Page 96 of Love Is…?
Olna yanked her hands out of her pockets. “I was distracted!”
“Exactly.” Then, even though Olna had broken her heart, Tessa couldn’t bring herself to flick away a person who was in a foreign country and who might find themselves stuck. “I hope you’re staying somewhere reputable.”
After an offhand hum, Olna nodded. “The Keysborough.”
“Good. So, what are you going to do now?”
This time the hum was accompanied by a shrug. “Well, since we’re not getting back together.” She absorbed Tessa’s incredulous expression. “I’ve got a month tourist visa, so I’ll be a tourist. Maybe travel up north. Apparently Sydney has some very nice bars with very nice scenery.” She leered, and Tessa gave her a long look, then shook her head in resignation.
“Just don’t break anyone’s heart, Olna, including your own.” Tessa met her eyes, holding them.
“Not possible. My heart doesn’t break.” Olna patted her chest. “Sorry about us, you know.” She gave a quick smile, and Tessa rubbed at her temple as the tickle of a headache made itself known. Olna probablywassorry about breaking up. Tessa could almost see Olna’s thought bubble that if only she’d stuck it out in the relationship, she could possibly be meeting Abigail Taylor officially. Olna flicked her finger back up the road. “Looks like you’ve found a new person anyway.”
“Jayde,” Tessa said, and couldn’t help the soft smile.
“I’m happy she’s looking after you.”
Tessa’s smile dropped. “I’m not a pot plant, Olna.”
Love Is…?
PART FOUR
Abigail Taylor
Abigail Taylor is the subject of this profile; one of six profiles in which well-known people from all walks of life will define love. With her impending wedding to thirty-seven-year-old Samantha Markson, her girlfriend of five years, Abigail Taylor’s perspective of love is quite compelling.
By Jayde Ferguson
Keeping up with Abigail as she makes her way through the large foyer of the MTC is no easy task. She strides with purpose, offering salutations to everyone from cast members to the program sales staff near the front counter. Abigail knows people’s names, and it is one of many qualities that make her well-loved and respected within the company.
Her movie star presence is slightly daunting, yet because Abigail tempers this, choosing to ask about a cast member’s sick dog, or the sporting achievements of a hospitality staff member’schild, she has brought the divide between Hollywood celebrity and local citizen of Melbourne closer than ever. Staff are asked to address Abigail by her first name and many have had the opportunity to chat with her about football teams or a Netflix series as if standing about a proverbial water cooler.
Valuing people is one of Abigail Taylor’s core traits. Few celebrities are afforded the collective warmth that Abigail received after news broke fourteen years ago that her partner, visual artist Lilith Mackenzie, had had an affair with a member of the company when Abigail’s daughter, Grace, was twelve months old. As one, the public howled down negative press, taking to social media to express their love for the actress.
“It was astonishing, really. The whole event was a dichotomy; a gut punch and a blessing, and I felt extremely wrung out emotionally and psychologically. That impacts on a person physically, doesn’t it? It made me re-evaluate my life, my career, my role as a mother, and while it took me quite a while to become at peace with the hurt, I was oddly grateful that I could refocus my direction. I truly believe that the new focus led me to Melbourne. That whole situation from fourteen years ago is public record. I talk about it, but for a while, I put up my ‘do not disturb’ sign because it was necessary, and people generally respected my need. Now, I paraphrase. Summarise. It’s cleaner, if you know what I mean.”
Abigail guides me into one of the larger conference rooms on the second level in the administration wing of the theatre. The conference table is surrounded by at least thirty chairs, and Abigail explains that there will be a read-through of the spring production later this afternoon. She gestures to the ring-bound A4 papers placed in front of each chair.
“It’s a modern Australian take onRomeo and Juliet. A reinterpretation, which I know has been done before, but not like this. This play is so quintessentially Australian. Modern Australian. I’m excited for this afternoon, because the cast is quite spectacular and I know they’ll just click.”
She settles into her chair, then gives me her full attention, and despite having admitted that she is due at a publicity event at the Sheraton in a few hours, Abigail again demonstrates her belief of being in the moment.
Jump Inwas Abigail’s second romantic comedy and ends with her character imagining an elaborate traditional wedding. Does art imitate life? Abigail chuckles.
“Not really. I always think simple is best. There are more opportunities to highlight the important parts if all around them is simplicity. Sam wanted a few more… elements, for want of a better word, but I think that’s because she’s a romantic and sees this step as bringing all the parts of her life, our life together. Truly tying the knot. She said in theEsquireinterview earlier this year, the edition promoting this year’s menswear collection fromGucci, that before she met me, she’d wanted a family of her own. She has an incredible amount of love to give and when she met Grace and me, we were suddenly a little unit, and I think that’s what she wants to add into the wedding. I think it’s lovely. So does Grace, who absolutely adores Sam, and she tells me that bringing her to Melbourne forDiscrete Liaisonwas a stroke of genius. Oh! I’m so off-track. I’m sorry. We’re supposed to be discussing the wedding and here I am, all starry-eyed and gushing about my fiancée.”
One of the side effects of getting married to the love of your life in little more than two weeks? Abigail throws her head back and laughs.
“Absolutely true. Okay. Let’s talk wedding. Or not. I’m sworn to secrecy, which is code for none of your business.”
That blazing smile lights up the room, and when coupled with her obvious kindness, joy, and ability to pay attention to people, it makes for quite a breathtaking experience.
Sam joins us, explaining that she will accompany Abigail to her photo shoot, then sits next to her fiancée and holds her hand. Abigail lightly bumps her shoulder, and her gaze, the hash-tagged version, is fixed on Sam and is returned tenfold. They are very much a couple in love and it is not difficult to bask in that joy.
“Are you saying nice things about me?”
The question is accompanied by a frown that sits over a smile, and Abigail laughs.