CHAPTER 19
All she had to do was to get to the end of the day, and then it would be the weekend, Jess thought, as she buried herself in work the following morning.
The main thing was to avoid any of the film crew – especially Doug and Mel.
By next week, the whole tunnel incident – which, she reminded herself, was not her fault – would be forgotten.
It would be easy, really. Linford Castle was big enough for her not to see whoever she wanted not to see.
Especially when she’d stocked up on a takeout coffee, a packed lunch and some extra chocolate.
There was a loud knock on her door shortly after three, and Mel Winters burst in.
Crap, she thought, bracing herself. It had seemed like the perfect plan.
“Mel, if this is about the tunnel –”
“Afric just burned her hand badly during shooting,” Mel said. “How far is the nearest hospital?”
Jess got to her feet. “That’d be Mayo General. An hour, I think. What sort of burn is it?”
“She’s had an electric shock.” Mel was sharp. “Our medic has done some first aid, but she wants her to see a doctor.”
“I can drive her,” Jess offered. Hopefully the burn wasn’t too bad, and she’d have the chance to redeem herself. Even though she still had no idea what she’d done wrong.
Mel nodded. “Thank you. We’ll meet you out front in a few minutes.”
Jess shut down her laptop and checked she had everything she needed in her bag before heading out the front door.
Moments later, Mel and Afric appeared. Afric had a light jacket draped around her shoulders, presumably because it was too painful to pull the sleeve over her affected hand.
“Where’s your car?” Mel asked, looking around.
“It’s just – shit!” Jess closed her eyes briefly. “I forgot, it’s parked in the village because I usually walk here every morning.”
Mel seemed about to explode but just then Robert approached from the east side of the castle. His eyes narrowed as he took in the bandage around Afric’s hand. “What happened?”
“Fucking cables.” Afric’s face looked pinched.
“She burned it,” Jess said. “Do you have your car with you? She needs to go to the hospital.”
“It’s parked around the side.” Robert cleared his throat. “I’m happy to take you.”
“Why can’t I just see the nurse at the local medical centre?” Afric was saying.
“You’ll go with her?” Mel said to Jess, ignoring Afric.
“Of course.”
“Hey!” Afric sounded furious now. “I don’t need to go to the hospital when there’s a medical centre where I can get this dressed.”
Mel spun to face her. “A fucking village medical centre is not going to do anything different from our medic. So try be a professional and do as you’re told!” She turned on her heel and swept back inside.
Afric pursed her lips tightly, but Jess noticed a sheen of tears in her eyes.
“Hey, it’ll be fine, don’t worry.” Jess offered her a reassuring smile as they followed Robert to his car. “What happened?”
“Spencer and I were just finished a scene,” Afric said with a deep breath, “and I was coming off the set when I brushed off one of the lighting cables. Doug’s stopped everything until all the equipment can be checked.”
When they reached Robert’s car, Jess helped Afric into the passenger seat before she slipped into the back. As Robert headed down the driveway towards the main gate, she leaned across to him. “When you get outside the grounds, stop for a minute.”
“Why would we do that?” He frowned. “There’s dozens of reporters out there.”
“And they’ll probably follow us to the hospital,” Jess said, catching his eyes in the rear-view mirror. “At least if we stop and tell them what’s happened, they can’t speculate.”
He sighed but slowed as they approached the gate, nudging forward to trigger the electronic sensors. As cameras flashed, he drove through before pulling to a stop.
Jess leaned forward and whizzed Afric’s window halfway down.
“Can you tell us what’s happening?” shouted one reporter.
“Afric, where are you going?” A photographer was snapping away quickly.
“What happened to your hand?”
“Is it true that you and Spencer aren’t getting along?”
Afric raised her bandaged hand. “It’s just a burn. We’re on our way to hospital to have it checked out but I’ll let you all know later how I’m doing.”
“Are safety standards low on set?”
“Is it true that neither of you is sticking to the intimacy guidelines?”
“Are you worried about the Linford Curse, Afric?”
Cameras continued to flash as Robert started to drive away.
Afric looked over at Robert. “You’re the guy who got Diva for me that day.”
“Robert, yes.” His voice sounded tight.
“Yeah, I remember.” She sighed. “Diva doesn’t really like men.”
“So you said.” Robert met Jess’s eyes in the mirror again, and she smiled.
Afric sighed, leaning back in her seat and closing her eyes.
Robert drove the rest of the way to the hospital with half a dozen paparazzi and reporters in tow.