“Is everything all right?” Tina asked as they walked through the crowded corridor. When her mother wanted to talk, it was usually about money. Reema was always worried about when Tina was going to get her next role and her next paycheck.
“You tell me.” Her mother’s voice rose. “Where have you been?”
Tina pressed her lips together. She knew she couldn’t tell her mother. Couldn’t tell anyone. She glanced at Dev and fear pulsed through her veins in response to his intent look. It was as if he was waiting for her to reveal her deepest, darkest secrets. “I was in California.”
“Hollywood?” Reema’s eyes lit up. “Did you meet anyone famous? Anyone in the movie business?”
“There was a television director,” Tina said, remembering the anxious woman who chain-smoked and drank coffee constantly. “I had lunch with her several times.”
“That’s good!” her mother said as they walked past several offices. “Did she want to hire you?”
Tina shrugged. “There was some talk about it.” She didn’t think the director had been serious, which was fine for Tina. She couldn’t imagine moving away from Mumbai. It was her home.
“That’s it? One director?” Reema asked. “You were gone for so long.”
She decided to stick with Dev’s vague answer. “I was recuperating,” Tina said, ignoring Dev’s curious gaze.
“For four months?” Reema shook her head. “That’s not recuperating. That’s retiring.”
“It doesn’t matter,” she promised with a firm smile. “I’m back.”
“It matters,” her mother insisted and began to tick off a list with her fingers. “You haven’t worked for six months and no one is sending you scripts. Moviegoers have forgotten about you. Your fans turned against you once they decided you were the seductress who tricked Dev into marriage. And your endorsement deals are going to dry up the minute they see your hair.”
“I’ll find something.” Tina tried to sound positive but she was beginning to wonder if she had underestimated the challenges that lay ahead. She couldn’t show any concern, especially in front of Dev. If he knew how much she needed his Bollywood contacts, he could dangle the promise in front of her to make her behave for the next few months.
“Here is one of the makeup rooms,” Dev said as he guided through an open door. “We have over twenty of them for the main actors.”
Tina halted at the threshold while her mother investigated. She had never seen such a luxurious makeup room. It was colorful and cheerful, with red chairs and sofas, small tables and a day bed. This was where the actors went between breaks and it offered everything from a plasma television to a fully stocked refrigerator.
“Look, Tina!” Reema said as she stepped outside of the attached bathroom. “The sinks have hot and cold water.”
Dev frowned. “What do your makeup rooms usually look like, Tina?”
Tina hesitated to tell her husband. She was a working actress, not a star like him. She wasn’t offered these perks.
“Makeup rooms?” her mother said with a laugh. “She’s lucky if she gets to share a makeup room with the junior artists and backup dancers. Can we see one of the soundstages?”
“Of course,” Dev said as he guided them out. “We also have a gymnasium, lounge and executive dining room for the artists and senior technicians.”
“Ooh!” Reema clasped her hands. “Tina, one of these days you’ll have to take me into the dining room. I might see a Khan or a Kapoor.”
“I don’t think I will be allowed in,” Tina said. She understood the hierarchy in the Hindi film industry. “They are for the main actors.”
“You are married to an Arjun,” Dev said. “You will not eat with the production staff in the cafeteria or canteen.”
Tina flinched at Dev’s tone. It made it sound as if her hasty marriage had been her greatest career achievement. Didn’t he notice that she didn’t beg to work with him or use his name? She knew a lot of people thought she had trapped him into marriage out of ambition, but she didn’t want him to believe it. His opinion meant more than anyone’s.
“You need to get back to work right away. I knew getting pregnant was going to ruin your career.” Reema gave a huff of exasperation.
Tina squeezed her eyes shut. She remembered the argument she’d had with her mother when she announced she was pregnant. It had brought up some old secrets and fresh wounds. Tina had always known she wasn’t the son her father had wished for, but she didn’t know that her mother had seriously considered sending her to an orphanage when she was a child.