Trish Morey - The Hot-Headed Virgin

‘I’m so worried about you…’

‘Don’t be, Mia. I’m fine, truly. Look, I’ve got to go. The guard’s making a fuss about the length of the call. I had to bribe him with my last chocolate bar. I’ll call you when I’m free. Love you.’

‘Love you…’Mia stared at the dead phone, her heart sinking in despair. The amount of money Ellie needed wasn’t huge but things had been tight lately and now, with her café job over, if Theodore didn’t keep her with the company things could get rather desperate.

The phone rang again while she was still holding it and she answered it to find Theodore on the other end informing her of his decision to drop her from the company. He cut the conversation short as soon as she began to protest.

‘Sorry, Mia. My investors are threatening to pull out on the deal after that review. Goodbye.’

She couldn’t believe it. Her first foray into live theatre had come to an ignominious end. One bad review and she was back to waiting on tables full-time, except for the fact that, because of this morning’s encounter with Bryn Dwyer, she no longer had any tables to wait on. And with Ellie’s life in danger thousands of kilometres away she had to have money and fast.

She took a deep, calming breath. Right, I just have to find another acting job, she told herself firmly. No matter how small or demeaning it was, she had to find work.

She quickly dialled her agent but the conversation, like the one she’d just had with Theodore, was brusque and just as disheartening.

‘What’s wrong?’ Gina asked on her way past a short time later. ‘You look like you’re about to murder someone.’

‘I am,’ Mia said, gritting her teeth as she searched for her car keys. ‘I’m going to track down the person responsible for making me lose two jobs in one day and tell him exactly what I think of him.’

‘You’ve been dropped from Peach Pie Productions?’ Gina’s eyes went wide.

Mia tossed one of the sofa cushions aside to retrieve her keys. ‘Not just the company but the café as well, and as if that weren’t enough my agent just made some pathetic excuse about being too busy to represent me any more. Grrrrr!’

‘But why?’ Gina asked. ‘I thought you were brilliant last night, no matter what the review in this morning’s paper said.’

‘So you saw what he wrote, did you?’ Mia asked, scowling furiously. ‘God knows who else has seen it and completely written me off as an actor. I can just imagine what everyone is saying. I’m probably the laughing stock of the whole of Sydney by now. No one will ever offer me a role again and as for getting a new agent, who is going to take me on now?’

Gina did her best to be reassuring. ‘Try not to worry, Mia, all actors get bad reviews from time to time. It comes with the territory. Maybe a new agent will be a good thing in the long run.’

Mia ground her teeth without answering. Her worries about Ellie made her anger towards Bryn Dwyer escalate to boiling point. He was responsible for this and he was going to pay—big time.

‘But why did you lose your job at the café? I thought Tony liked having someone nearly famous working there part-time?’

She gave her flatmate another furious scowl. ‘Because I tipped a cup of coffee in a customer’s lap, that’s why.’

‘You mean…’ Gina gave her a wide-eyed look ‘… on purpose?’

Mia lifted her head in proud defiance. ‘He had it coming to him for writing such a horrible review.’

Gina’s eyes nearly popped out of her head. ‘You mean you tipped a cup of coffee in Bryn Dwyer’s lap? Bryn Dwyer, the Bachelor of the Year and multimillionaire playboy prince of radio?’

‘That’s the one.’

‘Oh, my God, your career is over.’

‘Not if I can help it,’ Mia said determinedly, jangling her keys in her hand.

Gina gave her a worried look. ‘What are you going to do?’

‘Like I said—I’m going to see him and tell him exactly what I think of him. He told me to call him if I was dropped from the company, but I’m going to see him in person.’

‘Do you think that’s such a good idea? He probably has bodyguards or something. He had a stalker before. I remember reading about it in all the magazines. A crazy woman was following him for months, turning up wherever he was, threatening him all the time. His minders might think you’re just like her and going to do him some harm.’

Mia gave her a glittering look over her shoulder as she opened the front door to leave. ‘I am going to do him some harm,’ she said. ‘And I don’t care who tries to stop me. The upsized egotist Bryn Dwyer has finally met his match. You just wait and see.’

The studios of Hot Spot FM were in the leafy suburb of Lane Cove. Mia parked in a side-street and approached the security check-in point.

‘I’m here for a live interview with Bryn Dwyer,’ she informed the attendant assertively. ‘Mia Forrester. I’m an actor.’

The man looked down at his schedule for a moment. ‘I’m afraid I don’t have you marked down on my sheet. Are you sure your interview is for this afternoon?’

‘Yes, I spoke with Mr Dwyer this morning over coffee,’ she said and, taking a risk added, ‘He asked me to come and see him in person. Perhaps if you could call his studio and check, I’m sure he will verify it for you. We’re—er—old friends.’

‘Just a second.’ The man pressed some numbers and had a brief conversation with the producer before he turned back to her and handed her a security pass through the booth window. ‘Here’s a security tag.’ He activated the boom gate for her and added, ‘Go right through, Miss Forrester; it’s studio number five, the third one on the left. The producer will let you know when it’s time for your interview. Mr Dwyer’s been expecting you.’

Mia walked through with forced casualness while her brain was shooting off in all directions. What did he mean, Mr Dwyer was expecting her? How had he known she’d be storming over here to have it out with him?

The two-part studio was where the boom operator had indicated and one of the crew opened the door at her knock and ushered her through. Mia could see Bryn sitting in the transmitting studio next door, his headphones and mouthpiece in place. As if he sensed her presence he swung his chair around and mouthed ‘hello’ to her, his eyes glinting with something she couldn’t quite identify.

She pursed her lips and, although she was seriously tempted to give him a very rude sign with one of her fingers, somehow she resisted the urge and sent him a frosty look instead.

‘He’s got one more song until the news and weather and then he’ll be able to speak to you,’ the producer informed her from where he was sitting behind his computer console.

‘Thank you,’ she said and took the chair he offered.

She could hear the sound of Bryn’s deep, mellifluous voice as the show was broadcast around the studio. There was a seven-second delay, which she found a little unnerving because inside the glassed-in section she could see he had stopped speaking to swivel his chair to look at her again.

She gave him another cold look but just then she heard his voice announce his next guest.

‘Right after the news and weather I will have with me the utterly gorgeous Mia Forrester, whom I met for the first time this morning when she accidentally spilt a cup of coffee in my lap. Hey, all you out there in radio-land, I’m in love .’

Mia’s eyes went out on stalks as she sat forward on her chair, her stomach tripping over itself in alarm. What on earth was he doing?

He gave her a quick, confident grin and his voice continued, ‘So call me after the news, all you lovers out there in listener-land, and tell me about your most romantic meeting.’