Page 64 of Love like the (Real) Reel Thing
If you’ve no plans, do you feel like hanging out? I could come to yours or we could have brunch at Sylvia’s place.
A few minutes later, Emily replied.Let’s do brunch. Meet you in an hour xx
CHAPTER 32
If Afric Brooks’ latest Instagram story is to be believed, it seems that real life is mimicking fiction on the set ofAn Irish Inheritance– her new movie with Spencer Torres.
After weeks of reported on and off-set bickering between the stars, she and Spencer seem to be very much together – and expecting a baby.
Just hours after a leaked recording of what appears to be Afric telling Spencer about her pregnancy, the pair took to Instagram to pose together in bed at the Lady Linford Suite in Linford Castle. The five-star hotel is the location of their new movie – and is also where the cast and crew are staying. In the video, Afric displayed a stunning silver ring made by a local jewellery designer, on her wedding finger.
What’s not clear is just how long Afric and Spencer have been an item. If Spenceristhe father, it’s likely he and Afric have been together since April at least, when the Seattle scenes of the movie were filmed.
Whatisclear, is that rumours about their relationship to this point, are obviously false. One source suggests that their on/off set rows may have been an attempt to hide their real relationship – probably to protect Spencer’s long-term girlfriend, British model Megan Wilson.
Efforts by theGazetteto contact Afric and Spencer this morning were unsuccessful. Ms Wilson was also unavailable for comment.
An Irish Inheritanceis an enemies-to-lovers romantic comedy about warring exes, who jointly inherit an old Irish castle and are forced to live in it together for a year.
By the following Monday, the media outside Linford Castle seemed to have trebled in number, and Jess spent twenty minutes on the phone reassuring Frank that things weren’t getting out of hand.
“First it was the Linford Curse, Jess,” he grumbled. “And now this. One minute, those stars reportedly hate each other. The next, she’s pregnant and flashing a ring thatEmilymade. Am I missing anything?”
“That’s a pretty good summary,” Jess said.
“I’m not buying it. And I’ve a bad feeling. They’re supposed to be there making a bloody film! The next thing, they’ll be inviting the media into their bedroom for a bed-in.”
“A what?”
He huffed a sigh. “Never mind. I’d like to say it could only happen in Hollywood, but in this case, it could only happen in Linford. The bloody placeiscursed!”
There was no pleasing him, Jess thought, after she hung up. If Afric and Spencer were together, that’d be perfect for the image Lisa wanted to sell. She went next door to gauge Anthony’s reaction.
“Sit down, Jess.” Anthony sighed and scrubbed a hand across his face.
Jess slid into the chair across from his desk and wondered why everyone seemed to be overreacting to the sort of stuff that seemed to happen the whole time in the movie industry.
“It seems that part of the local river has been polluted,” Anthony said. “It’s paint, and it’s been traced back to us.”
Jess felt her heart sink. “How’s that possible? The outside set was painted weeks ago.”
“Nothing to do with it. It looks like somebody literally dumped open cans of paint in it, and we think it might have happened at the summer solstice.” Anthony was grim. “Doug and Mel are furious that I even had to raise the issue with them, but the truth is that most of the actors who were at the summer solstice in the village came back to continue the party down by the river here.”
“But you don’t believe any of them would vandalise it?”
“No,” Anthony admitted. “But we’ve had to report it to the local Guards in Kilshanley. All this outdoor paint is meant to be safe now, but the residents’ association say they found a lot of it further down the river and there’s been damage, and some of the wildlife has died.” He shook his head. “We’ve organised a professional clean-up, but I’m worried about the fallout.”
“It sounds like we’re doing all the right things,” Jess said. “Maybe it won’t be as bad as you think.”
Anthony just shook his head.
After Jess excused herself, she went in search of Lisa and found her in her favourite spot in the orangery. “Mind if I sit down?”
Lisa closed over her laptop. “How can I help?”
“What’s really going on with Afric and Spencer?”
Lisa raised an eyebrow. “You mean is that story fake? Did we ask them to strip and climb into bed in Afric’s suite?”
