Chapter 30
Nora had had a busy day squeezing in all the jobs she couldn’t do in the week and was looking forward to putting her feet up in front of the TV.
What she didn’t need was to open her front door to the sound of her parents singing.
They were belting out ‘Never Gonna Give You Up’ by Rick Astley.
Rick-rolled by her own mum and dad – what was going on?
She stood in the kitchen doorway for a full minute before they noticed she was home.
Ali hastily put down the soup ladle he was using as a stand-in microphone.
‘Nora! Look, Una, it’s Nora. Hello, Nora,’ said her dad, switching off the radio.
‘Hi,’ said Nora, wondering if this slightly smug feeling was how they felt when they’d caught her doing something she shouldn’t as a child. Like the time she’d tried to make a cake on her own and redecorated the kitchen with flour.
‘We were just …’ Una flinched and guiltily checked her clothing was straight, which Nora found even more troubling than their singing. What had been going on here? Nora didn’t want to think too deeply about that.
‘Do you remember the conversation we had about you letting yourselves in and that the key was only for emergencies?’ asked Nora.
‘And it is an emergency,’ said her mum, lifting her chin. Ali nodded.
Nora lost her smugness. ‘Why, what’s happened?’
‘I am making punjena paprika and sogan dolma for the fete and I need your big serving plate.’
These were traditional Bosnian dishes, a variation on the theme of stuffed vegetables, and her mum’s versions were always very tasty. ‘OK. In that cupboard,’ said Nora, pointing behind her dad. ‘But what’s the emergency?’
‘That. That is the emergency,’ said Una, getting frustrated. ‘Do you think I can cater for goodness knows how many people without a plate to put things on?’
Nora looked to her dad for some signs of sanity but he was busy trying to put the ladle away without being noticed. ‘Other than that, there’s nothing wrong?’ Nora needed to check.
‘You are still single but other than that …’
Nora glared at her mother. ‘Being single isn’t an ailment.’
Una pouted her disagreement. ‘No male company then?’
Nora was about to say no but she stopped herself. ‘Actually I have lots of male company, thanks. In fact, I spent all day yesterday with a man.’
Her parents were silenced but only for a moment. Her mum narrowed her eyes. ‘You took time off work for a man?’
‘Yes, I did,’ said Nora, warming to her little game.
‘We went to Skegness. Had a picnic on the beach, played badminton, went for a swim and ate ice creams walking back to the car.’ The last part made her chuckle at the memory of Jay trying to eat his with Bruce walking backwards in front of him in the hope of Jay dropping some – and causing Jay to trip up every couple of steps.
It had been such a great day. She always had a good time with Jay.
An image of him striding out of the sea made her feel a bit funny until she remembered him falling over, which made her laugh again.
Her parents were now looking a little concerned.
‘He’s lovely. We had a great time.’ She folded her arms.
‘That’s good,’ said her dad. ‘I’m pleased for you.’
Una waved his words away. ‘She’s not said who it is yet.’ Her mother mirrored her folded arms, which made Nora uncomfortable.
‘I don’t have to tell you,’ said Nora.
‘It’s not a relationship,’ said her mum, with a shake of her head. ‘I know these things. Come on, Ali, where’s that plate?’
Her dad began rummaging in the cupboard.
Nora was irked. ‘Hang on. It could be a relationship. It could be a very serious relationship. I am capable of having those, you know.’ There was another memory of a topless Jay – what was going on there?
She couldn’t unpack that right now as she was preoccupied with convincing her parents that she was potentially in a relationship when she wasn’t.
‘We know you are capable,’ said her dad. ‘Any man or woman or non-gender binary person would be lucky to have you.’ His political correctness was a work in progress.
‘Thanks, Dad.’
Una shot Ali a look and he stuck his head back in the cupboard in search of the big plate. ‘You are playing games, Nora,’ said Una, with a disheartened shake of her head.
‘I did spend the day with a man,’ said Nora. She wasn’t backing down yet.
‘I believe that,’ said Una. ‘What I do not understand is how you have not yet found your prince charming. What is it you’re looking for, Nora?’
It was a question that had more of an impact than she was expecting.
*
Jay was having a play wrestle with Bruce when his phone pinged. He was finding texts quite triggering since his stalker had started to send him messages. Thankfully it wasn’t the stalker. It was Anastasia, Tasha Blake’s publicity manager.
The message read:
Need you on a vid conf RIGHT NOW. Link here
She was quite rude and also presumptuous; he could have been anywhere. He messaged back.
Hi Anastasia, Lovely to hear from you. Just in the middle of something but I will of course make my apologies and duck out to join in. All the best, Jay
Jay turned to Bruce. ‘Really sorry but I need to join a very important video conference call. By way of compensation, can I interest you in a chew stick? Would that be acceptable?’
Bruce barked and wagged his tail.
‘That’s awfully understanding of you,’ he said, fetching Bruce a chew stick.
Jay settled himself in his office as it was white and nondescript so he could be joining from anywhere in the world.
He ran his fingers through his hair and rubbed his lips together a few times to give them some colour and when he felt he had left sufficient time so they wouldn’t think he had bugger all else to do, he pressed the link to join the call.
An unsmiling Anastasia greeted him, which only served to make him friendlier, to counterbalance her slapped-arse expression.
‘Hi, Anastasia, you’re looking amazing. How are—’
‘Tasha is joining us shortly,’ she cut in.
‘Oh OK. Great. Is everything all right?’
Her phone began to ring. ‘I need to take this,’ she said and turned her back on the screen.
Jay was now wishing he’d joined from his desktop because it was uncomfortable having to hold his phone at the same angle.
He always found getting the right angle tricky.
Too high and it emphasized his forehead; too low and they could see up his nose.
He grabbed a few books and constructed a makeshift stand while making a mental note that a proper stand for this sort of thing would probably be a good investment.
He waited and listened to Anastasia’s side of the conversation. Whoever had called was getting a roasting. Another box appeared on the screen and a very tiny Tasha appeared.
‘Hey, Tasha. Great to see you. How’s things?’ he asked.
Anastasia spun around and shushed him loudly before turning her back again.
Tasha rapidly stuck up two fingers on both hands in a frenzied revolt, which made Jay snort a laugh. Tasha waved at Jay and he waved back.
‘You OK?’ he mouthed, emphasizing the question with a thumbs up and a big smile followed by a thumbs down and a downturned mouth to give her options.
Tasha grinned and mimed that she was thinking hard about her reply. She then held her palm flat and wobbled it.
‘Aww, anything I can do?’ he whispered.
‘Buy me more hours in the day?’ replied Tasha, matching his low voice.
‘Sorry, I’m up to my quota of deals with the devil,’ he said with a shrug.
Tasha laughed and Anastasia glared at her over her shoulder.
This was nice. He really liked Tasha. On paper she was his ideal woman and here she was chatting to him, although very quietly, like old friends. It was quite a change from when they’d worked on Undercover Bullets and she’d been more than a bit stand-offish.
Anastasia finally ended her call and gave them her full attention. ‘I need to run some dates past you. Obviously you need to make film promo your absolute priority, but both your agents have said I need to check first before confirming.’ She did nothing to hide her disdain at this.
‘OK, great,’ said Jay. ‘Thanks for org—’
‘Launch week, we have press junkets on the Monday. Radio and all day back-to-back interviews across all majors on Tuesday. Lorraine, The One Show and Graham Norton are the Thursday but Graham’s will be aired the following day and I’m trying my absolute hardest to get us a premiere in Leicester Square. So keep the Saturday free. Got it?’
‘Oh, sorry, was I meant to be writing it down?’ asked Jay, searching for a pen and sticky notes.
‘Can you email that to us please?’ asked Tasha.
Anastasia huffed. ‘Anything else we can utilize? Anything in your personal life that we can get the press writing about? We need column inches. Personal interest. Going off the rails … Or a romance between the leads is always a winner.’
‘I’m not faking an addiction,’ said Tasha.
Anastasia held her palms up. ‘Fine, just a suggestion. How about the romance?’
‘Fake romance doesn’t seem above board,’ said Jay.
Tasha sat up straight. ‘Jay Pandey, are you saying you don’t find me attractive?’ she asked, pretty blue eyes staring into the camera.
‘Oh goodness, no, not at all. The opposite … Well, not opposite, I’m not obsessed with you or anything. I’m the right level of attracted to you. If that’s all right with you,’ he said, wanting Bruce to come in and eat him whole.
Tasha laughed. ‘Leave the romance, Anastasia. I think it’s better to let the press and public speculate.’
‘Actually, that’s a good idea,’ said Anastasia, looking surprised as she jotted something down.
Jay was nodding along and, if he wasn’t mistaken, Anastasia was leaning in and staring at him but it was hard to tell on the tiny screen. ‘Jay, what’s happening with you?’
‘Umm—’ he felt put on the spot, ‘I’ve recently got a rescue dog.’
‘Aww, how cute,’ said Tasha. ‘I love doggos. Is he all cute and cuddly? Is he there?’
‘No time for that,’ butted in Anastasia, ‘and not really what we’re after. The film is gritty. So something more edgy and dangerous is needed.’
Jay pouted at the screen. He didn’t do edgy or dangerous. ‘I went on a climbing trip the other week. Oh, and I might have a stalker.’
‘That,’ said Anastasia, jabbing a dangerously pointy fingernail at the screen, ‘that is exactly the sort of thing we need and the public will love.’
‘Climbing trips?’ asked Tasha.
‘No. A stalker. It’s worrying. It plays on people’s minds and it has the shock factor. It’s perfect. I’ll brief that into the newspapers.’
‘Hang on,’ said Jay. ‘I was thinking about speaking to the police about it first.’
‘No need.’
‘But doesn’t publicizing it give the stalker the attention they are craving?’ he asked.
Anastasia shrugged. ‘No such thing as bad publicity.’
Jay was not sure that was strictly true in this instance.