‘Do you think we only get on because of Max? Like, he’s the linking factor?’
‘If that was true,’ Mik said, ‘it would be really awkward every time he left the room. Which he does a lot. And, to be honest, I quite look forward to those moments.’
‘Me too,’ she said.
‘Okay, so what is it?’
‘Do you think love is very different from friendship?’
‘Wow. I wasn’t expecting that. Um… Yeah. It’s different. You can feel it. In the skin.’
‘I’ve never been in love,’ she said.
‘I’ve been in love a lot.’
‘I don’t want to be in love. Ever. It causes so many problems.’
He took a swallow of his beer, and said, ‘That sounds like a bad childhood talking.’
‘Not at all. I just— I’m content. As I am. I wish everyone could be.’
‘Do you mean Max?’ said Mik.
She nodded, and leaned back in her seat. ‘He’s my responsibility. He’s so desperate to try to understand love. Through the Stuck Six, through his own experiences. I wish I could get him to give up on the whole thing. All his plans and projects.’
‘What, like the film?’
‘Yes, like the film. Like anything do to with love. All his crazy ideas. He spends so much money, he wastes so much time.’
‘We should start a celibacy club.’
‘Are you celibate?’ she asked him, all astonishment.
‘Aren’t you?’
‘God, no. I just don’t ever confuse love and sex.’
‘You get laid? What, a lot? When? With who?’
‘That’s my business.’
He didn’t believe it. ‘Well, you’re not responsible for Max, or his happiness.’
‘Maybe not, but when I took this job I decided I was going to do the best I can. And that involves doing whatever it takes to help him.’
It was a ridiculous statement, casting herself as his nurse, mother, friend and manager. What a pairing they were: the handsome actor/director who lived in a land of his own imagination, and the very serious bodyguard who was determined to let him.
And what did he bring to it all? He couldn’t think of a thing, apart from being there when the pieces inevitably needed to be picked up. ‘Well,’ he said, ‘how about in that case I’ll do the best I can to help you, if you ever need it. Deal?’
‘Deal.’
‘I thought I already dealt,’ said Max, from the doorway, and Gwen said, ‘Oh, shut up and sit down.’
So Max did, and the game began.
SATURDAY, 20 JULY 2022, 9:14PM.
MIK: —understand why there was no trace of you. I had investigators on it.
ROSE: Petra had some talented friends in… unusual lines of work. After she died they came to me, told me she’d asked them to change my name and alter my records if anything went wrong. I think she was worried the Suscutin lot would come after me.
MIK: Seriously?
ROSE: You’re sweet. Weirdly innocent about life. Which bit don’t you believe? That people would want to protect a multi-billion-pound industry, or that other people would be able to protect me from them? Well, maybe you’re right. I’m not sure anybody ever did come looking for me. Until you. Why should they bother? I’ve learned my lesson.
<Pause>
MIK: So… why are you recording again?
ROSE: Another question for you.
MIK: And then you’ll tell me what I need to know?
<Pause>
MIK: That was the deal, right?
ROSE: I know, I just… Are you sure you want to know? I find I’m reluctant to destroy that innocence.
MIK: If it’s not a deal then stop recording.
ROSE: No. It’s still a deal.
MIK: Okay. So what else can I tell you about Gwen to make you realise she’s not the devil? She likes disco music. She’s rubbish at poker because she always looks delighted when she gets a good hand. She reads a lot of books, big fantasy books, you know, thirty-eight in a never-ending series-so-far books.
ROSE: Not about Taylor. About Max. Tell me about the last time you saw him.
MIK: No, I don’t think so.
ROSE: Why? Did you argue?
MIK: No. It won’t give you what you want, that’s all. Nothing happened. It was a normal conversation about filming, and you don’t want that, do you? I’ll give you what you want. What will satisfy you.
ROSE: No, I don’t want—
MIK: Listen.
2013. THAT’S WHAT FRIENDS ARE FOR.
‘I’ve done something terrible.’
She stood back from the steps that led to the door of the trailer; Mik could look down on the crown of her blond hair, for once. Her arms were crossed, and her shoulders raised, defensive.
‘What’s up?’
‘I have to get out of here.’
‘Is Max all right?’ His first thought was that she’d had to confront an intruder, maybe even tackle them personally. But the more Mik looked at her, the more he could see that it was not adrenaline running through her, but some deep emotion she was trying to contain.
‘He’s fine, he’s not— The best thing for everyone is if I get away from him, and stay away. I shouldn’t be near him. I make everything worse.’
The other trailers were dotted about the long flat section of grass in this part of Max’s estate, but as work had been halted for the last few days most people had taken the opportunity to go home or go to London. Still, Mik felt self-conscious, standing above her, meeting her eyes at this angle. ‘Come in,’ he said, and quickly threw the remains of the ready meal he’d had for a late Sunday lunch into the bin in the cupboard under the sink.
He had discovered a fondness for trailer living, which enclosed him and yet demanded no permanence from him, but he hated others to see it, pass judgement on him because of it. Gwen looked around the small, messy space – his film magazines and dirty crockery – but didn’t seem to care. She sat on one side of the padded bench that ran around the tabletop, and he closed the door quietly, then sat opposite. ‘Tell me what’s wrong.’
She didn’t even respond to that. ‘Look, I wouldn’t ask, but you said…’
‘I know, I know. I meant it, you were right to come here. What do you need?’
‘A ride. Don’t ask me what happened. Don’t ever tell Max where I am.’
‘Fuck,’ he said.
‘Can you do that?’
He heard a different question underneath. The question of whether he really was her friend.
It was Dan who popped into his head. Dan, and his decision to help Mik leave when all the others were determined to make him stay. It’s still love, Howard had said, over and over, just in a different form, not in the skin, but we can make it work, if you’ll only try harder. It had been Dan’s money, Dan’s contacts, Dan’s understanding, Dan’s unconditional help that had saved him.
‘Yes,’ he said. ‘I can do that.’
He grabbed his phone, wallet and car keys and took her hand as they left the trailer, heading back across the grass in the afternoon sunlight. Her palm was clammy, her grip strong – what couldn’t Gwen, amazing Gwen, possibly face? Didn’t she know she could overcome anything? What had Max done to rob her of her control? She stared up at the house as it came into view, her gaze fearful; he thought she was looking at the windows, checking to see if Max appeared.
She was afraid of seeing him.
That couldn’t be right.
‘Did Max… touch you?’ he said, grasping at straws.
‘Do you think I’d let him?’ she said, and he saw a trace of the Gwen he knew well, and was relieved.
‘In that case, surely we can sort it out. It’s probably just a miscommunication. Nothing could be that bad. Nothing is unforgiveable between friends, right?’