Page 83 of Best Supporting Actor

Ronnie nodded and rose. “Fine, you have five minutes. If you’re not back by then, I’m hauling you out of here by your ears, kid.”

Jay laughed, but he was already busy searching his contacts and, as the door closed behind Ronnie, Jay’s call was picked up. “Dr. Maynard speaking.”

“Hello, Doctor. Sorry to call you out of hours. It’s Jay Warren. I was hoping you could spare me a few minutes…”

CHAPTERTWENTY-ONE

Tag

Tag scarcely noticed Jay leaving with Amanda Ffyfe. When pinned by Dame Cordelia Warren’s bright blue gaze, it was impossible to notice anything else.

He’d been raving—possibly too enthusiastically—about seeing her inHappy Dayswhen Jay and Amanda had exited stage left. Now, Dame Cordelia was turning the conversation back to him.

“I can feel you have a love of the work. Not all actors do, you know. Not these days. Too many just want to be in the movies. But not you, I think.” She pressed a hand to her chest. “You feel ithere.”

Tag laughed. “Well, Iwouldlike to be in a movie, but… No, you’re right. I do love the process of acting. These last few weeks rehearsing with Jay have been…” He suddenly found himself lost for words, abruptly and acutely conscious that, not only was he talking to one of the country’s greatest actors, but that she wasJay’s mother. And that he wanted her to like him.Shit.“It’s been a wonderful experience,” he finished lamely.

“Yes?” Dame Cordelia’s expression sharpened with interest—a mother’s interest, human and honest. It helped Tag to see past the glamour of her talent and fame to the woman beneath, a woman interested in and—perhaps?—a little anxious for her son.

Tag nodded. “Jay’s so talented. I, um, was afraid he might be a bit standoffish when we started. You know, with him being so much more experienced and well-known than me, but he’s been great. Patient and encouraging, and so generous and responsive in rehearsal. He always listens.”

“Oh yes,” Dame Cordelia said earnestly. “Julius isverygiving. He’s such a sensitive performer.”

“He is, yeah.” Sensitive and responsive in lots of ways, Tag couldn’t help thinking with an inappropriate rush of heat. “We’ve developed a great relationship…Workingrelationship,” he amended quickly, since, earlier, Jay had been so keen to deny anything more. “And it’s been fun working on a play that’s never been performed before, exploring it together and developing our characters almost from scratch with Bea and Henry.”

“Oh, how wonderful!” Dame Cordelia clutched both hands to her ample chest in delight. “Henry’s a master at exploration. I envy you.” After a slight pause, she asked, “And Jay’s been…all right in rehearsals?”

Tag wasn’t sure what she meant. “He’s been great,” he said. “He’s pulled me through a couple of tough days, that’s for sure.” He considered mentioning their living arrangement, and how kind Jay had been about helping him out on that front, but decided against it; he wasn’t sure what Jay had told his mother and didn’t want to put his foot in it. Instead, Tag decided to lighten things, saying with a laugh, “The only real issue we’ve had is that Jay’sbeen a little, er,militantabout his involvement in the play being kept secret until opening night.”

He expected Dame Cordelia to laugh in response—but she didn’t. “Hmm,” she said, frowning slightly. “Yes, Henry mentioned that.”

Just then, Tag’s skin started prickling with the uneasy sensation of being watched. Glancing across the room, his gaze landed immediately on the man talking to Bea. It was the journalist from the TV Best Awards, the one who’d been sneaking pictures of Jay and Mason. The one who’d seen Tag leaving Jay’s suite that night.

Austin Coburn.

Austin raised his glass at Tag, head cocked in invitation.

“Ah,” said Dame Cordelia, clearly following Tag’s distracted gaze. “That’s Austin. The boy I was talking about who went to school with Julius. He’s a critic and journalist now. Has a column in one of the big newspapers. I don’t read it, of course, but I’m told it’s very popular. You should probably talk to him.”

Doubtfully, Tag said, “I’m not sure Jay likes him very much. He doesn’t sound like a nice bloke.”

Dame Cordelia made a scoffing sound. “Darling, you don’t have tolikehim. He’s useful to you, so make himbelieveyou like him. Think of it as a performance—a social performance.” She took his hand, drawing his attention back to her bright eyes. “I’m afraid, as I’m sure you already know, success in this business is as much about connections as it is about talent and hard work. Julius might be able to ignore that, butyoucan’t.”

That was true, and Tag was surprised by Dame Cordelia’s frankness. Looking into her shrewd gaze, though, he realised that there was probably very little that got past her. For all her theatricality, Dame Cordelia was far more hard-headed than her son.

And talking of Jay, Tag spotted him at last, walking determinedly towards the door. He looked tense, his mouth pressed into a taut line, shoulders tight. He must have felt Tag’s eyes on him because he glanced over and gave a quick, tight smile as he passed.

Tag’s instinct was to go after him, but Dame Cordelia still had his hand clasped in both of hers and was saying, “...so, come along, I’m going to introduce you to Austin and you’re going tosparkle. Like him or not, darling, he could help launch your career with his review of this play.”

It was beyond Tag’s power to refuse Dame Cordelia Warren, especially when he knew she was right. This was his big break, and he had to seize every opportunity to make it a success, even if it meant schmoozing with Austin Coburn.

Still holding his hand, Dame Cordelia towed him through the crowd, throwing greetings like confetti. It made him think of a royal procession—everyone giving way, smiling and nodding, if not quite bowing, thrilled to have a moment of her attention.

“Now, look who I’ve found,” she announced, blithely interrupting the conversation Bea was having with Giles, Austin, and her father. None of them seemed to mind, though, turning to Dame Cordelia with eager smiles, though Giles’s smile dimmed at the sight of Tag. Tag ignored him. “Austin, have you met Tag O’Rourke? He’s the marvellous young actor playing Wilfred Owen in Bea’s play.”

Austin fixed him with a beady look through the fashionably heavy frames of his glasses. “Not formally,” he said, switching his champagne glass to his left hand and holding out his right to Tag. “A pleasure. I saw you inBow Streeta couple of weeks back. You were really quite good.”

Austin’s wry smile suggested this was a heady compliment, coming from him, and it was impossible not to take pleasure in it. Tag found himself ‘sparkling’ more easily than he’d thought he would, despite feeling uncomfortably disloyal to Jay. “Nice to meet you,” he said, shaking hands. Austin’s hand was clammy and cool, maybe from holding the sweating glass of champagne. “Will you be coming to see the play?”