She was a shy little thing, so that helped, as well. Kat showed she wasn’t the type to horn in on a conversation, so she mostly stayed in the background. She talked to Sonia, of course. Sonia, in turn, introduced her to some of the others, and they kept her busy enough. Though, why Ren noted all of this remained a mystery to him.
It was like he was hyper-aware of the woman. He didn’t understand why. What was it about this human—this fragile being—that made him want to make sure she was all right? Protective instincts he had managed to curtail while operating mostly in the human world began to reassert themselves.
Why now? Why her? What did it all mean?
Katrina felt really strange as the table read came to an end. She was getting all kinds of weird vibes from her co-star. Maybe it was just her imagination, because she still felt a bit overwhelmed at the idea of working with him. He was such a big star. For her first steps back on the acting stage, so to speak, to be with someone of his stature was definitely intimidating.
He was chatting with everyone, apparently having many old friends among the cast. He seemed friendly enough, but he hadn’t spoken much to her outside the very intimate lines of the script. She had to admit, when he’d turned toward her at one point and declared his love as Robin to her Marian, her little heart had gone pitter-pat.
He really was a good actor. Even at a table read, the richness of his voice and the tonality of his words impacted her. She couldn’t even think about how it would be when they were both in costume and on the set, ready for a real take. She’d probably stutter and mess everything up at least a dozen times.
Gah! She hoped not. She didn’t want to be the amateur among this group of professionals, but unfortunately, that’s exactly what she was. Sonia came to her rescue as Ren went to talk with his old friends. She brought some of the other women in the cast over to meet her, and Katrina spent a few minutes learning about the other women who had speaking roles in this movie.
Traditionally, the story of Robin Hood was more male-centric with the band of Merry Men and all the action and fight scenes, but this script created a few more opportunities for female roles than previous versions. Katrina was glad she wasn’t the only woman in the production with a serious part to play.
An older lady named Kara Taran was playing the tavern lady who helped hide the Merry Men when they went into town. Kara had been in several movies in the past few years that Katrina had seen. She knew the woman had proper acting chops, and even so, she made Katrina feel welcome. She had a motherly look about her, which was perfect for the role of the tavern lady.
A tall, gorgeous blonde named Adela Ariano was playing the role of a girl who worked at the tavern and was even in a couple of the fight scenes alongside the men. She was fit and pretty and looked like she could hold her own in a real barroom brawl, despite the flawless nature of her beauty. Her voice, when she spoke, was slightly accented and a bit husky. She told Katrina that she was originally from the mountains of Chile but had moved to California when she’d decided to try her hand at acting. She’d been in two films since moving to the States, but this was her first time working with Sonia and the others. She had no old friends in the cast, but she had already met a few of the crew, including the makeup artist, Francesca, and fight choreographer, Greg Mendez.
Adela called Francesca over, and as Sonia drifted away to talk to someone else, the three women struck up a conversation. Francesca had lustrous auburn hair, and Katrina remarked on how lovely it was, which brought up the topic of how Sonia wanted both Katrina and Adela to look for the shoot. Sonia, it seemed, wanted a more realistic-looking portrayal of the Robin Hood legend. There would be little make-up used. Only enough to create the illusion of natural beauty.
Katrina wasn’t at all sure what Francesca meant, but she was sure she’d find out when they started work over the next few days. They were running on a very tight schedule, and Franny, as she asked to be called, was happy to discuss what would be expected of Katrina and Adela as far as the amount of time spent in the make-up chair and how early they would start each day. Franny even had a file folder with schedules she had worked up for each of the women and was happy to hand them their personalized versions of the make-up schedule.
Katrina was glad to have it. That piece of paper was just one more piece to a puzzle of how she’d be spending the next few weeks. She’d even created a special planner just for this project, which was tucked into her luggage. Tonight, she would dig it out and insert the information from Franny’s schedule into her master plan. Piece by piece, it was beginning to come together.
The last thing she wanted to do was forget where she was supposed to be or what she was supposed to be doing. All of these people were veteran actors, and it was important to Katrina not to let her inexperience show. She’d vowed to be on-time, prepared and ready to work whenever called upon to do so, which meant being certain she was using every hour efficiently. She was here to work, and she meant to put her best foot forward.
That thought firmly in mind, she accepted Deirdre and Franny’s invitation to get dinner together. The rest of the crew was arriving tomorrow, and there would be a group dinner event tomorrow night, but the arrangements tonight were casual, and everyone was fending for themselves. Some were opting for room service after the long day of travel, but the two women were planning to try a little bistro down the block, and it sounded like just the ticket to Katrina, who was starting to feel peckish after the eventful day.
Chapter Three
They left together when the group started to break up and headed outside and down the street to the little café. There was outside seating, so they got a table in the courtyard and ordered drinks while perusing the menu. Katrina was impressed by the offerings and opted for a light meal of salad and soup. The other girls ordered appetizers and a whole lot more. Katrina almost envied them the fact that they worked behind the camera and didn’t have to worry too much about gaining weight. Of course, they were both gorgeous enough to be on-camera, but she guessed maybe they didn’t have the desire to be in the spotlight. Some people didn’t, Katrina supposed.
“We got lunch here yesterday,” Franny said as she put her menu aside. “Their sandwiches are awesome. I can’t wait to see what they do with the dinner menu.”
“Have you been in town long?” Katrina asked out of curiosity. She had never been on a film set before and was curious how it all worked.
“About a week, in my case,” Deidre answered, pouring water for them all out of the large bottle at the center of the table. “I’ve been working on making sure all the sound equipment is here and is in working order. Plus, there are some technical aspects on one of the nearby locations that I wanted to check out. We’re using one of the local buildings that used to be a church for some of the indoor castle scenes. The acoustics in there are a bit of a nightmare with all those big, flat stone surfaces.”
“I got here the day before yesterday,” Franny added. “I claimed a space in the prop suite and have been setting up everything. I had photos of you to go off of, but I’d like to try some of the makeup I got for you tomorrow, if you have a free hour. Your complexion is near perfect, and you won’t need much coverage, but I want to be sure I’ve got the skin tone exactly right, so it looks natural.”