CHAPTER 20
@starzwatch: Spencer Torres flew to London early this morning, no doubt to catch up with girlfriend, model Megan Wilson. After Afric Brooks’ unfortunate accident on set where she burned her hand, filming of their latest movie is not expected to resume until Tuesday at the earliest.
“Well, that was an eventful week.” Robert clinked his wineglass gently against Jess’s in Kilshanley’s new tapas restaurant.
God, he didn’t know the half of it! Jess drank some wine and let her gaze wander around the restaurant, relieved not to recognise anyone from Linford. She loved the village, but seeing the same people all the time felt a bit stifling. Still, she was grateful he’d been around the previous day.
“Thanks again for driving Afric to the hospital. You were a star!”
“My pleasure.” He studied the menu for a few moments before looking up. “You know, I still don’t know very much about you.”
“Um, how do you mean?”
“We haven’t really talked about our past, that’s all.” He grinned. “For all I know you could be keeping lots of dark secrets from me.”
“What?” She put down her glass and turned away for a moment to cough hard into her sleeve.
Very attractive, Jess. “Ha-ha, no, not keeping any secrets.” Not any dark ones, at least. She suppressed an uncomfortable memory of Adam once saying the very same thing to her.
At the time she’d been keeping so many secrets from him, trying desperately to keep her distance.
And for a while it had worked. Until everything had blown up in her face.
The problem now was that she wasn’t sure how much to share with Robert. She’d only known him a couple of weeks, and she had no idea how far their relationship would go.
Not to mention if she were to tell him about anything that actually mattered, or that had happened to her since …
where would she even start? Last July? Any time after that?
Robert would run a mile. It was safer to stick to work stuff.
Except that they seemed to talk about work a lot.
Still, Robert was interested in what she did. Which was a good sign.
“What did you think of Afric?”
He laughed. “She barely said two words to us in the car or at the hospital. Although I don’t think we were seeing her on her best day.”
“That’s true.” Jess put the menu down. “Hey, do you know she was in Trinity College around the same time as you? She was in the Lir School of Acting.”
Robert blinked. “Have you been looking her up?”
“Nope.” Jess smiled. “If you want to know anything about celebrities just ask Emily.”
“I once bumped into Paul Mescal at a party.” Robert poured some more wine.
“Seriously? I’m so jealous!”
A waiter approached and, after they gave their order, Jess sat back in her chair. “Have you been looking at all the movie gossip on social media?”
Robert shook his head. “Not really.”
“There’s an account on X called starzwatch – they’ve a huge following. Someone is leaking stuff to them. Like, basically anything that goes on inside and outside of Linford, no matter what it is, seems to end up in that account. Even imaginary stuff. The ‘Linford Curse’. The haunted tunnels.”
Robert grinned. “Isn’t all news good news? Come on, tell me about the tunnels.”
Jess gathered her thoughts. “Well, there’s three – and only two that are safe to use.
But they need to film Afric in one of them.
The problem is, Afric is claustrophobic, so Mel Winters asked me to take her into one for a couple of minutes, so she wouldn’t freak out when it comes to shooting the scene. ”
“Oh?” Robert looked interested. “Which one did you use?”
Jess rolled her eyes. “The Lady Linford one. I had to go in with her, and I’m pretty claustrophobic too.”
“Shit! So why did you agree?”
“I didn’t really feel I had a choice.” She shrugged. “It’s kind of part of my job description at the moment.”
He frowned. “How did it go?”
“Not well. Afric managed to bump her forehead on the way out because she panicked and stood up too soon.” Maybe claustrophobia was a sliding scale. She’d managed to stay inside the tunnel longer than Afric had! Although that hadn’t been difficult. “I found a camera lens cover on the ground.”
He looked surprised. “In the tunnel?”
“Yeah, it hadn’t been there that long, either. It was pretty clean.”
“It probably belongs to one of the camera crew,” Robert said, pouring them more wine. “If they’re using the tunnels, they might have been in there to check it out.”
“Probably.”
“Hm.” Robert looked at her thoughtfully. “Okay, enough about work! Let’s talk about you. Do you always order the same thing in a restaurant?”
“Nope. Do you?”
“Life’s too short.”
Jess smiled. “What else do you want to know?”
“What was your favourite movie when you were a kid? The one you watched over and over again?”
“So easy – High School Musical! You?”
“Harry Potter, and all the Narnia movies.”
“Good to get this out in the open,” she said.
“Yeah, I think being a big fan of Mean Girls might be a deal-breaker.”
He held her eyes for a long moment and she allowed herself a brief fantasy about whatever was happening between them going further.
He seemed to want that. Did she? She studied his face, the curve of his jaw, the way the overhead lights picked out – hang on – were those coppery highlights in his hair?
She’d definitely never noticed those before
“You’re kind of staring.” His lips quirked.
“Sorry.” She blushed. “You know you’ve sort of highlights in your hair. Are they …?”
“What?”
They were interrupted by the waiter with their food and Jess flicked a glance at Robert. He looked a bit annoyed. Shit, either it was dyed and he didn’t want to admit to it or it wasn’t and he’d thought it was a rude question. She searched quickly for a change of subject.
“I’ve read some of Deb Considine’s books, including An Irish Inheritance, you know.” Gripping conversation, Jess. “What about you, do you prefer the book or movie first?”
Robert smiled. “Book, normally. But with An Irish Inheritance, I don’t think it matters.”
“Why not?”
“It’s a clichéd romantic comedy.” He dipped a prawn into some garlic mayonnaise. “Apart from the fact that it’s not my thing, I don’t think the leads are going to sell it.”
“We don’t know yet. Anyway, loads of people love romantic comedies.”
Adam had liked them. Or maybe he’d just pretended to like them for her sake, she thought. Still, he’d always made popcorn for those nights cuddled up on the sofa together.
She felt herself grow warm at the memories.
They’d rarely made it to the end of any movie before …
Her thoughts screeched to a halt. She couldn’t think about Adam.
Especially when she was on a date! What had they been talking about?
An Irish Inheritance. Right. “You’ve got to agree that it’s an amazing opportunity for Linford Village, though.
Most of the locals are extras. Our receptionist got one of the bit parts! ”
“Who’s that?”
“Emily? I introduced you.”
“Peroxide blonde, I remember, yeah.” His tone was dry.
Woah, that sounded judgmental. “I like it,” she said.
Robert smiled. “I guess I just prefer something more natural. Anyway … what about the theatre? What do you like?”
“It depends.” Jess tried to be honest. “Nothing too heavy or pretentious. The last thing I saw was a modern version of The Taming of the Shrew.” It had been a local production to fundraise for the hospital where her mother worked.
She’d taken Adam to see it, and he’d sat between her and Moira.
Jess had watched her nana glow as Adam chatted with her during the evening.
“Shakespeare is great,” he agreed. “But I’ve no time for modern versions of it.”
Was he subtly teasing her? She studied him for a moment. Nope, perfectly serious. Move on, Jess. “So, what was it like growing up here?”
He shrugged. “Fine. Except that I didn’t like the GAA and it was really the only sport around. There’s riding stables a few miles away so I learned to ride instead.”
“I learned to ride as a child too,” Jess said, relieved they had something in common.
“Maybe that’s something else we can do together.” His tone lightened. “I really like spending time with you, Jess.”
“Me too.” She tried to ignore the niggling feeling that she still couldn’t be completely herself with this man.
It was probably because she wasn’t ready to tell him about Simon or Adam …
or the pregnancy. God, maybe she was just using Robert.
No, she liked him – he was easy to be with. There was no pressure.
And no chemistry. The unwelcome thought slid to mind and she pushed it out just as quickly, reminding herself that Robert was a slow burn. The fact that her love life was no longer mapped out was also a welcome change.
Robert helped himself to more tapas. “So, tell me how you got into your business.”
“What are your thoughts on dessert?” Robert said, after the waiter had cleared away their main course.
Jess hesitated. “I’m so full!”
“We could share one?”
“Uh, sure. You choose, I want to freshen up.” She headed to the bathrooms, pleased to discover a small, luxurious room with old-fashioned, ornate washbasins, a counter with fabric-covered stools and complimentary beauty products.
Jess sat down at the counter for a moment and scrutinised herself in the mirrored wall.
She’d looked pale and drawn in the weeks immediately after the miscarriage.
Now the dark circles under her eyes were gone, and her face looked fuller again.
She experienced a jolt of recognition as she spotted another woman at the basins.
“Deb? We’ve met at Linford Castle. I’m Jess Bradley, the marketing manager for the hotel group.”
Deb smiled warmly. “I thought I saw you earlier! I decided to treat myself this evening.”
“I heard you’re staying around the area for a while to do some writing?” Jess said.
“Yes, I’m renting a house for a couple of months to get a head start on my next book. But it was exciting to visit Linford Castle and meet all the cast.”
“At the risk of coming across as a scary fan, I’ve read all your books.” Jess grinned. “My favourite is My Second Choice. But An Irish Inheritance is great, too – very funny!”
“That’s very kind of you. And refreshing to chat to someone who’s not from the press.”
Jess nodded. “I guess it must be a bit overwhelming at the moment.”
“I’m not very big on social media,” Deb admitted, “so I’m not usually recognised.
But there’s been so much publicity since filming began.
One reporter seems to be tailing me, trying to get me to respond to all these leaks.
” She sighed and dried her hands on some paper towels.
“But thank you for telling me you like my books. You’d be amazed by how many people rubbish romance. ”
Guiltily, Jess wondered if she’d heard Robert earlier. But it was a busy restaurant and it’d be difficult to overhear individual conversations.
Robert looked up expectedly as she came back and she tried not to react when she saw he’d ordered a crème caramel. She hated custard-based desserts, but it was her own fault for letting him choose.
“You’ll never guess who I bumped into just now,” she said, slipping into her seat.
He looked amused. “You’re right, I’ll never guess.”
Jess started to speak when a movement in her peripheral vision caught her attention, and she turned to see Deb Considine sit down, just one table across from them, and pick up a book.
She winced, wondering if she’d heard Robert criticise the movie earlier.
Although technically he’d just mentioned that he didn’t like romcoms or think much of the two leads.
Idly, she wondered why. Whatever about Spencer’s recent dip in ratings, Afric’s star was on the rise.
Robert handed her a spoon. “Dig in, this is really good.”
Jess stared at the dessert. “I think I’ll have a coffee instead.”