Lydia sucked her bottom lip and nodded. “Of course.”
They got the niceties over, the small talk, while Lydia made two mugs of tea. Then, perched on the sofa, cradling the tea to defrost her hands, Ruby decided to just go for it.
“You know why I’m here, don’t you?”
“Ruby, I’m not sure I’m ready to talk about this. I feel like a fool.” Lydia stroked her tabby cat.
“I want to say I’m sorry,” Ruby said, “because this whole thing had been my idea. Lydia, you have to believe me, you were seeing the real Steve.”
“But what if I don’t want the Hollywood lifestyle?” Lydia replied. “What if I won’t fit in?”
“You will. Or he’ll keep you out of it. Other celebrities do, don’t they?” Alice was probably the best person to answer that. Yet, Steve had managed to keep Ruby and Mum out of the limelight all his career. “Look, he didn’t think he’d find an ordinary, nice girl, really, he’d always be thinking ‘do they like me for my personality or is it my looks, fame and fortune?’” Ruby said. “I convinced him to strip it away – to be Clark Kent, hide his superhero. Lois was never interested in Clark – you realise?”
“I’m not Lois Lane.” Lydia’s raised voice made her cat jump off her lap.
“I know, but please believe me, he loved you. He loves you! You need to give him a chance. Please, Lydia, he’s miserable without you.”
Lydia sighed heavily and drank her tea. “I’m miserable without him, too.”
“If it’s any consolation, I miss him too.” Ruby could empathise. She loved Steve unconditionally; he was her brother after all. And these past couple of months had been great, catching up, bringing the family together, able to talk about Mum, and even Dad. And most importantly, Ruby wanted Steve to be happy. Wherever he was in the world, it felt important he be happy.
“You know, I’ve watched a couple of Stu, I mean Steve’s films. Just to check, to see how I missed it. How I couldn’t have realised who he really was.”
“Look, I was part of the deceit too, and the others didn’t guess either.”
“Alice did.”
“Alice had help from Terry.” The mere thought of that man made Ruby angry. “It was only after his probing that she put two and two together. So you don’t have to feel stupid about this. This wasn’t why Steve did it. He really enjoyed making friends with all of you at the hotel. To get to know you properly – you know, under normal circumstances.” Ruby hugged the warm mug, thawing her fingers. “Please find it in your heart to forgive him. If you’re miserable then maybe you’re meant to be together? It wouldn’t harm to try…and if you don’t like it, it doesn’t work out, you can come back to your crappy job and friends in Bristol.”
“It’s not crappy. You’re not crappy.”
“Thanks.” Ruby laughed. “But you could follow him around the world, and be supported to do your illustrations. Steve could even help—”
“I don’t want his support – or his connections.”
“Sorry, sorry, I didn’t mean it like that. But think about it. You could be with the man you love, not doing this shitty job in Bristol that you hate, so that you could solely concentrate on your drawings. And by the way, this hasn’t come from Steve. I’m saying this. Think about it.”
“Ruby! I’ll become the person he was trying to avoid. The reason he stripped away that lifestyle and donned a stupid disguise. It looks like I’m only interested in his money.”
“Yes, yes, good point.” Ruby held her hands up. God, she really needed to convince Lydia. And she wasn’t doing a good job. “But the point is, you fell in love with him thinking he was poor – didn’t you? You wouldn’t really care less about his money if he turned up broke tomorrow.”
“No. In fact, I want Stuart back.”
“Then think about it. Maybe answer his phone call the next time he rings, please?” Ruby stood up, handing Lydia her empty mug. “And come back to work – the others aren’t judging you. At least come back to be reminded how shit it is, before you make a decision.” They both laughed.
“I enjoy my job.”
“Yeah, yeah, but you’d rather be drawing.”
“Yes, and I haven’t done much of that either lately. I’ve lost my inspiration and my muse.”
Ruby squeezed Lydia’s shoulder sympathetically. “Thanks for letting me in, and for the tea. Please think about what I’ve said.”
***
Wednesday 22nd January
Ruby had been staring up at her calendar on her office wall when the phone rang. There was only a week left of January; she hadn’t seen Steve in over four weeks, since disappearing out of the door Christmas Eve and into the throng of photographers to a limo whizzing him away. She hadn’t spoken to him since he’d begged her to get in touch with Lydia.
What was he doing in the big old Hollywood world?
“Hey, Maxine, who is it now?”
“You’ll love this caller,” Maxine said, without waiting for Ruby’s response, she put the call through.
“Hello, you’re through to Ruby Fisher. How may I help you?”
“Hey, Roo,”
“Steve!”
“Just calling to let you know I’m flying into the UK tomorrow to do some interviews. I’ll be on a chat show live on Friday evening,” Ruby listened as Steve spoke, his American twang sounding natural, “Anyway, can you get Lydia to watch it?”
“I’ll try Steve, I’ll try. Will I see you?”
“If you watch the show, you will.”
“No, silly, are you going to come to Bristol? Will I see you in the flesh?”
“I can’t promise, here is my plan…”
Chapter 30
Friday 24th January
Lydia perched on the edge of Ruby’s sofa, feeling uncomfortable while she waited for Ruby to come back from the kitchen with the wine. Ruby had already brought out savoury snacks in little bowls but Lydia didn’t fancy anything to eat. Anxiety crept up her backbone as she observed the room. With the Christmas decorations removed, the room appeared more spacious, even lighter. The front window, no longer blocked by a huge Christmas tree, had its curtains drawn, so no roaming photographers could peer in.
Family photographs including recent photos of Steve and Ruby were dotted about in frames on bookshelves or hanging on the walls amongst floral canvas prints.
She knew why Ruby had invited her over this evening. To talk about Stuart – Steve. She was still doing that. Lydia still couldn’t get her head around the fact he was Steve Mason. The Steve Mason. Lydia had tortured herself, streaming his films through Netflix to watch him in action. She’d searched the internet for everything he’d made – she could find everything on YouTube. She couldn’t believe she’d been so stupid, hadn’t seen through the disguise. However, watching the films had made her miss him. She missed the touches, the kisses, the little loving gestures. The way he made her laugh by pulling crazy faces. They were able to talk about everything, yet nothing important, even comfortable in each other’s silence.
“Right, here you are.” Ruby entered, handing Lydia a glass of rosé. Ruby checked her phone before tucking it into her pocket, then nervously sat next to Lydia.
“You’ve got me here to talk about h – him, haven’t you?” Lydia took a sip of her wine, then placed it on the coffee table.
“Sort of, yes.” Ruby grimaced. “Look, I’ll be honest with you. He’s on a chat show tonight, promoting the DVD release of Perfection.” Lydia made a move to get up but Ruby placed her hand on her knee. “I thought you’d like to see it. And it would be easier for you if you watched it with me – that’s all.”
Lydia gulped some wine down, hoping it would numb any feelings, eradicate the nervousness that had started trembling through her body.
“Drink up,” Ruby said, raising her glass toward Lydia. “It is Friday after all. If you don’t fancy a taxi ride home, you’re more than welcome to stay in the spare room. This house feels so big without St—” Ruby turned the
TV onto the right channel, then hit the mute button. “Just in case we get caught up with chatting and forget the time. God, Steve would never forgive me then.”
“Steve put you up to this?”
“Noooo.” But Ruby didn’t sound convincing. Lydia frowned. “No, no, he told me about the show and I thought I’d watch. And I thought you might like to, too.”
“You’re a bad liar, Ruby.”
Ruby sighed. “I am. Okay, so he did tell me and asked if I’d get you to watch it.”
Lydia fidgeted, finding the strap of her handbag beside her and rubbing it, unable to look Ruby in the eye. Did she bolt or did she stay and watch? What would Steve say to make her change her mind? She’d been thinking of nothing else but how much she missed him. Now she understood; when he’d talked about that job interview, he’d stressed he wouldn’t be in the UK. He lived in Los Angeles. He travelled around the world filming, on different locations. Could she handle that? Could she deal with the swarms of press like Christmas Eve?
“Why did he go to London, Ruby?” She realised this was one thing she hadn’t had answered.
“Oh, uhm, basically his agent called to remind him he had an appointment to do some ADR – voice-over work – in London for his new film that’s coming out in the summer. It had been scheduled ages ago and Steve had forgotten all about it.” Ruby shrugged. ”He felt terrible about missing your birthday, please believe me.”
“Oh.” Lydia nodded. He’d gone to work. How stupid had she been? She’d even seen a photograph of Steve Mason in London in the newspaper. Why hadn’t she put two and two together? Because it wasn’t believable. Why would Steve Mason be interested in her, when he could have any woman he wanted?
“He tried hard to get out of it. But apparently he was under contract so he had to go. Lydia, he felt terrible about lying to you. I think he’d just dug himself in so deeply he didn’t know how to get himself out of it – and then the press bloody well got there first. Life as Stuart was uncomplicated.” Lydia nodded then sipped her wine, trying to digest the information, but unable to get her head around it.
“Look,” Ruby said, rubbing Lydia’s upper arm, “he loves you, Lydia. I know it.”
Ruby glanced at the TV. “Oh, look, it’s starting.” She reached for the remote control, increasing the volume, and Lydia’s heart rate increased at the anticipation of seeing Steve on the television screen.
As the show’s host, in a flashy suit, introduced the guests for the evening, the camera shot to Steve backstage, waving and smiling. Her insides jolted with the surprise, her stomach back-flipped. No glasses hid his electric blue eyes, his hair was slightly longer, sexier, so she could run her fingers through it. Then there was his designer stubble and he wore a tailored suit, the colour highlighting his eyes. Yet, his smile was the same. Stuart’s.
“Wow, he looks like a different person,” Ruby mumbled, echoing Lydia’s thoughts. Lydia was too stunned for words.
Both watched the show silently. Lydia forgot to tell Ruby to stop filling her glass with wine, both mesmerised, waiting for Steve to come onto the sofa. Ruby muttered impatiently under her breath, wanting Steve to appear. Finally he did, and as he strode towards the sofa on the stage and sat beside the young, pretty actress, Lola, who’d just been interviewed, wolf whistles and loud cheering came from the audience. And Steve – Lydia was getting it better in her head now this was Steve Mason – waved and smiled.
The presenter interviewed him enthusiastically; they talked a little about his new film releasing in the summer but mainly of Perfection coming out on DVD, and even showed a clip. Lydia, hit with jealousy, watched Steve kiss Erica Kealey.
“God, he’s handsome,” Lydia said, without even thinking. “He was born to be on the screen.” She couldn’t stop watching him. All the little mannerisms, how he rubbed his nose, held his hands together as he sat, the dimples in his cheeks as he smiled. Everything was there in front of her – exactly the same. No difference. Just the material things like his clothes had changed his image, how he looked.
“Yeah,” Ruby said mournfully, “he got the sparkly eyes gene.” And she chuckled, and Lydia couldn’t stop herself from smiling. He did have sparkly eyes. “His American accent is back too. But it sort of suits him.”
“He sounds sexier.”
Ruby grinned and nudged Lydia. “See, glad you watched?”
Another guest emerged onto the sofa – this time a male comedian. The limelight was taken off Steve as he was interviewed, though Steve joined in, with the petite young actress in the conversations, sharing experiences. They all laughed and joked about fame, fortune, and television. You could see both guests were enjoying the attention and company of Steve Mason on the sofa. He exuded charm and serenity, and his good sense of humour shone as he laughed and joked with the comedian. The audience loved him too. They were all probably thinking what a lovely, down-to-earth kind of guy he was.
Now came the end to the show with some music to finish it off but the camera wheeled onto Steve first. Ruby hastily shared the remains of the bottle of wine between the two glasses. Lydia frowned. This didn’t usually happen. The presenter was mentioning something about Steve Mason having a special message. Then the camera fell back onto Steve and he looked straight into the camera lens, as if looking right at Lydia. Her breath quickened.
“There is a special woman in my heart, and I’m really worried I’ve broken hers. Anyway, I wanted to say – on national television (that got a laugh from the audience) – that I love you. Words can’t describe how I feel right now. The past few weeks I’ve been to hell and back not seeing you, not sharing my life with you.” Steve kept his focus on the camera. “Anyway, in the hope that you’ll forgive me, I’ve asked the band to play our favourite song.”
The presenter announced the band, Abandoned, and Lydia’s insides felt like a thousand butterflies taking flight. She watched in amazement as one of her favourite bands played one of her favourite songs. A song she and Steve had made love to on her sofa. Every time she heard this song it made her think of that wonderful evening the two of them had shared. She listened and realised the lyrics were changed slightly, to include Lydia’s name rather than Jessica. He’d made that happen. Even Ruby whispered to herself that it was romantic.
The band finished, and Lydia blinked, releasing a tear, which she quickly wiped away, then gave her chest a rub, to ease the tightness that had gathered there. The cameras were back on the presenter who thanked his guests, and the camera panned to the long couch. Steve was still smiling and laughing, the audience applauding rapturously.
The young actress, Lola, sitting next to Steve nudged him and asked quietly, “That was beautiful. So, are you going to ask her to marry you?”
“Yeah, hopefully. One day,” Steve responded quietly, looking at the woman, and not the camera.
Lydia gasped, bringing hands to her open mouth.
“Shit, I don’t think he realised his mic was on,” Ruby said as the presenter was back on the screen announcing next week’s guests on the show.
As the credits rolled, Ruby, thankfully, remained quiet as Lydia’s brain whirred silently.
Did she want to marry Steve?
Chapter 31
Steve, hands in his pockets, strolled into his dressing room to collect his belongings, wondering how Lydia would have reacted to seeing the band play their song. Before the show, Ruby had texted a confirmation that Lydia was with her. It had filled him with anxiety, knowing she could be watching. But he’d sucked it in, taken a deep breath, and had ploughed on with his speech, wanting to tell Lydia how he felt.
As he tucked his phone into his inside pocket, it vibrated and started ringing, funnily enough, the song that had just played.
“Steve, what the fuck were you playing at?” Karl bellowed down the cell phone. “You do realise we’re going to have every woman in the country, across the world, responding to this.” His voice rose to a squeak. “I’m his special woman. He loves me.”
“It doesn’t matter—”
“It doesn’t matter!” Karl boomed. “You’ve caused a major headache for your personal assistant if nothing else. Fan mail from all over the world responding with a ‘yes I’ll marry you.’”
“What?” Steve stopped in his tracks, cold. The blood drained from his face.
“It’s all over Twitter. Apparently, it was on camera, you saying you’d ask her to marry you one day. I haven’t seen it yet – obviously. But Twitter’s going berserk. Steve Mason is trending. I’ve just had Marie on the phone—”
“Shit.” Steve combed a hand through his hair. He’d made Ruby get Lydia to watch the show, just to hear the song. Nothing more. Hoping it would bring back pleasant memories, and maybe win her back, slowly, get her to answer his calls. Baby steps, Steve had thought, would be the best way to deal with this, to convince Lydia. If he’d gone in, all guns blazing Hollywood style, he’d scare the crap out of her.
Steve glanced at his watch – the cheap thing Ruby had made him buy and wear. Back in LA, he’d put his Jaeger-LeCoultre watch back on his wrist, thinking he’d missed it, but he couldn’t get used to the weight of it, and this reminded him of home, Ruby and more importantly, Lydia. It kept him grounded. Hastily, feeling sweat beading around his hairline and at the back of his neck, he checked he had everything and exited his dressing room. “Karl, I’ve got to get to Lydia.”
His agent was yelling away as if he had to shout down the phone to be heard, when Lola approached him.
“Are you all right, Steve?” Lola asked, placing her hand on his arm.
“The camera was still on us at the end.”
Lola held a well manicured hand over her mouth in shock. “Oh, I’m sorry, I didn’t realise.” She took out her iPhone and after some navigating, she nodded. “It is all over Twitter.”
“I’ve got to get to Bristol. I’ve made a right mess of this.”
“Gosh, it’s all my fault for asking the stupid question.” For someone so young and bubbly on the stage, Lola was intelligent and warm, sensibility emanating from her. “Look, I’ve got a helicopter ready to fly me up to Manchester. It can take a detour. Let’s get you to Bristol.”
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