Page 11

JACKSON

“Jackson Harper,” my mother scolds over the phone. “You may be thirty two years old but I still know when you’re keeping something from me.”

I should have known as soon as I told my sister that my mother would come calling soon enough. In my trailer in between scenes, I can’t escape my mothers critical brow she levels at me through the phone.

“What did Ella tell you?”

“Nothing, nothing,” Mum says, dramatically. “Just that you had some interesting questions.”

“I was just checking in with my sister, you’re all blowing this out of proportion.”

She says nothing but I can feel her probing stare through the camera. Whenever Ella, Tara and I would get in trouble as kids, she used to just stare at us until we couldn’t take it anymore and confessed whatever we’d done. She’s still got it thirty years later.

“Okay, but you can’t freak out.”

“Freak out?” Mum freaks. “What are you talking about? Are you sick? Oh my god, you’re sick. You need to quit your job and come fly home right now. We’ll get you in with Dr Hansa immediately and he’ll be able to help.”

“Mum, I don’t think my old pediatrician will want to see me.”

“He’ll know other doctors. My friend Kim’s daughter is a doctor, she could help. I’ll message her right now.”

I bite back an exasperated laugh. “Mum, please don’t start messaging people.”

“She’ll reply, it’s not a problem. What are your symptoms?”

She moves the camera away from her face so I can only see the top of her head and her lightly graying hair as she types on the phone.

“Mum, please,” I say. “Can you hold the phone up? Let me tell you what I need to tell you.”

“Okay, okay,” she grumbles, pulling the phone back to her face.

She looks just like my older sister Tara, with the same nose and mouth. We all got Dad’s eyes though, and Mum always says she loves seeing him in us.

I take a deep breath. “Well, I met someone.” This is probably the easier way to break the news. Gently.

Mum squeals. “You did! Oh Jackie this is great, who is she? Where’s she from? America? Are you long distance?”

“No she’s here, in London.”

“An English girl! How did you meet?”

“You remember Danny? The guy whose wedding I went to a few months back?”

“Oh yes, the one with that song about autumn leaves. We listened to that at book club and I told all the girls about it. I told them that you’re friends and they all say to let you know to let him know that the song is lovely but he needs to stop using so many metaphors. It’s too many Jackie. ”

“I’m sure he’ll love that,” I tug at my beard with a chuckle. “Well, this girl, Rosie, she’s best friends with his wife. She was the Maid of Honor.”

“You’ve been together since then? Is it serious? When can I meet her?”

“Well,” I say, “we’re still figuring things out but Mum…” I take a breath. “Rosie’s ah—she’s pregnant.”

Silence.

I think the screen is frozen for a second as my mothers jaw dropped face stares back at me. Then in a flurry of motion the phone is dropped and I hear a tinny screech through the speaker.

It’s impossible to tell if it’s a happy screech or an ‘I’m going to fly twenty-three hours and murder my son’ screech.

I rub my eyes as I wait for the noise to stop.

Suddenly the phone is back in her hand and her blurry face is back on screen.

“Oh my God, Jackson. A baby! When is she due? When can I come visit? When can you come here? Where will you raise the baby? Are you moving to London? I was okay with LA but London is a new one. What about your house in America?”

I don’t want to tell her that I’ve already set plans in motion to make a move. Eric’s hooked me up with a real estate agent and I’ve got my team in LA sorting out my lease. I was already itching to make moves before this happened, so I’m taking it as a sign.

“Mum, Mum,” I say, cutting off her barrage of questions but unable to stop my grin. “Please enough with the questions. I will figure it out. All you need to know now is that there is a baby coming.”

She squeals again. “My baby’s boy’s having a baby!” She yells into her house. “Oh, Tara’s here! Let me get her. TARA,” she yells off screen .

I can hear my sister yell back, “What!”, and can’t help the chuckle that escapes me. “What’s with all the yelling?”

Tara bursts onto the frame behind mum. “Jackie? What did you do to Mum?” she asks bewildered as our mother grabs her in a hug.

“Jackie’s having a baby!”

Tara’s eyes bug out as she picks up the phone. “He’s what?”

I can’t do much more than nod my head.

“With who ?”

I open my mouth to reply, but Mum cuts me off. “Her name is Rosie, she’s friend’s with Danny’s wife, you know, with the song.”

“Oh, the autumn leaves guy?”

“Yes! They met at the wedding and have been together for months.”

“Well—” I try to interrupt.

“He kept that to himself!” Tara exclaims, peering at me. “I can’t believe this. What’s her last name? I’m looking her up.”

“No, don’t do that for Christ’s sake.”

There’s a knock at the trailer door and I glance at the time on my watch. “Right, I’ve got to go back to work now, but thank you for being happy for me.”

“For you?” Tara says, “This is all Mum being happy for herself.”

I laugh. “Okay I’ll talk to you guys later.”

“Ooh Jackie, I want to talk to Rosie soon. I need to meet her!”

“Okay, I’ll see what I can do.”

I don’t need to remind them to not share this news around.

There’s been a few moments in the past where my personal business was in the public eye.

Rosie hasn’t really acknowledged the fame aspect of my life yet, and I don’t want her to.

She sees me as a guy with a job, not baggage that she’ll get dragged into one way or the other, and I need it to stay that way for as long as possible.

“Love you, Jackie,”

“Love you too. Bye.” I hang up the phone and hand it over to Eric who is waiting outside the trailer with my daily sides.

“Thanks man,” I say as he beams.

The backlot we’re shooting on is the size of four rugby pitches stitched together so we get a fun little golf buggy to zoom around in.

Eric lets me in the driver’s side and I shift it into gear.

No matter how old I get, zooming in a fake car on a fake road always gives me a thrill.

It’s like being behind the bars of my Harley. I love that bike.

I might have to import it over here if I’m staying. And I will be staying. I never liked LA much anyway. I’m much more comfortable with the dramatic seasons you can get in England. It reminds me more of back home. It’s unnatural to not have rain.

Though, I don’t think I’ll be riding the bike much when the baby comes. It would be way too small for a helmet.

Pulling onto set, I park the car and climb out, the frame shaking with the movement.

I shake hands with Sam the director, and Shaun the 1st AD and listen carefully as they explain the layout of the scene.

It’s low on action, heavy on plot so I rub my hands together.

It’s not that I don’t love the action scenes, the high stakes and physical demands that get my heart racing.

Get me a harness and a water tank any day, but my agent made the wise choice to get me doing something that can show off what I can do without the explosions and crashes .

I’m ready. I’ve been prepping this film for months. Rehearsing my lines day and night.

Apart from the last few weeks, where I’ve spent every spare second in Rosie’s cramped apartment eating vegetarian food and watching a reality TV dance competition.

I can’t even bring myself to worry though. The words are in my head and they’re coming out correctly.

My mind switches off, zeroing in on the lines I’ve memorized and the blocking Sam took me through in rehearsals.

My scene partner, Ashley, is renowned for her blonde bombshell looks. She’s the sassy love interest to my brooding anti-hero. We get on well, having been around the industry for a similar amount of time.

In a break between the scenes, she approaches as I’m taking a sip of the water Eric’s fetched for me.

“So, how are you finding London?” She asks almost breathlessly. Her soft Irish accent hidden behind the American monotone she’s picked up for the role. It doesn’t really suit her, a bit too low for her natural voice.

“Yeah, good,” I say with a friendly smile. “You? Where have you been staying?”

“Oh I’ve got an amazing little flat in West London. It’s got amazing views of the river at night. You should come see it some time.”

I open my mouth to respond, but before I can Sam is calling her over for some notes.

“See you,” she says with a wave.

“Bye,” I say, turning back to Eric whose mouth is hanging open.

“Wow,” he says, breathlessly. “I can’t believe she just asked you out like that.”

I laugh, “She didn’t ask me out, Eric.”

His brow scrunches. “That’s what it sounded like. ”

“She just wants to hang out.”

“Alone. In her house. At night.”

A frown pulls at my lips as I glance off in her direction. Ashley is already looking at me as Sam talks to her and she sends me another smile.

“Nah,” I shake my head. “She wasn’t flirting with me,” I insist. Was she?

“I don’t know. That’s what it looked like from here.” Eric shrugs.

It doesn’t matter if she was or wasn’t, there’s only one woman who I want to flirt with and she’s waiting for me in a one bed flat with my baby inside her.