And Tania had been a lot happier to tell her side of the break-up—with embellishments—than he had.
His agent, Cerys, had made it clear they were on a mission to salvage his career now. It was hard to be the nation’s sweetheart when the same nation was tutting at him and saying ‘that poor girl’ behind his back.
Or, as Cerys put it, ‘They want to be wooed, Theo. Charm them back onto your side again. Remind them why they love you.’
So Theo would smile, and be charming, and ask the questions and laugh at the poor jokes attempted by the semi-famous contestants, and hint at the answers when they got stuck because it was Christmas, and nobody really took this sort of quiz seriously, right?
And talking of the contestants, that brought him right back to his current mission.
Because this was supposed to be a ‘cranium quiz,’ something a little harder than the usual Who was Christmas number one in 1989?—‘Do They Know It’s Christmas?’ of course—the producers had also trotted out a higher intellectual calibre of celebrity guests.
There was the astrophysicist who did all the shows about the solar system, the kids’ presenter who made Shakespeare accessible for primary school children, the morning TV doctor who treated the nation’s bunions and STDs, the mathematician from that other quiz show, the guitarist from that band who also had a PhD in psychology and, last of all, the rising-star historian, an academic who was starting to make a name for herself, bringing the ancient world to life in guest slots on radio show interview and history podcasts.
Everyone except the historian he’d met on things like this before, or at some party or another after an awards ceremony. He’d actually been clubbing with the kids’ TV presenter, David, while the guy was still in Shakespearean dress. And he and the mathematician, Lucy, had even had a bit of a thing, for a few nights, a couple of years ago.
No, his mission didn’t involve any of them. It was centred firmly on the historian.
Celeste Hunter.
Before the show started, he was going to find her, introduce himself, maybe even charm her a little. Because he was pretty sure that Celeste Hunter was someone he was going to want to get to know.
He might not have met her, but that didn’t mean he wasn’t aware of her. He’d heard her speaking on plenty of podcasts and radio shows over the last few months, in that way that often happened in the media. Rumour had it she was lined up for her own series, soon. Once a person got a little bit of attention from one show, suddenly they were everywhere.
Like him.
And in this case, Theo thought it was a good thing. Celeste Hunter was interesting. Engaging, even, when talking about subjects that mattered to her—like ancient history.
But she wasn’t just a specialist, he knew. He’d heard her talk about periods of history throughout the ages. She was a brilliant addition to today’s quiz, and he was a genius for suggesting her to the producers. They’d joke about history, riff off some of the questions, and she’d make him look really good again for the cameras. Because, although no one would guess from his public profile, Theo liked history. He even knew a bit about it—although nowhere near as much as Celeste. He was interested though and engaged—and, knowing there was a fair smattering of historical questions in the stack for Celeste, he was most excited about that part of the show.
Theo eased his way into the green room, past an assistant carrying a tray of coffees, and smiled at the various inhabitants. There was so much festive filming going on in the building today that all the contestants had been shoved together in one of the green rooms, after hair and make-up. Luckily they all seemed in good enough spirits about it.
He greeted all the celebrities he knew, exchanging quick pleasantries and jokes, and even a hug with Lucy the mathematician.
‘It’s so great that you could all be here for this today,’ he said, filling the words with his trademark enthusiasm. ‘I really think this is going to be a “cracker” of a show.’
There were good-humoured groans at that, and he flashed them all a smile before turning to find the one person in the room he didn’t know already.
She was sitting at the other end of the green room, as far away from everyone else as it was possible to get. He’d only ever heard her on the radio, but Theo had to admit his first look at Celeste Hunter didn’t quite match up to his imagination.
She’d sounded so self-assured, so confident on the radio, he’d assumed she’d be older—older than him, at least. But the slender, serious woman tapping away on her laptop in the corner looked younger than him, if anything. Her dark hair was artfully waved around her face, something he assumed Sandra in Hair and Make-up was responsible for, given the way Celeste kept pushing it out of her eyes in irritation. She was wearing black jeans and heeled boots, her ankles crossed
in front of her as she stretched out her long legs, the laptop resting on her knees. The jeans were paired with a sparkly festive jumper that he thought might actually light up, given the dimmed bulbs dotted around the Christmas tree design. It was so at odds with her serious, concentrated face, it made him smile as he approached, moving into her space and waiting for her to notice him there.
It took about a minute longer than it usually would.
Finally, Celeste Hunter tapped a last key on her laptop, looked up at him, and scowled. ‘Can I help you?’ She didn’t sound as if she wanted to help him. Maybe he shouldn’t have interrupted her work.
‘Hi there! I’m Theo Montgomery, the host of today’s show.’ He gave her his most charming smile, and hoped for the best.
‘Yes.’ Her gaze flicked back to her computer screen, then up to him again.
Right. ‘Since you’re the only contestant today I haven’t met before, I thought I’d come and introduce myself.’ Like a normal, friendly person.
This usually worked a lot better than this.
She stared at him. ‘Okay. Do you need me to introduce myself too?’
She sounded reluctant. Theo took a seat beside her anyway. ‘You’re Celeste Hunter. I liked your piece on the Roman Empire in Britain on the radio last week.’