Page 63 of Andalusia Dogs
“I did. I hired a car from there. The historic centre of Basque witchcraft isn’t exactly a hot tourist destination, you know? There’s no train.” Jago raised an eyebrow, as if reading every question that passed through Alex’s mind. “I’ll tell you more over a drink.”
“Fine,” Alex conceded, checking the time. Thirty minutes before curtain. “Will you excuse us? I’d like to talk to our star.”
“Our star,” Joanna said, mouth wide, fingers splayed at either side of her face like Gloria Swanson inSunset Boulevard. “You say the sweetest things, Alex.”
With a polite nod and a kiss on Alex’s cheek, Jago retreated, closing the dressing room door behind him.
“Can you pass me my wig?” Joanna asked, fixing her skull cap as Alex complied. She picked up a brush and went into battle with it. “I don’t know how this thing gets so bloody knotted every time it’s moved. It’s a straight wig.”
“Nothing in Madrid is as straight as you think.”
“Tired, but true.”
Alex took the seat Jago had vacated, moving his unfinished glass of wine out of accident range. “How are you feeling?”
Joanna grinned. “Exhilarated. Aren’t you?”
Alex smiled over a breathy, forced chuckle. “I mean, this is not what any of us signed up for.”
Joanna turned to him over the edge of her chair. “Darling, this is no reflection on you, but what we signed up for was going to suck. I don’t say that lightly, but this?”
“This?”
She shrugged, straightening the last tresses of her wig with obvious satisfaction. “We all saw and felt the same thing. I’m excited to feel that again, aren’t you?”
“Of course. I just wish we knew more about how it worked.”
“Don’t we? It’s witchcraft, isn’t it?”
Alex hadn’t been ready for quite so much frankness. “Umm… is it?”
“Really, Alex? Playing dumb doesn’t suit you. You start dating a witch, he starts coming to rehearsals, and the whole damn show catches fire in the best way, like something I’ve never experienced on stage.”
“I suppose Vis filled you in, then?”
She looked up at him, momentarily hurt. “Vis didn’t say a word. You toldhim, but not me?”
“I asked him to bring you along.” Alex shrugged, unsure what else to say as Joanna stood up and took her dress off the rack. “Look, it doesn’t matter.”
“Hmmm, you’re forgiven. But the improvisation? No rehearsals? Jago’s trip? It didn’t take much to put the pieces together, though it did spoil the game a bit when Jago told me.”
“He told you?”
She nodded. “To be fair, I asked. He didn’t seem caught off-guard or offended, though. He seemed more impressed, if that doesn’t sound like I’m bragging.”
“And this doesn’t bother or scare you?”
“Why should it? I know what I’m feeling on that stage. I understand why you cut us down to three shows a week, at least until we know what we’re playing with. But I’m on the cusp of something wonderful here, Alex, thanks to that man.” She tilted her head toward the door, reaching to fasten her dress. “Help do me up?”
Alex waited for her to turn around, fastening two elusive clasps on her dress.
“Thanks.” Satisfied, Joanna turned around and gave him a kiss on the cheek. “Now go let him work his magick on you. We’ve got an audience to wow.”
“What makes you think I’m not working my magick on him?” Alex said with a grin, picking up Jago’s wine and leaving her to finish getting ready.
When he closed the dressing room door, Jago was waiting, leaning against the wall in a dark corner, arms folded over his chest, watching Alex with smug satisfaction.
“You forgot your wine,” said Alex.
