A Seaside Affair Read Online Free PDF Page A

dressing gown to wrap her in. Her assistant dresser is waiting with a huge towel to wrap round her sweaty hair and then she’s just like, whoosh, straight through a path made for her by Security, past all the backstage crew and out into a blacked-out limo. The band will still be playing. The crowd will still be chanting. The police will have closed the exit roads for a five-minute window to get her out, and in ten minutes she’ll be in her hotel room watching a late-night movie, all on her own.’
    ‘No wonder she’s bonkers.’
    ‘It’s tough on her. She’s only twenty-four. She’s been a star for three years, since she blew the world away on the
X Factor
. The world wants to know everything about her.’
    ‘And you.’
    Ollie’s face clouded over. ‘I hate it.’
    ‘Lots of actors would give anything to get their profile as high as yours. Why not go with the flow and enjoy the ride?’
    ‘I don’t want to be famous as a “celebrity boyfriend”. I want my work as an actor to speak for me.’
    ‘Get over yourself! We’re all a bunch of children dancing in front of our parents:
Look at me, Mummy. Look at me!
’
    Ollie couldn’t help but laugh. ‘OK, perhaps there’s a bit of that. But I still want a private life and a private relationship with my girlfriend, but that’s not likely to happen when there’s a fortune to be made selling photos of us. The irony of it is, while the paps are cashing in, I’m skint.’ Gemma nodded with understanding. You worked for the RSC for kudos, not cash. ‘Red expects me to fly out and join her whenever I have a break, but the transatlantic flights and hotels are cleaning me out.’
    ‘Have you told her that?’
    ‘I can’t – she’d offer to pick up the bill, and I don’t want that. I could never be a freeloader.’
    Gemma patted his knee. ‘You’re too noble for your own good, that’s your trouble. Want to walk with me back to the theatre?’
    ‘No, I’ve got some stuff to do.’
    ‘OK see you later.’
    Ollie watched as Gemma made her way to the exit. The ‘stuff’ he had to do – calling in at the dry cleaners for his shirts, stopping by the cashpoint to draw some money – wouldn’t have prevented him walking back to the theatre with her. The real problem was that he couldn’t risk being photographed with Gemma; that would only lead to another row with Red.
    Outside, the sun was surprisingly warm and tourists were wandering happily along the Stratford-upon-Avon high street, stopping, with little or no warning, whenever something in a shop window took their fancy. Ollie cursed under his breath as he employed all his navigational skills to avoid tripping over them.
    His call with Red had annoyed him. Lately, all his calls with Red annoyed him. She was a great girl. Funny, pretty, great body, talented, never there. It was the
never there
bit that messed things up. They’d met when she’d come to see him in a fringe production of Joe Orton’s
Loot
. He’d had the best reviews of his life and it was a game-changer for him. The production was the hottest ticket in town. He’d heard backstage that Red was in the audience; she was already huge in the UK but hadn’t quite gone global. Back then it had just been a matter of dodging the paparazzi, which meant she was still able to enjoy the odd night out.
    After the performance, he’d received a sweet handwritten note in red ink on the back of a fag packet:
    Fancy dodging the paps with me after the show? Rx
    They’d slipped out of a side entrance, just the two of them, and managed to hole up in a tiny bar, blissfully unrecognised, while her minders parked up nearby. She made him laugh, she seemed kind, genuine, in touch with her roots. The connection was instant. She told him about her upbringing in the Midlands, how hard it had been on her family, enduring the constant attention after
X Factor
. He told her about his father walking out when he was just a kid, how he’d never really fitted in at