Chapter 29
TASHA
Tasha listened to Dale and Riley’s Zoom chat for a few minutes before waving at Riley and indicating the door.
He barely registered that she was about to leave but gave her a curt nod.
Making the most of having time to herself, Tasha decided to pop into town.
She hadn’t been to the shopping area in St Helier yet and wanted to buy a couple of things to take home to her parents.
Even though they usually had some sort of snarky remark about her working for Riley, she still liked to find them a souvenir each time she travelled anywhere with him.
She decided to take the bus, having noticed a bus stop a short way down the road from the apartment where they were now staying. It would be nice to travel like a normal person for a change rather than in a smart car with a driver and Riley being stared at and photos being taken constantly.
As she waited with several other people for the bus to arrive, Tasha thought about filming starting the following day.
She was looking forward to it, not because it would be another day on a film set but because she would see Callum again.
It hadn’t been twenty-four hours since she saw him last but even though Riley had kept her busy running around sorting out clothes and ordering in food for him, she still missed the man who had unexpectedly woken something in her she’d thought dormant after so long being happily single.
What was it about Callum that brought her emotions alive again? He was friendly and very good-looking. She thought of his piercing blue eyes, fair hair and chiselled jaw and wasn’t surprised someone had thought him attractive enough to want him in a glossy commercial.
The bus stopped and Tasha waited her turn to get on.
‘I don’t know what it is,’ an elderly lady standing next to her said. ‘But whatever you’re thinking about has put a right big smile on your face.’
Tasha thought of Riley and how if she didn’t already know her boss was not attracted to her, she certainly did now. Callum was the sort of man Riley saw as competition, and the mere fact that he had no issues with Callum proved she was right to think that way. The feeling was mutual.
‘Boyfriend, is it?’
Tasha realised she would like Callum to be just that. ‘Not yet.’ She lowered her voice. ‘Maybe never.’
‘Well, lovey, there’s no harm in hoping now, is there?’
She supposed not.
The woman’s attention was taken from her by a friend who hurried over to her, and they were soon deep in conversation. She had seemed very nice, but Tasha was happy to be left to her own thoughts once again.
The bus ride to town was far nicer than most bus trips she had taken.
As the bus took them on a higher road overlooking another lower one, she looked past it to the beautiful bay with what appeared to be a fort on a small island and to the right of those modern flats.
What a pretty island, Tasha mused, deciding to get off at the next stop and see where the roads took her.
She hadn’t been walking for very long when she came across a building that she thought she recognised.
She was vaguely aware of a Golf pulling into the parking area and just as she passed heard someone calling out her name.
‘Tasha? It is you.’ She turned to see Callum standing, his laptop under his arm. He pressed his key fob to lock his car and walked over to the other side of the low wall separating the car park from the pavement. ‘What are you doing in this neck of the woods?’
‘I thought I’d come to St Helier to buy a few bits for Mum and Dad.’
He nodded. ‘The shopping area is quite a way in that direction.’
‘It is?’ She thought about her bus trip. ‘I didn’t consider that when I got off the bus before the station.’
‘If you wait a moment, I can walk with you. Unless you’d rather be alone, of course.’
She shook her head, still taken aback to have seen him so unexpectedly. ‘No, I’d like that.’
They were soon walking together and she wondered if he might suspect she had been meaning to come to the station to see him. ‘I suppose you bump into people you know here all the time.’
‘It depends. Sometimes it happens, but there are people living on this small island who I haven’t seen for years, even decades.’
Surprised, she gave him a doubtful look. ‘I can’t imagine that happening on such a small island.’
‘You’d be surprised. Anyway, it might be small but there are over one hundred thousand people living here now. The numbers have increased massively over the past forty years or so.’
‘That does surprise me.’ She smiled at him.
‘What?’ he asked, laughing.
‘You must be well known here though. A bit of a local celebrity, being on the radio and all that?’
He shrugged. ‘Only to the people who listen to the show. Know me, that is. I’m no celebrity. Your chap Riley is one of those. I wouldn’t be suited to that life at all.’
‘No? Why not?’ She didn’t imagine he would be but was interested to know why the notion didn’t appeal to him.
‘I like my privacy too much. No one is bothered about someone like me. Riley, on the other hand, must have a hell of a time with fans coming to his home, or bothering him when he’s out with friends, or girlfriends, or whatever.’
She couldn’t tell whether Callum was genuinely interested, or if he was concerned for Erin. ‘He lives in a secure apartment that’s impossible to get into unless you either live there or are invited.’
‘How can you be so sure?’
She frowned. ‘Put it this way, the lift goes directly to Riley’s apartment. It goes to other floors, too, but he has a code to take it straight up to his hallway.’
She saw Callum raise his eyebrows in surprise and smiled. ‘He usually has someone nearby looking out for him too. Just in case some chap decides to challenge Riley to a fight.’
‘People do that?’
‘Not often, but he’s been the tough guy in a few films and occasionally you’ll get someone who’s had a bit too much to drink and wants to show off to friends.’ She shook her head. ‘If they knew Riley well they would know his muscles look great on camera, but he’s never used them to fight anyone.’
‘I see.’ They stopped, waiting for a set of traffic lights to change so they could cross the road. ‘It’s fascinating to think how different someone can be from their public persona, don’t you think?’
She thought back to all the times she had been surprised when she first did this work and got to meet many of the people she had thought impressive on the screen. ‘I don’t think much would shock me now.’
Callum laughed. ‘I suppose not.’ He stopped near what looked like a big frog on a granite plinth.
‘What a strange statue!’ she said without thinking. ‘Sorry, I didn’t mean to sound rude.’
‘That’s a crapaud. A local toad.’
‘I see,’ she said, not really seeing at all. She realised they had reached a long street with shops on either side. ‘I suppose this is where we part ways then?’
‘It is, but if you want a lift back to where you’re staying, I can either come and pick you up when you’re finished, or you can walk back to the studio. I should be finished in—’ he checked his watch ‘—just over two hours. In fact, I’d better get a move on if I don’t want to be late.’
‘I’ll be fine, thanks.’ She smiled at him, surprised but delighted when he bent forward and went to kiss her cheek.
Mistaking what he was about to do, Tasha turned to face him so his lips connected with the corner of her mouth. She realised what she had done and grimaced. ‘Sorry, that was a bit awkward.’
‘Not at all.’ He gazed at her momentarily before running off in the direction they had just come, leaving her stunned and very happy.