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

to graft. Sometimes it’s not all about working hard that ensures you do well, as I’m sure you realise.’ He nudged Jenna’s shoulder with his. ‘I’m old and bitter, you really shouldn’t listen to me. I’ve been doing this shit for longer than I care to think about. But do you know the advice I wish my younger self had got when I was an eager young actor, turning up for every audition I could get, saying yes to every role I could however ’effing bad the script was. I wish someone had told me to only become an actor if it was the only thing I wanted to do with my life. The only thing.’

‘Do you regret your career?’

‘Regret is a strong word. Nah, I can’t regret the things I’ve done – they’re what’s shaped me. But it’s come at a price. Financially I’ve been comfortable but I ain’t rich. I’ve had three wives; I’ve got five kids aged between twenty-two and four. I’ve never been able to stay in one place long enough to ever feel settled. That partly wrecked my home life and my marriages. That and I was always too tempted being away from home for long stretches at a time, if you know what I mean.’ He tapped the side of his nose again. ‘You’re young; I’m a miserable old miser, disillusioned after years of this shit, bouncing from one job to the next. Also, apart from a window of about three or four years in my twenties, I was never a leading man. I made my name and paid the bills as a character actor, suited me just fine in the long run, but you’re proper leading lady material.’

‘But at what cost?’

‘You’re young. Why the hell not go for it while you’re not tied down by a mortgage, family and responsibility. And I’m deducing by this Milo Blake gossip that you’re single?’

Jenna nodded.

‘Have fun then. Go for it. If there’s no one special in your life to keep you in one place, then why not embrace all this acting life has to offer. All that “being with Milo” has to offer.’

‘D’you know, off the back of the Hot Now Magazine article, I’ve been offered reality TV stuff. My agent emailed me the details about it this morning, but it’s completely not what I want to do...’

‘Pays well?’

‘The pay’s huge, it’s just...’

‘I’d take the money. You’re only young once and these kinds of opportunities, well, you turn your back on them now, you’re not going to be able to change your mind later on.’

‘It feels like I’d be selling my soul.’

‘And you want to be a serious actor, right?’

‘Well, yes. I want to act. I don’t want to play a version of myself that’ll get twisted and abused on reality TV.’

‘You’ve got your head screwed on, kid. I like that. Looking at the bigger picture and all. But just think how many girls your age would jump at the chance you’ve been handed on an ’effing platter.’

~

Ade’s take on her situation stayed with Jenna long after their conversation finished. Maybe she was overthinking it; maybe she should go against her gut and say yes, take the money and see what other opportunities came out of it. She was single, she didn’t have responsibilities apart from the rent on her flat but even that could be given up with enough notice. She’d properly messed up any chance of a relationship with the only person she’d wanted to be with for a long time. And even before that, what chance did they realistically have with Finn in Cornwall and her in London. What did she have to lose? An acting career was what she’d wanted for so long and an opportunity was being dangled in front of her that could raise her profile and further her career in a huge way. Yet she felt unsettled, knowing that if she said yes, it would change her life forever but perhaps not in the way she wanted it to.

Adrian – Ade – Turner-Jones was in his fifties, a proper character actor, handsome in his own way but rugged with it. He got steady roles because he played a type, but what would Jenna do in ten or fifteen years’ time if the leading lady roles dried up, when there was a queue of younger prettier blondes to take her place. She could set herself up for life now.

Of course her agent wanted her to say yes, she got a fifteen per cent cut of everything Jenna made. Most of her friends and fellow actors would say go for it. Her parents wouldn’t like the idea but then they often struggled with some of the roles she played, let alone be comfortable with her parading about in a bikini on some tropical island for The Love Hotel. And there was Finn. Even if she could convince him that there really was nothing between her and Milo, why on earth would he want anything to do with her if she signed up for a show where the aim was to hook up with someone.

She phoned Carla the moment she got back to the cottage.

‘It’s fame for the sake of fame, Carla. Would you take it?’

‘I’d never get offered it.’

‘But if you did, if you were me. What would you do?’

‘Honestly? I don’t know. I think I’d be as torn as you are. There are positives and negatives.’

‘Well, that’s no help at all.’

‘Sorry. I guess it all depends on the sort of career you want long term. Would prancing around in a bikini and snogging a fit bloke be a stepping stone to something amazing, or do you keep plugging away at the auditions and acting and see where it takes you. You’re talented and beautiful; you’ve got tonnes going for you, with or without selling your soul.’

‘What would Heidi do?’

‘You know what she’d do.’

‘Maybe I’m worrying too much. One of the actors told me today that you’re only young once, take