Page 20 of Doc Hollywood

“In what way?” She tucked her knees up onto the sofa and rested her elbows on them, genuinely intrigued by what he was telling her.

“I got my first role at fifteen. And all I wanted then was to be famous. I told everyone that one day I was going to be a movie star.” He gestured to the screen, which showed his face staring back at them from the movie poster. “But when you’re fifteen, it’s such an abstract thought. I mean, you think of all the things you can buy, the car you can afford. But you never think about what being famous entails…” He trailed off and gazed sightlessly at the television.

“Is it that bad?” Clara leaned forward and prompted him to keep talking.

“Yes and no. I mean, I’m not trying to tell you to feel sorry for me. Or claim ‘poor me’. As I’m very aware I’m one of the most privileged men on the planet. I can travel wherever I want. I can do whatever I want. I can go to any restaurant, and there will always be a table for me. I travel by private jet often; I get to skip all the queues at the airport and am ushered through by a VIP team. I have more advantages than any one person deserves.

“However, there’s a downside. There’s…” He stopped talking and looked at Clara. “I don’t know why I’m telling you this. I’ve seen how hard you work, and I’m sitting here complaining and being pathetic.”

“No, really. It’s okay. I don’t mind. I like talking to you.” She smiled broadly, then blushed scarlet, worried he would think she was trying to flirt with him when he was so far out of her league that he was in another stratosphere.

“Yeah, me too.” He stared back at her, searching for something on her face before he finally continued. “So, I’ve had more stalkers than I care to remember. I can’t be alone in a room with a woman because some of them will claim things I haven’t done in an attempt for fame or money.”

Clara cleared her throat and gestured around her living room. “I seem to be missing a chaperone.”

He grinned back. “I trust you.”

Clara blinked a few times at his statement. “You don’t know me. Maybe I have the tabloids on speed dial.”

“Do you?” He lifted an eyebrow.

“No. But you shouldn’t be so trusting. You’ve got to protect yourself.”

“I do. I usually do. Well, I dunno. There’s no good reason, but I trust you.” He drew his eyebrows together.

They sat there staring at each other until Clara shifted in her seat and broke their eye contact.

“Good. I’m very trustworthy.” She laughed. “Seriously though, that sounds difficult.”

He sighed deeply, still staring at her. “It has its moments. Honestly, I haven’t made a new friend since I became famous.”

“You do have your old friends, right?” she asked with concern. It sounded like a pretty lonely life.

“Yeah, the people I’ve known for years, since before the fame thing happened. I’ve tried to make new friends and trusted the wrong people. It always ended up in the press with some nasty headline or false accusations.” He squeezed his eyes shut.

“Like three years ago?” She recalled some of the gossip magazines she had seen around the hospital at that time. Every single one of them had Taylor’s picture plastered across the front with various accusations of abuse.

Taylor nodded and didn’t say anything.

“They were lies?” She stared hard at him, looking for a tick in his face, a sign to show he was lying, but she saw nothing but honesty.

And he nodded again.

“Okay,” she simply said.

He spoke hesitantly, “You believe me?”

“I don’t know you. But what I read about you doesn’t seem like the person I’ve met. You don’t come across as the type to do any of that stuff.”

Clara had been observing him. Looking for those little tells that, in hindsight, had been visible in Jack when she had finally opened her eyes. Little looks, where his eyes would narrow. A shortness of temper. Never listening to her, just waiting for his turn to talk. She didn’t see any of that in Taylor.

“So either you have excellent lawyers, which made it go away fast, or it was all total crap.”

“I dated her,” he said quietly. “We met in a club. I thought it was a chance meeting; however, once she revealed her true self, I realised she’d been planning and scheming to get my attention for a long time. We dated for about a year. At first, she took me in. She was beautiful and kind and sweet.

“She gave me all of her attention. Whatever I wanted to do, she said yes to me. If I wanted to stay in, we stayed in. If I wanted to go out, we went out. We went on expensive holidays to amazing places, and she also happily came camping with me and slept in a tent.

“I thought I’d met the perfect woman. I missed all of the red flags. Everything that should have told me there was something wrong.” He went silent, his eyes distant and unfocused.

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