Last night of the show, final pack down, flowers and champagne on stage, everyone emotionally shattered. It was a great run and playing to a packed house each night was amazing. Tiring, but amazing. The girls had been fantastic and we couldn't have picked a better, more cohesive, enthusiastic and social group, especially considering our ages.
Jeff was 42 and I took the role of elder statesman at 46. We'd known each other for years and spent a lot of time acting in each other's plays. Slowly and surely they'd received more critical acclaim and the desire to be part of our productions, especially the collaborations, had grown and grown. When the opportunity for young, talented actresses to audition for a play set in the highlands of Scotland we were inundated with beautiful young Scots with soft, sensual accents. Many turned up baring as much as they dare in the hope that we weren't as professional as you might hope and would employ them to get a cheap screw.
It was tempting, but for me at least those girls' images went in the bank and those lonely evenings after the auditions were filled with dreams of young girls and old man's fantasies.
Spirits had been high on stage as the girls, all 8 of them, had brought the show to a close. Brea had grasped Jeff as the final curtain call was taken, pulled him close, gave in an intense kiss and shouted
"The producer"
Rapturous applause.
I'd looked across at Isobel who raised her eyebrows theatrically at Brea and winked at me. Isobel was pretty, deep red-haired and always wore a mischievous smile. The nicest girl you could possibly meet, she was resolutely happy with her size 12 figure, a confident tease, and the owner of the most amazing shapely bust.
Isobel's role in the play meant she'd had to dress in a loose fitting strappy top, with no bra. She'd worn denim hot pants to boot and her perfect figure had given me too much to think about on too many occasions over the past 8 weeks.
She was often the last to be dressed and out, not because she was slow but because she was always sorting everyone else out, heling with their hair, finding their lost phones, knickers and makeup and generally being the mum of the group despite her young age of 23. I had often spent time chatting to her at the door to the dressing room as she pulled on her jeans or gathered the last of her bits to take home and more than a few times we'd whiled away the hours in the bar.
But tonight was the last night. It was unlikely I'd see her any time soon and I was going to miss her company. She was being slower than ever tonight, having taken photos of the girls for each other, made sure everyone had all of their stuff and that hers, at least, was in a pile ready to bag up.