Feast of Saints (13 page)

Chapter 11

On the first day of filming, Lilly was more than ready by the time Jake arrived promptly at four-thirty in the morning.

Hoping to get off to a cheerful start to their daily routine, but not knowing how much of a morning person he was, Lilly compromised with a wide smile but a near whispered, “Good morning.”

The only change in his studied, bland expression was a double blink, as if she had shined a spotlight on him. He was not a morning person, she decided. He looked nice, though, in a bone-colored, Hardy Amies cotton polo and white, single pleat trousers. She was developing a growing appreciation for Seville Row tailors.

Jake’s period wardrobe for the day’s filming was hanging just inside his dressing room opposite the Lab. On Friday, when the costume department had brought in the four outfits for the first week of filming, Lilly had been incredibly pleased. The designs were hers and they couldn’t have looked better if they had been pieced together by one of Jake’s custom tailors. Although it probably went against the studio’s rules, and most certainly violated her confidentiality agreement, she had unwrapped them all, lined them up on the rack and snapped a picture of the suits with her new phone. She texted the photos to Kyle captioned, “Haute Couture à la Rose.”

The crushed velvet top hat and tails for today’s ballroom scene were her favorite. The red of the velvet foreshadowed the blood sucking death that awaited the debutant who hoped to dance with Allegrezza in the opening scene.

“We’re just doing face and hands today, so you can put on everything,” she instructed.

“Alright,” said Jake as she ushered him across the hall to his dressing room door. When she turned around, he was grimacing at her shoes as if they pained him.

She had decided to dress up since it was the first day. Her shoes, which complimented perfectly her beige, Matthew Williamson fringed mid-thigh skirt and periwinkle camisole, were Prada’s from the spring collection. The two-toned, Italian leather heels with braided, wrapped platforms had been controversial on the runway in Paris because of their extreme height. They’d come from Kyle with a warning note: “Walk with caution – these are ankle busters.” She’d practiced walking in them for a full afternoon around the house before venturing out in them the first time.

When she opened the dressing room door for Jake, he disappeared inside, shaking his head at her shoes. As nicely as he dressed, the man had no sense of ladies’ fashion, she decided.

While she waited on Jake, Lilly listened to the banging and shouts coming from the soundstage. When the cameras started to roll, she was sure she would be able to hear a pin drop, but it was disconcerting that they were making all that racket this close to the start of filming.

Lilly felt like she and Jake were ready. During the screen test, she along with the rest of the crew, had watched Jake’s horrific performance with their mouths open in silent screams. Reviewing the clips a few days later, she had felt a thrill of pride in herself and in Jake. But she was concerned about the film crew. She couldn’t put her finger on it, except the feeling that it seemed chaotic out there.

“Coffee?” The quiet voice behind her nearly made Lilly jump out of her skin.

“I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean to sneak up on you.” It was Mary. She’d come by yesterday and introduced herself as a long-time Mjicon employee. Her job description was part gopher, part valet. She took care of making sure Jake had a steady supply of healthy snacks and water and she ran any errands he needed done while he was on set. She had also informed Lilly yesterday that Jake wanted Lilly to train her to take off his makeup at the end of the day so that Lilly didn’t have to.

“It’s okay. I’m jumpy today,” said Lilly, pressing her hand to her heart. When Mary held out a Styrofoam cup, she declined. “No, thank you, I don’t drink coffee. I’d love some tea though, if it’s not too much trouble.”

“Sure, I can get that for you,” said Mary, with a brittle smile. Oops, thought Lilly. Clearly, Mary was Jake’s go-to person for special requests, not Lilly’s. She wasn’t surprised when Mary disappeared and did not return with her tea.

When Jake came out of the dressing room in the blood-red pants and stiff, antique white shirt, Lilly had to catch her breath. This was going to look so, so good on film. She could hardly wait. Sitting him in the chair, she started with his hands.

“We’ll have to be careful getting your jacket on. The appliances won’t come off, but the makeup will stain.”

Lilly reached in and tugged on Jake’s waistband, examining the closure. “Oh, good. When James, the chief costume designer, called me about the fit, I told him you needed Velcro closures and snaps – no zippers or buttonholes. I’m glad he was listening. Otherwise, you’d be crossing your legs until someone helped you out of your pants.”

Jake glowered at her. “I know you’re used to working with children, Lilly, but I can usually find my way out of my pants when the need arises.”

Lilly pulled her hand back. She thought she was being practical, but she must have insulted him. To hide her embarrassment, she picked up the oil emulsion she used to protect his skin from irritation and began to massage it into his hands, hitting hard the pressure points that reflexologists believed healed and invigorated the lungs, heart and brain. Although she didn’t buy much into holistic medicine, she knew a good massage could go a long way toward restoring one’s physical and mental well-being.

When she was done, Jake rewarded her with a slow smile.

“Where’d you learn to do that?” he asked.

“Lia Sundquist. She was a guest speaker at the Institute where I learned special effects. She taught us all an important lesson. If we ever wanted to be hired again, we needed to perfect our knowledge of natural ingredients and massage.”

Quoting Lia, she said, “‘Who would choose to go through this torture if they could find someone just as good who could make it a pleasurable experience?’”

“Who indeed?” was Jake’s reply, as she moved from massaging his hands to rhythmically rubbing his temples. When she’d finished unhurriedly preparing his skin, she patted his arm to signal that she was about to begin the less pleasant process of applying the glues and prosthetics that would transform him into Allegrezza.

As she began the last step of painting his nails to deadly perfection with the obsidian polish she said, “You know, we could cut down our prep time with acrylic nails. You’d have to replace or fill them every month or so, but they’d be semi-permanent.” She suddenly pictured him out on a date with a woman who looked an awful lot like Sierra Nighly, Jake with silvery painted nails, dressed in his tailored shirts, picking up a wine glass, touching the unseen woman, scraping her skin. Lilly swallowed, aroused and unexpectedly jealous at the same time.

“On second thought, this doesn’t take long and can be removed at the end of each day.” She did not want some other woman reaping the benefit of her hard work.

When she’d finished, Allegrezza’s pernicious face stared out at her. Jake was as ready as he’d ever be for the first day of filming
Feast of Saints
; however, he looked uncertain. She’d never seen him like this. He always seemed so confident.

After she helped him into the crushed velvet tails, Lilly couldn’t help herself. She grasped both of his hands, knowing she’d have to touch them up before he hit the set.

“You are the scariest, most compelling person I’ve ever set my eyes on,” she said earnestly. “I and everyone else who sees you in this role will find it impossible to turn away from you.”

Jake squeezed her palms. Hard. When he continued to frown down at her without letting go, she began thinking maybe she’d confessed too much.

“You’ll be there?” he asked.

“Of course, every moment,” she said, flustered by his intensity. To cover her embarrassment, she slipped her hands out of his and turned for the airbrush to touch them up.

After Jake had left for the set, Lilly hurriedly packed up her emergency kit. Any major adjustments could be done in the Lab, but she needed to be prepared for on the spot touch-ups to ensure he’d stay consistently flawless.

Standing behind the cameras on the sound stage, she felt butterflies in her stomach as Alison called, “Picture is up!” to inform everyone that a take was about to be recorded. “Quiet, everyone! Roll sound!”

The production sound mixer announced, “Sound speed!” and started his equipment.

Alison followed with, “Roll camera!” to which the chief cameraman answered, “Speed!”

The clapper, standing in front of the camera with the clapperboard, yelled, “Marker!” and slapped the clapper shut.

Cueing the ballroom dancers to begin their swirling spins, Alison shouted, “Action background!”

At last, Monty, looking intently at Jake, hollered, “Action!”

And just like that, Lilly’s worst nightmare spoke. “What a delicious pleasure it is, finding you here, my beloved,” purred Allegrezza before rending the delicate neck of the brunette extra standing before him.

At the end of the first day of filming, Jake had been brilliant, but there had been an unreasonably high number of lighting and sound adjustments – dare say, mistakes – requiring multiple reshoots. Even something as simple as the setup for different camera angles seemed to be overly complicated for the disorganized crew. With each mistake, the whole take was lost, and the segment had to be repeated. The sound and camera log of continuity and technical issues was twelve pages long before the end of the day.

It was only four-thirty in the afternoon when Monty, called, “Cut!” and signaled that they were done for the day. Lilly sagged in relief. Her Pradas had been a dreadful mistake. She was hobbling by the time Jake plopped down in his chair to have the appliances removed so that he could shower and go home.

Stepping out of the makeup chair to grab a rolling stool, Jake slid it close and said, “Sit.” She complied.

“Where’s Mary?” he asked.

“I’m not sure. She wouldn’t have known we’d quit so early.” Without getting up, she reached over and grabbed the tray on which she’d organized everything needed to remove his makeup, rolled it closer and tiredly squirted some of the minty liquid on a cotton ball.

Standing, she leaned in and blotted the cotton puff to Jake’s cheekbone, swaying on her feet. Jake grasped her hand and ever so slowly lowered it, then pulled and turned her around until her bottom was perched on his knee. He leaned forward and peered over her shoulder at her feet. Circling his arms around her, he lifted one foot, and then the other, to gently remove her shoes.

“Why didn’t you wear sensible shoes?” he asked, sliding his warm hands over one and then the other foot.

She couldn’t resist closing her eyes and leaning back into his velvet-coated chest as he gently rubbed her sore ankles and feet. “Sensible is a matter of perspective,” she said.

“I’m here!” shouted Mary in a falsetto voice from the doorway. Lilly leapt out of Jake’s lap, embarrassed at how relaxed she’d allowed herself to be with him and with being caught at it.

Removing Jake’s makeup without the height advantage of her shoes was difficult, so she gave Mary the tasks that would have required her to stretch into Jake. If Mary was going to be doing this every day, it was as good as any time to learn. If today was any example of how much her exhaustion could lower her guard to Jake’s charisma, she was doubly glad to have her.

Jake was in the dressing room across the hall taking a shower and Mary had left for the night when Campbell showed up. Lilly was padding around the Lab in her bare feet, putting supplies away, replenishing her carts and filling the double boiler with the glycerin gelatin mixture used to make the appliances.

“How’d everything go today?” Campbell asked, fiddling with his belt.

Lilly eyed him. Perhaps she had poured it on too thick to get him to bend the fire safety rules. As grateful as she was, she found nothing attractive about him but she sensed his physical interest in her.

“Things ran smoothly in here,” she said, trying to find the right balance between gratitude and cool professionalism. “Rougher on the set. Thank you again for all of your help. I couldn’t have handled the challenges we faced today without it,” she said honestly.

Pulling out the Allegrezza molds she’d brought from home, she began pouring the gelatin mixture from the double boiler into them and organizing the molds on mesh trays to dry until the next day. She floundered about for something else to say, but she was so tired her brain wasn’t processing information the way it should.

She was reaching for a container on the shelf above the warming plate when she felt Campbell come to stand much too close behind her. Without turning, still reaching for the container, Lilly started, “Campbell, I think I may have given you the wrong impression…” but her words stalled when he reached up behind her, ostensibly to get the container down for her, and pressed himself against her backside, pushing her pelvis into the Formica counter.

It was then that she realized she’d misjudged Campbell’s amiable demeanor as a sign of good character.

“Back up, Campbell,” she said through clenched teeth, stepping sideways in an attempt to slip out from beneath him. Campbell pulled his hips back, but he barred her sideways movement by bracing his hands on the counter on either side of her. Lilly’s internal trouble meter tripped and her anger sparked with alarm.

But then, he was suddenly just gone. It was as if he’d been lassoed and yanked away from her.

She whirled around to see Jake towering over Campbell’s prone form, fists clenched, his hair dripping into the fire safety coordinator’s gaping face. Campbell’s nose was bleeding profusely.

“Get up,” Jake gritted out. “Get up. After the day I’ve had, that felt really good and I’d like to knock you down again.”

“Jake!” Lilly shouted, coming to stand in front of him. He was furious, his eyes blazing. Even without the makeup, he reminded her strongly of Allegrezza at his most menacing. Campbell must have seen it too, because he was scrambling backwards like a crab.

Placing her hand on his chest to hold him back and looking over her shoulder at Campbell, she said, “You were just leaving, weren’t you, Campbell?”