Hearts' Desires (18 page)

             
‘You are a wonderful woman’ – what did that mean? That I’m attractive?

             
Returning from the bathroom, her gaze wandered over
her body. It was the first time in a long while that she looked at herself other than critically searching for traces of cellulite. She had never had the female hourglass dream shape. She took care to stay lean and fit, but beauty only counted as far as it was necessary in the business. She wanted to convince with her intellect and work, not seduce with additional silicon packs!
             
Now, some strange thoughts started stirring in the deepest parts of her mind. Images of passion and love; of all those deep burning emotions she played with so well in her movies. Maybe… it needed only a little courage to leap – and she would experience all this for real?! With a decisive ‘No’ she strangled the thoughts, slipped in her night gown and switched off the lights.
             
Vance tries to make up for things.
Wants to be nice to me b
e
cause he cannot do anything to fix his marriage and be nice to his wife anymore,
she said to herself while crawling under the blanket.
Simple psychological reaction.
… I have to take care of him.
With this thought, she fell asleep, not realizing she had forgotten her usual tranquilizer.

When Alison opened her door the next morning, she disco
v
ered a drinking glass there, and in it a single rose.

             
I can’t believe this!
But she was more amused than a
n
noyed. She picked up the makeshift vase and studied it…
             
“The rose, it came from you, right?” she asked Vance some minutes later, on their way to the set.
             
“Yes. I found it half broken and thought the poor thing would be better off with you than in my smoke-polluted room!”
             
“Thank you. That hasn’t happened to me in a while!”
             
“That’s too bad!” Vance smiled, and the little sparkles in his eyes made it impossible for Alison to maintain a stern e
x
pression.
             
“This is just silly!” she answered laughing.
             
“Well, I’m old enough to do silly things sometimes!”
             
At that moment, someone called her from the hotel gate. With a hasty ‘See you’ Alison departed.
             
Vance stuffed his hands in the trouser pockets and was still smiling when he discovered Jake just leaving the brea
k
fast tent.
             
“Hey, Morning!”
Bertoni
waved. “Slept well? Haven’t seen you in that a good mood for a while, pal! Where is the ‘grumpy old man’ I boarded the plane with in Los Angeles?!”
             
“I hope we won’t see him again for another 30 years!”

It was the third attempt to get the diary scene done. In theory, it was simple, didn’t need any great choreography, stunts, or dramatic acting skills. Nonetheless everything that could po
s
sibly go wrong did. Lauren had to change her costume, b
e
cause one of the sound crew-guys spilled his coke on her dress; then Thabo messed up his lines, and then Lauren dropped the diary prop…
             
“Second camera ready?”
             
“Wait a moment!” The camera assistant replied. “I have a problem with the rails! – Burt, can you have a look at this? – Alison it’ll be just a minute!”

             
She rolled her eyes.
             
“This scene is cursed,” Vance whispered in her direction, fa
n
ning himself with his hat to get the illusion of a cool breeze in the midday heat.
             
“So maybe I should call a local medicine man!” She raised her eyebrows, but smiled too.
             
Seeing the glance they exchanged, Jake was happy for his friend. For years he had witnessed the on-going disaster of Vance’s marriage. The situation had deteriorated steadily, and this year it had been on the brink of becoming really d
e
structive. Some people simply divorced, then moved on to the next relationship without any emotional baggage. He was one of those. Others struggled along, tried to fix what couldn’t be fixed, tried to revive a long dead dream by drowning the
m
selves in futility. Vance belonged in that category. He was too headstrong to give up, and too much of a gentleman for ha
v
ing affairs. Another year, and he would’ve ruined not only his private life, but his career as well, Jake was sure.
             
The camera assistant gave the ready-sign and thus ended Jake’s musings. The next moment, they all had to f
o
cus on the scene unfolding on the porch again.

             
Camilla had just left the house, carrying her mother’s d
i
ary that she had recently discovered. Her facial expressions were good so far, and the lighting was correct, too. Hopefully this time it would work! And there Louis appeared on the scene!
             
”Morning, Camilla… Hey?”
             
“O sorry, Louis. Didn’t hear you coming! I was reading.”
             
“What is it?”
             
“It’s …” She sighed and showed embarrassment. “It’s a diary.
My mother’s.”
             
“Misses
Marens
was a great woman! Everyone around here held her in high regard because…”
             
“I don’t want to hear anything!”
             
“But what…”

             
“It was not true what you’ve said!” She lifted the diary, but fortunately did not lose her grip on it this time. “It is all written in here!
The truth!”
             
“I don’t understand!”
             
“She was an informer for the government!”

             
Shock in Luis’ face.

             
“And in here she writes she can’t stand it anymore and thinks about ending her life! It was the day before she died!” Camilla covered her eyes with her free hand and sobbed. “And I was so mean and hateful to my father!”
             
Alison watched Lauren’s performance with a merciless gaze. She was almost hoping to find something wrong with her; she just didn’t like her attitude, it was as
simply
as that! And it got worse with every passing day!
             
But this time Lauren managed the scene flawlessly. Even the crying part in the end was convincing, and Thabo did fine, too. Now, the embrace… A bit awkward perhaps, but not bad. No, not bad at all. They played two teenagers in love for the first time, so it was ok to look timid. She gave the sign for ‘Cut’ and ‘Ok’.
             
She couldn’t help imagining though how different the scene would’ve looked, if Lauren had to play it with Vance instead. Alison knew the other woman hadn’t given up yet. Moreover, she had every advantage on her side! She was
young; she did not have to worry about grey hair, teeth i
m
plants or extra pounds in all the wrong places! She was what men wanted, and the older they were the easier they fell for girls who knew the game!
And why the hell am I wasting so much time thinking about this anyway?
Alison thought angrily. It was absolutely not her business if Van Sorel chose to hook up with a girl young enough to be his daughter, as long as they did it with the necessary discretion to keep the press and this production out of it!
             
“Alison?
Everything okay?”
             
She turned around and discovered Vance, displaying wo
r
ry and his right arm in a position as if he was ready to catch her.
             
“Yes.
Of course.”
             
“Thought for a moment you were going to faint! No wo
n
der in this heat.”
             
“I’m okay!
Just lost in my thoughts.”
She put her su
n
glasses back on and felt a bit better shielded behind the dark lenses.

             
Lauren just stepped down from the porch and fixed them in an especially annoying, probing glare.
Is she counting every single grey hair on my head?!
Alison promised herself she would never again work with Miss Bastian. But… didn’t she want to stop working at all?! She sighed, feeling her su
n
glasses slowly slide down the bridge of her nose again b
e
cause of the heat.
             
“You are right, Vance, we should take a break. And wait till at least a little breeze comes up!”
             
“We’ll probably see another thunderstorm this evening. Look at those clouds over the mountains!”
             
“Promising…” Jake cut in, wiping with a tissue over his forehead. “As for me, I’ll be in the shower for the next few hours, in case anyone needs me…” He put the cover over the
camera and shuffled in the direction of his bungalow like a marathon runner after the Death Valley tour.
             
“Look at you man,” Vance called after him grinning, “where’s your endurance?!”
             
“Ah… shut up!” Yes, his good old friend with his award-winning charm, as Jake liked to call it, was definitely back from a long vacation! Alison had been exactly what he had needed!
The thunderstorm came early, and it lasted the whole afte
r
noon. There was no way the work could continue and the team was off the rest of the day. Vance enjoyed the spectacle as usual, sitting at the window of his bungalow and smoking. He would’ve very much liked to go over to Alison’s place to see how she was doing, but he knew that for her it was too early for that much familiarity. He had not even told her how he felt about her.
             
A shutter flapped across the little yard, and leaning fo
r
ward, Vance discovered Alison for a second. Obviously, she was about to ‘secure’ her little place against the forces of n
a
ture. Again, the thought of going over and “protecting her” from the elements was very tempting… He had to think about something else! Vance closed the shutters of his own bung
a
low. He took his script and tried to concentrate on getting into his characters mind.

             
Approximately one hour later, the thunderstorm was over, sun was breaking through the clouds and glinting in the mud puddles in the yard. The air was wonderfully fresh and clean again. Vance decided to go on a little walk up the hills. Ho
w
ever, in the middle of his stroll that turned out to be a bad idea. Dark clouds gathered again and rain started to come down in heavy drops. While he was still wondering if he should run back or find cover, the clouds lite
r
ally burst. Vance
sprinted across the field, to where a sun shade had been erected for the workers. By the time he arrived he was so
p
ping wet. And he discovered he was not the only one seeking shelter.
             
From below the shade, Jake gave him a weak grin.
             
“Seems I’m not the only one with a bad idea,” Vance said.
             
“Yep, old man.
But you were the one pointing out I’d need a little workout.”
             
“C’mon, Jake!
Since when do you listen to what I have to say? – Ah, crap, look! I can forget these cigarettes!” He held up the so
g
gy package.
             
“I needed a walk to get my mind off things,” Jake said now.
“And to reach a decision concerning Janice and her d
e
mands.”
             
“And?”
             
“She can have the damned vacation home! She has filled it with her ugly stuff anyway; I don’t care if I never see it again! No need to let another lawyer get rich on this!” He breathed deepl
y. “Yes, to hell with it! –
Vance, what’s going on with you and Alison, you two lovebirds?”
             
“It’s that obvious?” He smiled apologetically. “Bad acting skills… I always knew it…”
             
“Well, in that case I would suggest some beginner’s dr
a
ma classes! – Have you spilled your heart to her yet?”
             
“I’m waiting for the right moment.”
             
“To melt Alison ‘Iceberg’ Cartwright?!”
             
They both grinned and stared out into the rain. It wasn’t coming down as hard as some minutes before, but still pou
r
ing in a dense curtain of water, which was greedily sucked into the dry ground.