She was feeling calmer now. Talking things through with her husband always had that effect on her. She looked up into his face.“You know? You’re the best thing that ever happened to me, Tex. And I don’t say this nearly often enough.”
“You’re the best thing that ever happened to me, too, Marge,” he said.
They kissed, and didn’t even hear it when the nurse walked up to them, on those rubber-soled nurse’s sneakers of hers. But when she cleared her throat, and said, “You can go in now,” Marge’s heart jumped. Maybe Tex was right, and things would be just fine.
After all, weren’t they always?
Chapter 38
There was a knock at the door of Odelia’s room and a man poked his head in. He wasn’t a doctor or a nurse but still seemed vaguely familiar to me. When he saw that the couch was covered in cats, he smiled. Immediately I warmed to him. I can never dislike a cat person, and this man obviously was one.
Odelia opened her eyes and stared at the man for a moment, then also smiled.“Conway. How did you know I was here?”
“A member of the crew heard you had an accident, so I made it my mission to find out which hospital you’d been taken to.”
“That’s very sweet of you.”
He strode further into the room, and spirited a large bouquet of flowers from behind his back and offered it to Odelia. She was almost hidden behind the huge selection of blooms.
“They’re lovely,” she said, taking a sniff. “You shouldn’t have.”
“They’re from the entire crew, wishing you a speedy recovery.”
He took a seat next to the bed, then a tentative peek at the bandages that covered the right part of Odelia’s head. “So how are you feeling?”
“Oh, it looks a lot worse than it is,” she assured him. “Just me being clumsy, I guess. Tripped over a carpet, if you can believe it. Silly me.”
“Could happen to anyone,” he said. “In fact it happened to me once. I broke an arm in the process.”
“In that case I guess I was lucky.” She waved her arms. “No broken bones.”
He laughed and settled back in his chair, which creaked.“I have a proposal for you, Odelia.”
“Oh, not a wedding proposal, I hope. I’m afraid I’m taken already.”
He laughed again, throwing his head back.
He looked like a nice person, I thought. He had one of those rolled-out-of-bed hairdos and a three-day beard that made him look what most women would consider extremely sexy. He was dressed in a black leather jacket, skinny jeans, and cowboy boots. The ultimate bad boy. I wondered if he was an actor, too.
“No, nothing like that, I’m afraid,” he said. “The thing is, we’re going to continue the Hampton Cove Bard in the Park shows. We’re actually going through with it. We had a big meeting this morning at the manor and it was decided we don’t want to give this up. Even Don agreed, if you can believe it. Though he demanded a bigger part for himself, of course.”
“Of course. So you found another director.”
“We have. I don’t think you know her. Vita Bogdanovich. She’s very good. Not like Wolf, of course, but she’s one of the best at what she does. The thing is, Emily and I have been thinking things through. What with Wolf being in jail and all, and in light of the terrible things he’s done, we’re going to rename the company, and do some restructuring. We’re also going to have to reconsider our production slate, and now I’m finally getting to the point,” he said when Odelia yawned.
“Don’t mind me. It’s the stuff they put in my drip. It just makes me woozy.”
What made Odelia woozy was probably the slight concussion she’d suffered, I thought, but my own eyes were also drooping closed. The hospital room was nice and warm, and the couch soft and comfy.
“The thing is, we’re staging a production of Mary Poppins in the spring, and Wolf had been looking for someone to play Mary. He’d mentioned a couple of times how he thought Dany Cooper was perfect for the part. So now with Dany gone—and Wolf…” He looked at Odelia expectantly. “I was hoping that you’d be interested.”
“You want me to help you find your Mary Poppins?”
“As far as I’m concerned, we’ve found her already, and with your permission I’d like to make it official. I talked to Emily, and showed her some of your footage, and she agrees.”
Odelia frowned.“With my permission? Why do you need my permission?”
“Because you’re she. You’re our Mary Poppins. Only if you want, of course.”
Odelia let out a little squeak of delight.“Me? You want me to play Mary?”
He was grinning widely.“Yes, we do. We can’t think of a better person to embody the spirit of Mary, and from what we’ve seen you’re born to play the part. A natural.”
Odelia didn’t know what to say, that much was obvious. Her mouth opened and closed a few times, but her eyes were sparkling, which probably meant she liked the idea.
“Who’s Mary Poppins?” asked Dooley, who’d been listening intently.
“She’s a governess who can fly and do all kinds of magic,” I said. “Don’t you remember? We saw the movie just the other day. The one with Emily Blunt.”
“Fly? A governess who can fly?”
“She’s from England,” I said, and he nodded, as if that explained everything.
Brutus yawned.“So Odelia is going to be an actress. Cool. I just hope she won’t have to travel the world. I hate to travel.”
“And who says she’ll take us along on her travels?” said Harriet. “I know for a fact that actors never take their cats along with them. Shanille’s human has a sister whose second cousin twice removed is an actress and when she flies out for some movie she’s shooting up in Canada or wherever, she always asks Father Reilly’s sister to take care of her cats for her.”
“She’s not going to take us along with her?” asked Dooley. “But that’s just wrong.”
“Cats don’t travel,” said Harriet decidedly. “Everybody knows that. Dogs do, which is why many people who travel a lot prefer to get a dog and dump their cats at the pound.”
“I travel,” I said. “I would love to travel with Odelia.”
Frankly, I wouldn’t. I like my home, I like my couch, I like my backyard, I like my friends and I like my routine. Traveling simply seems like a terrible way to occupy your time, not to mention having to sleep in strange beds, and meet a lot of strange people. If Odelia insisted, I’d do it in a heartbeat, of course. But after Harriet’s words I was starting to think she wouldn’t insist.
“So what do you say?” asked this Conway person. “Say yes,” he added with a twinkle in his eye.
I had to hand it to him. He was very charming, apart from being very handsome.
“I’ll have to think about it,” said Odelia. “And discuss it with my boyfriend, not to mention my boss.”
“Your boss? Oh, right. The reporter thing.” He seemed to figure that wasn’t a big deal. “You can take a leave of absence, though, can’t you?”
“I’m Dan’s only reporter,” Odelia explained. “If I take a leave of absence he’ll have to hire another reporter, and there aren’t that many reporters in Hampton Cove.”
She was the only one, I knew. Reporters don’t grow on trees in small towns like Hampton Cove. It was a miracle Dan had found Odelia. If not for her he’d probably have had to close down the Gazette when he decided to retire. Now she was poised to take over when he did.
Conway seemed displeased for some reason.“This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, Odelia.”
“I know it is. And I’m very excited. But I’ll still need time to think.”
He frowned, clearly not used to being turned down like this.
“Have it your way,” he said a little grumpily. “I thought you’d jump at the chance, but clearly I was mistaken.”
“Oh, but I think it’s a wonderful opportunity. It’s just…”
He silenced her with an imperious gesture.“Don’t think too long. This offer is time-sensitive.”
It sounded a lot like a threat, and suddenly I liked handsome dude a lot less.