‘Big and healthy,’ Rachel says with a grin.
‘Have a good morning?’ Solomon asks, trying to be casual but studying Bo and Laura’s faces for hints.
‘Yes, great,’ Bo replies, a little too clipped. ‘We went to the supermarket, then for coffee and tea, then a walk around Stephen’s Green. I showed her some great clothes stores in case she wants to, you know, know where to go.’
‘Uh-huh,’ Rachel nods, looking from one to the other.
‘I called you,’ Bo says to Rachel. ‘To see if you’d like to join us.’
‘Oh, really? I didn’t see that,’ Rachel fakes it. ‘I was at the scan.’
‘Of course!’ Bo realises. ‘I forgot. How did it go?’
‘Great. Like I said, the nurse reckons it’s a baby in there, so I’m happy,’ Rachel replies.
Laura laughs.
‘How did it go?’ Solomon asks Laura, as Bo and Rachel walk ahead of them.
Laura looks amused, then opens her mouth and Bo’s voice comes out. ‘Perhaps we should just go back to the apartment.’
It’s the way Laura says it – the tone, the clipped, agitated vibe she captures – that causes Solomon to throw his head back and laugh. He recognises the sound of Bo trying to be polite but at the same time extract herself quickly from a situation.
Bo turns self-consciously to study them both, then carries on walking.
‘Oh no,’ says Solomon. ‘It wasn’t that bad, was it?’
Laura opens her mouth and Bo speaks again. ‘Can you maybe not do that here?’
Solomon’s smile disappears.
‘It’s okay,’ Laura says quickly, hand going to his arm. He’s wearing a T-shirt, her skin touches his and something happens. A tingle rushes through both of them. She looks at his arm so that he knows she felt the same thing. ‘I was doing it more than usual,’ she explains. ‘She makes me nervous.’
‘I think perhaps the feeling is mutual,’ Solomon says.
‘I make her nervous?’
‘You’re different,’ he says, really wanting to say that Bo probably feels threatened, particularly after hearing the way Laura mimicked his laugh, the way she always wants to be with him and clearly and honestly doesn’t trust anybody else. ‘Sometimes people are nervous around different.’
She nods, understanding. ‘Me too.’
‘Are you nervous now?’
She nods again.
‘You’ll be okay,’ he says.
‘You’ll stay?’
‘I’ll stay.’ He taps his audio bag with his hand. ‘I’m always listening.’
Bianca finally leads them into a dressing room with LYREBIRD on the door.
‘So, Lyrebird, you’re here,’ Bianca says. ‘In around fifteen minutes we’ll take you to wardrobe, hair and make-up, then a sound check at around four.’ She looks down at her clipboard. ‘You’re the last act of the show, so you’ll be on stage at eight-fifty for your two-minute audition. You are …’ she consults her notes. ‘An impressionist. Is that right?’
Everyone looks at Laura. Laura looks at Solomon.
‘She’s not exactly an impressionist,’ Solomon explains. ‘She mimics though.’
‘Mimic,’ she writes down. ‘Cool. Are you her agent?’
‘Yes,’ he replies solemnly. ‘Yes, I am.’
Laura giggles. Bo rolls her eyes. ‘No, he’s not. He’s part of the documentary crew.’
Bianca looks at Solomon, clearly not liking him, heavily eyelined eyes narrowing. ‘Cool.’ But it sounds like it’s anything but cool to Bianca. ‘So the producers would like to know how many impressions, or whatever, you’re going to do?’
She looks at Laura. Again, Laura looks at Solomon.
‘We’ll discuss that now,’ he replies.
‘Now?’ her eyes widen, alarmed. ‘Cool.’ Then, ‘I’ll come back to you in fifteen minutes, okay?’
There’s radio interference on her walkie-talkie.
Laura mimics the sound and then sits down. ‘Cool,’ she says, with Bianca’s voice.
Bianca’s eyes widen. Nobody has laughed, everybody in the room is used to it now. She leaves the weird people and goes next door to the twelve-year-old gymnast.
‘I thought you were going to work with her on her audition this morning?’ Solomon says to Bo in a low voice as they set up for an interview with Laura in her dressing room.
Bo gives him a thunderous look. ‘Sol, at the butcher counter in the supermarket she made the sound of every single fucking dead animal that lay on the slab. Then she beeped every single food item on the conveyer belt as if she was a scanner. She confused the poor check-out woman so much, she wasn’t sure what she scanned.’
Solomon snorts and laughs, attracting the attention of Laura and Rachel.
‘It’s not funny!’ Bo says, her voice shrill. ‘How is that funny?’
He continues laughing until she has no choice but to give in and smile.
‘How are you feeling?’ Bo asks Laura.
They’re filming. Bo and Laura’s relationship flows so much better when there’s a camera between them.