Page 21 of The Perfect Gift

‘Jesus, that’s awful!’

‘Yeah, I mean, I didn’t know it was him until that moment. In fact I had no idea who it was. Things really blew up after the first season of Ton! aired. You’d think a hit like that would be great for my reputation but it was so popular it put people off hiring me. My agent kept putting me up for roles and the feedback was always the same. I decided to do something different and auditioned for a play. It was a small production but word of mouth spread and we ended up moving to a larger venue because the demand for tickets was so high. Queues started at the stage door for selfies and I’m not going to lie when I say that was a hell of a boost to my ego. I got a couple of cards that were a bit over the top but I didn’t think anything of it at first. It’s not unusual for people to send cards or leave notes, even little gifts sometimes, and most of the time it’s a privilege to know that my performance has stirred someone enough to make them want to reach out and thank me.’

‘Like people leaving a compliment under a social media post, I suppose?’

She nodded. ‘Exactly. When someone takes time out of their day like that it’s nice.’ She took a sip of her wine, then shrugged. ‘Well, it’s nice when the comments are positive.’ She saw Ed’s expression darken but she didn’t want to divert the conversation into the pros and cons of the comments section, so she returned to the matter at hand. ‘When the third card arrived, it set off a couple of alarm bells. The language had changed, become more personal, and he talked about watching me on stage and how he’d felt when I looked at him.’ Frankie drew up her knees and tucked an arm around them. ‘When I’m on stage I can’t see the audience much at all. I can feel them, feel their energy and their emotions and there’s definitely a kinetic connection but it’s never with an individual, it’s the unique vibe they create as a whole.’ She paused and glanced over at Ed, who was watching her with a wary intensity. ‘Does that make sense?’

He nodded. ‘Yeah, I get it. You don’t have to tell me any of this, you know?’

‘I know, but I want you to understand why I reacted the way I did earlier. Anyway, the cards carried on and then the gifts followed. Teddy bears clutching hearts, boxes of chocolates, the kind of thing people give each other in that first rush of a romantic relationship, and there were letters with them. Pages and pages of fantasy nonsense about what I meant to him, how special I was, how he was the only person who could truly appreciate me.’

‘You must’ve been terrified.’

She appreciated the bluntness of the statement. The way Ed instantly validated how scared she’d been meant a lot when so many other people had told her to forget about it, to ignore it and her admirer would eventually get bored and give up. Only he hadn’t given up. ‘I went to the police in the end, but there wasn’t much they could do. They gave me the usual advice about not travelling on my own, and varying my route to work where I could. The theatre put on extra security and I stopped doing selfies and autographs at the stage door.’

She sighed. ‘That was the start of the bad publicity online. I got accused of being up myself, of ignoring fans and leaving them disappointed. I didn’t want to draw attention to what was happening, so I couldn’t say anything to contradict it. And then once that video was posted, the abuse went stratospheric.’

‘I saw a couple of the titles of the videos when I googled you earlier and I just don’t understand what gets into some people.’ Ed shook his head.

‘I guess they took my silence as complicity, or that I didn’t care enough to acknowledge them. I was going to post an explanation but my management said it would probably just inflame the situation, and the police asked me not to say anything that might jeopardise the case.’

‘They arrested him at least?’

She nodded. ‘Yeah, I got lucky when I got off the train – there were a couple of transport police officers on the platform.’ She hugged her knees tighter. ‘Turns out he had a serious mental health condition and was struggling with his medication. He was voluntarily sectioned for a while and thankfully got the support he needed. He wrote me a very sweet letter afterwards via my agent’s office, apologising for everything and thanking me for withdrawing my complaint. It was a relief when the police decided to take no further action against him. He was getting proper help and I didn’t want to risk exposing him to the stress of a trial, in case it had a negative effect on his recovery. And to be completely honest, I didn’t want to put the incident back in the spotlight, so letting it go felt like the best thing for both of us.

‘So yeah, getting cast as Georgiana was a bit of a double-edged sword. And she’s one of those characters that people love to hate, and I’d kind of leaned into the attitude because it suited the character, especially in the first season. Now I have to try and sell a redemption arc for her as the season we’re finishing up is her big romance, so the pressure is really on.’

‘And you filmed an important scene today, you said? No wonder it takes a lot out of you. Then I showed up! Just what you didn’t need.’ Ed gave a rueful laugh.

Frankie considered him thoughtfully. ‘It might not have started out like it, but you showing up turned out to be exactly what I needed. I avoid talking about stuff too much and end up stewing over things. It’s not healthy.’

‘Hard to know who you can trust when so many people treat you like a public commodity, I suppose.’

She was struck once again by his insightfulness and how much she’d judged him by his appearance. He’d reminded her of Dalton with his surfer tan and good looks and she supposed she’d put him in the same bracket. Not that Dalton was an idiot either – he’d built a successful influencer profile and expanded his career beyond that. He wasn’t a great actor, but that was down to lack of experience rather than lack of talent. He’d shown real glimpses of something special today and Frankie wondered if she needed to re-evaluate him too.

‘So there’s no one at home you can talk to about this stuff?’

‘Like a boyfriend, you mean?’

‘Or a girlfriend, whatever floats your boat,’ Ed said with a grin.

Frankie laughed. ‘No, there’s nobody.’ When he raised his eyebrows as though surprised she was single, she found herself shrugging. ‘Let’s just say my job doesn’t make having a relationship easy. If I date someone outside the business, they get fed up of me not being around, or feeling they have to make themselves available when the timing suits me – or, rather, suits my schedule. Plus, there’s all the outside noise of social media and gossip websites.’

He nodded. ‘I can see how that could be a problem for some people. What about another actor? I’m always seeing stuff about actors dating and marrying each other.’

‘And divorcing each other,’ Frankie added, wryly. ‘Some people manage to make it work, I guess, but it’s not for me. Once bitten, twice shy and all that.’ There she went again, telling him stuff he had no business knowing. Still, now she’d opened that particular Pandora’s box, she found the lid wouldn’t shut again. ‘When I was very young and very silly I believed myself in love with a famous actor. He was several years older than me and it felt like he had the answer to everything.’ It had been one of the most humiliating experiences of her life and she was still ashamed of how naïve and foolish she’d been. ‘It was my first time on set and he took me under his wing. He made all these promises about how I was going to be the next big breakout star and he’d be right beside me all the way. He was an executive producer on the movie so of course I believed every word.’

‘He took advantage of you.’ It was a quiet statement, not a question, and when Frankie risked a glance over at Ed she was surprised to see nothing but sympathy in his expression.

‘And then some. The moment I finished filming my scenes a member of the production team approached me and said he was there to escort me off set.’ Her face heated, the embarrassment of that moment still raw enough to sting. ‘He told me I was just the latest girl in a long line.’

‘That must’ve been so awful for you. Tell me who the bastard is and I’ll boycott all his films from now on!’

She hadn’t thought anything about that awful time could make her laugh, but somehow Ed had found a way. ‘The guy from production did me a favour because he warned me never to let it happen again. He told me that it was always my reputation that would suffer, never theirs. And he was right.’ She’d seen it happen often enough since to other young hopefuls. Frankie had done her best to warn them, but too many of them had dismissed her as either jealous of the attention or believed they knew better.

They’d never known better.

‘I try not to be too hard on myself about it because I was young, but it was a lesson I’d rather not have had to learn. Now everything on set is strictly business.’