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

my chance, I wanted my big break to happen. I didn’t honestly expect to get the goddam role and for that I’m sorry.’

Jenna swigged her gin. ‘You’re sorry you got the role, but you’re not sorry for deceiving me? That’s unbelievable, Heidi. How am I ever supposed to trust you again? How can I forgive you when you won’t even apologise for being a bitch and stealing the role from right under me? Did you ever stop to think that it could’ve been my big break too? My opportunity? We’ll never know now.’

‘You’ve just got your big break.’ She made speech marks with her fingers. ‘By “shagging” Milo Blake and having the whole bloody world know about it.’

‘You think what’s happened over the past couple of weeks is my big break? Complete lies are being spun about me and Milo, and what you consider to be a big break is actually reality TV and stuff I’ve never craved. It’s notoriety and fame for fame’s sake, and not because I’m good at my job and have furthered my career because I’m talented.’ Jenna downed her drink and stood up. ‘I really can’t hear any more of this. I thought an apology from you could be the starting point of us trying to repair our friendship, but you’re so full of yourself and bitter that you can’t see how wrong you were.’

‘You’re really not into him? Milo?’

‘No, I’m really not, and he has nothing to do with our issues, you realise that, right?’

Jenna walked away, feeling even more fired up and annoyed with Heidi. It was a half-hearted apology and one that Jenna didn’t want to accept, not if Heidi couldn’t see the truth. She’d always thought they’d been on an even footing when it came to everything – their looks, their talent, the opportunities that came their way. It was a shock to know that Heidi didn’t see it like that.

Jenna walked back to the bar without thinking. The sensible thing would have been to go back to the cottage; instead she found herself getting another gin and tonic and joining Lily, Ade and Timothy at their table. She had a rare weekday off and nothing planned for tomorrow, so she could enjoy herself tonight, safe in the knowledge that Milo Blake wasn’t around to mess things up for her again.

~

Unlike the day before when she woke up feeling like she had a hangover, Jenna actually did wake with a hangover the morning after her evening at the hotel. That first gin and tonic with Heidi had turned into a fair few more, and her anger at Heidi dissipated with an evening of laughter with Lily, Ade and Timothy. Heidi hadn’t joined them. Although a little while after she left her outside, Jenna had seen her sidle through the bar. Jenna knew she should care, after all, they’d been best friends for years, yet at the same time a little voice kept telling her that friends didn’t treat each other the way Heidi had treated her. Friends supported each other and were honest. So, she’d ignored her and had a good evening with her new friends before calling a taxi to take her back to the cottage.

She had no idea what she was going to do with her day off. Finn had no clue that she’d be home, so maybe it was best if she spent the day somewhere else, away from the cottage and his anger, but with her car still in the hotel car park it felt like too much of an effort. She’d had a run-in with Heidi yesterday, she couldn’t face another one with Finn, someone she actually cared about. Unlike Heidi, he’d done nothing wrong, apart from making assumptions.

But she couldn’t avoid him forever.

And the garden was calling. With long hours filming and busy weekends, she’d hardly had a chance to get outside and continue working on it. She’d made such progress in the beginning that she didn’t want the momentum to stop. She only had until the end of the summer to make a real difference, to transform the outside the way Finn and his dad were working wonders on the inside.

She was outside at the front of the cottage trying to untangle brambles entwined around a rose when she heard the van pull into the drive. Her heart raced as the engine turned off and a door slammed.

Just the one door.

Finn came round the corner of the cottage, carrying his tool box. He was deliciously familiar, his hair windswept, wearing tan builder’s shorts, a fitted cream T-shirt and work boots, yet his smile was missing.

‘Morning,’ he said and headed straight inside.

Jenna threw down her secateurs. She took off her gardening gloves. She couldn’t stay out here and ignore him. There was no excuse, particularly as his dad wasn’t with him.

It took a moment for her eyes to adjust to the dimness inside. Finn’s tool box was on the table, and he had his back to her as he filled the kettle with water.

He’d obviously heard her come in. ‘I wasn’t expecting you to be here.’

‘I have a day off.’

‘Do you want a coffee?’

‘I can make it.’

Finn flicked the kettle switch and faced her. ‘I’m working in the living room today – knocking out the old fireplace. It’ll be loud and messy; hope you don’t mind.’

‘No, it’s fine, don’t let me get in the way.’

They were being too polite, like they didn’t know each other past a professional working relationship. Maybe she should just let him get on. Was it really a good idea to have that conversation first thing in the morning when he was dying for a coffee and she was yearning to rip out weeds in the garden?

He answered her question by picking up his tool box and heading towards the living room. ‘I’ll get on then.’

She sighed and took two mugs out of the cupboard and made them both a coffee. She poked her head round the living room door. ‘Coffee’s