‘Nope,’ Madeleine piped up. ‘Pretty sure none of us ordered that.’
Pulling off his helmet and taking a seat at the furthest end of the table was hot tub guy. Mr Explicit. Tania slid into a chair. If she positioned herself behind Clara, he might not see her.
‘What are you doing?’ Clara said, looking sideways at her before taking a sachet of sugar and ripping it open.
Clara was right, trying to hide was ridiculous. She would just ignore him. He would get the message about her lack of interest, one way or another. Sliding a hot chocolate over towards Madeleine, she took a mouthful from her own.
‘Thanks. Is it a bit piggy to have a hot chocolate as well as mousse for pudding?’ Madeleine said, her eyes scanning the arrivals on the neighbouring table. ‘It is only lunchtime, after all … Oh, blimey.’ She swung back towards Tania, eyes ablaze. ‘You’ll never guess who’s on the next table.’
Tania nodded. ‘I know. I’ve seen him.’
‘Him who?’ Clara said.
‘Hot tub man,’ Madeleine said.
‘Really? Which one?’ Clara asked.
Once Madeleine had pointed him out, none too subtly in Tania’s opinion, Clara leaned across the table.
‘What’s happening with Rory?’ she asked.
Tania shook her head. ‘It’s done. Finished.’
‘You’ve said that before.’
She had said it before. She’d thought she’d meant it before. But this time there was no shadow of a doubt. Her on-off relationship with one of her father’s co-stars in the latest of the First Galaxy spin-offs had started as nothing more than a way to get at Daddy Dearest. Rory was married, she’d known that all along, and the whole thing was supposed to be under the radar. Just her way to remind her father what happened to her mother, all those years ago– a beguiling young woman cutting in on another woman’s husband, in secret? The irony seemed too delightful to pass up. Having sex in Rory’s trailer, with her father in the adjoining one? It might have been a low blow, but Tania enjoyed the tortured expression on her father’s face a little too much. The fact that he knew precisely what was going on but was unable to do anything about it had given her an unexpected level of satisfaction.
But then Tania had found out that Rory’s wife was pregnant. And in that moment, everything had changed. She hadn’t ever intended for it to get serious; on her part it had been nothing more than a way to embarrass her father, a silly fling which should have stayed on set. But once she heard that Rory’s wife was expecting a baby, she realised she had been playing with fire. It hadn’t been about her getting at her father, as she had thought. There were other people involved. Other people’s lives. A child’s future.
And then the press found out.
Rory had denied the whole thing, had absolutely refuted the suggestion that a man lucky enough to have as beautiful a wife as his would be foolish enough to enter into an extra-marital affair, especially when he had a baby on the way. And Tania had felt sick listening to every word, knowing the press would still run with the story, regardless of what anyone said. A bubble of nausea still lodged in her belly at the thought of a connection being established between herself and Rory, one strong enough for her to potentially be named. The knowledge that reporters would be scrabbling around to find someone willing to squeal, anyone with pertinent details and the need for some easy money.
She’d spoken to Rory one final time, shortly before she left for France. He had been cordial, as always. A little surprised, she thought, to have had his fun taken away. She had no doubt he would find himself someone else to share his trailer with, if he felt so inclined. But Tania knew, without question, that whoever it was it wouldn’t be her.
‘He’s looking at you,’ Rose said.
Tania frowned, and looked up. Hot tub guy was staring at her, his expression hard to read, but with surprise in the arch of his eyebrows.
‘He looks like he’s just won the lottery,’ Madeleine said. Rose told her to shush, and Madeleine asked why she should be quiet, and Clara began to laugh. Tania held his gaze. If she was going to get through to this man that she wasn’t interested, that he would be better off running a mile in the opposite direction, that he had no idea of the baggage she came with, then there was no point in hiding from him.
‘He’s coming over,’ Madeleine said, in a stage whisper.
‘Shut up, you muppet,’ Rose said.
Tania stood and met him halfway.
‘Hello again,’ he said.
‘I’ll give you that one,’ she said.
‘Wow, thanks.’ He smiled. ‘I was waiting for the cutting remark, if I’m honest.’
She wasn’t sure if she’d noticed the crow’s feet at the edges of his eyes the previous day, made more prominent when he smiled. Or the wild curls of his brown hair mirrored by his no-nonsense attitude to male grooming. He’d shaved today, but that was about it.
‘In fact,’ he said. ‘I wasn’t expecting to see you at all.’
He was warming to the conversation. Time to shut him down. She frowned. ‘I’m not here because you are.’
