Page 65 of Doc Hollywood

“Really. Go. It’s fine. This will only take me another thirty minutes,” she lied with a smile on her face.

“If you’re sure?” The young woman was already picking up her handbag. “Some of the crew will bring some gear back this evening once they finish shooting. And the security guards will be here all night. I’ll see you tomorrow.” Lacey rushed towards the door.

“What time do we start tomorrow?” Clara called after her.

“Oh, I forgot to tell you. It’s a nine am call time.” With a final wave, Lacey pushed the heavy theatre doors open and left.

Clara sighed deeply to herself. That was just great. It would take her hours to unpack the remaining boxes, and then she needed to find food. Her stomach grumbled, reminding her lunch, which was a soggy sandwich she had purchased from the petrol station on the way and then stuffed into her bag, had been many hours ago.

Lacey had disappeared at one o’clock, obviously to get her own lunch, and although Clara had read something about film sets having catering, Lacey hadn’t said anything about it, and she hadn’t felt comfortable enough to ask.

Digging through her bag, she found her headphones and a packet of tic-tacs that had been there for goodness knows how long. Opening the packet, she tipped her head back and let some of the minty sweets fall into her mouth. Crunching them, she pushed her headphones into her ears and turned her music up.

The next hour passed quickly as she opened boxes and unloaded their contents, packing them into the appropriate drawers. Then, she added labels to the drawers to mimic the look of a real hospital.

She was crouched over a box, singing along to Queen, when she felt a hand on her shoulder.

Screaming, she launched herself forward and out of the grasp of the assailant, which had the unfortunate effect of leaving her sprawled face down on the floor; caught up on the boxes she had been trying to unpack.

She rolled onto her back, her hands up, ready to defend herself. Her gaze fell first on a pair of worn trainers, then followed the long jean-clad legs up to a red tight-fitting t-shirt, before finally landing on a man’s face, which was looking down at her in surprise.

“Are you okay?” Taylor’s brows pulled down with concern.

Clara swallowed a few times before she could answer, as not only was she not expecting to see him, but she had forgotten just how handsome he was in person, having been lulled into chatting to him like a good friend over text message and FaceTime rather than recalling she was talking to a movie star, lusted over by women all round the world.

“Physically fine. My pride has taken a battering. And this floor is very cold and not that clean,” Clara muttered.

Putting her hands down, she pushed herself to her feet, stiffening slightly when she felt Taylor’s hand on her arm as he helped her up. She didn’t look up to meet his eyes again, instead brushing her clothes to remove the grime that her fall to the floor had picked up.

“We need to mop the floor.” She frowned as she looked around the room.

“What?” Taylor’s concern turned to bafflement.

“The floor. I missed how dirty it is. I’ll need to mop it before you guys shoot in here.” Clara tried to step away from Taylor to grab her notebook and add it to the list.

But he hadn’t let go of her arm, and his grip tightened as he said, “You’re here as a medical adviser. You don’t need to mop the floor. You can ask one of the cleaners to do that.”

“Oh. Right. I didn’t know.” Clara nodded.

“Are you nearly done? Do you want to grab some food?” He gestured to the theatre door.

“I’m sorry, I’ll be here for a while. I need to be ready for you guys to rehearse tomorrow.” Clara managed to bite back a regretful sigh. “Do you have your face ferret so you can get dinner in disguise?”

He grinned down at her. “No face ferret today. I was going to see if you wanted to get something delivered to the hotel. I’ve got a suite with a living room, so we can eat there.”

Clara shook her head, even as her stomach growled in hunger. “Sorry. I’ve got too much to finish here. I’ll have to get something later. And I don’t think I’m staying in the same hotel as you.” She chuckled.

While it was lovely staying in any sort of hotel, the room she had been given could best be described as business chic, which was very functional and comfortable, but not somewhere she could imagine they would be putting international movie stars.

“I’m in the Mandarin Orient. Where are you?”

“Not there. I’m at the Grandview Palace.”

“That sounds nice,” he said hesitantly, his eyebrows rising in question.

“It does. And it’s great, I’ve not stayed in a hotel for a long time, so I enjoyed being there last night. However it is neither grand nor is there a view. Although actually, I do have a view as long as you count the car park.” Clara shrugged, very aware that he still had hold of her arm.

It was like he read her mind and his hand dropped away from Clara. She bit her lip to prevent the huff of disappointment frombeing audible. She had been enjoying the warm feeling of his grip.

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