Page 23 of A Very Crumbleton Christmas
It was beautiful, despite the chaos of half-unpacked cases, discarded clothing and abandoned scripts lying higgledy-piggledy all over the place. Just like the spare room, it was light and airy, with high ceilings and long, luxurious curtains that framed the view straight out over the beach.
Right in the centre of the room, the vast bed boasted red and green tartan blankets. Jack clearly had a thing for Christmassy comfort. She’d bet anything that he had a pair of special crimbo PJs tucked away somewhere too. She’d have to ask him.
‘Or maybe not,’ whispered Caroline.
She quickly fanned her face with her hands as blood rushed to her cheeks at the thought of Jack in his PJs. She knew it wasthe biggest cliché ever… but it was impossiblenotto have a crush on the man.
Now she’d actually met Jack… well, he was even more attractive in person. It didn’t have anything to do with his celebrity status, either. The man was clearly as big a dork as she was - that cringey speech, and the way he’d fought her for his favourite Christmas ornament. Caroline knew her little crush was rapidly blooming into something monumental.
‘Don’t be an idiot!’ she muttered.
After all, dork or not, Jackwasan international film star. There was no way he’d be interested in a small-town newspaper reporter with nothing to offer other than a half-dead spider plant.
‘Come on, woman, focus!’ she muttered. There wasn’t any point worrying about something that was so far from being possible, it was almost funny. She needed to grab the scripts and take them back down to Jack before he sent out a search party.
Jack hadn’t been lying, the scripts really were everywhere. She picked up four from his bedside table, then gathered another bunch that were lying scattered across his bed and the floor next to it.
When she was pretty sure she’d managed to find them all, she eyeballed the door on the far side of the room.
Cupboard?
Pottering over, she opened it and gasped.
Nope… not a cupboard!
It was the most gorgeous ensuite she’d ever had the pleasure of clapping eyes on. Not only was there a shower big enough to fit about twenty people – with multiple heads and an entire shelf groaning with products - there was also a roll-topped bath right in the middle of the space. And… it was made of copper.
‘And there I was thinking you were actually quite normal!’ murmured Caroline, moving over to the little wooden table thatstood next to the bath and grabbing yet another script that lay – half open – between a shaving brush and the bottles of soap and shampoo.
Half wishing she could dive right into that tub herself, Caroline gave it one last, longing look before deciding it was time to head back downstairs with her finds.
‘How’s it going?’ said Jack, looking up at her from his cross-legged position on the floor.
He was surrounded by several piles of scripts, and it looked like he was only about halfway through sorting through the ones they’d brought through from the kitchen.
‘These are all from your bedroom,’ said Caroline, adding her armful to the mound he was still working his way through. ‘How’s it going with you?’
‘Remakes, sequels, prequels,’ said Jack, tapping his way clockwise around the piles. ‘Fourth in the series and the first one was awful. Then this one’s already onto its seventh director, and this one means six months living in a tent in the Arctic.’
Caroline scrunched up her nose and shivered. ‘Plenty of snow here, you don’t need to go to the Arctic!’
‘My thoughts entirely!’ said Jack. ‘Though I’m not sure which pile to add it to.’
‘How about a whole new section based on geographical location?’ she said.
‘I like it!’ laughed Jack. ‘We’ll have a shelf fortoo cold to consider.’
Caroline snorted. ‘So… how many of these are you actually interested in?’
‘Erm, to be fair I haven’t done much more than glance at them when they arrive, but based on first impressions… that’s this pile here,’ said Jack, patting an empty patch of carpet.
‘Not sure that counts as a pile,’ said Caroline, sinking down next to him.
‘Yeah.’ Jack let out a weary sigh and ran his fingers through his hair. ‘I’m not really sure what the future holds for me right now if I’m honest. I might just hang out here for a bit and see what happens.’
‘Sounds good to me,’ said Caroline.
‘Why are you smiling?’ said Jack, narrowing his eyes at her.
