I Love Another

by Eleonor

Part 1

“OK, listen up people,” Robert Hathaway yelled walking in the middle of the stage so that everyone could see and hear him. Once quiet had been established he continued. “We have been working our butts off this past four months and I decided that we deserve a break. So…” he raised his voice a bit in order to be heard above the cheer that went up from everyone present. “So we are going to work only half day on Wednesday then have Friday and Saturday off in addition to Thursday when we wouldn’t be working anyway and the usual day off on Sunday, so that we can all have Thanksgiving with our families even those whose families are out of this city. We will be back at work on Monday, when we will start rehearsing harder to make up for the 3 lost days.” This time it was a groan that went up from his audience. “OK now back to your places, all!”

Everyone started talking excitedly while taking their places on the stage for the rehearsal. Terry Grandchester got off the wooden crate he was sitting on while listening to Robert’s news and walked towards the spot he was to be standing for the Capulet’s dance. Terry was pleased with the news; he had worked hard ever since he took the role of Romeo and he was tired, he needed a break, so he welcomed the director’s decision for the extended break during Thanksgiving.

A couple of hours later the rehearsing stopped and people took off to their lunch break. Terry walked back to the crate he was sitting on earlier to pick up his jacket and script. He was putting his jacket on and was thinking whether he wanted a chicken-bacon or stake sandwich, when a voice interrupted his thoughts.

“Oh Terry, did you hear the news? We are going to be free for four whole days to celebrate Thanksgiving!” Susanna Marlowe informed him, smiling widely at him.

“Of course I heard Susanna. I was here, wasn’t I?” he said irritated.

“Of course you were! But I am so excited about having a few days off… I am exhausted aren’t you?”

“I am,” he said coldly. “I am also hungry right now, so see you later…”

“We could go grab something together,”, she said smiling even wider. “There is this nice deli down the road…”

“No, thank you, I will go grab something and return to my dressing room. I need to read the scene we are doing next, I have a little trouble with remembering a couple of lines…”

“Great, I will read with you…”

Terry closed his eyes for a moment to check his temper. This girl really could not take a hint, could she?

“Susanna… NO!” he said as firmly as he could without being obviously rude, hoping that she will stop bugging him before he actually had to become rude to her… again!

“Oh… OK. Well, I guess I will see you later then.” Terry thanked heavens that she had finally gotten the message but had not taken two steps before she started again. “Oh, I meant to tell you, we usually have our Thanksgiving meal at 1pm…”

Terry turned slowly around frowning. “And this is of interest to me, because…?!”

“Well, I was hoping you would want to arrive around 12, so we can have a glass of wine before we sit down for the meal”. She was smiling widely again.

Terry looked at her as if she had just tree branches sprouting out of the sides of her head. “I am sorry I must have missed something. I do not recall making any plans for Thanksgiving with you.”

“I know that, I am inviting you to spend it with us now. You can have the guest room till Sunday too, I am sure Mother won’t mind…”

Terry could not believe anyone could be so presumptuous. “First of all, I have already arranged to spend Thanksgiving at my Mother’s and second, even if I hadn’t had any plans for it, I would still not accept your invitation.”

“Why not?” She said sounding disappointed and hopefully, Terry thought, discouraged.

“Because I don’t want to!” he said behind his teeth. He could not help but be rude to her this time.

And with that he turned on his heels and walked hurriedly to the stage door to get away from her. She was unbelievable! Terry had never met a girl that was unable to take a hint… or two… or several in fact! She had confessed her feelings to him already but he still did not find her appealing and had shrugged off her outburst that day as a silly girly crash thing. And he was still mad at her for turning Freckles away from the hotel in Chicago…

He smiled to himself at that thought. While he was freezing his backside waiting for her outside the hospital she had gone to look for him at the hotel he was staying with the troupe! She actually had sneaked out of her shift to go and watch him play that night! The little monkey…! “My little monkey,” he thought fondly and he suddenly had a vision of Candy daggling on a rope all dressed and made up ready to go to the theatre climbing down of her window so that no one notices her while sneaking out. He almost laughed at the thought. He decided then that he would spend some of his free time this weekend to write her a long, long letter. And, he thought excitedly, he would be seeing her in only 3 short weeks, when she will be coming for his big premier!

As usual when he was thinking about the premier his stomach turned into a stone and he suddenly was not hungry any more. His heart started racing too and he stopped walking to take some deep breaths as his mother had advised him to do when ‘premier panic’ attacked. It had worked until now but somehow as the premier was drawing nearer he was needing increasingly more and more time to relax and put it out of his head. He was even forgetting what the steps of the relaxation exercise his mother had given him was, so he had written it down and carried him with him at all times. He reached his pocket and took the little piece of paper out and started reading:

General advice: If you are rehearsing ask for a break then go the nearest restroom in case you need to throw up.

Terry has been through this twice already.

If you are in the street or in a mall, stop caring that you look like an idiot and take the steps anyway. Stand preferably close to a bin however just in case you will need to throw up.

Step 1: Stop what you are doing and take deep breaths – as many needed. This should do it.

Terry started breathing deeply. This had worked two months ago, but the premier was not three weeks away then… It was not working these days… so after the 10th deep breath, he checked his list again.

Step 2: If step 1 won’t do it, close your eyes and try to clear your mind completely. Especially don’t think about the premier.

Terry felt his stomach hardening further upon reading the word ‘premier’ and he resolved to rewrite the list excluding the word from it altogether.

Step 3: If neither step 1 or 2 work, close his eyes and try to think of something that makes you feel happy. Next to this step Terry had scribbled: Freckles.

He took another deep breath and closed his eyes ignoring the curious glances of passersby. He saw Candy sitting on the branch of the tree at pretend’s Pony hill…Candy’s face close to his as he was leaning over her to kiss her… Candy climbing a tree in Scotland… he smiled opened his eyes and started walking again more memories of Candy flashing through his head: Candy jumping from tree to tree to get to her cousin’s room… Candy coming out of the fog that first night he met her… Candy changing from Romeo’s costume to…

NO… no good! Nothing about R&J!

He shook his head vigorously. He stopped and started taking deep breaths again but he only needed two this time. OK other thoughts: Candy running behind the train yelling his name… ah, now that was a pretty memory! That was the last time he had seen her and how beautiful did she look! White suited her so! He started walking again and wondered whether she would be working or taking off work for Thanksgiving and whether she had plans for the day.

Suddenly he stopped walking again. An idea had just crossed his mind that was taking the formation of a plan by the second. He would be off work for 4 days, wouldn’t he? He only had plans to go for Thanksgiving Dinner at his mother’s something that could be very easily cancelled, couldn’t it? He was planning to spend his free time writing Candy a letter but mostly he would be rehearsing alone in his flat… He could do this!!!

His heart filled with joy suddenly, he turned around and started walking fast to the opposing direction still pondering his plan. He would surprise her by just turning up unexpectedly, oh he could not wait to see her face when she would open the door and saw him standing there! He could take the train on Wednesday afternoon then be in Chicago on Thursday morning… Hmmm… what if she had already gone to Pony’s home? No, it would be better if he telegraphed first to inform her of his arrival. But then they would not have time to get to Pony’s home! He stopped abruptly again.

Or maybe, he could take all day Wednesday off and travel to Chicago on Tuesday night. Yes that’s it! He would ask Robert for the whole day; after all he was the only one of the actors that had not missed a rehearsal so far. Hell, they could rehearse without him for half a day. Ha! With renewed optimism and excitement he started walking again.

He finally reached the Majestic’s stage door and went in not bothering to say hello to anyone standing around there who promptly stopped all conversation they might be having just to gape at him. He had enough of the bloody gossip and besides he was so happy at the prospect of traveling to Chicago to see Candy in just over 24 hours that he did not care anyway.

He reached his mother’s dressing room door and knocked it, then opened it and entered when he heard her saying “come in”.

She was sitting on her couch reading a book while eating her salad. He had guessed right she was on her break too. She put the salad aside, left the book open face down next to her on the couch and stood up smiling one of her most dazzling smile, the one she reserved only for him.

“Hey, darling, what a lovely surprise!” She said and hugged and kissed him fondly when he approached her. He kissed her tenderly on the cheek. “How are you?”

“I’m OK. Living on lettuce again?” he asked jokingly nodding at her salad.

“What do you mean again? I don’t recall having eaten anything else in over 20 years!” She laughed heartily. “The things vanity makes us do!” she added giggling.

“Indeed!” He said then sat down on the couch next to her with her book still resting between them.

“Have you eaten?” she asked him next and Terry smiled inwardly. His mother was going through the same questions in the same order with him every time they met: How are you, darling? Have you eaten? Do you have any money? Do button up before you get outside, it’s too cold! From these questions the third one was the most embarrassing, and the second one the most annoying. She could be living on lettuce herself, but would be force-feeding him real food constantly if he’d let her.

“I will grab something on the way back,” he said evasively not wanting to get her started on the issue of his diet. “Listen mom, I know I have already said I will be coming over for Thanksgiving but I’m afraid I will have to
cancel…” He hated to see the disappointed look on her beautiful face, so he continued quickly. “Robert gave us Friday and Saturday off and I decided it would be good if I get away from everything for a while” – he waved his list in front of her face and she smiled with understanding. “So I think I will take this opportunity and go to Chicago till Sunday.” Terry was pleased to see she actually looked excited upon hearing where he was heading.

“OK,” she said smiling, “I can take it better if I know I am being blown off for Candy!”

“Mom, I am not blowing you off,” he said very much aware that this was exactly what he was doing!

“Baby, I am joking! I am very happy you decided to go actually, as you said you need to get away for a while with the premier drawing nearer.” Terry sat up in his seat suddenly then sat back again clearing his throat trying to ignore her all-knowing smile. “And you have not seen Candy in what, 5 months now?”

“I would say over a year actually, because I only had a glimpse of her 5 months ago. Anyway, I am going to leave tomorrow with the evening train. I intend to ask Wednesday off also and hope to get it too.”

“I am sure you will or Robert will have to answer to me!” she said and Terry was sure she said this just to watch his reaction. He decided to play her game this time.

“Oh good, so if he refuses shall I expect you to come and deal with it?” he challenged her.

She looked at him suspiciously. “You won’t mind if I ask for something on your behalf?” she asked suspiciously.

“Not if I can get time off!” he smiled mischievously.

She laughed again. “My darling, you are something else! Do let me know if he gives you any trouble, then and I will come and clear up for you!” Obviously she had decided to play his game too.

“Do you have money?” she asked next and Terry mentally ticked another of her usual questions off.

“I have enough,” he said and looked intensely at a portrait of her hanging at the opposite wall. He was always uncomfortable when she was bringing the money issue up. Funny that, because he had never been uncomfortable to ask and extract large sums of it from his father in the past.

“Well this is Chicago you are going to,” she said getting up and reaching for her purse. “Enough is never enough. I want you to have a good time and not to have to worry about counting your pennies.” She took several notes out of her purse and left them on the book between them.

“Mom, I really did not come here for money,” Terry said really embarrassed now. “I just did not want to have to send you a note canceling Thanksgiving with you.”

“In which case you should be thankful it was I who brought the issue up!”

“But… but… he looked at the bills on the book, this is too much! What do you think I will do that I will need so much money?”

“I seriously don’t care. It’s better to have it and not spend it rather than not have it when you want to spend it.”
“Right,” Terry said in a low voice. He knew it was useless to argue with her.

“Right,” she repeated. “Listen, you can take Candy out for a nice dinner one night on me. There now you have something to do with the money.”

“With this amount I can take her out every night and still bring a quarter of it back!”

“Well, great she won’t have to spend all her time in the kitchen cooking for you.”

“I don’t think she spend any time in the kitchen at all, actually…”

“More reasons for you to take the money then, I don’t want you to starve!”

Terry pocketed the money more to stop her going on about it than anything else. Then he got up to leave. “I am sorry for canceling on you. I will make it up to you I promise.”

“Don’t think about it and go and have fun, OK?” Mother and son hugged each other tightly. Terry was very much enjoying being mothered; it made a hell of a difference from having his stepmother grunt every time she saw
him….

“OK, I will come by when I get back Sunday evening to see you,” he said walking to the door.

“Button up before you get outside, it’s freezing, I don’t want you to catch a cold!” she said while he was closing the door on his way out and he smiled again.

Terry grabbed a hot dog and some potato chips on his way back to the theatre. Once there, he went straight to Robert to talk to him about taking Wednesday off too. Robert was not exactly thrilled at he prospect of not having his leading actor rehearsing for 4 solid days, but the kid had a good point: people will turn up for the half day, but no one will be rehearsing anyway! Plus he had been doing exceptionally well. So he gave him the time off.

Terry was ecstatic and he rehearsed all afternoon until late evening with renewed vigor. Even premier jitters failed to attack him for the rest of the day, for every time someone would mention the dreaded premier all he had to do to get over it was to think: I will be seeing monkey on Wednesday morning… Tarzan and I will be together for 5 days… and so on! Finally, about 10.30pm Robert called it a night and Terry was getting ready to take off when he heard Susanna’s voice again.

“Excellent job Terry!”

“Thank you. You weren’t so bad yourself!”

“You know that scene when Romeo & Juliet meet for the first time… I thought maybe we could spend some more time looking at each other to make the scene a bit stronger…”

“Susanna, we are already looking at each other for 45 full seconds in that scene if we add even one second more we won’t look love struck anymore but just two idiotic actors who want to be on that stage all night…”

“Nothing wrong with that,” she said dreamily and he was sure she had not heard what he just said but was in her own world.

“Yes, well the audience won’t pay their money just to come and look at as looking at each other like idiots for 2 hours!”

“Oh… I am actually enjoying that scene…”

“Good for you! Well, see you tomorrow…”

“Wait, Terry!” He stopped and rolled his eyes but without turning to look at her. “I was wondering if you had the chance to think about coming over at ours for Thanksgiving yet…”

“Haven’t I already told you I am not coming?”

“You did, but I thought maybe you thought about it and decided to come after all…”

“I didn’t. Good night!” He started walking again.

She ran after him. “Well, think about it and you can let me know tomorrow OK?”

He turned around to look at her this time. “There is nothing to think about Susanna, I told you I already have plans for Thanksgiving…”

“Yeah, you said you are going at your mom’s… Hey, she could come to ours too! Mother would love that!”

Terry took a deep breath and counted to 10 before answering. “Look… it is very… kind of you to invite me but I can’t accept. I already have plans for this weekend. Did you hear what I just said?”

“I did…”

“Good! Because I will not say it again. If you start asking me to join you for Thanksgiving tomorrow, I will ignore you. Are you clear on this?”

“OK,” she said looking disappointed and Terry hoped he had finally got through to her.

“OK. I am leaving now. Good night!”

“Good night, Terry! Rest well!”

Terry didn’t answer this but kept walking as fast as he could before she could start on something else. Just as he thought he was out of her range he heard her calling after him again.

“Think about coming on Thursday, OK!”

He refused to get mad about it this time or even to stop walking at all. She just was not worth him getting upset over tonight!

**********

Terry could hardly sleep for his excitement that night. All he could think about was that in less than 34 hours he would be seeing Candy! He went through different scenarios in his head about what they would say during the first moments of their meeting. Would she scream as soon as she saw him? Should he kiss her?

That got him thinking: what if she was still jumpy over kissing and just by doing that he would spoil their reunion? Maybe he should refrain from kissing her at all. Or maybe, take it slowly. He could start by kissing her hand; he found nothing wrong with that. Then perhaps at some point he could try kissing her on the cheek or the forehead and see how would that go down with her. Hmmm… that was not such a bad plan. If he would take it slowly, them maybe he would have the chance to really kiss her just before he left on Sunday…

But… he did not want to just kiss her goodbye… he wanted to kiss her a lot this weekend… in fact, he wanted to spend the whole weekend kissing her…

He tossed in his bed uncomfortably with the direction his thoughts were taking… again! He couldn’t help it; it was the way his thoughts were going every time he thought of her! “Shame on you, Grandchester!” He berated himself then turned on his side and closed his eyes, determined to sleep.

Just a few seconds later his eyes snapped open again. A thought had crossed his mind: What if she had already left for Pony’s Home?”

“Well, then you can take the train there, can’t you? You’ve been there before!”

“Hmmm… but what if she has other plans for Thanksgiving, like spending it in some Ardlay estate somewhere and she was there already, how would he find her then?”

“She is working, silly, how long do you think she can take off?”

“What if she is working and can’t take time off?”

“Nurses work shifts, she will not be working all the time, will she?”

“Yes, but… But what if she is working on Thursday?”

“Who bloody cares? You are going to see her remember, Thanksgiving is just the excuse!!! You get the break from work, you get to sleep and rest while she is working and you get to spend time with the girl when she is not!”

“Yes but… remember what happened in Chicago back in June, everything went wrong…what if we are unlucky again?”

“Cross your fingers and go to sleep! You will be seeing her in less than 32 hours!”

“I certainly hope I will be…”

“You will be, shut the hell up and go to sleep… my God…!”

He couldn’t stop fretting over another attack of bad luck for a while. Then decided he ought to telegraph her really, to inform her of his imminent arrival. But then he would not be able to see the surprise in her face when she would first see him, and he was so looking forward to that moment! But was it worth missing her perhaps for the whole Thanksgiving break, just so that he can satisfy a whim of his? He heaved a sigh not knowing what to do. Should he telegraph her or not? He could not decide.

He tossed and turned for a long while trying to think up potential problems and their solutions ahead of time so that he is prepared for anything unexpected. Just before sleep finally overtook him – about 30 hours before he would meet Candy - he resolved that he would not inform her for his arrival and take a chance by turning up unannounced. He also resolved that he would absolutely kiss her as soon as he sees her! With their luck that could be the only chance he got for all he knew, he would not pass it up. He did not care whether there would be a slap following the kiss or if she beat him black and blue, it will be totally worth it anyway!

**********

The next day, Tuesday, was the longest day – ever! Terry could have sworn an oath, time was passing at one fifth its usual pace. Every time he would look at his watch it was just about a minute later than the previous time he had checked it! How was that possible? More than once he brought it to his ear to check whether it was working or not, for he was certain it was breaking down on him – today from all days! The good side of this was that now he could ask for a new watch from his mother this Christmas!

Certain that his watch was useless, he started enquiring with other people about the time, and got convinced that there was something wrong with it altogether today and not only with his watch when Joshua jumped down his throat when Terry asked him what time it was.

“What is it with all that ‘what time is it’ today?” Josh asked irritably while adjusting Benvolio’s sleeve to check on his watch.

“My watch just broke on me,” explained Terry. Obviously Josh had noticed that there was something wrong with time or why else would he get mad at Terry simply for enquiring about it?

“Well, the time is 10:46am,” said Joshua. “And last time you asked me was 10:43am. I forbid you to ask me again what the time is before lunch!”

Terry was scratching his head. “Are you sure your watch isn’t broken too? Because that is what mine says but
it’s not possible that it’s only 10:46, we have already been here for ages!”

“Yeah…” said Josh slowly looking at Terry suspiciously. “Three hours in fact.”

“Not possible,” Terry repeated. “I have been here way more than three hours.”

“Terry…we met at the entrance of this theatre three hours ago…”

Terry was still shaking his head at Josh unable to believe this.

Josh looked at him through half closed eyes. “You are not going to flip on us before the premier, are you?”

“Goodness, what made you say that?” Terry asked indignantly.

“I wonder…” said Josh still looking at him sideways.

Finally after ages and ages, lunch break arrived and Terry took his jacket to go out for a bite to eat. Susanna caught up with him just as he was getting out the stage door.

“Oh… Terry…” she started but he really was not in the mood for this today so he cut in:

“No I am NOT coming at yours for Thanksgiving; we are NOT going to stare at each other for any more than it is absolutely necessary; and I am NOT rehearsing with you today either!” He kept on walking while she was running after him.

“Let’s go grab something to eat then…” she said breathlessly for she had to skip to keep up with his pace.

Terry brought his hand to his left breast pocket. Before he came to work this morning he had gotten his train ticket to Chicago and from time to time he would go check that it was still there especially when Susanna was around – he had not forgotten she had taken his letter a couple of weeks ago! He made sure now that it was still there, then stopped walking and turned to her. She stopped abruptly too.

“Susanna, what is it that I need to do to make sure you know I am not interested in you?” he asked her. She stopped smiling and didn’t say anything; she just stood there looking at him gobsmacked. He knew he was being harsh on her, and he didn’t very much like it, but hell, she was so annoying!

“You are always so rude to me,” she said at last.

“I apologize but you don’t seem to be taking any hints so I just want to make it clear to you so that you don’t harbor any false ideas about me. So stop wasting your time – and mine,” he said coldly. He turned and walked away leaving her standing there.

Terry was not at all hungry that day so he made his way to the nearest jewelry store. He had woken up this morning and his first thought had been that since his mother had given him enough spending money to last him for a month, he would use some of his savings to buy Candy a present. He was not sure what it would be though, and so now, he spent a long time looking around the store not liking anything at all.

The assistant was very kind. Terry explained the situation to him and he advised that a simple bracelet would be the best choice. Terry must have looked at what probably was their entire stock of bracelets and still could not find the right one. As he was ready to get out the door empty handed he did see the perfect gift for her though, and so – with 20 hours left before he would actually meet her – he returned to the theatre satisfied.

More people jumped down his throat during the afternoon rehearsals when he was asking for the time again and Terry couldn’t understand what had gotten into all of them! “Maybe whatever is wrong with time today is affecting their moods,” he thought. It really made him nervous at some point to ask the simple question of what time it is! Honestly, people have been asking this question since the dawn of civilization no one ever got upset over it! In the end he resolved to ask Robert, he seemed to be the only one unaffected by the issue. Robert kindly offered to lend him his watch at some point, but Terry had refused. He did not want to forget it on him, and take his bosses watch to Chicago with him! In the end though, Terry decided not even Robert had escaped the problem.

“Oh, for the love of God”, Robert yelled irritably when Terry asked him. “It is 7:03pm! And I want you to get out of here! NOW!”

“OK”, Terry said wondering for the up tenth time why was everyone so jumpy today. He started making his way towards the stage, but:

“No, no!” Robert yelled again. “Out of here! Shoo! Just take your staff and go to wherever it is you are traveling to! Take the rest of the evening off! Maybe now people will do something other than just tell you what the freaking time is all the freaking time!”

“Really?” Terry said with a wide smile. “Thank you so much! Will see you Monday then, Happy Thanksgiving!” Terry was really happy he had been released early. Maybe his mother had talked to Robert after all. He decided he would bring her a present from Chicago…

“Terry,” Susanna said anxiously, entering his dressing room. “Stupid, you should not have left the door open!” he chastised himself. “Karen says we will not be rehearsing the ball scene tomorrow, do you know anything about this? I was not aware there has been a change of schedule…”

“Why don’t you go ask Robert, Susanna, he is the one who decides what we will be rehearsing and when,” Terry said impatiently gathering his staff. He had brought his overnight bag with him this morning so that he can get straight to the station after work. He turned and looked at the girl and saw her looking at his bag in his hand.

“Where are you going?” she asked tersely.

“Out of town,” he said evasively.

“Chicago?” she asked her voice hardening suddenly.

“Not that this is any of your business, but yes, I am going to Chicago till Sunday…”

She started crying. Terry rolled his eyes again and sighed, trying to check his temper.

“So you are not coming at my house for Thanksgiving because of her?” She said in between sobs. “What is it about her? (sob) She is not even pretty… and… (sob) she does not love you (sob) as much as I do…(sob, sob)…don’t go to Chicago, Terry…(sob)… please don’t go to her…(sob)…”

“Susanna… we have been through this…”

“NO! I told you I am not going to let anyone else have you! Not even her!” Her face had hardened and she was not sobbing anymore. In fact she had stopped crying so fast, Terry was sure it wasn’t ordinary. “Especially not HER!” Susanna vowed forcefully.

“Have you quite finished?” asked Terry wearily.

She glared at him angrily but said nothing.

“Good,” Terry said adjusting his bag in his hand, “because I have a train to catch.”

He walked to the door and waited for her there. She was still rooted to her spot looking at him, angrily. Finally she moved swiftly and reached him before he had the chance to step out of her way. She hung to his neck and started sobbing again.

“Don’t go (sob)… please don’t go (sob)… don’t go to her…(sob, sob)… I love you… stay with me…(sob)…”

“Let me go, Susanna…”

She shook her head without looking up at him.

Terry snapped. He had had quite enough of this. He let his bag fall to the floor then grabbed her and pushed her away from him. He held her at arms length pinning her arms on her side with his hands.

“I had more than enough of this nonsense!” he said angrily. “You have absolutely no right asking me anything… Get in your head that I love another!”

She closed her eyes and shook her head vigorously upon hearing this then yelled “NO!” but he would not have it.

“If you cannot get this into your head it is your problem and not mine! I consider I have made my position clear and I will not have you behaving like this again! Do you understand?”

She shook her head again.

“You don’t understand?” asked Terry raising an eyebrow.

“No, you don’t understand,” she said angrily, and strangely enough she not crying again. “I meant it when I said I will not let her have you. So go ahead… go to Chicago and have a good time with her… because I will make sure it is the last time she will ever have with you…”

And with that she jerked off his grip and run away crying again.

Terry just stood there for a couple of minutes. He had never found her remotely appealing to him but still, he decided, it would have been very flattering and boosting to his ego to know that a pretty girl such as Susanna Marlowe was having a crush on him… if she was not behaving like a screwy psycho most of the time! Frankly, her behavior was starting to worry him a bit. What if she really was a screwy psycho and capable of causing real harm? He didn’t know anything about her and he decided that as soon as he was back from meeting Freckles he would make some enquiries about her and her family.

He shook his head to clear it from anything related to Susanna or the theatre for that matter. The time had come – at long, long last – when he was ready to set off to meet his Freckles! He smiled at the thought of their imminent meeting again. Just about 14 hours to go!!! He made an enormous effort not to cry out or jump with joy at the thought! That’s right! He will be spending five whole days with his Lady Freckles and he was determined to not think once about the dreaded premier or the psycho girl.

“I can’t wait to see you Freckles…” he thought again smiling.

And with that happy thought, he closed his dressing room door, locked it then walked swiftly out to the cold street and made his way to the station…

Chapter 2