Scanning over the morning’s Salem Gazette, she let out an over exaggerated sigh. Same news every day, nothing had changed from the day before. Same crimes, same temperature, same gossip, same same same. The black font seemed to run together after a time. Crinkling the white mess in her hands, she pitched it into the garbage can and thought nothing more of it. Taking the last bitter sip of her black coffee, she gazed out the kitchen window. Outside the sky was grey and gloomy, a slight drizzle along with the wind made the 30 degree temperature feel like it was nipping at her bones. Getting up from the table, the cold dark hardwood floor creaked under her feet as she made her way into the living room to turn on the stereo and start her morning routine of, nothing. Since she had quit her job at the local college, teaching students who could care less about her lessons on worldly religions, Cate Fenmore had not done a damned thing.
“I need a life.”
She dressed quickly and pulled her long auburn hair up into a messy knot
on top of her head. Cate made her way
back downstairs and plopped down on the couch.
Holding two remotes in her hand, she turned the stereo off and the TV
on. Just like the paper, the TV was the
same as it had been the days before. She
settled for a movie station and lay across her couch. The movie had not even been on ten minutes
when her home phone rang. Reaching
behind her, she grabbed the cordless phone off its hook. “Hello?”
Her voice sounded less than thrilled by the interruption.
A husky male voice chuckled into her ear. “Don’t
sound so excited, Cate.” The voice
chuckled again.
Cate let out a sarcastic laugh. “And to what do I owe this pleasure of you
calling me, Tim?” She lay on her back
with the phone to her ear, patiently waiting for her answer.
“Funny…” Tim was
a friend of Cate’s late father. Cate and
Tim had stayed in contact often and Cate had met some of her closets friend’s
through him. “I was just wondering
something.” Cate rolled her eyes. Tim was trying to play father again. “Would you be interested in working for
me?” Cate raised an eyebrow.
“Me? Working for you?” She laughed.
“Doing what?” Her friend seemed
to be shuffling papers around on his desk.
“Tim?”
He mumbled into the phone. “Ah, I found it…You minored in Theatre,
correct?” Cate rose up from the couch and drew her legs up to her chest. “Yes…”
“Great!” Tim sounded unusually happy. “I need your help with a new film I’m directing. It was originally a Broadway musical.”
Cate let out a laugh. “A musical? Oh do tell me more.” Tim began to give her the details on his new
film endeavor. After over an hour of Tim
giving Cate the details, she stopped him.
“So you want me to do what?”
“I want you to come and help me turn it into a
movie.” Silence filled the air as Cate
thought. She knew this was some kind of
trick Tim was trying to use to fulfill her father’s wishes of him looking after
her. “And before you say no, I already
bought you a plane ticket.”
Cate snorted.
“And when does this plane leave?”
A nervous laugh came out of Tim. “Tonight at 12:30.”
She groaned.
“Well I have no choice then.”
Cate secretly smiled inside.
“Guess I’ll be spending Christmas with the Burton’s in England.” Tim gave Cate the details of her flight and
promised nothing but good things when she arrived in London. Ending the phone call, Cate looked at the
time. She had 12 hours to pack her
things and get to the airport. Her life
would not be so boring now.
Cate
yawned for what felt like the hundredth time in the past few hours. The six hour flight had been relatively quiet,
luckily for her Tim had booked her a seat in first class. Before arriving at the airport, Cate had
stopped by the local bookstore to pick up a few books on the musical Tim wanted
to turn into a movie; Sweeney Todd, The Demon Barber. She chuckled to herself; it didn’t surprise
her in the least that her friend was interested in this. He had forced her and her father many years
to go to see the play in London while they were there visiting him. Cate had no clue who would be part of the
film or even when they would start shooting.
She was sure Tim would fill her in last minute on all the details, as he
usually did. After a finally writing the
last note to herself, Cate put away her books and notepad to try and get some
rest before they landed. Her eyes were
heavy and sleep came to her quickly.Pulling her scarf tighter around her neck and fastening the button’s on her coat, Cate Fenmore walked out of Heathrow Airport in London, England. It had been a while since she had been to London, but quickly remembered why she did not come during the winter months, it was freezing. Wheeling her suitcase behind her, Cate made her way down to a black car with a nicely dressed man standing out in front. He held a small sign that had the nickname Tim called her by written across it; Cat.
Smiling at the man she waved and stuck out her hand. “Hello, I’m Cate Fenmore.” The man shook her
hand and blushed slightly. He was a
younger man in his early 20s, with sandy colored hair and hazel eyes.
He reached for Cate’s bags. “Let me take those for you. Mr. Burton said to take you directly to the
hotel his family is at.” Cate nodded her
head. She could tell this was probably
his first assignment Tim had given him. “My
name is John, by the way.”
Cate smiled as John opened the car door for
her. “Nice too meet you, John.” She slid into the backseat and waited
patiently.
John got back into the car and turned to look at
her. “Is that all your luggage, Mrs.
Fenmore?” Cate nodded.
“Please call me Cate.” With that said Cate laid her head back and
watched out the window as John drove her to the hotel.
A
time later, John pulled up in front of Claridge’s hotel. Cate stepped out of the car and thanked the
doorman for his help, while John got out her luggage. John hauled Cate’s luggage for her as they
made their way into the hotel. Looking
around, Cate took in her surroundings.
Claridge’s was probably the nicest place she had ever stayed in, Tim
had gone all out on this trip. John stopped
in front of a large suit door.
The door opened to a wild haired man standing there
grinning. “Cat, you made it!” Tim welcomed her into the room and thanked
John for his service. “How was the
flight?” Tim put Cate’s luggage off to
the side. “Is this all you brought?” He pointed to the one medium size suitcase.
Cate took off her scarf and sat it across the back
of a chair. “The flight was fine and
yes, it is all I brought. College professors do not make millions of dollars,
Tim. And ex college professors make less than working ones.” Cate slipped her coat off and laid it over
her scarf.
Tim opened his arms to her. “Come here you.” Cate laughed and went into Tim’s arms for a
hug. “You are now working with me, so
you will not have to worry about how much an ex college professor makes…well,
doesn’t make.” He shook his head and led
her into the sitting room. “Helena will
be here shortly. Cate
nodded. A spread of snacks and drinks were spread
across the coffee table in front of them.
Cate picked up a drink and a few pieces of fruit. “I ordered room service, it should be here
soon. I thought you would like something
to eat when you got here.”
Cate’s stomach let out a sudden growl. “Thank you.”
She finished the last of her fruit and sat her drink on the table beside
her. “I took a few notes over the play
during the flight.” Reaching into her
purse, she pulled out the books and notepad she had during her flight. Tim scooted forward in his chair to look over
Cate’s notes with her. The two began to
discuss how to transition the film easily from a Broadway musical into a film
people would love.
Wiping
the corners of her mouth with one hand, while the other was busy taking notes
as Tim spoke, Cate couldn’t believe that they had planned out almost the entire
film in just a few hours. She tossed the
pen on the table and sat back. Tim
collapsed onto the couch and kicked his feet up. The two had been throwing ideas back and
forth at each other and finally had a solid foundation for Tim to go with. To Cate, it seemed like her job was done.
Tim sat up and ruffled his hair around. “This is brilliant. Now I’ll be able to get across to the cast
and producers exactly what I want to do.”
He picked up the stack of notes Cate had taken.
“I guess my work here is done.” Cate stretched her arms over her head and arched
her back out.
Tim snorted. “What
are you talking about? I want you to
stay through filming.” Cate stopped
stretching mid-stretch and looked at Tim.
“You can stay with Helena and me in our new home, which should have been
ready weeks ago.” He mumbled under his
breath. “We’ve already discussed it and
Helen said you had to do this.”
Cate’s arms fell to her side. “Um…ok…” she shook her head. “Tim, why are you doing this? You do not need me here to help you get your
point across. I’ve known you too long,
you’re up to something.” Folding her
arms over her chest, she sat back in her chair and waited for an explanation.
Clearing his throat Tim shook his head. “Don’t question me, Cat. Just enjoy this. You’ve had a rough few years, and I knew when
you up and quit your job at the college that you need a break. So, I knew you had a background in theatre
and could possibly give me some good advice for the film and I thought this
would be a nice get away from you. You’ll
make some money, hang out with old friends, it’ll be good for you.” Tim never ceased to amaze her. “Plus, I told James that I’d look out for
you.”
Cate didn’t really know what to say. She knew everything Tim had said was
true. She didn’t need a break and she
could use the money, but she had never thought he would do something like this
for her. “Thank you.” That was all she could say to him.
Tim smiled and waved his hands. “Anything for family.” There was a moment of silence before Tim
spoke again. “Do you feel like going to
meet the cast tonight? Most of them are
staying at the hotel and we’ve reserved one of the restaurants for all of us
tonight.”
Cate laughed.
“Yes, I’d like to rest and shower first.” She got up and picked her bag
up. “Which room am I staying in?” Tim showed Cate to her room and brought her
luggage in for her. He told her he would
be back later with Helena and their son Billy.
Cate shut the door to her room and began to unpack her bag. The jetlag was starting to set in so she
quickly finished putting everything away and jumped into a hot shower to relax
before she took a nap. Tonight was sure
to be an eventful one.
Interesting start!
ReplyDeleteBring on more chapters!
More coming soon.
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