Lovescenes

?t.’ Cade glanced at her and chuckled softly. ‘I mean... I mean he was just leaving….’

The woman touched him lightly on the arm. ‘You are Cade Morgan, aren’t you?’

‘What? Cade Morgan? Where?’ The man beside her almost scrambled out of his seat as he turned towards Cade. A smile stretched across his face. ‘Jeez, it is!’ he said. ‘I saw you with the Philharmonic last year, Mr. Morgan. Great performance.’

An embarrassed half-smile flickered across Cade’s face. ‘Sorry,’ he whispered to Shannon. ‘I didn’t mean to cause a problem.’

But he had, she thought grimly.

People were turning around, peering towards the back of the room, murmuring among themselves. The couple at the front of the classroom glanced up from their scripts and then looked at each other questioningly.

Eli’s voice was cold as it cut across the increasingly loud whispers that seemed to fill the classroom.

‘That’s enough,’ he said, and the actors playing Stanley and Blanche were silent. ‘What’s going on here?’

Shannon bowed her head.

“How could you do this to me?’

Cade leaned towards her, his voice quick and urgent. ‘It isn’t what you think. I’m here because...’

‘I’ll never live this down, never. This will be worse than what happened at the studio. Why are you doing this to me?’

‘I’m not doing anything,’ he said, putting his hand on her arm. ‘I’m trying to tell you. I...’

She flung his hand from her as if it were an insect. Her script fell to the floor unnoticed.

‘Eli,’ she said breathlessly, scrambling to her feet as the figure of her teacher loomed over them, ‘I apologize for the disturbance. I know we aren’t supposed to bring visitors to class. Believe me, Mr. Morgan barged in on his own— I certainly didn’t invite him—and then he wouldn’t leave. I’m sorry. I don’t know why he followed me here...’

The teacher was looking at her as if she’d lost her mind. Then his gaze slid past her and fastened on Cade.

‘Mr. Morgan^’ he said with a smile, holding out his hand, ‘I’m delighted you were able to join us today. You’re quite a surprise to the class, as you can see. I’m afraid I neglected to warn them that you might be joining us. I thought I’d wait and see whether you’d show up today or tomorrow.’

Cade grinned as he stood up and shook Eli’s outstretched hand. ‘I probably should have called and let you know that I was coming, but I was afraid that if I did, you might tell me you’d changed your mind.’

Shannon’s face burned with humiliation. It was worse than she’d thought. He was there by invitation, as Eli’s guest.

‘I told you, Mr. Morgan...’

‘Cade, please. Mr. Morgan’s much too formal.’

Eli smiled. ‘Cade, then. I told you the other day, I’m delighted to have you join the class. I’m sure you’ll be an interesting addition.’

No, Shannon thought desperately, no, no, no... She watched as Cade returned Eli’s smile with a polite smile of his own.

‘I’m grateful to you for taking me on,’ he said pleas­antly. ‘And now I’d be obliged if everybody would just forget I’m here.’ The class laughed and Cade grinned. ‘Believe me, when you people see me act for the first time, you’ll wish I wasn’t,’ he said, and they laughed again.

The teacher smiled. ‘We’ve had several well-known people in our classes in the past. I promise, we’ll treat you the same as we treat everybody else once we get back to work. Which is exactly what we’d better do,’ he added briskly. ‘Cade, we’re working on Streetcar: I be­lieve I mentioned that when we spoke the other day.’

‘Yes, you did. I’m familiar with the play.’

‘Well, then, why don’t you follow along? Get the feel of things.’

Cade nodded and took his seat again, waiting until things had settled back to normal before he looked at Shannon. She was staring down at the floor, and he took a deep breath and leaned towards her.

‘I’m sorry,’ he whispered. ‘I tried to tell you.’

She waved her hand and shook her head, afraid of how her voice would sound if she tried to speak.