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eyes at the flattering “exclusives” she knew had been written by Sloan’s publicist Ayelet. These, along with the carefully staged paparazzi photos that accompanied them, were passed off as real interviews by publications willing to flatter Sloan in return for access.
    Then there were the tabloid publishers, who had no legitimate access and just threw any wild fabrication on the cover. Sloan was often desperately trying to get pregnant, was already secretly pregnant, or devastated because she wasn’t pregnant. They might say she was having a torrid affair with her latest costar, was broken-hearted and bitter, or head-over-heels in love again with an ex, sometimes all in the same week. Tabloid editors were always looking for incriminating evidence they could use to either sell as a shocking expose or use to blackmail Sloan into cooperating with milder versions of the same story. Writers had approached Claire with offers of hundreds of thousands of dollars, but by the use of signed non-disclosure agreements with stiff penalties Sloan had made it impossible for her to take them up on their offers, even if she wanted to.
    Two hours later Claire was one of the first to board her flight, as all they’d had left were first class seats. She justified the expense as her reward for all the abuse she’d put up with over the past two decades. After devoting half of her life serving one of the most demanding divas in the movie business she felt she’d earned a little pampering.
    Miss MacGuffin, an excellent traveler, was soon snoring quietly in her carrier, but Claire couldn’t sleep. Memories from the past three months kept floating through her mind like a montage on a movie screen. Before she left the British Isles Claire had been determined to see the sites where her favorite movies were filmed. In Scotland that meant visiting the village of Pennan and the beaches of Arisaig, and Morar, where Local Hero was filmed. In Ireland that meant staying a few days in Dawros Bay, in Donegal, where The Secret of Roan Inish was shot; and taking a tour of the Isle of Man in honor of Waking Ned Divine.
    She had gone on two Harry Potter tours, one in Oxford and one in Gloucester; and had hired a very enthusiastic film student to take her to many of the London spots featured in Love Actually, Notting Hill, and Four Weddings and a Funeral. The Victoria and Albert Museum fed her Young Victoria craving, and Buckingham Palace represented The King’s Speech. After seeing so many of these places immortalized in movies, the British Isles seem to Claire like one big film set. She had felt the same way the first time she went to New York, Paris, and Venice.
    Claire would have seemed like the typical American tourist on each of these tours if it weren’t for all the crying she did. She may have set a record for Yankees who cry on famous UK landmarks; she didn’t know where the standing record was recorded so she couldn’t compare her stats. Needless to say she wasn’t the most popular seatmate on the bus or in great demand at dinner stops.
    Finally giving notice and then sticking to that decision was something she had dreamed of for so long. The enormity of that decision and the subsequent reality of what her life would be like afterward were only starting to sink in.
    As Claire allowed herself to relax the tears welled up again, so she blinked and sniffed them back. To distract herself she pulled out a small notebook and made a list:
    1.               Good long visit with Mom & Dad
    2.               Decide what to do next & where to do it (open salon? Freelance?)
    3.               Relax somewhere sunny (or go back to LA and look for work?)
    4.               Order food for Mackie Pea
    5.               Buy new smart phone (move to #1)
    6.               Sleep for a month
    The in-flight movie was a recent cliché-ridden, by-the-numbers romantic comedy featuring leads she