Page 57 of Love like the (Real) Reel Thing
Robert looked surprised. “Like what?”
“It doesn’t matter.” She shouldn’t have said anything. “Just promise you’ll come along?”
He leaned across the table and gave her a long, slow kiss, smiling against her lips.
“Hey, I get to spend time with you, don’t I?”
CHAPTER 29
Jess knew the moment Afric, Spencer and the rest of the cast arrived at Linford’s summer solstice party.
As the locals recorded every moment on their phones, the paparazzi descended on the group, and reporters were forced to shout their questions loudly enough to be heard above the music that boomed through the loudspeakers around the village green.
Jess spotted Afric and Lisa walking together, pausing regularly to allow locals to grab selfies with Afric. Just behind them, Doug and Mel walked side by side. Jess watched as Doug stopped to chat with a reporter, while Meg simply smiled and walked on.
“I’ve never seen so many people turn out for this event!” Robert said, shouting to be heard above the music that blasted around the village from huge speakers. “Word must have got around about the actors coming because most of these people aren’t even locals – we’ll raise so much money this year!”
“There’s Spencer and Ben.” Jess was relieved to see that Spencer had Snuggles muzzled and on a lead.
“I didn’t think Ben Colbert was still here,” Robert mused. “He’s not staying at Linford, is he?”
“Yeah, he’s staying with Spencer in one of the cottages.” Jess turned and tucked her arm through his.
She and Robert had arrived around seven, and she’d already had a burger and a couple of glasses of wine and was feeling much more relaxed. She’d also stopped caring that it was highly probable that the length of her dress meant she’d be flashing her knickers to the whole village before the end of the night. She’d been delighted to discover that she could even wear the little off-the-shoulder dress, because until recently she hadn’t been able to get the zip closed. She’d teamed it with high wedged sandals and a tiny, cross-over bag, and felt sexier and more confident than she had in months.
When she’d asked Robert who was in charge of organising the annual summer party, he’d pointed her in the direction of Sylvia Doyle, who applied to the local county council each year for funds and then worked with a team of locals to oversee stalls, string up lights and bunting and organise refreshments. With the extra sponsorship from Blue Star Studios and Linford Castle, there was now a Ferris Wheel in the church carpark, and the village green boasted an ice-cream van, street entertainers including puppeteers, magicians and dancers, and, in Jess’s opinion, enough food and drink to feed about three small towns.
“There’s the girleen from Dublin!”
Jess felt her spirits sink slightly as she turned to see Ted approach. He smirked at Robert and then looked her up and down. Mentally, she prepared a snappy comeback if he passed comment on her dress.
Instead he said, “Robert was telling me how it was your idea to get Linford Castle to help sponsor our little shindig this year. I hope it’s not just a one-off to impress the Americans.” He opened the button on the navy blazer that was strainingover his stomach. “You’d be the sort who’d go for those fancy Mediterranean platters I organised. Lots of Spanish and Italian and Greek stuff and not just the kind of bits that the big supermarkets do. I made sure to get advice from my son, so I did.” He shot her a meaningful look. “I’ll be watching to see how well it goes today, and if does I’ll be expanding my range.”
Jess smiled tightly. “Great, I’ll check those out now, Ted.”
With a glance at Robert, she turned away, breathing out as she weaved her way slowly through the throng of couples, families with young children and a number of clowns, all of whom were face-painting, juggling or making balloon-animals.
She reached the food tables lined up at the far end of the green, and spotted Sylvia standing behind large platters of Mediterranean food.
“Hi, Sylvia.” Jess surveyed the huge range of bowls and plates, filled with various meats, cheeses, olives, dips, plus quite a lot of stuff she didn’t recognise. “This looks amazing.” She pointed to some tall pitchers at the end. “Is that Sangria?”
Sylvia grinned. “Not to be confused with the lemonade on the table right here. But don’t worry!” She gestured to another woman nearby. “Maeve is keeping an eye on that. She teaches in the primary school and she knows every kid’s birthday in this village – including everyone who’s over eighteen.”
“Ted sent me over to check it out,” Jess said. “I don’t know how I missed this earlier, to be honest. I guess I’ve been too busy enjoying all the entertainment.”
“There’s a lot to enjoy this year,” Sylvia said, handing her a plate. “Help yourself. Ted was saying he’ll start to stock some of this stuff if he thinks we’d all go for it. Which we definitely would.” She rolled her eyes. “I swear to God, I don’t know what year he thinks we’re all living in.”
“He told me he asked his son for advice.” Jess helped herself to some large, spiced olives and something that looked like a small, leafy roll stuffed with minced food.
Sylvia nodded. “He’s a chef. Last I heard he was working in London.”
“Tough job,” Jess said, glancing around to see if Robert was still with Páidí.
“Robert’s gone over to chat to Afric Brooks,” Sylvia said, flashing her a knowing smile.
Jess scanned the green a bit more slowly, her eyes landing on the furthest corner from them. The two were standing close together, but Afric had her arms folded tightly across her chest. There was something intent about their body language that Jess couldn’t quite figure out.
She realised Sylvia was studying her, and she felt herself flush. “We’re just friends. Robert’s been showing me around a bit since I arrived down.”
