The Girl From Summer Hill Read online

  Jack didn’t seem to hear her. “She’s trying out for Jane, and of course she’ll get the part.” He hesitated. “I was thinking I might audition for Bingley.”

  “What a great idea,” Casey said. “Have you asked Kit yet?”

  “Yeah, but he doesn’t like it. He said some L.A. guy will call me and I’ll fly away and leave them hanging. But I’m free until September and I could stay at Tate’s house.” He gave Casey a pleading look. “You’ll cook for me? Fill that big shiny box in the kitchen?”

  “I could do that.” Casey tried to sound as innocent as she could manage. “If you can persuade Kit, that is. Hey! I have an idea that might help your case. If you have some L.A. publicity people, maybe you could get them to promote the play. Tell Kit they’ll do it for free. After all, it is for charity.”

  “Brilliant idea,” Jack said. “I’ll make some calls and get it done. Wish me luck.”

  “I feel in my heart that Kit will consent to give you the role.”

  Smiling, Jack went back to where Gizzy was waiting for him.

  Olivia was shaking her head. “I’m worried whether you and your co-conspirator are going to get into heaven.”

  “I think He forgives more when it’s for charity. Besides, who knows? Maybe Jack and Gizzy will be a match.”

  Casey and Olivia looked at each other. A lot of men fell for Gizzy’s outward beauty, but when they got to know her, they were turned off. She was a fearless daredevil inside the body of an angel. “Nah,” they agreed. “It won’t happen.”

  At quarter to ten, the auditions began. The first was to be for the role of Lydia. Casting the part would get rid of twenty-some giggling, excited girls—and a few women who thought they could still pass for fifteen.

  Kit, who would direct the play, told the girls that although the part of Lydia didn’t have a lot of lines, it had to be believable that she had something about her that would attract an older man. True, she was giddy and frivolous. “But then, we men tend to like that,” he said in such a suggestive way that everyone laughed.

  All the girls with LYDIA on their badges went backstage, and as their turns came, they were helped into the high-waisted, low-cut dresses of the Regency era. Since the man playing Wickham was in costume, the girls would be too.

  The first up was a local girl, a senior in high school, who was the head cheerleader and very popular. What she did and wore were constant topics of conversation among the girls at her school. The gossip was that three girls had dropped out because they were sure she’d get the role.

  But she was awful! Olivia and Casey stood in the back, watching in horror as the girl showed what she thought was sexy. She played Lydia like a forty-year-old vamp from a black-and-white movie. All that was missing was a cigarette dangling from her lips.

  When she finished, Kit graciously thanked her and she left the stage, smiling as though she knew she had the role.

  Josh was standing by the food tables. “You have any more—?”

  “Help yourself.” Casey looked at Olivia. In silent agreement, they hurried down the center aisle to sit in the row beside Kit, who was behind a temporary desk.

  “Did you come to watch a catastrophe?” Kit said under his breath.

  “Oh, yes,” Casey said. “So far it’s more exciting than Jack Worth’s last movie. Did you accept his offer of free publicity?”

  “Of course. Next!” he said loudly, then removed an envelope from his pile of papers, reached across Casey, and handed it to Olivia.

  She opened it, began to pull out a photo, then quickly put it back inside.

  “What’s that?” Casey asked.

  “Nothing.” Olivia’s eyes were fixed straight ahead, on the stage.

  Kit was also looking at the stage, where a girl was waiting. “Begin.”

  The second audition was as bad as the first. The girl stuttered over her lines and tripped on her skirt.

  “My kingdom for some popcorn,” Casey said.

  It took two hours to get through all the auditions. They were mostly bad. The girls couldn’t seem to disassociate real life from the character they were playing.

  As for the man—Casey learned his name was Devlin Haines—he was excellent. No matter how many times he said his lines, they were always with feeling.

  “Studied in New York,” Kit said when Casey asked about him. “Gave up acting when he got married and had a kid. Said he needed the security of a regular job.”

  “Married?” Casey’s voice showed that she didn’t like that news.

  “I believe he is now divorced.”

  “Interesting.” Casey turned her attention back to the next audition. This Lydia—who was thirty if she was a day—said, “Shouldn’t we kiss? That would make the scene more believable.”

  “Not in Austen,” Kit said. “But maybe next time we’ll do Fanny Hill.”

  “What’s that?” she asked, but Kit didn’t answer. Olivia and Casey had to bend forward to hide their faces so their laughter couldn’t be seen.

  By noon everyone was hungry and wanted a break, but Kit said there was one more girl they should see.

  The girl who’d taken the pastry and juice came onstage. She had on the costume but wore a big cardigan over it, and she still looked so shy that they wondered if she’d speak.

  “You’re Lorraine Youngston?” Kit asked.

  “Yes, and it’s Lori Young,” she answered rather timidly.

  “She’s spending the summer with her grandmother at the lake,” Kit said to Casey and Olivia, then louder, “Begin, please.”

  Lori took her time removing her sweater and putting it on a chair. The stage hadn’t been fully set but there were a few Regency-style props scattered about.

  For the audition, Kit had written a scene that wasn’t in the book and wouldn’t be in the play—it was the first time Lydia and Wickham were alone.

  Everyone watched as Lori walked across the stage to stand in front of Devlin. Then she changed. In a flash, she went from shyly slumping to shoulders back, her chest stuck out. When she smiled at Devlin, for a moment he seemed to lose his composure.

  Her quick change in personality was similar to what Jack had done earlier. Casey looked at him, standing against the wall, and mouthed, “Like you.” Nodding in agreement, Jack gave a thumbs-up.

  Lori’s performance was mesmerizing. She smiled and laughed—and tempted. Devlin, who had been so in charge in all the other auditions, so perfectly in control, twice stumbled over his lines.

  When Lori finished, she abruptly put her concealing sweater back on, resumed her shy expression, and stood there looking at Kit.

  He took a moment, then said, “Thank you, Lydia. Shall we break for lunch?”

  Lori left the stage, smiling in a quiet, unassuming way.

  As they were serving lunch, Casey realized that she’d left six pies on the counter at her house. They were already having to supplement with food and desserts from local stores, so they needed the pies. Besides, she’d promised some people a slice of her berry custard pie.

  She saw that Gizzy and Jack were sitting close together in a corner, full plates on their laps. She asked him if she could borrow the truck and said, no, there was no need for him to drive her there and back.

  Jack handed her the keys and as she headed for the door, Casey told Olivia that she’d be back in a few minutes.

  Tate put his head back against the leather seat of the car and closed his eyes. Could this day possibly get any worse?

  When he’d awakened early this morning, after a night of flopping around in bed, he knew he had to face his demons head-on. Even though it wasn’t yet full light, he knew he must go outside and look around. It’s what his sister, Nina, had been telling him to do for years.

  Just three months ago, she’d again started in on him. “You spent all that money restoring the place but you’ve never even seen it. You have to go. Today. Now.”

  “I know.” Tate was looking out the glass wall of his L.A. home. “I should go for