CHAPTER 6
By Friday morning, the last of the hotel guests had left and the staff had set to work to get the whole place ready for the film cast and crew.
Much of the grounds had been closed off to the public while the ‘village’ was being completed, the main part of which was composed of a street of fake fronts, including thatched cottages, a pub, a small grocery store, and a funeral parlour, none of which would have looked out of place on the set of The Quiet Man.
Jess had packed everything up again and put her case in the boot of her car. Part of her was sorry to be leaving the luxurious surroundings of Linford, but she was looking forward to six weeks in her own place.
Emily joined her for a mid-morning coffee in the orangery.
“I still think it’s a pity they’re not using Linford Village to shoot their outdoor scenes.
” She dunked some croissant into her coffee and then scooped it out unselfconsciously with a spoon when it fell in.
“Like, have you seen the set? It’s like something out of the eighties. ”
“More like the fifties!” Jess rolled her eyes. “Anthony said the local residents’ association refused them permission. Which is mad – they’d have been well compensated.”
“All I know is it’s all the shop-owners who are on the committee,” Emily said.
“Which makes even less sense, then.” Jess spread some butter on her scone. “You know, maybe it’s better that most of the chefs won’t be here for the next while. I’d pile on so much weight if I was eating like this every day.”
“You’ve actually lost a tonne of weight since ...” Emily flushed. “Like, since I saw you last.”
Jess pretended to examine the range of miniature conserves. The last time Emily had seen her she’d been pregnant. But she’d lost more weight than normal since the miscarriage. Stress, probably.
She flashed Emily a quick smile. When she and Adam got together, word had spread quickly around the Charleston Group. News of their breakup had spread even more quickly. She knew Emily would never intentionally hurt anyone, but she was a magnet for gossip.
As if she’d read her mind, Emily sat up a bit straighter. “Oh my God, have you heard about Afric Brooks and Spencer Torres?”
Jess shook her head. She’d seen Irish actor, Afric Brooks, in a few things on TV, and she and Spencer had previously acted in a movie together. But while Afric was still relatively new to Hollywood, American-born Spencer Torres had been part of its stable since his teens.
“They actually can’t stand each other!” Emily said triumphantly.
Jess grinned. “Bit awkward. But it doesn’t matter, does it? They’re actors.”
Emily shook her head. “You don’t get it. Publicity is massively important if they want to make bank at the box office. People want them to be a thing!”
Jess finished her scone and debated having another one. “You could be a movie consultant.”
“And give all this up?” Emily gestured around the room. “Seriously, it’s the best move I ever made, Jess. The staff are cool! My love life is a bit tragic, but I’m working on it.”
Jess poured herself some more coffee. “Are you living in the village?”
“Nah, I’m in one of the new apartments on the outskirts. Mad low rent, and way classy. I’ve a gorgeous one-bed.” Emily checked the time. “Uh, have you seen Holly’s uncle’s place yet?”
“Nope.” Jess smiled. “But I’ll be meeting Holly’s mum at lunchtime to get the key. So, will you be working here while the filming is happening?”
“Anthony wants me here two days a week, helping with admin. But I’ll have time to be an extra. I mean, they’re gonna need loads of us, Jess.” Emily chewed on her lip. “I think I’d be a good extra. A lot of the time you have to be good at looking busy when you’re actually doing nothing.”
Jess regarded her with interest. “Did you take acting lessons when you were younger?”
“Just tap dancing.” Emily beamed. “I’m just good at looking busy even when I’m not. But like, maybe don’t mention that to –”
“To Anthony?” Jess tried not to laugh. “Don’t worry, I won’t.”
“We’ve made the place as cosy as possible for you, but I always said it needed a woman’s touch.” Sylvia Doyle finished the two-minute tour of Ivy cottage and waited expectantly for Jess to speak.
Jess examined what appeared to be cigarette burns dotted all over the sitting-room carpet, and suppressed a sigh, before smiling brightly at Holly’s mother.
“It’s perfect. Thank you for having it cleaned.”
“Oh, well, Holly is part of the Charleston Group family now, isn’t she?
” Sylvia gave a satisfied smile. “Anyway, that nice manager up at Linford Castle arranged it all. I’ve never seen anything happen so quickly around here, so I haven’t.
Now, do you need me to show you how to use the stove, with you not being used to gas, like? ”
“No, you’re fine, honestly,” said Jess. “I’ll figure it out.”
“Grand, so. Well, the only thing I need to show you now is the heating system.”
“I probably won’t need it coming into summer, will I?” Jess looked around. “Unless the house gets really cold?”
“Ah, it’s not that.” Sylvia clicked her tongue. “It’s linked to the water, and it’s a bit unreliable.”
“Is there a problem with the water?” Jess asked nervously.
Sylvia laughed. “There’s plenty of water – you’re not that far from civilisation.”
“Oh, no, I didn’t mean –”
“The hot water, love. My brother tried to get it fixed, but sure it still only works about half the time.”
Jess opened all the windows after Sylvia left, to get rid of the strong smell of bleach and carpet cleaner.
The small, old-fashioned kitchen looked straight out onto the street, and the sitting room overlooked a tiny, overgrown yard on the other side.
Upstairs was a freshly made, lumpy bed and a worn-looking bathroom with a pale-blue suite.
Briefly, an image of the Lady Helen Suite flashed to mind. It didn’t matter, Jess reminded herself. For the next six weeks, this was all hers. More importantly, she was on the opposite side of the country from Adam.
She wondered what he was doing back in Dublin.
Maybe Frank had asked him to come back. Or maybe he .
.. God, she had to stop thinking that anything Adam did had anything to do with her.
She’d got what she wanted, hadn’t she? She’d told Adam that they’d made a mistake, and he’d accepted her decision.
Anyway, what were the chances that he was sparing her a second thought?
He’d made no attempt to fight for her. In fact, he’d made it clear that there was nothing worth fighting for.
Unexpectedly, she felt tears sting the back of her eyes. Shit, she couldn’t afford to start feeling sorry for herself all over again. She needed to distract herself. She phoned Kate.
“If you’re lounging on a silk couch, eating hand-made chocolates and drinking champagne, I don’t want to know,” Kate said when she answered.
Jess giggled. “I got bored with all that, so now I’ve moved into the world’s smallest cottage.”
“The place in the village?” Kate sounded interested. “Is it smaller than Dad’s house?”
Jess tried to picture the one-bed flat Kate’s parents had built for her in their garden, after Kate had a one-night stand with an Erasmus student in college and got pregnant with her son Luke.
With Luke’s dad not around, Kate’s dad had insisted on moving into the one-bed after Kate’s mother died, to give Kate and Luke the larger family home.
“Probably about the same size,” Jess said, “but darker and old-fashioned. Think 1950s.” She squinted suspiciously at the carpet. “They’ve cleaned the place but I think the carpets are still damp. There’s a funny smell.”
Kate sighed. “You’re not regretting this, are you? Because you could easily come back if you wanted. I’m sure you could troubleshoot from Dublin.”
“I couldn’t, and I’m not regretting anything.” Jess was firm. “Anyway, I’ve been talking with Anthony and I think he’s happy I’m going to be around.”
“Of course he’s happy – you’ll be amazing at whatever you have to do.”
“Thanks.” Jess paused. “Why do I think there’s a ‘but’ coming?”
“I was just wondering …” Kate hesitated. “You don’t think that maybe you …”
“Maybe what?”
“You might be running away from something?” Kate said, gently.
“Kate, Frank sent me here! But if you’re implying I’m running away from Adam, I’m just putting a healthy distance between us.”
“Okay but, at the risk of you blocking me, I’m just going to put it out there, Jess. I think you’re avoiding dealing with important stuff.”
“Kate, I don’t think –”
“Hear me out, and then I’ll shut up. You spent a solid month last year keeping secrets from pretty much everyone in your life, including me, the guy you slept with on your hen weekend, and the guy you were supposed to marry!
Never mind lying to yourself about your real feelings.
But what you’re doing now is worse. You’re acting like all that didn’t happen, or that it didn’t affect you. Mostly, you’re acting like –”
Jess jumped at a sudden, loud ringing.
“Kate, that was the doorbell, sorry. Talk to you soon.” She hung up. She’d bet her next pay cheque that Kate had been just about to mention the pregnancy. She was going to hug whoever was at the door! The bell rang again.
“Coming!” Jess walked across the room and pulled back the latch, giving it a slight tug to open it.
Standing outside was the tall, fair-haired man from Ted’s store.