Page 44 of Best Supporting Actor
“This is great,” Jay said as he took a seat next to Henry. “Good choice, Bea.”
She beamed. “It is, isn’t it? Giles suggested it. He’s coming, by the way.”
Yes, Jay hadn’t forgotten. Something they didn’t prepare you for at drama school was the fact that, as ‘the talent’, you’d be expected to schmooze with executives and money people. Jay had always known, though. After all, he’d been trained in the art at his mother’s knee; Dame Cordelia could charm the stars from the sky when she wanted to get one of her projects off the ground. Jay wasn’t nearly so persuasive, but he thought he could manage the director of a regional drama festival without too much trouble.
Freddie showed up next, accompanied by a man Jay didn’t recognise but assumed must be Giles Cox. He and Freddie clearly knew each other, and they came in chatting.
“… and so I said, no, you can’t have a cue line, it’s the bloody dress rehearsal!” Freddie laughed, her voice booming through the restaurant. “And that was the last time I ever worked withhim. Ah, here we are!” She beamed as they reached the table. “Hello, hello everyone. Look who I found outside.”
“Giles!” Bea jumped up and went to greet him. “Soglad you could make it.” They bussed cheeks. “Everyone, this is Giles Cox, director of the York Drama Festival. He’s who we’ve got to thank for our amazingvenue.”
Giles was younger than Jay had expected, mid-thirties he guessed, and attractive in a well-heeled way. His sandy hair was styled in a slicked-back pompadour, and he wore chinos and a casual pink linen shirt. “No thanks needed,” Giles said, smiling. “It’s an honour to have you at the festival.” His gaze flickered to Jay, then came to rest on Henry. “I’m a huge admirer of your work, Mr. Walker.”
“Henry, please,” Henry said, rising and shaking Giles’s hand across the table. “And thank you. I’m excited to be part of your festival. Let me introduce you to Jay Warren, one of our lead actors.”
Giles’s eyes sparkled as Jay stood to shake hands, his grip lingering suggestively. “Here’s where I confess to being a little star-struck,” Giles said with a disarming smile. “I’m something of aLeechesfan.”
“Is that so?” Jay said, turning on the charm. “Well, don’t tell anyone, but so am I.”
He laughed. Giles laughed. They all laughed.
Which was when Tag appeared at the table sounding a little breathless and with the air of a man trying not to look like he’d been rushing. Jay felt a little breathless himself because, even in dark jeans and a plain, long-sleeved t-shirt, Tag was stunning. The healthy colour in his cheeks, probably from running, only added to his rumpled just-got-out-of-bed charms.
“Sorry I’m late,” Tag said as his gaze flicked to Henry. “I, uh, got a bit lost.”
“Itisrather hidden away, isn’t it?” Henry said easily. Then he turned to Giles. “Let me introduce you to our other lead, Tag O’Rourke.”
Giles smiled and leaned past Freddie to shake Tag’s hand. “Nice to meet you, Tag. I’ve heard great things about you.”
“Yeah?” Tag looked surprised, the expression lighting up his face. “Cool. I mean, thanks.”
Giles chuckled, and Freddie patted Tag’s shoulder. “You’ll need to get used to that, Sunshine. You’ve got a bright future ahead of you.”
Jay smiled at the embarrassed pleasure on Tag’s face as they all took their seats, Giles claiming the chair next to Jay and Freddie the one next to Giles, which left Tag the remaining seat next to Rafe. On cue, Rafe gave a pointed cough. Bea, like a puppet whose strings were being tugged, sat upright and said, “Oh, Giles, let me introduce Rafe Fitzroy. He’s understudying both roles in the play. We’resolucky to have him on board.”
Across the table, Giles said, “Hi Rafe, it’s good to meet you. It must be exciting to be working with Henry Walker and Jay Warren—what an opportunity.”
Rafe raised his eyebrows and said, “Oh, I’ve known Henry for yonks. And I studied withlotsof incredible people when I was at Julliard.” He smiled. “Besides, Grandy knows all the A-listers—I never get star-struck.”
Grandy?Jay repressed the urge to roll his eyes and met Tag’s laughing gaze across the table.
Giles, proving he had decent manners—and that he’d probably met a lot of actors—simply laughed and said, “Well, of course.” His gaze moved back to Jay and, in a warmer voice, he said, “Would it be terribly boring if I asked you aboutLeeches? I promise not to go on about it all evening.”
“Ask away,” Jay said, “but I can’t tell you anything about the new season, I’m afraid. I haven’t seen the first scripts yet, and even if I had, Lewis Hunter would have my balls if I leaked any spoilers.”
“That’s a shame,” Giles said with a lingering smile, “because one of the things I wanted to ask about was the rumour that there’s going to be a kiss between Skye and Faolàn…”
Jay mimed zipping his lips shut, and Giles laughed.
“All right, all right,” he said, resting his hand on Jay’s forearm. “Perhaps it’s safer to talk aboutLet Us Go Back. How are rehearsals going?”
“Oh, amazingly,” Bea cut in and launched into an excited retelling of the past few weeks.
As she talked, Jay glanced back at Tag, only to find him looking quickly down at his menu, as if he’d been caught staring. Jay felt an inappropriate flutter of excitement, then quashed it, reminding himself that Tag was more likely to have been staring at Giles than at him.
Whoever he’d been looking at before, though, Tag was frowning as he studied his menu, brows drawn together. Jay glanced at his own menu—he thought it all looked very good, with interesting choices and a couple of decent-looking veggie options. Reasonably priced as well, with the main courses coming in at about thirty pounds.
He glanced back at Tag, saw him worrying at his lower lip, and a thought struck him that probably—definitely—should have struck him sooner. Considering it for a moment, he said, “Seen anything you fancy, Tag?”