‘Do you mean you don’t see him?’

‘We meet occasionally, but we’re not close. His second wife booted him out as well and he married a third time. I told Mom once that he ought to have married her-I was very young and naive in those days. She said she’d sooner marry the devil himself, except that the devil wouldn’t be nearly so interesting as Amos Falcon.’

‘He sounds a colourful character.’

‘I believe his business enemies say the same. A falcon is a bird of prey, and he’s known for preying on people. But enough about him. I must tell Mom the nice things you said about her. She’ll be so thrilled that someone remembers her. What was the film they were showing?’

‘Dancing on the Edge,’ Charlene remembered.

‘That’s her,’ Travis said at once. ‘How often have I heard her say, “If it isn’t on the edge, it isn’t fun”?’

‘She played the hero’s sister, the one who was always putting her foot in it, but everyone forgave her because she had that lovely cheeky grin.’

‘True. And it’s just how it is in real life. She blurts out all sorts of outrageous things, then says “Sorry, honey”, and gives you such a smile that you have to forgive her.’

Charlene wondered if he realised that he had the same smile-mischievous, delightfully wicked. He was nice too, courteously paying her as much attention as if she’d been a raving beauty. Not like Lee Anton, she had to admit with an inner sigh.

As if reading her thoughts, Travis said suddenly, ‘Why do you bother with him?’

‘Maybe because I’m a fool,’ she said lightly. ‘We got close during the play-all those scenes we had together-’

‘But they weren’t love scenes,’ Travis pointed out. ‘Demetrius rejects Helena until the last minute-’

Charlene nodded. ‘Saying things like, I love thee not, therefore pursue me not. But Helena won’t get the message. She follows him saying, Neglect me, lose me, only give me leave, unworthy as I am, to follow you. What a twerp she is!’