“I don’t know what to say to you. I like you, Liz. You’ve been great on the show. But you have no heart. You’re just like everyone in this business. It’s all about you, and you don’t care whose lives you destroy to get ahead. Well, I’m sorry to disappoint you. We’ll make it without you. Beauchamp Hall has a lot more going for it than you and Bill Anders.”
“This is just business,” she said limply, which was the phrase everyone used to stab someone in the back. Even Winnie already knew that, and she felt sorry for the producer.
She fully understood what had just happened. Elizabeth was leaving the show, and taking Bill Anders with her, to star on another show. They were the two biggest stars on Beauchamp Hall. They had lost Tom White when he was killed earlier in the season they were shooting. And Miranda Charles had left shortly after. Matthew had compensated for it admirably, with new storylines and several new actors. But Elizabeth and Bill leaving would be an even bigger blow, and would be much harder to make up for, to keep the show interesting to their loyal viewers who were emotionally attached to every one of the players, as Winnie had been when she got there. It had changed subtly for her now, because she was part of the behind-the-scenes making of it, which made it seem less real to her, though even more fascinating. And she knew what went into making it convincing. She saw the artifice now, not just the plot.
He stormed out of the trailer then, and there was dead silence after he left. Elizabeth stole a careful glance at her assistant, and Winnie looked at her.
“I’m sorry you had to hear all that.”
“I thought you were mad at me for the last week.”
“Of course not. I was just stressed out trying to make the decision, and I wanted Bill to come with me. He wasn’t sure at first. He’s made the decision now. I’m leaving when we finish shooting the season in four weeks.”
“Matthew will have to work hard to make up for it. Do you think he can do it?” Winnie asked, looking worried. It hadn’t even occurred to her she was about to lose her job too. She was the assistant to someone who was about to leave. But her job was minimal compared to everyone else’s. And she cared deeply about the show.
“I hope Matthew can do it,” Elizabeth said seriously. “I love this show. I don’t want to hurt it. But I have to think of my career too. Shows like this rarely go past six or seven seasons. Viewers either get tired of them, the cast wants to do other things, or the writer runs out of gas, or wants to quit before it all falls apart. The handwriting was on the wall before I did this. Michael just doesn’t want to see it, but he knows it too.” Winnie nodded, trying to absorb it. “And I’m sorry, Winnie. You’ve been the best assistant I’ve ever had. Do you want to come with me? We’ll be shooting in London, with location shoots in Monte Carlo, Dubai, Las Vegas, and Macao. It’s about a professional female gambler, who’s basically crooked, an embezzler and a thief, so we’ll be on location in the gambling capitals of the world. The scripts are great. Bill is going to play the sexy, handsome James Bond–style detective who’s always trying to catch me, but never does. But I sleep with him occasionally.” She smiled.
“It sounds like a great show,” Winnie said sincerely. But not a family show with strong values like Beauchamp Hall.
“I think it will be. Want to come on board?”
She thought about it for a minute and shook her head. “I didn’t come here for a career in show business. I came here because I love this show, and everything it represents. It won’t be the same without you, but I think I’ll stick with the Titanic, if that’s what happens. I’m not ready to get in the lifeboat yet.” Elizabeth nodded and respected her for it. She admired Winnie’s integrity.
“Loyal to the end. I think Matthew will be able to keep it going for another season or two, if he wants to. But I don’t think he could have done it for longer than that anyway. Almost no show has ever made it to ten years. What’ll you do?” she asked Winnie, worried about her for a minute.
“Go back to being an errand girl on the set,” she said philosophically. “I had a lot of fun working for you. Thank you for giving me the chance to do it. As long as I don’t have to buy super-sized condoms for Gillian Hemmings and test them with him, I’ll be fine.” They both laughed at that, and Winnie asked the wigmaker to come back. Elizabeth picked two she wanted to wear that day, and her performance was brilliant. Winnie knew she would be sorely missed. She was a pro and a terrific actress, one of the best, even if she wasn’t loyal. She had her eye on her own career, which came first for her.
The news was out by the end of the week, and there was mass panic on the set. At first, everyone thought it was just a rumor and didn’t believe it, but management confirmed it. A brief announcement was issued, with the assurance that they would be shooting another season after this one, as planned, but the more experienced players and technicians were dubious that the show would survive Elizabeth and Bill leaving, and that Matthew would want to write it without them. They all felt the sands shifting under their feet. The more optimistic members of the cast and crew wanted to believe it would go on. Others didn’t. Fear was rampant and tangible on the set.
Nigel took the news badly, and said it wasn’t handwriting on the wall, it was a neon sign that the show would be canceled.
“I was there when she told Michael. He said he’s not going to let the ship go down.” Winnie tried to reassure him.
“It’s not up to him, it’s up to the network, the viewers, and the sponsors. If the ratings blow, it’ll be over in five minutes. Why didn’t you tell me if you knew?” He looked angry about that too.
“I only heard it a few days ago. I wasn’t supposed to be in the room, and I was told to keep it confidential.”
“And that includes me?” he asked and she nodded. “I’m about to lose my job, and you couldn’t warn me?” He wanted to blame her for what was happening.
“You’re not about to lose your job. They say they’re going to do another season.”
“Don’t count on it. You don’t know this business. I do. I guarantee you we’ll be out of work by the end of the year. I’m going to start putting out feelers,” he said, with a grim look. He went to stay at his own place that night, and left for London for the weekend to see some producers he knew. He acted as though the show had already been canceled and he was in a black mood. They had all signed confidentiality agreements about Elizabeth and Bill leaving, so Winnie couldn’t talk to Marje about it. She spent a quiet weekend watching reruns of Beauchamp Hall, which always calmed her, and reading her dog-eared copy of Jane Eyre. She wondered what Matthew was going to do to bring the show back to life without Elizabeth and Bill. It made her realize how difficult his job was. She used to fantasize about writing a show like this, and now she realized what it took to do it. She didn’t envy him the task ahead.
* * *
—
Nigel was in no better spirits when he came back from London. He couldn’t tell anyone he’d met with why he was looking. He’d just said he was getting restless and thinking about moving on, but no one had had any hopeful suggestions for him.
“What about starting the sound business you’ve been talking about if they cancel the show?” Winnie was trying to be helpful and he looked annoyed when they talked about it over dinner.
“I’m not ready to do that yet. I don’t have the money. It’ll cost a fortune in equipment. That’s probably ten years away. If the show goes down, I need another job, Winnie. I can’t do what you’ve done, and come over here and hang out for six months and play around.”
“I didn’t come over here with a fortune. I did it with my savings.”
“Yeah, and if you run out of money, you can sell a house in Michigan.”
“Half a house,” she reminded him. “My sister owns the other half. You make me sound like an heiress. I saved most of what I have, and the money my mom left me eleven years ago, which wasn’t mu
ch.”
“Well, I haven’t saved my money like you did, I don’t own half a house, and my parents barely have enough to live on now that they’re retired. I’ll have to go to work on another show if Beauchamp dies, or when it does, since it’s not an ‘if’ anymore, it’s a ‘when.’ Sometime in the next year or two, if it takes that long, I’ll be out of work.”
“So will I,” she said quietly.
“And then what? You’ll go back to Michigan?”
“Let’s figure that out when it happens.”
“I told you, Win, everything in this business is temporary, that’s why I never married and don’t have kids. Because all you do when you work on shows like this is go from one to the next, if you’re lucky and get another job.” She had come to understand that. It wasn’t like working for a bank or a business that would be there forever. It appeared, it had its moment of glory, and one day it disappeared. It made her sad to think about it. She didn’t want Beauchamp Hall to end either. Coming here had been her dream. But for Nigel, it was a matter of earning his livelihood. This was his career.
* * *
—
A few days later, she got a note addressed to her that was dropped off at Elizabeth’s trailer. Elizabeth was out when she found it, and she sat down to read it. It was from Edward Smith, one of the actors on the set, who asked her to give him a call. She had hardly ever spoken to him. He played the oldest son in the Beauchamp family. He was in his early forties and played a married man with four children, with a wife he had married out of duty and didn’t love. He’d had an affair with his true love for years, and had a second family with her, living in secret in a home he’d built for her a few miles away. The actor who played the part was Australian, from a fancy family. He had gone to the best British boarding schools, and had no trace of an Australian accent, only an aristocratic British one. He was good-looking, and a wonderful actor, and Winnie had no idea why he wanted her to call him. She thought about it, and finally called him that night from home.
“It’s good of you to call me,” he said as soon as she said who it was. “I would have talked to you on the set, but it seemed awkward. There’s so much angst these days with Liz and Bill leaving.” Winnie couldn’t figure out if he was asking her for a date or something else, but he came to the point quickly. “I’ve been envious of Liz ever since you went to work for her. I saw how efficient you were, even when you were the errand girl on the set. I don’t know what your plans are now that she’s leaving. But my assistant is having a baby and wants to stop working for good. Her husband has a good job and she can afford to. She wants to leave as soon as I replace her, so she can stay home and eat ice cream and relax. I wondered if you’d come to work for me. It’s less glamorous than working for Liz, but I gather that we both have a need, possibly you for a job, and me for a new assistant. I thought I’d put it out there before someone else snaps you up.” He made it sound straightforward and clean, and she was flattered by everything he’d said. “You’ll have fewer wigs to deal with, and more hunting weekends to arrange,” he said and they both laughed.
“Wow, that’s amazing. It certainly solves the problem for me. They’re going to shoot all Elizabeth’s shots now, and Bill’s, so they can leave before the hiatus. To be honest, the producers are pretty upset so I think they want her off the set. So I’ll be available as soon as she leaves.”
“That works perfectly for me, Rebecca would love that. They hadn’t found anyone for me yet, and then I thought of you. It sounds like it could be a good thing for us both.”
“Yes, it would. Thank you, Mr. Smith,” she said respectfully.
“Edward, please. Well, I’m very glad I dropped you the note, and you called. I’ll let them know that we’re all set. It’s a pretty simple switch.”
She was pleased with the new arrangement, and relieved to know she’d still have a job when Elizabeth left. She told Nigel with a big smile as soon as he got home. He didn’t say anything at first, and then came to discuss it with her while she was making dinner, and she could see from the look on his face that he was upset.
“So now you’re going to be the assistant to a man? What’s that all about? Why isn’t he hiring a guy? Is he after you for sex?”
“Not everyone sees me as an opportunity for hot sex,” she said smiling at him. “I’m thirty-eight, not nineteen. His assistant is leaving, and he needs a new one. And she’s a woman too. So he wants me to work for him when Elizabeth leaves. It’s pretty simple, and works for both of us.”
“I’m not so sure it works for me,” Nigel said, picking at his food at dinner. He was too disturbed to eat. It reminded her of when he’d had a fit over Gillian Hemmings. But Gillian had been a creep, and had propositioned her. Edward Smith was a stand-up guy, and a gentleman. Nothing about his offer had been lascivious, and she’d never heard of his having affairs on the set, which was unusual. From the rumor mill, she thought he had a girlfriend, who had a title and lived in London.
“I need a job, Nigel, and he seems like he’d be nice to work for. If he’s not, and he puts the make on me, I’ll quit and go back to being an errand girl. But if it’s okay with you, I’d like to make a decent salary too. This is about your being jealous, not about who he is.”
“I don’t like him. He’s too good-looking. And what happens when he struts around his trailer in his underwear, or bare-ass naked. Then what will you do?”
“If he’s a decent guy, he won’t. If he does, I’ll quit. You have to trust me on this.”
“I don’t trust him.”
“Well, I do.”
They argued about it all evening, and Nigel went to bed mad. He was still angry when he woke up in the morning, and roared off to work in his Jeep without breakfast or saying goodbye to her, and she didn’t see him all day. He didn’t come for dinner that night.
They argued about it until she started work for Edward. She had decided to work for both him and Elizabeth for Elizabeth’s last week on the set, so she could get used to him before the hiatus. And Nigel never relented for the entire time. He got angrier and angrier, convinced that Winnie would have an affair with her new boss.
“Nigel, you have to stop,” she said finally. “I’m not going to give up a job just because you’re jealous. He’s done nothing inappropriate.”
“He will.” Nigel was convinced of it and didn’t trust either of them.
“This is ridiculous!” She wasn’t going to give in on principle. “I make five times the money as an assistant than I do as an errand girl, and I get a work permit with it. The salary pays my rent. Be reasonable, for God’s sake.”
“He’s a TV star. How do you expect me to feel?”
“You’re a handsome guy and I love you. You have nothing to worry about.” Winnie finally gave up and stopped discussing it with him. She kept the job, Nigel would have to learn to live with it, and grow up, as far as she was concerned. His jealousy was one of the things she liked least about him, and she wasn’t going to indulge him. But his jealousy and paranoia were beginning to erode the good times and the relationship they’d had. He was worried and angry now all the time.
She told Elizabeth about it before she left, and Elizabeth said she’d had a boyfriend like that once.
“How did you deal with it?” Winnie wanted all the advice she could get, and she was closer to Elizabeth than anyone else.
“I started cheating on him because he thought I was anyway. Eventually he was right, so we broke up.” Winnie laughed at her solution, which was typical of her. She had confessed to Winnie that she had never been faithful to any man. “But Edward Smith is so serious and straightlaced. I doubt he’ll even make a pass at you. I tried with him once,” she said with a laugh, “and he turned me down. I thought maybe he was gay, but he’s definitely not. He’s a one-woman man and I hear he’s been with the same girl for years. I think you’re perfectly safe with hi
m.”
“So do I. But I can’t convince Nigel of that. He’s been furious ever since I told him.”
“I hate jealous men, they’re such a bore,” Elizabeth said with a sigh, and Winnie agreed. The first time she thought it was flattering, and a little childish. This time it was just upsetting. She had thought he was better than that, but he wasn’t. It was his worst flaw, and a serious one if it was going to interfere with her job. And she couldn’t only work for women to please him. This time a man had offered her a job, and a very good job she liked. He was an excellent, considerate employer.
* * *
—
Winnie was sad the day Elizabeth left the set. She gave Winnie a gold bracelet to thank her and told her to come and visit her new show, and Winnie promised to do so if she came to London. Winnie waved as she drove away, gathered up her things, and walked down the road to Edward’s trailer, where he was waiting for her with a stack of work and calls to make. She liked working for him. He was more businesslike than Elizabeth and treated her more like a secretary, and he was unfailingly respectful and appropriate. She never even saw him in a dressing gown when he got his hair and makeup done. He was entirely proper. Nigel had been totally wrong. But he still spent a lot of their time together complaining about him, to the point of being bitter about it, and she was beginning to understand why none of his relationships had worked out. His jealousy and rages were hard to overcome. Her new boss was a perfect gentleman, which Nigel refused to believe. Day by day he got worse, and Winnie loved him less and less, until she could barely remember what it was she loved about him. His jealousy burned white hot and consumed everything she’d liked about him until there was nothing left.
Chapter Ten
Despite Nigel’s constant unpleasant comments, Winnie enjoyed working for Edward Smith. He was professional, intelligent, had a good sense of humor. He studied his lines diligently so he was always prepared on the set, and followed direction easily. He was well liked by the cast, and Winnie couldn’t imagine having such an easy boss. It turned her workdays into a pleasure.
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