Invisible(48)
She loved his handsome, strong masculine looks, the salt and pepper hair, his piercing electric blue eyes, and his long lean body. She thought he was the sexiest, most attractive man she’d ever seen, better than all the usual actors she’d now seen so many of, obsessed with their own looks. They seemed like cardboard figures to her compared to him. Hamish had a brilliant mind, a tender heart, and a soul.
When they flew back to New York, reluctant to leave their idyllic villa in Saint Bart’s, Hamish checked in to a hotel in SoHo, to be near her for a few days, and she stayed with him. She came back from her classes straight to their hotel, where they made love. They ordered room service for their meals, and he worked on his computer while she did her homework. He smiled when he saw her pull her books out of her backpack.
“I don’t think I’ve ever had a girlfriend who had to do homework.” He grinned at her, and she curled up next to him on the couch in the suite to do one of her reading assignments. It was hard to concentrate with him in the same room. She wanted to talk to him, and make love with him. He had given her the script to read for his next movie while they were in Saint Bart’s, and she loved it. And he was right. The supporting part was perfect for her. And if he got all the talent he wanted, she would be working with some major actors and actresses in the cast.
Before he returned to London, he had arranged to introduce her to an agent, as he thought it vital for her to have one. There would be many contracts in her future, and he felt that anyone involved in the film industry, in whatever guise, should have an agent. Fred Warner was one of the few he trusted, and he hoped she liked him. He had already discussed Antonia with Fred, and he was curious to meet her. He’d never heard Hamish speak of a woman like that. It was obviously a serious attachment. She wasn’t just a talented young actress he wanted to help, or a passing fancy, or a diva like his two ex-wives. He said she was a real person, a woman of substance, and he had never known anyone like her, and warned Fred that she was very shy. He was sending her to the agent’s office on her own, so she wouldn’t feel pressured, and he didn’t unduly influence her. If she hired him, Fred would be her agent, and she had to feel comfortable with him and trust him without Hamish there to make it work.
* * *
—
Antonia went to see Fred Warner on her second day of classes after they got back. She wanted to stop at the dorm to change, but she didn’t have time, so she showed up in boots and jeans, with a heavy fisherman’s sweater and hooded parka, and she was so small that she looked like a child going to the park to play in the snow. There was still snow on the ground, and her cheeks were flushed after she walked from the subway to his office, and took off her mittens to shake his hand when she was led into his handsome wood-paneled office, with extraordinary art on the walls. He represented some very big-name artists.
Fred was a tall, heavy-set, portly man. He was in his early fifties but looked older. He was wearing a well-cut tweed jacket made by his tailor in London, a blue shirt, and an Hermès tie, and smoking a Cuban cigar. She wasn’t at all what he had expected, as she took off the parka and sat down, with a shy smile. He smiled at how young and innocent she seemed, with a halo of soft blond curls framing her face. He was shocked to realize that Hamish Quist was in love with a baby.
“Hamish has been telling me about you,” he said after his secretary brought in a cup of tea for her. It was freezing outside. “He tells me you want to be an actress.”
“Actually, I don’t,” she said, and he was surprised. “I want to be a screenwriter. I’ve wanted to do that since I was seven or eight, and since meeting Hamish, I’d like to direct too, the way he does. Hamish wants me to be an actress, and I’ve only agreed to do this one picture, because it’s important to him.” She sounded very sweet as she said it, and very naive, but she appeared to know her mind, and expressed herself well.
“And is it important to you to do this picture?” he asked, curious about this elfin creature who had bewitched Hamish Quist, who was a man of the world and not easily captivated as he was with her, and was usually of sound mind. He had dated many beautiful and famous women, and none like her. She was entirely natural, quiet, and direct. She was shy, but not giddy, and appeared to have her feet on the ground, and she was obviously in love with Hamish, if she was willing to do a film with him, which wasn’t on her career path or an important goal to her.
“I don’t know yet if the film is important to me,” she answered honestly. “It might be later, but it isn’t right now, except so that I can be with him, and work together.”
“Whatever happens, you’ll learn a lot from him. He is one of the great directors of our time, and he has an incredible eye for the right script.” Fred admired him immensely and liked him as a human being too.
“I’d love to write a screenplay that he could produce one day,” she said softly. Fred smiled at the thought, and relit his cigar while they talked. He felt remarkably comfortable with her, which was unusual for him with someone her age, and she had none of the character traits of actresses. There was an amazing humility about her. She was clearly not a narcissist, which most actresses were. “Hamish thinks I need an agent,” she said simply. “Do you?”
He didn’t hesitate with the answer. “Yes, I do. The movie industry is complicated and there are a lot of sharks in it. Not Hamish, but a lot of others. Whether you act or write or direct, you’ll need an agent to protect you. There are always contracts involved, and I’m an attorney too, which doesn’t hurt.” She nodded, it made sense to her, and she knew Hamish had a lot of faith in him. “There can be some very arduous negotiations at times. You can’t fight those battles yourself. You should take care of the creative end, and I would do the rest.”