The Perfect Retreat Page 0,109

long hair over her shoulders, she applied another slick of her Blessings lipstick in nude and sprayed herself with her Kai perfume.

The Porsche was surprisingly comfortable and Willow wondered where Kerr had got the money for such a lovely and expensive car as she drove towards the studio, Kerr’s satellite navigation telling her the way in a polite American accent.

As she pulled up to the studio gates and gave her name, she was directed to a bungalow and she parked out the front. Getting out of the car, she dropped her bag and swore.

‘Fuck a duck,’ she said, using Merritt’s favourite expression. Seeing her lipstick had rolled out under the car, she got back in, angrily started it and drove quickly backwards, feeling the power of the engine underneath her. She spun the car around, opened the door with the engine still running, reached out and grabbed her lipstick and then parked again, zipping her bag up to be safe.

She got out and slammed the car door and, flipping her hair, she walked towards the bungalow. She could see faces at the window watching her and she cursed her errant driving under her breath. Americans were fastidious about car safety, and she had just been driving like she was in a PlayStation game.

‘Hello; Willow Carruthers,’ she said to the man at the door.

‘Tim Galvin – call me TG,’ he said, smiling. ‘Come in.’

Willow walked into the room and saw three men and a woman sitting down.

‘Thanks for seeing me,’ said Willow.

‘No problem,’ said the producer, who introduced himself as Tom. ‘Actually, things have changed a little since we spoke to your agent in the UK. We don’t need a female love interest any more,’ he said, and Willow felt her heart sink as she pictured her big paycheque fly out the window.

‘OK,’ she said slowly, ‘well thanks for seeing me anyway. If you have anything else slated I would be interested.’

TG interrupted, ‘No, actually I think it’s a good thing. Research shows that women want to see stronger women in film roles. The films with Sapphira De Mont, Angelina Jolie, Uma Thurman made big money. So the studio has decided that they want the film to have a female star with a male love interest.’

Willow sat stunned. ‘OK, like Sigourney Weaver or Linda Hamilton, but with sex?’

‘Exactly!’ shouted TG. He turned to the group. ‘I told you she would get it.

‘I want to make a sexy, fun and dangerous film. I haven’t made one of these in a long time, and I can’t wait to get my teeth back into it again. And Willow, the only person whose name kept coming up to play this role is you.’

Willow shook her head. ‘Really? Wow. I’m flattered. Tell me about the film,’ she said.

TG stood up. He always worked the pitches well. ‘It’s about a woman who was a secret agent who’s become a stay-at-home mom. When her much-loved husband turns out to be a secret agent and then goes missing, she takes it upon herself to find him and take on the bad guys. It’s a parody on the working mom theme, struggling to be good at everything but her dramas are actually life threatening.’

‘So she’s trying to get childcare while in the middle of a shootout type of thing,’ laughed Willow.

‘Oh my god, have you read the script?’ shouted TG. ‘That scene is in there!’

The room laughed with relief; TG was right. Willow was the perfect person to play this role. It had been confirmed when they saw her rock the Porsche in the parking lot like it was a golf cart, and her appearance in leather and sequins was astonishing.

‘No, I haven’t read it but I live it,’ said Willow to the room. ‘I’m a single mother to three.’

‘Well if you take the role, we would love your feedback on the script,’ said Tom. ‘We would give you a writing credit of course.’

Willow sat on her hands to stop herself from clapping them together.

‘I’m interested,’ she said. ‘Where would it shoot?’ she asked.

Tom looked down at the slated locations. ‘Monaco, London and Ibiza,’ he said. ‘Pickups and post production in London.’

Willow nodded. Back to Europe, she thought, relieved. She didn’t realise how much she wanted to be there until it was offered again.

‘And when would it shoot, if it gets the green light?’ she asked, thinking ahead to the children’s school year.

‘Starts in May next year, after Cannes,’ said TG. ‘Are you going?’

‘Maybe; I have a film that’s in