A Starlit Summer by Kate Frost (best manga ereader txt) 📕

through what she was filming in the coming week. She made herself a camomile tea and was heading into the living room with it when her agent phoned. She stared at Beth’s name on the screen and let the call go to answerphone.

‘Jenna, I’ve just had an email from one of the producers of The Love Hotel. They want you on next year’s show. This is big, Jenna. You don’t need to decide tonight or even in the next week, but soon. It’s a massive deal we’re talking about. I’ll email you all the details when I’m in the office tomorrow. Just wanted to give you a heads up so you don’t freak out too much when you see the offer. You’re going to be huge, Jenna. Huge.’

Chapter Nineteen

The same way Beth’s words had rocked her to sleep the night before, they tumbled around her head as soon as she woke up. She felt wrung out and tense despite the promise of an opportunity that could change her life. She showered, dressed and ate breakfast in a daze and was out of the cottage and on her way to the base before Finn and Gary arrived.

Filming from the previous week had moved from inside the tea shop in Porthleven, to a second unit set up in Port Isaac to film the outside shots. The long drive to the north coast gave Jenna plenty of thinking time. White fishermen’s cottages and the harbourside dressed with lobster pots and wooden boxes were the backdrop to the scene. This week Jenna had scenes with Milo, Timothy and Heidi. It was guaranteed to be an interesting week and today was the only day where she was unlikely to see any of them.

She spent the morning walking arm in arm with Lily along the harbour. They stopped to look out over the water and whispered together before continuing to the tea shop, at which point the scene cut. They’d filmed it in the opposite order, the inside scenes first in Porthleven, the outside ones in Port Isaac afterwards, which would be seamlessly put together in post-production. It was an easy and enjoyable day as filming went, with straightforward action to shoot from different angles and only one line. Between camera changes, they were able to sit on canvas chairs in the shade and look out over the picturesque harbour.

If she thought the gossip about her and Milo would cool off, she was mistaken. The events of the past week were following her. She’d spotted paparazzi on the edge of the village as the minibus had driven them to the set, and although they couldn’t get close – unless they hired a boat and took photos from out at sea – she knew they were there, stalking her like vultures. The thing that confused her was that Milo wasn’t on location today, at least not here with her, and that left her worried that there was enough interest in her alone. The idea of a stranger staring at her through a long lens freaked her out.

The scene was being set up to shoot with the camera on Jenna’s face this time, and while Lily was taken to the marquee to have a rip in the hem of her skirt mended, Jenna wandered over to the line of chairs set up against the bumpy white wall of a cottage.

‘Hey Ade. Can I join you?’

‘Of course.’ He patted the seat next to him. ‘The down time’s not so bad in a place like this, is it?’

‘It’s pretty special.’

‘Usually we’re holed up in some crappy room with no windows. I like it on location.’

Jenna stretched her legs out and rested back in the chair. The tide was in and a couple of wooden boats painted half grey, half blue bobbed on the glittering water.

‘You must have been on some amazing shoots, though?’ Jenna asked.

‘Yeah, I’ve had my fair share of interesting projects. I was down this way a few years ago filming one of the Pirates of the Caribbean films. I had a few days on Game of Thrones over in Ireland too. There’re gems among the mundane. Is this the biggest film you’ve worked on?’

‘It is for the length of time I’m on it.’

‘Plus you got more than you bargained for, eh?’ He winked.

‘You’ve heard as well.’

‘Course I’ve heard. Everyone’s heard. Gossip doesn’t stay quiet for long, particularly when it’s being fuelled by someone.’ He tapped the side of his nose.

‘What do you mean?’

‘I know what happened that night round the pool. Only a bloody romantic fixated on seeing something that wasn’t there would think there was something actually going on between you and Milo. He’s the biggest flirt on the planet and it’s all for show.’

Jenna sat up properly in the chair and leaned closer to Ade. ‘I can’t tell you how good it is to hear you say that. Everyone else seems to question my sanity in saying nothing’s happening between the two of us, like I should’ve been falling over myself to jump into bed with him.’

‘Like that would ever happen...’ Ade raised an eyebrow.

Jenna smiled and watched one of the sparks recover a cable and make sure it was out of shot. The knot of tension in her stomach felt like it had eased a bit, knowing that someone could see the situation from her point of view. Maybe Milo Blake and which side he batted for wasn’t the best kept secret he thought it was.

She turned back to him. ‘Was acting what you always wanted to do?’

Ade grunted. ‘Thought it was, when I was a bright-eyed twenty-something, fresh out of drama school, all starry-eyed over the incredible life I was going to have, the money I was going to make, the women I was going to shag... We were sold a dream and the huge success of a lucky few. I mean some actors make it, like really make it and have Hollywood come calling like our boy Milo. Others like me have