CHAPTER EIGHT — A BOY ON THE PHONE
By two in the morning, Nora was sitting in an empty dressing room with her phone pressed to her ear.
Mrs. Alvarez had finally managed to wake Eli just enough for him to speak.
“Did you find the milk?” he asked sleepily.
Nora closed her eyes.
“Not yet, sweetheart.”
“Did the store close?”
“Something happened at work.”
He was quiet for several seconds.
“Are you in trouble?”
Nora stared at her reflection in a dressing-room mirror surrounded by unlit bulbs.
“I’m trying to help someone.”
“Is it the old man?”
She had told him about the customer during an earlier message.
“A little,” she admitted.
“Mostly I’m trying to help people at a theater.”
Eli asked whether there were actors and whether she could bring him a program.
She promised she would try.
Then he surprised her.
“Are there songs?”
“Yes.”
“Can the people singing hear the people listening?”
Nora thought about the artificial applause.
“Sometimes.”
“Then I hope they play something happy.”
After the call, she sat for another minute staring at the phone.
She had wanted to sound calm, but she was no longer sure what she could promise him.
Claire knocked on the open door.
“The board members are arriving early.”
Nora rose.
“Are they deciding whether to cancel?”
“They’re deciding whether I had authority to pause the rehearsal.”
“That sounds like a different question.”
“It is.”
Claire sat down opposite her.
“I signed a contract that I did not examine as carefully as I should have.”
“Why not?”
“Because I wanted the theater funded.
”
She explained that the Wren had struggled for years, and the family had kept it open by subsidizing shows that rarely sold enough tickets.
Whitmore Eternal had promised a spectacular reopening and new revenue.
“Martin told me the project would preserve Mother’s performances,” Claire said.
“I wanted to believe him because I was tired of watching this place become another empty building.”
Nora looked at the costume photographs on the walls.
“Wanting something good doesn’t make the agreement good.”
“I know that now.”
“What do you want from me?”
Claire took a breath.
“I want you to attend the board meeting.”
Nora gave a weary laugh.
“A waitress at a billionaire’s board meeting?”
“You saw the demonstration without knowing what anyone hoped you’d say.”
“I also have a child waiting for breakfast.”
“I’ll make sure you get home afterward.”
Nora shook her head.
“You keep promising transportation.”
“What would help?”
“Tell the people in charge exactly what the crew told us.”
“They’ll say you misunderstood.”
“Then bring the crew.”
Claire considered that.
“The meeting isn’t open to employees.”
“They’re the people whose hands built the show.”
Nora stood and collected the case.
“If you’re asking me to speak, I’m not going alone.”
