‘We do. He was trained to rip people to shreds,’ she said with a cheesy smile.
Liam looked terrified for a second before he realized she was joking. ‘Not funny.’
‘Watch this, he’s a teddy bear.’ She crouched down to give Bruce a fuss, but that just gave the dog easier access to the new person he wanted to get to know. Bruce leapfrogged Nora and lunged at Liam.
‘Whoa!’ The force of the big dog using her as a launchpad sent Nora flying backwards.
‘Argh!’ Liam yelled as the dog catapulted towards him. Liam ran off with Bruce right behind him, leaving Nora in a heap on the ground.
‘He likes dogs then,’ said a smiling Jay, helping Nora to her feet. They watched Liam do a passable Jack Sparrow run around the trees. Jay sniggered. Nora wanted to do the same but needed to look supportive of her new boyfriend so instead she frowned at Jay, who looked suitably scolded.
‘Maybe he’s not used to big dogs.’
‘Should we rescue him?’ asked Jay.
‘You OK?’ called Nora.
‘All under control,’ said Liam, keeping a tree between him and the dog.
‘My stalker got the airtime they were longing for,’ said Jay.
‘Why? What’s happened?’ asked Nora, feeling her stomach churn at the thought of the threats.
‘Tasha did an interview and it all came out. The press are having a field day with it. Pictures of me next to a blacked-out silhouette with a big question mark on it. And lots of speculation about the type of person they are, which makes terrifying reading. Anastasia is thrilled because apparently all publicity is good publicity.’
‘Bloody hell. Have there been any more messages?’
‘Only one saying that they love me now. So that’s nice.’ They both pulled the same grimace at the same time, which made them laugh. Nora found she was staring at Jay. Was it what he was wearing or had he always looked that hot? She needed to pull herself together. He was with Tasha and she was with Liam. She looked around for him as Dixie caught up.
‘We seem to have lost Liam,’ she said.
‘It’s OK. We’re going the same way as Bruce and Liam anyway,’ said Dixie, almost skipping past them with Ned close behind.
‘What exactly are we doing?’ asked Nora, striding out to catch up with Dixie. ‘It’s just I… well, we… kindof have plans for later this evening.’ By ‘plans’ Nora meant she was very much hoping that they could go back to hers and fast-forward their relationship to the part where they ended up in bed together.
‘It’s a surprise,’ said Dixie. ‘And then we’re having a barbecue back at Elsie. Don’t we sound all domesticated, hosting a barbecue as a couple?’ She looked coyly at Ned.
Nora feared she wasn’t going to be having the early night she’d planned.
Dixie and Ned went on ahead and Jay walked in step with Nora. ‘How are you?’
‘Good. I’m good. We’re good.’ She pointed at Liam, who was now running away from the dog with his arms flapping in the air as he called out Nora’s name.
‘That’s um… good then,’ said Jay.
‘How are you and Tasha?’ she asked, although she was hoping she would only receive the headlines. She was still coming to terms with it.
‘Yeah. Work has been manic but we make a good double act. She was going to be here tonight but something came up last minute. It’s OK, we haveLorrainetomorrow which she’s dashing in and out for but I’ll have more time with her when I see her at the premiere.’
‘That’ll be nice,’ said Nora, the sentence not sounding like her at all.
Up ahead Bruce now had a terrified-looking Liam pinned to a tree while he tried to sniff him all over and lick his face.
‘Brucey, come here please!’ called Jay and the dog immediately complied. He’d come a long way– in fact, both Bruce and Jay had. He returned to Jay and relished the cuddle and praise he received. At least, now that Jay was giving him a proper fuss as a reward, a lot less chicken was needed. Liam was panting hard and leaning against the tree when they reached him.
‘You OK?’ asked Nora, trying to take his hand, but he was busy using it to stab the air in Bruce’s direction.
‘That brute!’
