“Are you not tagging along?” Mickie’s friend Taylor asked, her eyes fixed on Tasha.
Tasha shook her head. “Unfortunately not.” She returned the smile Taylor had given her. “I’m flying to London on Saturday for a week and I’m meeting with some of Jon’s people in the morning then the wedding planner in the afternoon,” she replied honestly.
The next lot of the auction was being shown before the bidding began. Tasha stared at it and nudged Jim who ignored it or was unaware of it as he was deep in conversation with Jon now.
“Jim,” she said quietly, but to no avail. “Jim,” she repeated, a little louder now. Still nothing.
A couple of the others were aware of her calling Jim and watched on, amused, as he continued to chat, oblivious to her calls.
“James!” She finally resorted to his full name, quite loudly, amusing those at the table who knew of Jim’s apparent dislike of the title.
He immediately turned to face her now. “Yes, Natasha?”
“I hope you’ve brought your cheque book.” She laughed as he looked up at the stage where Danielle’s mom, Deanna stood, representing thevisualfor a cosmetic procedure from a local plastic surgeon. “I told you they were fake,” she said smugly.
“Baby, that was rather obvious, but yes, you did call that one.” He smiled. “But no need for either of us to bid on that one, honey. I certainly don’t think a surgeon could enhance you.”
She grinned at him, but said nothing as her eyes skimmed his face until they came to rest on his lips. A strong urge to lean in and kiss them came over her, but she resisted, just. Neither of them spoke, yet Jim seemed to know exactly what she was thinking. He gave her a large and loving smile while Mickie glared at them both.
Chapter 19
“Natasha Winters?” the tall, skinny, twenty something, sandy haired man called.
Tasha stood up and extended a hand towards him.
He stared at her, shifting his glance from her hand to her face and back again, but didn’t take her hand, he just held open the door he stood at and gestured for her to enter.
Tasha had been in with the two men and a woman for over an hour and whilst they had discussed dates, voice coaching, costumes and several other things she still wasn’t entirely sure what the actual purpose of the meeting had been, but she felt it had been worth it, for her at least.
“I think we’re all done and as long as everything goes to plan we should be good to go in the New Year,” said the woman, Sandy.
Tasha stood up to leave and the man who’d called her in originally, Alan, offered to show her as far as the lift and although she knew her way she allowed him to escort her out.
As they approached the lifts he smiled at her, but it never quite reached his eyes.
“There is just one more thing.” He suddenly hesitated, but Tasha smiled at him gently as if to encourage him to continue. “The camera adds at least ten pounds and as you’re probably at least ten pounds overweight already, it’s not unreasonable to suggest you should lose twenty, maybe even thirty pounds before we begin filming.”
Tasha stared at him wildly as she tried to absorb what he’d said and its implications. She wasn’t, had never been overweight, not ever and she’d never been told to lose weight before and now he was suggesting a stone and a half. She stood at five and a half feet and weighed almost nine stones meaning if she lost twenty to thirty pounds she would be around seven stones and surely unhealthy.
He smiled and it looked the most unnatural thing in the world for him to do, almost painful and then he said, “It’s not compulsory for this role, just a little friendly advice if you hope to work with any frequency. There is a certain image that works in this town and anything different struggles to work at all. Anyway, have a good day and I’m sure I’ll see you soon.”
She stood at the lift and stared into space for what seemed like a lifetime.
****
“Tasha, Tasha, are you okay?” called a voice.
Suddenly, Tasha became aware of Lizzie leaning over her and shaking her gently. She jumped into an upright position and momentarily felt disorientated, but quickly realised that she must have fallen asleep after they’d taken off.
“Where are we?” asked Tasha.
“About halfway there, but you were having a nightmare I think.” Lizzie sounded concerned.
Tasha stretched out, gently squeezing Lizzie’s hand to reassure her. “I’m fine, honestly. I think I must have been dreaming, though.” She smiled, sitting back in her seat, but decided against giving in to sleep again.
Lizzie disappeared behind her magazine and Tasha thought how much her life had changed in the weeks since she’d last made this trip after her first week with Jim. She also thought about the last couple of days; the thing with Alan and the meeting with Kayla which had gone really well. She was thrilled with how much progress they’d made with their plans in such a short time. Lexi seemed to have had a wonderful time riding with Tasha and it had been mutual. Tasha smiled as she thought about seeing Sara when she’d brought Lizzie over and how happy she seemed to be with her new job and with Lenny. She smiled then grimaced as she remembered the dinner she’d arranged for when she returned from London. Dinner with Sara, Abby and Amanda, all of them together. Jim would not be pleased, but maybe he would never find out. She shook her head at that notion. Of course he would, but he’d get over it, he always did. She smiled as she reminded herself that before that she had a week in London where she could enjoy some time with her family and Lucy and a little work that would hopefully show Lizzie just what modelling might involve.
As they pulled into the driveway at her grandparent’s home late on Sunday afternoon, Tasha smiled. She felt excited, but as she looked across at a nervous looking Lizzie her own excitement waned.
