Chapter 25.

Darkness still clung to the sky when Jess stirred. She had the faint memory of a ping on her phone waking her and she opened her eyes but didn’t move. Her body felt balmy and fluid, it was so relaxed. She must have slept well for all anxieties to have been so pleasantly purged. She smiled at the thought. Last night’s activities had pushed everything from her mind except for the wonderful woman who lay spooned in her arms, holding Jess's hand tight to her chest.

Anna looked divine, her features frozen with sleep and perfect in the soft light through the windows. They’d neglected to pull down the blinds in their haste to come together and the room was bathed in the glow of streetlights, the pale blue halo over the city outside a hint that the sun was about to peek over the horizon. What would Jess give to wake up like this every day.

Anna had risen in the night to remove her dress and hide her body again under a generous T-shirt and returned to bed apologising for her reticence. Jess had told her she shouldn’t fret and reassured her in more ways than one and Jess smiled again enjoying her own nakedness wrapped around the partially dressed Anna.

She reluctantly rolled away from her slumbering lover and checked her phone. Six-thirty and she had a message from her agent, Celia. It must have been the notification that had woken her. Did the woman never sleep? Actually she knew Celia didn’t. “Bloody thyroid,” she heard Celia croak in her mind.

Jess sat up and opened the message. “Call me as soon as you wake up. And I mean, as soon as you wake.”

Jess dressed quickly, throwing her coat around her shoulders, and padded out to the balcony, sliding the door shut behind her. She shivered in the near freezing air and swiped to Celia’s number.

“Good god, darling. I didn’t expect you to be up at the crack of dawn,” Celia answered.

“Good morning, Celia.” Jess sniggered at her agent’s insistence of punctuality then berating her for complying.

“What’s stopping you sleeping dear?” Celia asked.

“Your message.”

“Oh. I was rather hoping for something more interesting than that. We live in hope.” Celia chuckled. “Right, to business.”

“OK,” Jess readied herself. Celia sounded serious.

“So this is a bit of curve ball, but I have my reasons. Theatre.”

“What about theatre?”

“How do you feel about it?”

“As in, watching it?”

“Oh, don’t be dense. You really are slow for someone who is very clever in so many other respects.”

This was the story of Jess's life. Thinking on her feet wasn’t her forte, but submerging herself in the depths of a subject and emerging with something novel definitely was.

“I meant,” Celia tutted, “performing.”

“Oh,” Jess frowned. “I haven’t done any stage work for, well, since school, just amateur dramatics.”

“That’s what I thought.”

Jess could hear Celia’s sharp nails drumming on her desk.

“How do you feel about an four-week run in the West End?”

“London?”

“Yes, dear. That would be the West End I would be referring to.”

“When?”

“Starting in a month’s time after intensive rehearsals.”

“But–”

“Femi’s sorting your publicity schedule, but he’s wrangled some remote interviews along with personal appearances and social media events with the studio and that’s keeping them, if not sweet, from suing at the moment.”

“Oh.”

The phone was silent.

“I know it’s unexpected,” Celia said, “but let’s just say, if you did this, Matt and many others would be relieved.”

Jess didn’t know if it was early morning brain fog or her inability to process Celia fast enough, but she didn’t have a bloody clue what she was getting at.

“I can’t really say much yet,” Celia continued, “but a theatre board member would be very grateful if you, with your high profile, could save the day and in return they might save yours.”

“Right.”

Clear as mud.

“You see, one of the cast has toppled off a bus and broken a leg and the understudy really isn’t cutting it, and frankly the play is dying on its arse anyway. So some injection of star quality around Christmas, to bring in curious punters who’d like to see you in the flesh, should revive its fortune and get it back on its feet to continue its run. Actually I’m tasked with signing up several guest appearances. And Femi and I were listening when you said you needed to stay in one place for more than a day. So–”

“Yes.”

“Yes? Yes what?”

“I’ll do it.”

“I haven’t even told you about the play and the rest of the cast.”

Oh. “I don’t care.”

“Don’t you want to think about it?”

“I have.”

“But are you up to it?”

Jess blinked and shook her head. Was Celia trying to sell this to her or not?

“I mean,” Celia continued. “You’ll have to audition with the director, but she’d be a fool not to take you.”

“Celia,” Jess smiled. “I haven’t had coffee. It’s six-thirty in the morning and I don’t do talking on the phone.”

“Bloody millennials,” Celia chortled.

Jess ignored that. “Please tell me what I need to know. Clearly. Succinctly.”

Jess heard another chuckle at the other end of the line. “OK. The play’s The Return. An ensemble piece. Are you familiar with it?”

“No.”

“Fine.” Celia didn’t seem surprised. “I didn’t have you down as a theatre buff. It’s a fairly new play and has already been on tour and is in London for what should have been a long run but it’s hit a few problems. There’s a high calibre stage cast, so you will have to expect some superior attitude, but none of them have your audience pulling power so dismiss their snooty little noses if they get priggish about it.”

Jess could imagine what Celia meant. That Jess had been catapulted to stardom from an unknown school girl didn’t always go down well with seasoned actors who’d been to drama school and put in years of auditions and work. Actually it hardly ever went down well.

“It’ll be hard work,” Celia continued. “If you get the heebie jeebies on stage or don’t put in the rehearsal hours it could all backfire spectacularly of course.”

“Are you still trying to encourage me to do it?” Jess asked, wrinkling her nose in confusion. Her humour belied her nerves. Her heart beat with hope in her chest. The sense of relief was huge at the possibility of staying in the same place for weeks at a time. And Anna. She could see Anna again. Jess peeked through the windows. Anna remained in bed, a sleeping beauty.

“I’m surprised that you’re so eager to take it,” Celia came to an end.

“Honestly?” said Jess. “I’m desperate. I’m at the point where I want to quit acting and bury myself at home, wherever that is.”

Celia was silent.

“I know I’d regret it in many ways, but right now I’m ready to throw in the towel.”

“OK.” Celia said. “I do understand. I hadn’t appreciated how far you’d been pushed. I’ll send you the audition details and the script. Let me know what you think.”

“I—”

“Don’t worry, I’ll send a provisional yes, but mull it over while you’re away. And call me any time. Seriously anytime. I’m always awake.”

“Thank you,” Jess said.

“Oh my dear, you’re welcome,” Celia said, amused. “You really are by far the most straightforward and polite of all my clients.”

Jess laughed.

“While at the same time bringing in the most money. So thank you.”

“OK,” Jess said, trying not to apologise or thank her again.

And they rung off.

So.

Theatre.

That’s not what Jess had been expecting. She gazed across London with her heart in her mouth. The prospect of theatre, with a real live audience, no retakes, nothing, was terrifying. But, and her heart cantered at the thought, it opened up the possibility of seeing Anna again.

She peered inside the window. Should she tell Anna now? Jess was desperate to tell her everything, but this wasn’t a quick conversation after a night like that. Femi had indeed emailed with the week’s hellish schedule, then who knew where she would be after that. But if she could stay in London, well, there would be months to talk and spend together.

The sky was getting lighter by the time Jess returned inside. She warmed her hands on a mug of coffee before waking Anna. She gently squeezed her shoulder. Anna’s eyes opened slowly, taking a little while to settle on Jess’s, then she smiled the most beatific of smiles.

“Good morning,” she murmured.

Jess beamed. “It’s a bloody amazing morning. Here, I made you a coffee,” she said and she carefully handed it to Anna, who dutifully sat up to take a sip and set the mug down on the low bookcase beside the bed.

Was it the hot coffee that brought colour to Anna’s face, the slight flush, those large eyes, or was it something else? Jess grinned, sure of the answer.

Anna reached up to her face “Last night.” She smiled. “That was…” Anna was unusually lost for words, her lips parted, and that gorgeous full mouth captivated Jess.

“Wonderful”, Jess whispered and she leaned down to kiss her.

Despite staying awake well into the early hours, appreciating those lips and much more, she couldn’t tire of them.

“It’s been a long time,” Anna started. “I’d forgotten how close you feel to someone.”

“Someone you’re mad about,” Jess finished in her head. When you’ve fallen for a person. When it’s not just sex but opening up your whole being to share and be able to enjoy another’s.

Jess kissed her again.

“Are you leaving?” Anna said, looking down at Jess's coat.

“I have to. My manager has scheduled several meetings but,” she braced herself, metaphorically crossing everything, “if I get a chance to stay in London for a while, would you, you know, like to spend some more time together?”

“Is that possible?” Anna blinked and sat up higher.

The air seemed to flutter with excitement.

“I don’t know yet but there’s a possibility and I would really like to spend more time with you. Proper time, without having to rush off or fear never seeing you again. There’s so much I want to tell you and I love every minute we’ve had, so if you–”

“Of course.” Anna reached up, an unbridled look of happiness on her face, and drew Jess closer. “I would love that.”

Jess blinked and let herself be drawn in and fell victim to another of Anna’s delicious, infatuating kisses.