of stage equipment, not your kept woman. This is an arrangement of equals or it’s nothing.’

‘Equals?’ He looked comically alarmed. ‘I don’t do equals.’

‘You’ve never heard of women’s lib?’

‘I’ve heard of it but I try to ignore it. I don’t know! My girlfriend paying for herself. Whatever is the world coming to? Well, at least you have to accept this.’

From his pocket he produced a small jewel box. Inside she found the pearl earrings that he’d left behind on the first night.

‘Sorry about that,’ he said.

‘And the press thinks you’re the great romantic,’ she teased.

He fixed the earrings for her. She had to admit they were beautiful. He thought so too, from the way he was smiling.

They strolled home, yawning, for it was very late. As they got into the elevator a middle-aged man appeared, hurrying. Travis held the doors open for him, calling, ‘It’s all right, Sam, I’ve got it.’

‘Thanks,’ said the man. He smiled and nodded at Charlene.

‘Charlene, this is my friend, Sam Barton. He and his wife live on the floor below us.’

‘And you don’t have to tell me who this is,’ Sam said, shaking her hand. ‘You’re the talk of LA.’

The three of them exchanged pleasantries until the elevator stopped, and Sam bid them goodnight, departing with a curious look at Charlene.

‘Nice guy,’ Travis said as they finished the journey. ‘We must have him and his wife to supper. You’ll like Rita.’

‘Are they in the business?’ Charlene asked. She had fallen easily into the habit of referring to the entertainment world as ‘the business’ as though there was no other. In Los Angeles it was easy to believe that was true.

‘In a way. He works in one of the studios, on the financial side. She used to be a model and a dancer.’

In her own room she prepared for bed, then went to stand by the window and look down on the gleaming city. Just below, she could see the garden, and Travis, sitting there. He was leaning back against a tree, his eyes closed, his lips moving.

It would be fascinating, she thought, to be a bird in the nearby bush, and hear what he was saying. But she doubted she would ever understand him. Today he’d puzzled her afresh-calm, agitated, unpredictable, but never less than the kind man she valued so dearly.

She drew the curtain and stepped back.

Down below, Travis opened his eyes, glancing up to the top of the building. Again he murmured the words that had struck a nerve.

‘“Useful piece of stage equipment.” Well, I’ve been warned.’

They settled into a comfortable pattern, treating each other with the cheerful friendliness of siblings. At her suggestion, he began calling her Charlie.

‘She’s the real me, sensible and practical. Charlene is the fantasy version.’

He nodded. ‘Very clever.’

He had to be away for a few days, shooting outdoor scenes. Every night he called to ask how she was, and she reassured him. Neither of them ever mentioned Lee.

She was glad of a few free days free. It gave her some time alone, which she felt she needed. Now everything about her had changed. Heads turned in the street, people nudged as she went past. If she’d needed confirmation of Travis’s fame, she was getting it.

Now some of it seemed to have rubbed off on her. Cameras appeared, voices called, ‘Look this way.’ She obliged, careful to look pleasant, but always escaped quickly.

‘And they keep asking me to give them a quote,’ she told him. ‘I don’t, of course, but they’re getting pressing.’

‘I’m sorry you’re having a hard time.’

‘I didn’t say I was having a hard time.’ She laughed. ‘It’s got its funny side, but I don’t want to risk saying the wrong thing.’

‘We’ll sort it out, I promise. We need to arrange things so that they come out the way we want. I’ll be home soon. I had hoped it might be tonight, but there’s been a big delay. I’ll see you tomorrow.’

In fact the delay was cleared up sooner than expected, and he managed to make it home at three in the morning. The apartment was dark and he entered quietly.

But as he crossed the hall he heard a burst of laughter from Charlene’s room. He wondered what could make a woman shriek with laughter at this hour, and didn’t like any of the answers he came up with.

The gentlemanly thing might have been to creep away, without asking questions about something that was none of his business. But he wasn’t feeling like a gentleman. If that was Lee, and he had a horrible feeling that it was, then the silly girl must be protected.

Then came her voice again.

‘Oh, come on, you can’t do that. No, really, you mustn’t. Behave yourself!’

Travis didn’t hesitate. In a flash he had the door open, seeking Charlene and whoever she was entertaining. But then he stopped on the threshold, taken aback by what met his eyes.

She was alone in the room, sitting at the dressing table, talking into a cellphone. She glanced up at him, and said, ‘Travis has just walked in.’ She looked up at him. ‘It’s my grandparents.’

‘Your-?’

‘I told you about them. They called me from Nairobi and I’ve been telling them all about you. Hello-Emma, yes, he’s still here. You can talk to him.’ She handed him the phone.

Even far away in Nairobi they had heard the news from Los Angeles and wanted to thank him for befriending her. Charlene switched the phone onto ‘hands free’ so that she could hear their voices and join in, and they all spent a very jolly ten minutes.

Afterwards he sat on the edge of the bed, trying to pull himself together.

‘You look absolutely knocked out,’ she said sympathetically. ‘Can I get you something?’

‘No, I’ll go straight to bed, thank you. I just need to get some sleep and…goodnight.’

He got out, fast.

Over breakfast next morning he said, ‘You really scared me last night, telling someone to stop what they were doing. I thought a man had broken in.’

‘No, it was just Frank and Emma. It’s incredible, at their age they’re such a pair of clowns.’

‘Yes, they sounded like good fun,’ he agreed. ‘I’ll hope to meet them some day. When are they coming back?’

‘Not for six weeks.’

‘But you’re not in a rush to leave me, are you?’

‘No, I like it here, if it’s all right with you.’

‘It’s a deal then.’

They shook hands and spent the rest of the meal making domestic arrangements. Travis had a cleaner who came in three times a week, but apart from that he managed for himself. When it came to food, he either ate on the way home, arranged a takeout or made himself a basic snack. Charlene made a list of his favourite meals, studied it and set herself to practise seriously.

‘You’re a great cook,’ he said a week later. ‘You get better every day.’

‘I do my best.’

‘Then congratulations. It’s a fantastic best.’

‘And there’s something else.’ She took out a large envelope, filled with pieces of paper. ‘I found this by accident. It just fell out and I had to gather up the papers from the floor.’

He groaned. ‘They’re receipts I’m supposed to send to my accountant. I’m afraid I let them get into a mess.’

‘I can see that. And where you’ve made notes and done sums-well, never mind. I’ve been through, trying to put them in some sort of order.’

She handed him the list she’d made, and his face brightened.

‘Hey, they actually make sense. I could send this to my accountant without a load of apologies. That’s great!’

‘So you don’t mind? You don’t feel I violated your privacy?’

‘Charlie, you can violate my privacy any time you like,’ he said fervently. ‘In fact there are several things-’

In a short time she was privy to all his financial details, including investments. His accountant was a big name but there were a hundred smaller matters that Travis needed to get organised before sending them to him. And among his many talents efficiency and good order found no place.

With delight he dumped everything on Charlene. Now she had access to all his computer accounts, including passwords, enabling her to access his bank account every morning. This she did, several times raising queries, one of which averted a minor disaster.

Travis rewarded her with a glittering gold pendant, but what really pleased her was his look of joy and relief, and his exclamation, ‘However did I manage without you?’

‘Your own private bank clerk!’ She chuckled.

‘Bank clerk,’ he said softly. ‘Is that what you call it?’

Both his eyes and his voice told her that he called it something entirely different. But just what that something might be he wasn’t ready to say.

Charlene enjoyed life in Beachwood Canyon. Despite its glamorous location, it closely resembled a village, with a coffee shop, a market and a number of little boutiques where people could meet casually. She saw several faces that she recognised, famous actors and musicians. At first she was tempted to stare, then realised that she too was being stared at.

‘How are you coping?’ asked an elderly man who came to sit beside her in a coffee shop. After a moment she recognised him as a once famous star, known for his dynamic sexiness, but now in his eighties.

‘It is you, isn’t it?’ she asked.

‘Yes, it’s me. I’m flattered to be remembered.’

‘I saw you on television in…you know, the film that nearly won you the Best Actor award.’

‘The operative word being “nearly”. In those days they were practically the only awards. These days there’s a whole host of them, especially for TV shows. The TopGo Television Drama Awards are coming up soon and they say your guy’s going to scoop every prize going. There’s five categories he can be nominated for and the big money says he’ll win every one. You two will have a great time at the award ceremony.’

‘If I’m still here.’

‘Sure you’ll be here. Everyone says he’s crazy about you. Are you saying he isn’t?’

‘I’m saying it’s private.’ She chuckled.

‘Good for you. If I hadn’t given so many interviews about things that should have stayed private I’d still be married to my second wife, or perhaps my third.’

They settled into a happy discussion, after which Charlene finished the day with a visit to a boutique that was as fashionable as anything to be found in the city. By now she was a little short of time, but she had her eye on a pair of stretch jeans.

‘The size looks about right for me,’ she said. ‘You close in five minutes, don’t you? I’ll take them.’

Back in the apartment, she pulled on the jeans and considered herself thoughtfully.

They’re just a little tighter than I thought, she mused. Too tight? Yes? No? If my rear was bigger I could be accused of flaunting it, but I’m so skinny I can get away with it.

But ‘skinny’ wasn’t the right word, she knew. While not voluptuous, her behind was nicely shaped, elegantly curved.

She found a floaty chiffon blouse that hung loosely down over the revealing trousers, concealing her rear from general sight.

From the front door came the sound of a knock and a cry, ‘Is anyone there?’

‘Coming,’ she called.

Outside, she found a middle-aged woman with a tall, lithe figure.

‘Hello,’ she said. ‘I’m Rita Barton, your neighbour from the next floor down. I came to return something I borrowed from Travis.’

She had a bright, cheerful face and Charlene instinctively liked her.

‘Come in,’ she said.

She realised that this was the woman whose husband they had met in the elevator. She’d been a model and a dancer, and although she was no longer young her movements were still graceful.

As they shared coffee, she looked Charlene up and down and said frankly, ‘Thank heavens the rumours are true. They say he’s found a nice girl who’ll do him a lot of good and no harm. Good for you!’

‘Thank you,’ Charlene said.

‘Of course you know the story about the dancer who descended on him at that party. She did it on purpose. I never liked her.’

‘You know her?’

‘I used to give lessons to girls who were going to dance in front of the camera. At least it was called dancing, but mostly it was sexy wriggling. She was one of my pupils.’ She added hastily, ‘But don’t tell Travis.’

‘I promise.’ Charlene laughed. ‘But about those lessons, you mean you can teach that sort of thing?’

‘There are certain tricks, depending on how provocative you want to be.’ She noticed a definite look in Charlene’s eyes and asked teasingly, ‘Want to try?’

She was about to decline when the daring imp who seemed to pop up in her mind a lot these days said, Go on. Be a devil.

‘Yes,’ she said. ‘I’d like to give it a try.’

‘Like this,’ Rita said, and went into a wriggling dance that still contained much of her old ability.

She laughed as she danced, obviously enjoying the joke, and Charlene laughed too as she imitated her.

‘Put your hands up high over your head so that people can see your body moving,’ Rita advised.

‘Like that?’

‘Fine. Now imagine that the man you’re dancing for is sitting in that chair over there. Approach him slinkily-good, that’s right, but move your bottom more. You have to twist and squirm a bit-more, more-you’re getting the hang of it. Now try to twirl and writhe at the same time. Well done!’

Laughing, Charlene spun around, moving so fast that she lost track of the room whirling about her, and didn’t see the door open, admitting Travis. Next moment she lost her balance and felt herself falling.

‘Aaaah!’ she cried.

‘It’s all right, I’ve got you.’

It was Travis’s comforting voice, and Travis’s steady arms enclosing her. But she’d collided with him so hard that he too lost his balance and fell into the chair with her in his lap.

‘OK.’ He laughed. ‘The worst is over now.’

‘Well,’ Rita said, arms akimbo, ‘that’s one way of getting onto the guy’s lap. Not one I’ve seen before, but I guess it works.’

‘Hello, Rita,’ Travis said. ‘What are you two up to?’

‘Rita was teaching me lap dancing,’ Charlene said breathlessly.

‘Really? Planning to take up a new career?’

‘You never know,’ she retorted. ‘It’s good to try anything once.’

‘And she’s got a real gift for it,’ Rita added.

‘Yeah, the gift of knocking a guy flying,’ Travis said with a grin. ‘I’ve come across it before.’ He rubbed his back.

‘I’m sorry,’ Charlene said. ‘Let me do that for you.’

She reached for him but he veered away. ‘No need. I’ll manage. You’re a wicked woman. Rita, don’t teach her any more dangerous tricks. She’s beginning to scare me.’

‘Nonsense, I’ve always scared you,’ Charlene retorted, and the three of them shared a laugh.

‘You know what you should do,’ Rita said. ‘Go back to that nightclub where it happened-’

‘Not in a million years,’ Travis said at once.

‘No, wait. Take Charlene with you, and if those floozies start their nonsense again she’ll show that she can do it even better than they can.’

‘Hey, that’s an idea,’ Charlene said, fascinated.

‘No,’ Travis said quietly.

Rita beamed at Charlene. ‘I’ll need to teach you a bit more so that you’re really expert-’

‘I said no,’ Travis snapped.

In the silence that followed they both looked at him, puzzled. That Travis, a man known for his sweet temper, should speak in that way was astonishing.

‘I’m sorry,’ he said, recovering himself quickly. ‘It’s been a long, hard day and I’m not at my best.’

‘I’ll be off now,’ Rita said. ‘I only came to return your book.’

She pushed it towards him, blew them both a kiss, and was gone.

‘Did it go well today?’ Charlene asked.

‘Not too good. I’ve got a bad headache. I’ll go straight to bed.’

‘Let me get you something to eat.’

‘No, thanks.’ His words were tense and his smile forced. ‘I just need to sleep. Goodnight.’

He vanished into his room, leaving Charlene staring at the closed door, frowning.

Why was Travis cross with her?

Ah, well, she thought at last. His headache must be worse than he’d said.

Travis lay awake for a long time. Something had happened that he needed to come to terms with, if he only knew how.

The moment when Charlene had landed in his lap was still with him. Her wriggling movements had been innocent, he knew. She’d been trying to steady herself, not inflame his senses, but she’d inflamed them nonetheless. The awareness of her body was burned into his flesh: searing, alarming, impossible to remove.

He’d never dreamed of this. Her plain looks had tricked him into thinking that the rest of her was the same. But now he knew otherwise, he thought, groaning as he remembered the enticing way she had moved against him, almost caressing him. Beneath her usually unrevealing clothes was a truly lovely body, one that he wanted to see as well as touch. The alarming discovery had been the reason he’d snapped at them, driven to distraction by the effort to keep himself under control while Rita joked about Charlene’s sensual possibilities.

He groaned as he felt desire singing through his body, ignoring his attempts to silence it. He no longer knew the woman living in his home. She was a new, different Charlene, one he’d never imagined before.

One thing was clear. She must never know. His desire violated every promise he’d made to her. It also, he realised, broke her own promises about keeping everything sisterly. But in her innocence she had no idea about that. Nor would he allow her to suspect.

Over breakfast next morning his phone rang. As soon as he answered, his face brightened. ‘Mom! You’re coming home? Great. Tomorrow. We’ll be at the airport. Yes, both of us. You can meet Charlene and I can meet-what did you say his name was? Sure I’m cheeky. I always was.’

He hung up, saying, ‘You probably gathered what that was about. I told you my mom leads a colourful life.’

‘With plenty of “gentleman friends”?’

‘Definitely. She’s been on vacation in Paris with Eric, the latest, and they’re returning tomorrow.’

They were there early next day. To pass the time Travis bought a magazine and flicked through it casually until he came to something that made him stare.

Glancing over his shoulder, Charlene saw a young woman, scantily dressed, stretched out on a sofa. Her figure was curvaceous and magnificent, but that wasn’t her chief attraction. It was more the look in her eyes as they gazed into the camera, a look that said, Why don’t we get together and…see what happens?

She felt mildly insulted. If Travis expected her to play the role of the faithful girlfriend it was hardly courteous of him to slaver over another female in public.

‘Hmm,’ she said.

Glancing up, he read her thoughts. ‘No, no, it’s not what you think. That’s Cassie.’

‘Cassie? The one who-?’

‘The girl Marcel wants to marry, and who told him to take a running jump. I did hear a rumour that she’d once had a career as a glamour model-’

‘She seems to have returned to it.’

‘And how! Poor Marcel.’ Travis sighed. ‘I shouldn’t think he’ll get her back now.’

‘I wonder how much they paid her for that,’ Charlene mused. ‘Enough to buy her a lot of independence.’

‘Is that all you see?’ he demanded, comically outraged. ‘Money?’

‘It matters. When we’re finished, I think I’ll buy myself a toy boy.’

‘He wouldn’t be called Lee, would he?’ Travis asked lightly. He knew he shouldn’t have asked the question, but since the other night something mysterious seemed to have happened to his self-control.

‘Lee? No way. He’s in the past. But of course-’ she studied the picture again ‘-if I looked like her I wouldn’t need to pay. The men would be clamouring to enjoy my charms.’

‘It’s not just voluptuous women who make men clamour,’ he observed. ‘There are other things that can be enchanting.’

‘Nonsense!’ she teased. ‘That’s just polite male talk. What all of you actually think is that real women are plump and luscious. The rest of us are too skinny to count.’

‘Oh, that’s what men think, is it?’ he asked, raising his eyebrows.

‘Sure is.’

‘And who made you an expert in male thinking?’

‘Women are born knowing it. And if they don’t, they soon find out.’

He cocked his head on one side. ‘So you’re going to lecture me on the subject?’

‘Why not? Since we’re brother and sister, I can say what I like to you.’

‘Brother and sister,’ he murmured.

‘It’s what we agreed. That way, we’re both safe.’

‘Then, since we’re speaking frankly, let me tell you that you don’t know half what you think you do. Some men like to be taken by surprise.’

That made her gaze at him, wondering about his meaning and the slight edge in his voice. But then the loudspeaker shrieked, ‘The flight from Paris has landed-’

The moment collapsed and died. It was time to get back to real life.

Whatever that was.

Julia Franklin still looked much as Charlene remembered her from old films on television. Though well into her fifties, she could have passed for forty or less, the result, Charlene guessed, of much cosmetic surgery and sessions in the gym. It was the same with her charm, which was untouched by the years.

She greeted Travis with an eager cry of, ‘Darling!’ shrieked over a distance, and began to run. He did the same and they threw themselves into each other’s arms, to the delight of the crowd, most of whom had recognised Travis.

Behind Julia came a man in his thirties, with a cherubic face and a good-natured air. This must be Eric, Charlene thought. Travis greeted him amiably, but with the caution of a man who’d met too many of his predecessors.

A cab took them to Bunker Hill, where Julia lived in a house that was defiantly colourful and un-modern. From the first moment Charlene felt herself under inspection. Julia had clearly heard the talk and was buzzing with curiosity.

‘I haven’t told her everything about us,’ Travis had said earlier. ‘Only that we met by accident in the studio, and found we could talk to each other easily. She doesn’t know anything about Lee.’

During the meal, Julia dominated the conversation, talking about Paris and Rome, where she and Eric had spent their vacation. Eric sat looking at Julia with a little smile on his face.

Afterwards, Julia drew Charlene aside, saying, ‘Come and have lunch here tomorrow. We’ll do much better without the men.’ Her voice became teasing. ‘I think we always do better without men, don’t you?’

‘Sometimes.’ Charlene laughed. ‘But they come in handy now and then.’

‘Good thinking,’ Julia said triumphantly.

Later, Julia pulled her son into the kitchen and shut the door.

‘So that’s her. That’s really her. I’ve been dying to meet her, although I’ve seen so many pictures of the two of you that I almost feel I know her. Look at that.’

She held up the snap taken in the hotel restaurant, showing Charlene convulsed with laughter.

‘I’d bought her some pearl earrings,’ Travis recalled, ‘but I’d also bought some Daft Doody earrings for a friend, and I got muddled and gave her the wrong ones.’

‘And she saw the funny side of that?’ Julia asked, amazed.

‘As you see.’

‘Then she’s a real jewel.’ She eyed him with motherly suspicion. ‘You do realise that, don’t you?’

‘Oh, yes,’ he murmured. ‘I realise that. Mom, can we talk about this later? I have a lot to tell you.’

‘And I’ve got a lot to tell you. Paris was fantastic, and guess what! I bumped into your father. I was invited to some big reception, and there he was. Marcel was there too. Poor soul, he’s so sad since he broke up with Cassie. He sent you his good wishes.’

‘I’ll bet my father didn’t send me any good wishes.’

‘Actually, he was on his best behaviour because Freya was there.’

‘Freya? She’s his stepdaughter by his new wife, isn’t she?’

‘Yes, and she’s really very nice. Amos has set his heart on marrying her to one of his sons. He failed with Darius, so now he wants it to be Marcel. You should be careful. If he fails with Marcel he’ll get you in his sights.’

‘Hey, c’mon!’

‘Really. “The Falcon” never gives up. That’s what they say.’

‘Then I’ll have to set Charlene onto him. If that doesn’t fill him with fear, nothing will.’

Which left Julia regarding him oddly and mulling over the conversation long into the night, so that Eric was roused to ask if anything was wrong.

‘Nothing wrong,’ she murmured. ‘Just something I can’t make up my mind about.’

‘Would a cuddle help?’

‘Yes, please!’