Take Two

CHAPTER 2

Carolyn settled into the chair and stared at her reflection in the mirror in front of her. She turned her head slowly to the left and then to the right. ‘Tracey, is my hair thinning?’

‘Of course not,’ said Tracey, who was rooting around in the blue plastic fishing tackle box that she used to hold her brushes.

‘Don’t bullshit me, Tracey, I need an honest opinion.’

Tracey straightened up and ran her hands through Carolyn’s hair. Tracey was in her early twenties, with long natural blonde hair and a tight figure that came from genetics rather than time spent in the gym. ‘It’s fine,’ she said.

‘The truth, darling,’ said Carolyn.

‘It’s fine. Fine as in thin. You don’t have thick hair, Carolyn, you never have.’

‘Is it finer than it was?’

Tracey exhaled through pursed lips. ‘Maybe.’

Carolyn cursed under her breath.

Tracey put her hands on Carolyn’s shoulders. ‘You’ve got great hair,’ she said.

‘Don’t say for my age,’ said Carolyn.

‘For any age. But yes, it’s fine. And Jake said the light was shining through it, which never looks good. But it’s easy enough to put a bit of thickening through it.’ She took a step back and looked at her reflection. ‘You might want to start thinking about a wig.’

‘A wig? Are you serious?’

‘Half the actresses on EastEnders have wigs,’ said Tracey. ‘The older ones, anyway.’

‘Oh, thanks Tracey,’ said Carolyn.

‘I didn’t mean you were…’

‘Old?’ Carolyn sighed and leaned towards her reflection. She examined the crows feet at the corners of her eyes. ‘Do I need my eyes doing again, do you think?’

‘Your eyes are fine. Everything’s fine.’

‘Including my bloody hair?’

One of the runners popped his head around the door. ‘Miss Castle?’

Carolyn twisted around to look at him. He was a good-looking boy on his gap year, the son of one of the network producers. ‘Yes, Harry?’

‘Mr Harrington says he doesn’t need you for the rest of the day. They’re having camera problems.’

‘Thanks, sweetie. Can you dig up my driver for me?’

Harry flashed her a beaming smile and closed the door.

‘Well, Tracey, it looks as if we won’t be needing the thickener just now,’ said Carolyn. She looked at her watch. ‘You know what, I think I’ll give Eddie a surprise.’ She gave Tracey a sly smile in the mirror. ‘Do you think you could use your magic brushes and give me some seductive warpaint?’ Eddie Hunter was Carolyn’s long-time boyfriend, and had been since soon after her third divorce. Eddie was a musician, a talented pianist, but hadn’t had any work fixed up that month so he’d been hanging around his Chelsea flat at a loose end. She’d been working pretty much non- stop all week and had barely spent any time with him so she figured her early cut would be the perfect opportunity to put that right.

‘It’ll be a pleasure,’ said Tracey. ‘Would you like the Parisian courtesan, the subtle seductress or shall we go the full Madonna?’