Love's Dance Read Free Page A

set to making sense of the mess.
    "Jaina is an interesting name," he observed. "What does it mean?"
    "'God has been merciful'." She closed the case with a snap. "Where can I find Rachel-"
    "Right here." A woman had appeared out of nowhere. She held out her hand. "Rachel Lake. I take it you're Jaina McGregor?"
    Jaina shook her hand. "That's me."
    "I see you've already met Colin. Oh, here's Jacob. Jaina, this is Jacob Thomas. He plays Dr. Walter Noble. This is Jaina McGregor, our new makeup artist."
    "You haven't even seen me do anything," Jaina pointed out.
    Rachel smiled mysteriously. "I've seen some of your work. But demonstrate for us, if that makes you feel more comfortable."
    She grabbed Colin. "Here, give him a nice cut on his forehead."
    "Sorry, I left my engagement ring in Sydney," Jaina said solemnly.
    Colin looked at her for several moments, trying to see if she was joking or not. Finally, he gave a nervous laugh.
    Rachel shoved Colin into a chair. "Hold still."
    Jaina set down her kit again and rapidly selected the things she'd need. First, she applied spirit gum, then a lump of scar wax, which she smoothed over the spirit gum. Over that, she stippled latex.
    Then she pulled out what, to Colin, looked suspiciously like a scalpel. "Hold perfectly still, please. I don't want to make you really bleed."
    Jaina made the cut into the wax-and-latex area. The slice was a little jagged, larger and rounder near his temple. With a fine brush, she dabbed in some black, red, and pink crème-based makeup.
    Around the outside, she stippled red, green, purple, blue, and yellow into a contusion that covered a large portion of his face. She powered it, then applied a little "bloody scab", a blood-like makeup that would harden into something resembling a scab.
    Rachel and Jacob both looked with amusement at Colin, who was feeling a little anxious, wondering what she'd done to him.
    Jaina handed him a mirror. "There you go."
    He stared at his reflection for several long moments, looking for all the world like a man punched in the face by a woman with a huge diamond ring.
    Rachel turned to Jaina. "If we're shooting a location, you'll just have to make do with what space is available in one of the trailers. But here at Doctor Life , there's a trailer specifically for your use."
    "Cool." Jaina pulled out a bottle of spirit gum remover. "Can I listen to music while I work?"
    "Until filming starts if we're on location, sure. Which will be when you've got all required makeup applied. If we're here on set, you can listen to whatever you prefer, in your trailer, as long as the volume isn't loud enough to disturb anyone. You'll have an assistant, and you'll also report to a supervisor, who will tell you what's needed for the day, or the scene."
    "Got it."
    Jaina thought for a moment, trying not to look at Colin, who was picking at his "scab" and looking at her warily.
    "Is there a specific time I need to be here in the mornings?"
    "We're a little more relaxed, so around seven. Though we do film twenty episodes over six months."
    "As opposed to twenty-two over nine months on average," Jaina said. "For US productions. Which generally start around five AM."
    "Exactly." Rachel smirked at Colin, who was still fidgeting. "Are you okay?"
    "Uh, yeah. Yeah. Can I take this off now?"
    Jaina handed him the spirit gum remover. "Peel the latex and the wax first, trash it, wash off the makeup, and then use the spirit gum remover. Here's a cotton ball. Just a little will do."
    "Right." He grabbed the bottle and bolted.
    Jacob was shaking his head. "I've never seen him act like that."
    "I think it was the engagement ring comment," Jaina mused, but something felt... strange. Almost like déja vu, but not. "Combined with the scalpel."
    The executive producer took Jaina by the arm. "Come on, I'll give you a tour of the set."
     
    ♥♥♥
     
    The set was dark when Jaina emerged from her workroom, where she'd been working on the latex skin for the next day's