Page 69 of Doc Hollywood

“You. Surely, you should be going to the latest trendy restaurant to wine and dine a beautiful actress.” Clara avoided eye contact with him, trying to keep her voice light and not let any trace of jealousy enter it at the thought of him with another woman.

“I would never turn down home cooking,” he declared seriously.

“And you can eat food your nutritionist and trainer won’t let you?” She added cheekily.

“That is exactly correct. You know me so well. And also, I’d rather have pizza in an empty hospital with you than go somewhere fancy with an actress,” Taylor stated, a smile tugging on his lips.

He turned, placed the pizza on the operating table, and opened one of the boxes.

Clara gaped at him, a flush rising up her cheeks. She would be the first to admit she was pretty dense when it came to matters of the heart; however, maybe she was wrong, maybe Sadie was right, and she wasn’t just a ‘normal’ person he used to improve his acting.

The smell of the food made Clara’s stomach grumble loudly. Instead of trying to analyse her feelings, she reached forward and grabbed a slice, sniffing deeply before she took a large bite and closed her eyes, savouring the cheesy warmth after the rather pathetic petrol station sandwich she had eaten for lunch.

When she opened her eyes again, Taylor was staring at her, and she reached self-consciously up to her mouth to make sure there wasn’t any cheese smeared around it.

“What?” she asked.

“Nothing. It’s good to see you.” Taylor reached down and picked up his own slice of pizza.

“You too,” Clara agreed.

She hopped onto the bed, crossed her legs so she could sit comfortably, and then turned to face the pizza boxes. Taylor was sitting on the other side of them, watching her.

They ate in silence, staring at each other between bites. Clara knew it should feel awkward, but she felt comfortable in his presence.

In the last couple of months, she had watched all of his movies, even Cats. Despite that, she couldn’t associate the man who texted her every day without fail, even if it was just to tell her something inane or send a stupid meme, with the incredibly famous actor that she knew he was.

When they had finished eating, Taylor surveyed the room. Most of the boxes were unpacked. He thrust his arms above his head, yawning widely as he moved from side to side, stretching his back out.

“Do we need to do the rest now? Can we go for dessert?”

Clara followed his gaze. There were only two boxes left, which would only take her a couple of minutes to unpack in the morning before rehearsals.

“Yeah. Let’s call it a night.”

They walked side by side out of the operating theatre and down to the front door, and this time, when Clara shivered, it wasn’t due to the empty feeling of the hospital; it was because of the man walking beside her, whose arm occasionally brushed hers.

They both waved to Tony at the front door and made their way out to the car park.

“Did you get driven here today?” Clara glanced around, only seeing a few cars, none of which she could imagine Taylor driving.

“No. I do some days, but not today. Why?” He didn’t hesitate, making his way over to her car, obviously remembering what it looked like.

“I can’t see anything remotely nice enough for you to be driving.” She gestured around them.

“I always pick a bland car to hire. It means I get spotted less if I get out of a car, which is the last thing you expect me to drive.”

“Which of these cars is yours then?” Clara spun around to survey the choices.

Taylor pointed to the silver Volvo station wagon near her car. “The Volvo.”

“The one you’d expect an old man to be driving?”

He shrugged. “Yeah.”

“Smart.” She nodded. “No one will look at it twice, and even if they see you in it, they think they must be mistaken and that there’s no way it’s you.”

“Exactly! Follow me back to the hotel so I can let you into the parking garage.”

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