Page 40 of Doc Hollywood

When everyone was ready, Ron held his hand up for silence. “This last question is going to continue with tonight’s theme. It’s a tough one, and I think we might be rolling over to next week. Now, everyone, I need full names for this next question. No cheating and using Google. You have thirty seconds to complete your entry, then hold them up. Don’t forget to put your name on them in case we have a mass of answers to check.” Ron chuckled.

He always made them write their names on the paper, although the reality was that the questions were so difficult that he just came and checked them.

Clara nudged Taylor and subtly pointed to his paper. His eyes widened when he noticed what she had seen. He had written his actual name down. He crossed it through very thoroughly and wrote Tom Anders instead, which had Clara rolling her eyes and suppressing giggles.

“Like I said, we’re continuing the Superman theme. I want to know—“ he paused for effect before saying, “What are the full names of Taylor Anderson’s current dogs.”

All around the room were huffs of disappointment and the sound of pens being thrown down on the table.

Clara blinked once, then blinked again. She knew this. Taylor had shown her photos of the dogs.

She turned to look at him to see if he was going to answer the question, but he gestured to her piece of paper and whispered, “You know this.”

She nodded and wrote down Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton. Then folded her piece of paper over.

“Five seconds. If you know the answer, hold your paper up, and I’ll come and check them,” Ron called.

“Why don’t you answer?” Sadie whispered, gesturing to Taylor’s blank paper.

He shook his head, explaining, “When it’s for money, it feels like cheating. And Clara knows anyway.”

“You know this?” Sadie leaned across Taylor, hissing at Clara. Her eyebrows had shot so high they almost disappeared into her hairline.

“Yeah,” Clara confirmed.

Ignoring the look of astonishment on her friend’s face, she put her hand up. She got the feeling Sadie would not be satisfied for long with the thirty-second summary of her week with Taylor and would demand a blow-by-blow account, including a detailed explanation about how she knew the names of his dogs.

Clara surveyed the room to see two other people holding answers in the air. Her other hand rested on her knee, and she started in surprise when she felt Taylor take hold of it.

She knew she should pull away and that she was just torturing herself, but she didn’t and stayed holding his hand while she waited for her answer to be checked.

Ron went to the other two people first.

“Fido and Fred.” He read out.

Taylor chuckled quietly. “Really?”

“Not even close.” Ron moved on to the next person. “Superman and Clark Kent.”

The table the lady was sitting at burst into laughter.

“While that’s very on theme. It’s not the correct answer. We have one more guess before we can roll the jackpot over to next week,” he said, taking the paper out of Clara’s hand. “Our final guess is Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton.” He hesitated, frowning hard at Taylor before a smile broke out across his face. “We have a winner! Six hundred dollars goes to,” He checked her name written at the top of the paper. “Clara!”

Clara beamed as the rest of her table leapt to their feet to celebrate. Taylor pulled her up too, again gripping her to his chest and swinging her around. She laughed so hard her cheeks hurt, and she was breathless when he put her down.

This time, he didn’t let go of her when her friends came over to congratulate and hug her; he kept his arm around her shoulders.

“Well done, Clara. How on earth did you know that? Do you have a celebrity crush?” Hel smirked at her, giving her a friendly nudge.

“No, just lucky. I saw a picture in a magazine with the dog names on it,” Clara lied with a straight face. Technically, she had seen a picture; it was just on Taylor’s phone.

“Apart from buying us all a drink. What will you do with the money?” Mike patted her shoulder.

“Oh, um.” Clara hesitated, thought about it for a moment, and her mind flashed to the debt Jack had left her with.

“You should do something fun,” Taylor encouraged, squeezing her shoulder.

Clara stared up at him, slightly bewildered that she was standing with Taylor’s arm around her shoulder like they were a couple.

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