Victory for the Ops Room Girls

by Vicki Beeby

  ‘No idea. Maybe he hangs out at likely clubs hoping to spot someone famous. Or he just happened to be there for an evening out. The club wasn’t far from Fleet Street.’

  ‘So he took his photographer with him, complete with camera, for a drink after work?’ Evie shook her head. ‘Someone told him Leonard Steele would be there.’

  ‘Then it was someone on the cast hoping for a bit of publicity. I told you, everyone was there.’ Jess laughed. ‘I’ll have to look out for anyone who looks disgruntled tomorrow. It’s backfired on them, seeing as the reporter was only interested in Leo.’

  ‘And you. If you want to return to acting, this would help.’

  Jess hadn’t looked at it that way. ‘I suppose. I wish the camera hadn’t caught me looking so soppy, though. It looks like I’m head over heels.’ Her conscience pricked her. While she might not be in love with Leo, she had been bedazzled by the glitz – at least, she had when Leo had started to pay her attention on the dance floor. She preferred to forget the majority of the evening when he had ignored her in favour of the director.

  Then another thought struck her. ‘Oh no. What if Milan sees this?’

  Evie regarded Jess, head tilted to the side, with a gaze that made Jess squirm. ‘I thought you and Milan were just friends. Would it matter if he saw it?’

  ‘Oh, all right. I admit it. I feel for Milan more than just friendship. There. Are you satisfied?’

  Evie gave a slow smile. ‘That wasn’t too hard, was it? If it took a photo of you and Leonard Steele to make you see sense, then perhaps it’s not such a bad thing after all.’

  ‘It is if Milan sees it and thinks I’m—’ Jess read out the first line of the article, her nose wrinkled in disgust ‘—that special lady who has finally tamed notorious bachelor, Leonard Steele.’ She read a bit further. ‘Gawd ’elp me. I’ve been promoted to Squadron Officer.’

  Evie snatched the paper and scanned the article, choking when she found the part Jess had just read. ‘Two ranks in two days. That’s fast work, even for you.’

  ‘It’s not funny. The senior officers are going to think I’m getting too big for my boots.’

  ‘No they won’t,’ May said. ‘If you go to the CO first and explain the mistake, I’m sure she’ll understand. The press are always getting things wrong.’

  ‘I suppose you’re right.’ Although Jess didn’t relish the prospect of going to the CO cap in hand. ‘That doesn’t solve what to do about Milan, though.’

  ‘Why would Milan not understand if you tell him the truth?’

  Jess leaned over to give May a hug. ‘May, just because you landed yourself the dearest, sweetest natured man in the air force, it doesn’t mean every other man is exactly like him.’ Thank goodness. Although Jess was very fond of Peter, she couldn’t imagine getting any thrill from dating him.

  ‘You make him sound like a fish! I didn’t land him.’

  ‘Sorry, poor choice of words. I should have said, you bowled him over with your courage, intelligence and beauty.’

  The old May would have blushed fiery red and denied it. Jess was proud of her friend that she could now take compliments without objecting, even if she did still blush. ‘Anyway,’ May said, ‘we’re supposed to be talking about Milan and you. Don’t deflect the conversation to me and Peter. Milan might be nothing like Peter, but he’s crazy about you. He’s not going to run a mile just because you were photographed dancing with another man.’

  ‘Especially not after that violin you gave him,’ Evie added. ‘He knows he means more to you than someone to flirt with. Give him some credit for understanding you.’

  Jess sighed, remembering how Milan had seemed to see right through her when he’d accused her of hiding her true self beneath the sparkle. ‘Maybe there are some things I’d rather he didn’t find out.’

  Evie frowned. ‘What do you mean by that?’

  Jess bit her lip. She had meant her comment to sound light-hearted, but it had come out sounding all too serious. ‘Oh, I would hate him to find out how long it takes me to do my face and hair,’ she joked. ‘I want him to think this is my natural look.’

  The others laughed and the moment passed. Jess turned the conversation to another problem on her mind. She couldn’t dismiss her fears of being found out so easily, though. She couldn’t bear her friends to think differently about her, which they surely would if they found out that she was Hannah’s mother and had been lying to them all these years.

  ‘What shall I do about this script?’ she asked, pulling the pages from her inside pocket.

  ‘What’s wrong with it?’ Evie asked. ‘I thought you were loving being a film actor.’

  ‘I am.’ Her tone rang hollow, shocking her. ‘I mean, I am.’ She managed to put more feeling into it this time. ‘I just hate the character I have to play. She’s such a drip. I mustn’t complain, though. It’s an amazing opportunity.’

  May plucked the script from her hands. ‘What makes her a drip?’

  ‘She doesn’t act or think for herself. Her only function in the plot seems to be to moon over the hero. Look.’ She leaned forward and opened the script. ‘The scene I played yesterday was the one place where Fiona – that’s my character – has a disagreement with Charlie – Leo’s character. Yet by the end of the scene, Leo has talked her round to his point of view and she’s all happy again.’

  May looked at the script, frowning. ‘Mind if I read the whole thing?’

  ‘Help yourself. As long as you give it back in time for me to learn tomorrow’s lines.’

  May curled up in her armchair and buried herself in the script.

  Jess stretched and rose. ‘Ah well, I suppose I’d better go and make myself respectable for dinner. Either of you coming to the pub later?’

  May didn’t answer, lost in the script. Evie shook her head and said, ‘I’m going out with Alex later.’

  Jess went upstairs to her room fighting off that feeling of being left out.

  * * *

  May cornered Jess after dinner. Evie had already left by this time, and Jess was reluctantly coming round to the fact that she would have to stay in and learn her lines.

  ‘I don’t think Fiona is a complete drip,’ May said as she handed the script back to Jess. ‘It’s all a matter of interpretation.’

  ‘What do you mean?’

  ‘Well, look at the scene you filmed yesterday. You could take it to mean that Fiona’s being unreasonable because Charlie couldn’t possibly have abandoned his squadron to meet Fiona.’

  ‘How else could you take it? No WAAF would fail to understand that duty has to come first.’

  ‘But she’s in love. Every time she sees him could be the last. She’s trying to hide her fear from Charlie, trying to be brave for his sake, but in that scene all those bottled-up feelings burst out. Taken in isolation, that scene makes her look petulant but put it together with the rest, if you play it right, Fiona becomes a rounded character who’s trying to hold it together and hide her doubts and fears from Charlie because she doesn’t want to spoil the precious moments they get together.’

  ‘I suppose… wait. What do you mean if I play it right?’

  May looked down. ‘It’s… well, it’s up to you. How you act her scenes. You could take it at face value and play her like a drip. Or you could say exactly the same words and show that inner fight.’

  It was like looking at one of those optical illusions where the same drawing could look like two different things depending on how you looked at it. ‘May, you’re a genius.’ She paused as a thought struck. ‘Only…’

  ‘Only what?’

  ‘What if the director doesn’t like how I play it?’

  May put her hands on her hips in an eerie imitation of Auntie Vera. ‘Jessica Jane Josephine Halloway, I can’t believe what I’m hearing.’

  ‘It’s Jessica Josephine Jane, actually.’ Jess grinned despite herself. ‘What can’t you believe?’

  ‘That you of all people are afraid to stand up to
a man.’

  ‘I’m not.’ Jess’s voice rose with indignation. Somehow being accused of cowardice by her most timid friend stung more than if the accusation had come from Evie. Although if she was honest with herself, she couldn’t deny there was truth in what May said. ‘Maybe you’re right. I just don’t want to get a reputation of being difficult to work with. I’d never get another acting job.’

  ‘How does trying to make it the best possible story turn you into a difficult actress?’

  Jess didn’t know. She just knew that actresses who spoke up for themselves usually didn’t get invited back to audition for any other parts.

  May was giving her a penetrating stare that made Jess squirm. ‘You want to know what I think?’

  ‘I’m not sure. I’m starting to regret encouraging you to speak up for yourself.’

  ‘I think you’re afraid to dig too deep into Fiona’s emotions because it might force you to admit you’re in love.’

  ‘I… what? I’m not in love with Leo.’ Jess felt a stab of panic. Had she said or done anything that let slip how she had felt for him in the past?

  ‘Not Leo. Milan.’

  ‘Oh.’ Jess’s relief was short-lived, however. She really didn’t want to put her feelings for Milan under the spotlight.

  ‘Think about it,’ May said. She glanced at her watch. ‘You’d better get a move on if you’re going to learn your words for tomorrow.’

  Jess nodded. She knew how hard May found it to speak her mind. Only the deepest conviction that she was right would have made May say what she had. Somehow that made it hit home far harder than if Evie had been the one to speak up. Even now, May was biting her lip, looking as though she wished she’d held her tongue.

  ‘Thank you, May,’ she said. ‘I will think about it, I promise.’ Then, because she wanted to show May how much she appreciated their friendship she added, ‘Have you got time to hear me read through later? If I’m going to try persuading the director your way’s best, I need to be sure I’ve got my performance spot-on.’

  After four years of close friendship, perhaps it was time to open up more to her friends.

  * * *

  ‘Hold it!’ The director strode onto the set, interrupting the scene rehearsal, and addressed Jess. ‘What was that?’

  With a sinking heart, Jess rose from behind the desk. The film crew had finished filming the exterior scenes and now they were in the studio. The set they were filming in today was the antechamber to the station commander’s office, where Jess’s character had her desk. As she faced the director, she wished they were still filming outside. If things went badly, she couldn’t run away from the set.

  She squared her shoulders. ‘I thought it made more sense of the scene we filmed on Monday if we see here how afraid Fiona is of losing her heart to a man who could be dead before the day’s end.’

  Following May’s suggestion, she had spoken the words exactly as they appeared in the script. Instead of gazing dreamily into Charlie’s eyes, however, she had turned away abruptly before Charlie could cup her face. She should, she now realised, have warned Leo what she was going to do, because the sudden move had thrown him, leaving him off balance. She braced herself for a tirade.

  ‘You thought you’d change the whole dynamic of a scene without consulting me?’ Allan Ford’s face screwed into a scowl. He thrust out a hand towards his assistant and clicked his fingers. The assistant must have been a mind reader, for she scurried forward and placed the script into his outstretched hand.

  Jess’s heart beat a rapid tattoo against her ribs while Allan perused the script.

  Eventually he looked up. ‘Think you know better than me or the writer how Fiona would feel?’

  ‘I know exactly how it feels.’

  Allan’s eyebrows twitched together, and he looked her up and down as though reminded that her uniform was no costume but the one she wore by right. ‘What do you think, Leo? Can you make it work playing the scene her way?’

  ‘I suppose I could give it a go.’

  ‘Very well. We’ll do one run-through your way then go back to mine. The final decision rests with me.’

  ‘Thanks for your wholehearted support,’ Jess muttered to Leo as they retook their places.

  ‘It doesn’t do to have both of us in Allan’s bad books. This way, I can speak up for you later if necessary.’

  Jess supposed there was some merit in what he said. She couldn’t help thinking that Milan would have championed her had he been in the same position.

  To give him his due, Leo played his part perfectly. Jess threw herself into the role. While she waited for the crew to reset the stage, she thought of Milan and how she felt knowing the risks he took each time he flew into enemy territory. She had replied to Allan without thinking, and she guessed her raw honesty was what had persuaded him to give her way a try. She usually tried to push her fears for Milan into the back of her mind. Now she allowed them to occupy her thoughts. She was seeing him tomorrow. Would it be the last time she saw him? Would he even still be alive tomorrow?

  By the time the crew were ready for another run-through, she was in the same barely-suppressed emotional state she imagined Fiona would be in.

  Chapter Thirteen

  Jess flew into No. 2 Mess at the end of the long day and made straight for May, who was writing a letter at one of the tables in the anteroom. She grasped May by the wrists and despite the considerable difference in height, raised her from her seat and whirled her around. ‘You genius, May. It worked!’

  She swung May in circles until they were both weak from laughter and forced to collapse in chairs to recover. The other women in the anteroom looked on, giggling.

  ‘Care to enlighten me?’ It was Evie who spoke. Jess peered up to see her standing over them, her lips twitching.

  ‘I think it means she managed to persuade the film director that WAAFs aren’t complete airheads who only exist to swoon over the pilots.’ May pulled a handkerchief from her pocket to wipe her streaming eyes. She looked at Jess. ‘Go on. Tell us how it happened.’

  ‘Yes, I want to hear this.’ Evie dropped into a neighbouring armchair and regarded Jess expectantly.

  Jess pulled herself upright in her chair with a groan, putting a hand to her aching stomach muscles. ‘Well, I could have thought through my approach better. I nearly ended up getting the chop.’ She filled her friends in on her disastrous first attempt at acting the scene and the director’s grudging concession to let her play the scene once her way. ‘Over lunch, the director went into a huddle with the writer, and when they came back, he said he’d decided to play the character my way.’ She looked at May. ‘Your way. As I said – you’re a genius. Honestly, they should employ you as scriptwriter. Give you a credit, at least.’

  ‘No way.’ May clapped a hand to her chest. ‘Promise me you won’t say anything.’ She looked so horrified, Jess had to bite back a laugh. ‘Anyway, it’s more a matter of interpretation than writing.’

  ‘Keep your hair on. Your secret’s safe with me. Anyway, wait until you hear the best bit.’ It took all Jess’s self-control not to bounce in her chair. ‘The director said he wants to completely rewrite Fiona’s part, make her role bigger.’

  ‘That’s amazing,’ Evie said, then she frowned. ‘Wait. Won’t that take longer to film? I thought you’d only been released for a fortnight.’

  ‘Yeah.’ This was the part Jess wasn’t so thrilled about, remembering Laura Morgan’s reluctance to lose a Filterer Officer for even two weeks. ‘I told Allan – the director – that the WAAF won’t be happy, so he’s going to make the request personally.’ She grimaced. ‘I dread to think what the CO’s going to say.’

  ‘You want to do it, though, don’t you?’ May asked.

  ‘You bet. This is the chance of a lifetime. There is one thing, though.’ Jess glanced around the anteroom. By this time it was filling up, as it was only half an hour until dinner. She gave a little shake of the head. ‘Not here.’ She rose. ‘Come on. I
need to do my hair before dinner.’

  When they were up in the bedroom, Jess brushed out her hair and watched Evie and May in the mirror. ‘I know we’re not supposed to talk about what goes on in the Filter Room outside its walls but—’

  Evie stopped her with a raised hand. ‘I know what you’re going to ask. I promise you, we’re keeping an eye out for your aunt. There’s nothing for you to worry about.’

  Jess relaxed, assured that Evie would have said if any V2s or flying bombs had hit Poplar. ‘You’re both stars. I never thought I would worry so, being out of the Filter Room. Never realised I would miss knowing what’s going on.’ She put down her hairbrush and started to pin her hair into regulation off the collar rolls. ‘In a strange sort of way, when I’m there I feel like I’m watching out for them. Ridiculous, I know, when there’s nothing I can do, but that’s how I feel.’

  ‘I know what you mean,’ Evie said. ‘I must say I’m glad my mum is safe in Oxford.’

  ‘And my dad is safe in one of His Majesty’s prisons,’ May said with a grin.

  ‘So both me and May can watch out for your aunt and cousin while you’re away.’

  Jess hastily wiped away a tear before it could smudge her mascara. ‘Did I ever tell you you’re the best friends a girl can have?’

  ‘Yes, but we don’t mind hearing it again,’ Evie said. ‘You can tell us about it over dinner.’

  ‘It’s a deal, although I’ve got to go out again afterwards. Leo invited me to join him for a drink.’

  In the mirror, Jess saw Evie and May exchange glances. ‘You’ve been seeing a lot of Leo,’ Evie said, her tone a study of neutrality.

  ‘Honestly, I’d almost think Auntie Vera paid you two to keep an eye on me. It’s just a drink. Nothing more.’

  ‘What does Milan think? Has he seen that newspaper article?’

  A cold hand seemed to squeeze her heart; the feeling she got every time she thought of Milan seeing the photos of her and Leo together. ‘I don’t know. I haven’t seen him for a while.’

  ‘He’s a lovely man, Jess. I’d hate to see him hurt.’