Page 37 of Love like the (Real) Reel Thing
Jess got to her feet. “That’d be Mayo General. An hour, I think. What sort of burn is it?”
“She’s had an electric shock.” Mel was sharp. “Our medic has done some first aid, but she wants her to see a doctor.”
“I can drive her,” Jess offered. Hopefully the burn wasn’t too bad, and she’d have the chance to redeem herself. Even though she still had no idea what she’d done wrong.
Mel nodded. “Thank you. We’ll meet you out front in a few minutes.”
Jess shut down her laptop and checked she had everything she needed in her bag before heading out the front door.
Moments later, Mel and Afric appeared. Afric had a light jacket draped around her shoulders, presumably because it was too painful to pull the sleeve over her affected hand.
“Where’s your car?” Mel asked, looking around.
“It’s just –shit!” Jess closed her eyes briefly. “I forgot, it’s parked in the village because I usually walk here every morning.”
Mel seemed about to explode but just then Robert approached from the east side of the castle. His eyes narrowed as he took in the bandage around Afric’s hand. “What happened?”
“Fucking cables.” Afric’s face looked pinched.
“She burned it,” Jess said. “Do you have your car with you? She needs to go to the hospital.”
“It’s parked around the side.” Robert cleared his throat. “I’m happy to take you.”
“Why can’t I just see the nurse at the local medical centre?” Afric was saying.
“You’ll go with her?” Mel said to Jess, ignoring Afric.
“Of course.”
“Hey!” Afric sounded furious now. “I don’tneedto go to the hospital when there’s a medical centre where I can get this dressed.”
Mel spun to face her. “A fucking village medical centre is not going to do anything different from our medic. So try be a professional and do as you’re told!” She turned on her heel and swept back inside.
Afric pursed her lips tightly, but Jess noticed a sheen of tears in her eyes.
“Hey, it’ll be fine, don’t worry.” Jess offered her a reassuring smile as they followed Robert to his car. “What happened?”
“Spencer and I were just finished a scene,” Afric said with a deep breath, “and I was coming off the set when I brushed off one of the lighting cables. Doug’s stopped everything until all the equipment can be checked.”
When they reached Robert’s car, Jess helped Afric into the passenger seat before she slipped into the back. As Robert headed down the driveway towards the main gate, she leaned across to him. “When you get outside the grounds, stop for a minute.”
“Why would we do that?” He frowned. “There’s dozens of reporters out there.”
“And they’ll probably follow us to the hospital,” Jess said, catching his eyes in the rear-view mirror. “At least if we stop and tell them what’s happened, they can’t speculate.”
He sighed but slowed as they approached the gate, nudging forward to trigger the electronic sensors. As cameras flashed, he drove through before pulling to a stop.
Jess leaned forward and whizzed Afric’s window halfway down.
“Can you tell us what’s happening?” shouted one reporter.
“Afric, where are you going?” A photographer was snapping away quickly.
“What happened to your hand?”
“Is it true that you and Spencer aren’t getting along?”
Afric raised her bandaged hand. “It’s just a burn. We’re on our way to hospital to have it checked out but I’ll let you all know later how I’m doing.”
