‘Tell you what?’ Mum pushed her sunglasses up on her head, looking puzzled.
‘About the film, of course!’
‘She doesn’t know, Sadie,’ I said quickly.
‘I don’t know what?’ Mum demanded. She looked from me to Sadie and then back to me again, her expression changing from bewildered to cross. ‘Will someone please tell me what’s going on?’
‘Let’s go inside,’ I said. The last thing I wanted was for Laura to be spying on us from across the road. It wouldn’t be the first time she’d used her location across from Sadie’s to mount a secret spying mission.
Mum took no notice, taking the paper from Sadie and scanning it quickly. Looking over her shoulder, I saw the same image from the film poster we’d seen in town, taking up a whole page in the newspaper.
‘Oh my God,’ Mum said, the colour draining from her face. ‘Oh my GOD! I’m going to bloody kill him!’
She scrunched up the newspaper in her hand and stalked into the house, leaving Sadie and me to look at each other in shock.
‘She really didn’t know?’ Sadie asked.
‘No,’ I said softly.
‘But you did?’
I shook my head. ‘I saw a poster in town this morning, that’s the first I heard of it. Dad must have given the go-ahead without asking Mum.’
Sadie’s eyebrows shot up. ‘Good heavens. No wonder Cordelia’s annoyed. Come on, let’s go in.’
Inside, Mum had picked up Sadie’s landline and was pushing her finger into the keypad as if she wanted to stab it.
‘Cordelia, why don’t you have a nice cup of tea first?’ Sadie said in a soothing tone. ‘I’ll put the kettle on.’
‘No thanks, Sadie,’ Mum said through clenched teeth. ‘Tea isn’t going to solve this one.’ She tapped her foot impatiently, waiting for Dad to answer the phone.
‘Yes, I bloody know what time it is!’ she said into the phone.
Sadie’s hall clock read half past two. That meant it was just half past six in Los Angeles. Dad would have been fast asleep and certainly not expecting to be woken by an angry phone call.
‘What do you think you’re playing at, Doug?’ Mum was practically screaming now. ‘How dare you put our daughter’s photo on that poster without my permission? You know I’m supposed to have approval on anything like that. I specifically put it in her contract that publicity work had to go through me! And when were you planning on telling me that the film’s release date had been brought forward? Did you just think it was a good idea to let me find out from the sodding newspaper?’
Sadie put her arm around my shoulder and guided me into the kitchen. ‘Come on, darling,’ she whispered. ‘I’m sure you could do with a cup of tea even if Mum doesn’t want one.’
I went into the kitchen with Sadie, torn between wanting to know what was going on and not wanting to hear Mum and Dad screaming at each other.
Grandad was pacing up and down the garden, his script in his hand. He saw me through the kitchen window and came in, smiling. ‘Hello, poppet. Where’s your mum?’
‘On the phone to Dad,’ I said.
Sadie quickly told Grandad what was going on, moving back and forth across the kitchen making a pot of tea as she did so. Grandad’s frown grew deeper as Sadie explained.
I sank down in a chair, suddenly feeling exhausted. Grandad came over and sat beside me, taking my hand in his. ‘There now pet, don’t you worry. Mum and Dad will sort it out.’
‘They can’t though, can they?’ I said. ‘It’s too late. Dad’s totally gone behind Mum’s back, and it’s not like we can take down the posters or burn all the newspapers, is it? Everyone in school is going to see this, and I’m going to have no chance of just being a normal kid.’
Grandad sighed and looked to Sadie for help. Sadie came over and sat down on the other side of me, rubbing my back. ‘Well, maybe not, but you were never going to be just a normal kid, now were you, Meg?’ she asked me. ‘I said all along that it was unrealistic of Cordelia to think you could be, with your talent. Why, from the moment you could talk you could copy all the voices on your TV programmes – don’t you remember, John?’
‘I certainly do,’ Grandad said. ‘You had Peppa Pig down to perfection – I used to think there was a little English piggy in my sitting room, telling her brother not to be silly.’
In spite of myself I laughed at the memory. I used to love Peppa Pig and the way she jumped up and down in muddy puddles, and I did remember trying to copy her voice from when I was very small.
‘I used to wish I could be Peppa Pig,’ I said. ‘And then Cinderella, and Sophie from The BFG, and Roberta from The Railway Children.’
‘And that’s the beauty of being an actress, darling,’ Sadie said. ‘You get a chance to be all these different people, live all these different lives instead of just the one.’
‘I know,’ I said. ‘I love that. It’s just the other stuff I could happily live without.’
‘It kind of goes with the territory, though,’ Sadie said, patting my hand. ‘Being an actress means living in the spotlight – at least, if you want to really succeed at it.’
‘But I don’t know if I really do want it, if that’s what it means.’ I turned to Grandad. ‘Grandad, it’s like you always say, it’s the thrill of the live audience that makes it so special for me. I don’t want to be in the newspaper or see my poster up in town when I’m shopping with my friends. None of that stuff matters to me. I don’t mind being Daisy when I’m on the stage – but I just want to be Meg the rest of the time.’
‘We know, poppet,’ Grandad said.
None of us said anything for a minute. Sadie gave everyone a hot drop of tea, and offered me a biscuit, but I shook my head – I didn’t feel like eating.
‘I still can’t believe Dad would do this without telling us,’ I said at last. ‘And without telling Mum!’
‘I’m sure your dad had his reasons, dear,’ Sadie said. ‘Cordelia isn’t always the easiest person to deal with, I’ll be the first to admit that.’
‘You don’t have to stick up for him,’ I told her. ‘I’m totally on Mum’s side here.’
‘I’m glad to hear it.’ Mum had come into the kitchen just in time to hear what I’d said.
Sadie poured her a cup of tea and Mum took a big sip before asking, ‘Did you know about this, Meg?’
‘Not until today,’ I said. ‘I saw a poster in town. I was going to tell you when we got here.’
Mum leaned over and hugged me. ‘You poor darling. You must have been so worried. Where did you see the poster? What did your friends say?’
I told Mum everything, including Laura’s ‘damage limitation’ plan. Mum perked up at once when she heard this.
‘That sounds like an excellent idea. Clever Laura,’ she said.
‘Mum … what about Dad?’ I asked.
‘What about him?’ Mum asked, tapping on the table with her long polished fingernail.
‘Just … are you guys OK?’
Mum gave a little laugh. ‘Depends what you mean by OK.’
‘Now don’t you worry, darling,’ Sadie said. ‘Mum and Dad will sort things out. Won’t you, Cordelia?’ she added in a warning tone.
‘Yes, yes, of course,’ Mum said. ‘Don’t worry, darling. This will all blow over.’
I hoped she was right.