The very efficient Siri checked the number with him, then told him to proceed.
I’m on way to airport. Meet me in usual lounge.
Message sent.
Shit, what had happened to them? Both of them going through major relationship dramas at the same time. As far as he could remember, this had never happened before. Kara had been with Josh for what felt like forever, and even before that, one of them had always been in a relationship when the other one was single. At least they would have the time in Hawaii to drink, talk and suss out exactly what they were going to do with the carnage they were both dealing with.
The snow wasn’t lying on the main road, so putting his foot down, he teetered on the speed limit. Music. That’s what he needed. His phone was already linked up to the car speaker system, so he lined up some Chris Stapleton and drove with the raspy sounds of ‘Fire Away’ filling his head. He pointed the car in the direction of the M8 motorway, which would take him all the way to the airport, about twenty miles outside the city, but only a few miles into the journey, almost unconsciously, he veered off, and ten minutes later he was back in the same street he’d visited earlier.
The teenagers were gone from the corner now, and there were just a couple of elderly blokes shuffling up the street, both insulated from the cold by their flat caps, padded jackets, and judging by the sway of their steps, a few lunchtime whiskies.
He stared at the building he’d toured earlier with Calvin. Was he being crazy even contemplating getting involved with a project like this? He had a dream job that, in filming season, came with an intense schedule, a personal life that just got way more complicated, and he already lived out of a suitcase. Did he really want to add to his workload? His head was giving him a different answer from his heart. Just at that, his phone rang and he knew that the name that flashed up on the car’s display system would come down firmly on the side of the heart.
He flicked the button on the wheel to answer.
‘Hey Mum, how are you doing?’
She didn’t even pause to consider her answer. ‘My blood pressure is rocketing and I’m about ready to track down that wife of yours and give her a piece of my mind. Oh son, I’m so sorry. One of the dancers in the aerial acrobatic group just showed me that video of Sienna that’s doing the rounds and, oh my goodness, it’s a shocker. What’s going on? Are you okay? Aaaargh, I just want to hug you.’
‘Thanks, Mum,’ he said, thinking that her opening outburst summed up his mother in a nutshell. Loving, protective, would fight anyone who crossed people she loved, and not one to keep quiet or ignore a problem if she had something to say. He’d never been so glad that he was going to see her tomorrow in Hawaii. When she first went offshore, she’d call from a payphone in a port whenever she could, but now that the ships had decent Wi-Fi they managed to speak every week. ‘It was a bit of a blindside moment, but to be honest I should have seen it coming. Things haven’t been great for a while now.’
‘I knew that, son. You’ve never been much good at hiding your feelings and acting like nothing’s wrong.’
That made him laugh. ‘Mum, I literally get paid a lot of money to hide my feelings and act like nothing’s wrong. I got a Golden Globe for it last year.’
‘Aye, well, you can’t hide them from me,’ she said. ‘And I’m going to give you a pass on your cheek, given that you’re thirty and you’re an only child. If you desert me, I’m on my own in my old age.’
Her habit of using humour at inappropriate times was yet another of the things he adored about Moira Chiles.
‘That’s very true. You’re lucky I’m devoted to you at the moment, but that could change…’
This was no time for jokes, but he knew that as long as he was firing back barbs and teasing her, the chances of her worrying herself sick would be lowered.
‘Enough of your cheek. Anyway, it’s been a long time since I felt you two were truly happy together. Do you think there’s any hope of getting back on track with Sienna?’
He’d been mulling over that same question all afternoon. ‘I don’t think so.’
‘Okay. Well, I’ll hold off tracking her down until you’re absolutely sure. I’m not sure Jacinta will have the same restraint. I spoke to her earlier and she is ready to take a contract out on Kara’s Josh. What a spineless one he turned out to be.’
Thanks to a dozen instances of missing each other’s calls, Ollie had still to hear the details of what had caused Kara to call off the wedding, but before he could interrogate his mum, there was a deafening sound of a horn in the background.
‘Listen, we’re just coming into dock, so I need to get going. Offloading at Miami always takes ages. One of the croupiers in the casino is giving me a lift up to Orlando in return for a promise to sing Adele songs to him the whole way there. I’mcatching a direct flight to Honolulu from there and Seb is picking me up from the airport and taking me to the hotel, so I’ll be there before you. Tell Jacinta to remember to bring me three large bars of Dairy Milk, two packets of shortbread and a couple of boxes of Tunnock’s Teacakes. And hurry up and get there so I can hug you.’
‘I will, Mum. Love you.’
‘Love you back, son. And I promise you… there’s loads of good times ahead for you.’ There it was. The Moira Chiles Pep Talk in Optimism, number 3425.
He hung up feeling a whole lot better than he had five minutes ago. He stared at the building again. His mum would love it. His gran would have approved too. But was he ready to tie himself back to Glasgow again? Was there really not a shred of hope for him and Sienna?
He kicked the car into gear and pondered his indecision all the way to the airport.
When he came off the slip road, he went left at the roundabout, in the opposite direction from the terminal building, and stopped at a layby a few hundred yards from the car hire drop-off point. This was going to be the last time he’d be alone for a while, so much as he had no desire to do it, it made sense to just get an update on the online shitshow his life had become today.
Emails first. All of them predictable. Another round of communications from his manager, his agent and his publicist – hear no evil, see no evil and speak no evil – flooding his inbox with requests for the comments he’d already said he wouldn’t give, suggesting interviews he’d said he wouldn’t do and offering damage-control strategies he’d said he wasn’t interested in. All that spin, smoke and mirrors that came with celebrity life was bullshit to him. He’d rather just get on with living his life and let people think whatever they wanted.
Next, his texts. A rake of contacts from journalists asking for his thoughts, lots of ‘I’m here for you’ sympathy texts from dozens of acquaintances, offers of a chat from several friends and castmates, and yet another reminder from Drea that he had to be at the airport by four o’clock. He scrolled through them all and decided there was nothing that required immediate action, especially as he had no desire whatsoever to discuss his wife’s indiscretions or the state of his marriage.
Okay, job done.
