For the Love of the Bard by Jessica Martin

Author:Jessica Martin [Martin, Jessica]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Penguin Publishing Group
Published: 2022-06-28T00:00:00+00:00

Act Two

July

Scene Seventeen

The Auditorium

July in Bard’s arrived in all its usual face-melting glory. And the heat was only part of it. Chewing on the end of my pen, I watched Byron and Cat circling each other, their body language and lines rich and suggestive as they burned the place to the ground. Seriously, if the subtext got any hotter, I was going for the fire extinguisher.

As accessible as Shakespeare could be, it all hinged on that subtext to translate it into themes that rang true for a modern audience. While Twelfth Night lacked those weak-in-the-knees, highly quotable declarations of love found in Romeo and Juliet, there was no denying that at its center were two characters exploring a forbidden attraction.

Out of the corner of my eye, I could see movement in the wings, a flash of blond hair, the brim of a faded baseball hat. Adam. It might have been my imagination, but it seemed he’d been around here a lot more since his mea culpa over pizza and beer at the Pinsmen the prior week. Also, I couldn’t say for sure, but I was pretty convinced he’d grown even more attractive since apologizing. More men should try that. Lifting my hand in a silent greeting, he rewarded me with one of those grins that lit the backstage better than any spotlight could.

Once rehearsals had kicked off in earnest, my evenings had settled into a familiar cadence, beginning here in the high school auditorium—working through scenes with the cast and indulging in Adam sightings—and ending in the attic with finger cramps and hard-won progress on my book.

In another week or two the amphitheater on Will’s Island would finally be fully operational for rehearsals. Apparently, there’d been a wood rot issue that not even my father had the expertise to fix, so we were here in the auditorium rehearsing while Tillie worked on costumes and Dad and Adam built the sets. Adam. Moving in and out of my field of vision, he had one of those tool belts around his waist. The guy made the male equivalent of a fanny pack look hot. I was doomed.

“Miranda?” Cat’s expression was bright and expectant, but also a little sly. Or maybe that was just the natural predisposition of her full lips. She did kind of look like a sexed-up version of Belle.

“Wonderful. You nailed it.”

Cat exchanged a knowing glance with her stage partner. “Other than the parts where I dropped my lines twice and Byron stepped in early on his monologue?”

“Well, yeah. The chemistry is there, and that’s the most important part.”

She didn’t say anything, but the way her eyebrows winged up was enough to tell me she didn’t believe my bullshit for a minute.

“So you’re okay if we knock off fifteen minutes early and head to the Tavern for twenty-five-cent wings?” Byron asked hopefully.

“Or we could pick it up from scene four again?” Cat wrinkled her nose. “I’m not sure how I feel about consuming poultry from a place called the Tavern of Ill Repute.

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