Page 90 of Such a Good Couple
That night Maggie, Fionn and the girls took a town car up to Chelsea, where Maggie got out.
‘I’ll make my own way home,’ she said, leaning back in to kiss the girls. In the end, she had stayed in her jeans and flats. She was comfortable, which was the most important thing when it came to meeting people you were decidedly not comfortable with.
‘You sure?’ Fionn asked. ‘We could come back this way on our way home. We might do a show,’ he mouthed the last bit, presumably not wanting to get the girls excited in case they couldn’t get into anything.
The last thing Maggie wanted was to be collected from dinner by her A-list husband in a sleek, chauffeur-driven Lexus.
‘All grand.’ She smiled as she closed the door.
Inside the Cookhouse, it was hopping. The lighting was dim in the huge open space, and tables in all directions were full. The server led her to the tan leather booth where Drew Schwartz and two others, a man and a woman, were sitting beneath an elaborate pendant light that hung so low over the table their heads were nearly brushing it.
‘Maggie!’ Drew slid out to kiss her on the cheek. ‘It’s so great to meet in person!’ He turned to the people at the table. ‘Introducing soon-to-be Broadway’s new darling Maggie Pierce. Maggie, this is Eric Averez, art director, and Jackie Kirke, my co-producer.’
Maggie shook their hands and took the place beside Drew. Eric was angular yet impish; he winked at her. Jackie was curvy and beautiful; she had the eyes of a Disney princess and a head of glossy chestnut curls.
‘Maggie, the project is fantastic,’ Jackie said firmly, as thoughMaggie had just been arguing with her on this point. ‘Just fantastic.’
‘It is,’ Eric effused. ‘I am dying to get going on an aesthetic for this. I have a few interesting names on the shortlist for costume.’
‘Amazing.’ Maggie smiled.
‘Eva and I are still fine-tuning the contract.’ Drew picked up a menu and passed one to Maggie. ‘But we’ll get it over the line in the next week or so. She iscut-throat– I love it! Where did you find her? I’d never come across her name.’
‘She doesn’t take on many clients.’ Maggie kept her eyes trained on the menu.
‘Well, she’s getting you a phenomenal deal. Considering we’re a poor theatre company.’
A server appeared and poured water for the table then spun away efficiently.
‘Right,’ Maggie said awkwardly, reaching for her glass.
‘Look, Maggie,’ Jackie closed her menu, ‘let’s just get one thing out of the way.’
Oh God.Maggie shifted in her seat. They wanted out? They wanted her to change everything? They wanted her to hand it over to another writer, someone with more experience – she’d heard of that happening …
‘We know you’re Maggie Strong.’
Oh. Right.
Her good mood slid a bit. ‘Yeah, I guess I am …’
‘To be clear, it’s not the reason we adore this project. Obviously we leapt at it before we knew that.’ Jackie, Maggie was quickly realising, spoke at all times like she was berating you but she was clearly passionate. ‘Weadorethis project because it’s unique, it’s fresh and it has something tosay.’
‘Maggie,’ Drew smiled, ‘we were just throwing your name into Google, as you do, seeing who you are, and we saw a picture of you and your husband.’
‘So cute,’ Eric gushed. ‘You two have been together forever!’
Maggie winced at the thought of all the pap shots of her that must’ve come up on that same search.
‘Look,’ Jackie tapped the table as though she was already bored of the subject she herself had brought up, ‘will the proximity of Finn Strong to this project help with financing and marketing? Absolutely. Will casting him as Jason be something we’d like to discuss? Sure. But is he important? No. You are.’ She stabbed a finger at Maggie.
‘Okay.’ Maggie laughed a little.
‘Alright, Jackie.’ Drew grinned, batting her aggressive finger away. ‘We just wanted to get it said. In case you were … feeling uncomfortable about it. And on that front, is Finn – I mean your husband, is he comfortable with the story as it is?’ Drew lowered his voice. ‘The A-list actor adulterer storyline, et cetera?’
God, Maggie thought,had Drew heard about the blind item with the unnamed Irish A-lister and thought it was Fionn?
‘Of course,’ Maggie lied, without hesitation. ‘He fully supports my career.’
