“Your mother is back early.”
Emrys smiled as he heard Caitlyn’s annoyed voice over the speakerphone. He sat very still in a chair while the studio’s hairdresser Jodie shaped up his long, curling locks. It had grown out over his vacation, but at least he’d kept off a beard, unlike some of his disheveled costars.
“When did she get in?” he asked.
“Yesterday. She and Imelda are on a mission to teach me how to be a lady and stuff me with teacakes.”
‘Well, good on that account. I’ve thought you looked a bit skinny since we started up again.”
“I try very hard to keep my figure!” Caitlyn snapped.
Emrys held back a laugh. No point in irritating her when she was already suffering through his family. “I’m kidding, Cait. You look fabulous. Enough so that the tabloids thought you were some kind of girl on the side. Just humor Mum and Imelda. As long as they feel like you’re making progress, they’ll leave you alone.”
“It would be easier if Adora were here. She’s gone back to school, and who knows where Elsa is.”
“Off making her own headlines,” Emrys joked. “Are you feeling any better? Tell them to lay off, if your stomach is still bothering you. Did you see the palace doctor?”
“Oh, no. Um, I started feeling better when I got here.”
“It may have just been travelling. Mother gets that sometimes.” Emrys narrowed his eyes and looked at his reflection in the mirror. “Don’t go too short on the sides. They have me wearing-black rimmed glasses in a few scenes. I want to look lady-killer, but not like a lesbian.”
Jodie chuckled.
“What?” Caitlyn said incredulously.
“I’m teasing my hairdresser.”
“That’s probably not a good idea. I’m sorry for his behavior!” Caitlyn called out.
“But I’m not sorry at all,” Emrys said.
“Is this the girl from the paper?” Jodie said quietly. “Or your fiancée? I won’t tell, but—“
“They’re the same person. My fiancée is the girl from the paper.”
“Oh, wow. Nice. You know, they’re always predicting someone is cheating or dying. They had an article out about your costar saying she’d gained 163 pounds and was at death’s door.”
Emrys almost looked back at her to see if she was joking. “See, Caitlyn, everyone deals with this tabloid garbage.”
“I guess so. I’m starting to see the humor in being the other woman to myself,” Caitlyn said.
“I’ll call Heloise and have her schedule you a massage. Relieve some of that stress,” Emrys said.
“I don’t know—“
“It’s done.”
“O-Okay, I guess.”
Emrys spoke to her for a few more minutes until he had to go, then he got off the phone, thanked Jod
ie for her work and her patience, and headed over to Wardrobe. While he would have liked to talk to Caitlyn more, he didn’t know the people working in Wardrobe, whereas he’d been on set with Jodie many of times. He trusted that while she listened to gossip, she didn’t share anything that wasn’t already in print.
After a quick run-in with the tape measure, Emrys waited for the head of Costuming to bring over his notes. He took a seat and started to skim over his script.
“Fancy seeing you here.” Nina approached him, walking slowly. She took a seat next to him and sipped an iced latte with the word ‘coconut’ scribbled on it.
“Given I’m the main love interest, not that surprising, I’d hope. How could I have gotten myself fired before we even do our first table reads?” Emrys said. “What are you doing here?”