A Starlit Summer Read online

  ‘Yeah, a couple of times this week. Everyone’s pretty shattered though, you know what it’s like, long days. I guess the only disadvantage to staying at the cottage is not being at the same place as most of the cast. I think they hang out in the hotel bar lots. They were over here last night though.’ Jenna bit her lip, unsure if she should say anything about Milo and Timothy.

  ‘You don’t feel like you’re missing out?’

  ‘Not really; I mean it’s been fun spending time with them, it’s just nice to have the space and place to myself.’

  ‘Apart from the builders.’

  ‘Yes, apart from the builders.’ Jenna added a dash more passata to the chilli and stirred it in. It wasn’t like she minded having Finn around on the few occasions she saw him before or after work. Being greeted by his smile and a sneaky peak of his six-pack had fast become the highlight of her day, until him assuming Milo was her boyfriend had put paid to that. Now there was an awkwardness and they’d hardly said more than a couple of words to each other since. The thought of his toned chest and smiling eyes, she realised, was also stopping her from listening to Carla. ‘Sorry, what did you say?’

  ‘I said, talking about the cast, I kinda have some bad news... Well, not bad exactly, it’s just you might not be too pleased about it... Although actually it might be a good thing...’

  ‘Carla, seriously, just tell me.’

  ‘I thought I’d better warn you so it doesn’t come as a shock...’

  ‘Shock about what?’

  ‘Heidi. She’s got a part on the film.’

  ‘What film?’

  ‘What film do you think? Yours, silly.’

  Jenna dropped the wooden spoon into the pan. ‘I don’t understand? They cast the film ages ago, how is she working on it?’

  ‘She got cast ages ago too, it’s just I didn’t know because I’ve not seen her because she was working on... well you know what she was working on. She wrapped on Bond a few weeks ago.’

  Jenna bit her lip. ‘When does she start filming on this?’

  ‘Monday.’

  ‘Seriously?’

  ‘Seriously. I saw her this afternoon. Said she was getting the train down tomorrow so she can settle in over the weekend.’

  ‘Right.’ Jenna tipped in the drained red kidney beans, mixed them in and put a lid on the pan.

  ‘You’re pissed off, aren’t you? Sorry, I shouldn’t have told you and ruined your evening.’

  ‘No, it’s fine. Better you telling me now than me turning up on Monday and seeing her.’

  ‘You’re still pissed about it though. I can tell. It’ll be fine, Jenna, I promise. It’ll be good seeing each other again, on neutral ground so to speak. You’ll see. Maybe it’ll be a way of working things out between you.’

  They said goodbye, and Jenna was left with worry gnawing at her stomach and a dull ache spreading across her forehead. Apart from today with the Milo and Finn situation, she’d been so relaxed and carefree since she got here. She put this down to the combination of a change of scene and the slower pace of life away from London. The countryside and sea were a tonic, the role on a big budget film exciting, and with guaranteed work the pressure was off for a few weeks at least. And now she was going to have to confront the one person who she really didn’t want to see, particularly down in Cornwall, a place that until this moment had felt like a real escape. It was always the way though, just as everything seemed to be going so well, something happened to stir things up. Heidi Turner-Williams had done enough meddling in her life; she was the last person Jenna wanted to see, work with and have to spend time with. Even if, as Carla had suggested, being forced to confront their issues might be a good thing in the long run. No longer hungry, she switched off the gas and put a lid on the chilli. She went and stood on the step outside, breathing in the night air in an attempt to calm the rage creeping from the pit of her stomach and up to her chest.

  ~

  Jenna was out of sorts from the moment she woke. She was on edge throwing her clothes on, locking the front door and starting her car. The feeling only worsened the closer she got to the base.

  Even though she knew Heidi wouldn’t be on set until Monday, she couldn’t undo the knot of tension in her stomach as she headed to wardrobe or when she was sitting in the make-up trailer. The usual relaxed banter between the make-up artists and the cast continued as usual, yet Jenna knew she was quieter than normal. The thought of seeing Heidi was as uncomfortable as the anticipation of bumping into an ex boyfriend. Heidi had hurt and betrayed her far worse than an ex ever had. She was probably worrying for nothing; if Heidi was travelling today, the chances were she’d go straight to the hotel and wouldn’t even be at the base until after the weekend. Now more than ever Jenna was glad she was staying well away from the hotel and everyone else.

  She spent Saturday on her own in the garden, ripping out weeds, hacking back bushes and cutting the grass. Her hard work was beginning to pay off. The garden looked twice as big as the overgrown and tangled mess it had been when she’d first arrived. She didn’t even have Finn’s company. She’d expected him to turn up but neither him nor his dad had. Although to be fair, Finn had finished the windows and most of the damaged stonework had been repaired. Apart from still being clad in scaffolding, the cottage had transformed from looking tired and grey to rejuvenated and appealing. She knew they were fitting in the cottage between jobs and probably Finn was helping his dad on another job this weekend, but she missed seeing him. Next week, her fourth since arriving in Cornwall, Finn would be starting on the inside of the cottage on Monday, and her ex-best friend would be working on the same film as her. After the initial feeling of space and freedom, life was beginning to feel increasingly claustrophobic.

  ~

  She needed to do something. She needed to get away from her own company and her muddled thoughts. She messaged Lily and Amanda to see if they fancied going out somewhere other than the hotel. A proper night out with food and drinking, to a pub with a beer garden, that’s what she fancied. That thought took her right back to thinking about Finn again.

  ‘Aaaghhrr!’ She threw her mobile on to the sofa, stalked into the kitchen and downed a glass of water.

  While she was waiting for them to reply she went upstairs and got ready. After spending most of the day working in the garden she needed a shower. She’d moved around as the sun did, catching the shade rather than the rays, but it had still been hot, even beneath the trees. She washed away the sweat, sunscreen and dirt and by the time she was towelling herself dry in her room, Lily and Amanda had replied. Jenna arranged to meet them in Mullion, walkable for them and an easy-enough drive for her.

  ~

  The pub was old and thatched. It was set further into Mullion and away from the sea, and its beer garden was the perfect place for a Saturday night drink, spacious and tree-lined with plenty of large wooden picnic tables. It was good to get away from the cottage for the evening and also to be somewhere other than the hotel with the cast and crew.

  It was stuffy inside the pub, so they escaped outside with their drinks, finding a free table on the far side of the garden. The evening was fresh but it was still warm enough to be sitting outside in short sleeves. Who needed to go abroad when there was this weather and surroundings right on the doorstep – well, a few hours’ drive away for Jenna.

  ‘Are you missing home?’ Amanda asked, as if reading her thoughts.

  Jenna cupped her hands around her cool pint of lemonade. ‘Nope, not a bit. I’ve swapped a tiny flat in a soulless block for a cottage and garden full of character. Are you?’

  ‘I miss my boyfriend but not the everyday stuff, you know. I haven’t had to cook since I got down here. Don’t have to think about cleaning or when my next job’s going to be. I’m fed up of spending days on the Tube heading across London from one casting to another.’

  ‘It can be soul destroying, can’t it.’ Jenna sipped her lemonade. ‘It’s good to have the security of a steady job for a f
ew weeks at least.’

  ‘I am beginning to think what to do come September though,’ Lily said. ‘I don’t have anything lined up, do you?’

  ‘Shush.’ Jenna put her finger to her lips and grinned. ‘Not tonight, let’s not stress about it, there’ll be plenty of time for that. This evening is about enjoying ourselves.’

  A group walked into the beer garden, their laughter and voices arriving before they did. They looked like surfers, in board shorts and Ripcurl hoodies. There was one woman with them, her arm around the waist of one of the blokes, his arm resting across her shoulder.

  It was the tallest bloke who caught Jenna’s attention with his windswept hair, beard, and tattoos snaking down one arm. As they reached an empty table the familiarity of his features became clear.

  Chapter Thirteen

  Finn was the tallest of his friends and also the best looking. Although he was unassuming when you talked to him, from afar it was his looks that caught people’s attention. Jenna clocked a few other women looking in his direction. Almost as if he was a film star. Finn clambered over the bench at the table on the other side of the garden, sat down and caught Jenna’s eye. He smiled and waved.

  ‘Who’s that?’ Amanda asked.

  ‘The builder.’

  ‘He’s your builder?’

  ‘Well, not my builder. Him and his dad are the builders working on the cottage.’

  ‘Why are you going red?’ Lily clasped her fingers around the stem of her wine glass and leant closer. ‘Oh. My. Goodness. You like him, don’t you?’

  ‘I can see why. Easy on the eye is an understatement.’ Amanda whistled and folded her arms.

  ‘I bet he’s a joy to watch working on the cottage, all hot and sweaty.’

  Jenna shook her head. ‘What are you two like.’

  ‘Living out the excitement of being single through you. I mean with him and Milo, you are one lucky lucky lady. Milo’s all over you at work.’ Amanda nodded in Finn’s direction. ‘Bet it’s the same back at the cottage with him.’

  Lily looked at Amanda. ‘Oh, to have so many men falling at my feet.’

  Jenna swung her legs over the picnic bench and stood up. ‘I don’t have men falling at my feet. You have no clue. That “thing” with Milo isn’t what everybody thinks. And Finn,’ Jenna lowered her voice and avoided looking in the direction of Finn and his friends, ‘is a lovely normal bloke and is pretty bloody sensible steering clear of us neurotic actors.’

  She walked away weaving between tables across the spongy grass, going the longer way round to avoid Finn. Inside, the pub was traditional and cosy with beamed ceilings and thick stone walls that probably held the heat out like Bramble Cottage, but packed with people and on a still and hot evening, it was roasting inside.

  ‘A Budweiser, please.’ She’d been good and stuck to lemonade but one bottle of beer would be fine for her to drive back.

  She had no idea why Amanda’s comment had got under her skin so much. Well, she did. The thing with Milo had annoyed the hell out of her and she hated that Finn had got the wrong idea.

  Amanda appeared next to her at the bar and slid her arm around her waist. ‘I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to take the piss. I wasn’t thinking. And yes, us actors can be neurotic and hard to live with. My boyfriend is a saint putting up with me.’

  ‘He’s not an actor?’

  ‘A financial advisor. Go figure.’

  The barman passed Jenna her bottle of lager and she handed him the money.

  Amanda hooked her arm in Jenna’s as they made their way back across the pub. ‘I love my boyfriend to bits but I always think how exciting it would be to be single and have the opportunity to have a fling with an actor. I think I’m living my fantasies about Milo Blake through you. Sorry if I’ve been a bit full on.’

  They emerged back into the beer garden. The air was warm but fresher outside.

  ‘You don’t have to apologise; I overreacted. I don’t know why I’m feeling so uptight about everything. Milo’s messing with my head...’ They joined Lily back at the table and Jenna placed a hand on her shoulder. ‘Sorry for getting upset.’

  Amanda took Jenna’s hand. ‘How’s he messing with it? Your head?’

  Jenna bit her lip. She was conflicted about telling them the truth and exposing Milo when it was obviously a secret. Yet, without explaining it, it simply looked like she was making a huge fuss over one of the hottest actors on the planet giving her attention and no one understood that.

  ‘When you said before that I like Finn, it’s true. But I really like him.’

  Lily raised her eyebrows and looked in Finn’s direction. ‘The builder?’

  ‘Yeah, the builder. Which is why I don’t want to get involved with Milo.’ It was partly the truth and hopefully it would stop them from pushing the point further and avoid her spilling the beans about Milo and Timothy. The possible consequences about the truth being revealed and her being the one to reveal it unnerved her.

  ‘I can see the appeal,’ Amanda said. ‘I mean they’re both hot as hell but in different ways. They’re like chalk and cheese. Blonde-haired, bearded surfer type guy, compared to dark-haired brooding Hollywood actor. What a choice.’

  Lily picked up her wine. ‘Why don’t you go over and talk to him.’

  ‘He’s with his mates.’

  ‘So?’

  Jenna sipped her Budweiser. ‘We kinda had a thing.’

  ‘You’ve slept with him?’ Lily nearly spat out a mouthful of wine.

  ‘No, nothing like that. We had, like, the briefest of kisses on that really hot day last week. You know the day we wrapped filming early because of the heat. We were sitting out on the grass at the cottage and he just kissed me. And then I didn’t see him for the rest of the day and then we sort of haven’t spoken about it since.’

  ‘So it’s weird?’

  Jenna shrugged. ‘Kind of. It was spur of the moment and amazing.’

  ‘You have got to talk to him.’ Amanda swung her legs over the bench and grabbed her drink. ‘Come on.’

  ‘Amanda, no,’ Jenna hissed.

  But Amanda was off across the daisy-speckled grass making a beeline for Finn.

  Lily picked up her glass. ‘Do you really want to let her talk to him on her own?’

  ‘Not really, no.’

  Jenna grabbed her bottle and followed Lily. She reached their table and met Finn’s eyes just as Amanda was introducing herself.

  ‘Hey,’ he said.

  ‘Can we join you?’ Amanda asked.

  ‘Of course.’ Finn shuffled along the bench to make room and Jenna found herself sitting down next to him.

  Amanda sat opposite, Lily squeezing on the end of the bench next to her. ‘This is Lily, and you obviously already know Jenna.’ She gave Finn the biggest grin and Jenna felt the blood rush to her cheeks again.

  ‘This is Tom.’ Finn motioned to the brown-haired guy next to him and then across the table. ‘And that’s Jake and his girlfriend Stef.’

  ‘So you’re all actresses?’ Tom asked.

  Amanda nodded. ‘For our sins, yes.’

  ‘And you’re working on the film that’s been shot around here?’ Tom continued.

  ‘That’s the one,’ Jenna said.

  ‘Isn’t that the one with Milo Blake in it?’

  Jake nudged his girlfriend. ‘Stef’s got a thing for Milo Blake.’

  Stef ignored him. ‘Do you three know him?’

  ‘As much as you can really “know” an actor as famous as him,’ Lily said. ‘But yes, we’re all working with him although Jenna has more scenes with him, don’t you?’

  And so the conversation turned to Milo Blake. Jenna felt increasingly uncomfortable as she was forced to talk about him, while sensing the tension ebbing off Finn.

  ~

  It was nearly midnight before Lily and Amanda decided to call it a night. The conversation had eventually moved on from Milo, films and acting, to surfing, Cornwall and the jobs Finn and his friends did. />
  Amanda moved around the table and perched on the end of the bench next to Jenna. ‘We’re going to walk back to the hotel before we get too wasted.’ Her usually bright eyes were nearly half-closed.

  ‘I can drive you back, if you like.’

  Amanda placed her hand on Jenna’s arm. ‘It won’t take long to walk and it’ll sober me up. Don’t rush your drink.’ She did a comical one eyebrow raise, while Lily grinned from across the table. Amanda kissed Jenna on the cheek and with a wave she linked arms with Lily and they walked away across the beer garden.

  ‘They’re not subtle, are they?’ Finn said.

  Jenna laughed. ‘No, they’re not. They’re actors, bloody drama queens, what do you expect.’

  ‘You didn’t want to go back with them?’

  ‘Nah, I fancied staying a bit longer.’ They were sitting together at one end of the picnic table, Jake and Stef were whispering together at the other end, and Tom had wandered off to talk to another friend.

  A prickle of excitement crept across the back of Jenna’s neck at the thought of being alone again with Finn. His hands were clasped around his pint. It was the first time she’d noticed the small tattoo on his middle finger. Tattoos crawled down his arm, poking out beneath the right-hand sleeve of his T-shirt. He was watching her intently, his usually blue eyes dark in the dusky light of the pub garden.

  ‘We talked about this the other day, while sweltering in your garden, wishing we were having a pint in a pub somewhere.’

  ‘Did you make it to the pub that night?’

  ‘Yeah, I was going to see if you wanted to join me but you weren’t around when I left.’

  ‘Yeah sorry, I, um...’

  ‘It was nice what happened in the garden... I didn’t mean to come on to you like that – if I’d known you were with someone... I know what it’s like to be the one cheated on; I’d never intentionally do that to someone else.’

  ‘Honestly, Milo’s not my boyfriend. He’s a total flirt. He’s a movie star, so bloody confident about himself. He stayed over in the spare room, that’s all. So did a couple of the others. I mean, who walks around someone else’s house naked?’