‘You’ve been through a lot.’
The kettle boiled and Kay got two floral mugs out of the cupboard and made the tea, noticing that Gemma liked hers with milk and one sugar – just like her.
‘It’s hard some days,’ Kay said at last as they walked back through to the sitting room with their tea. ‘I can’t help feeling a bit lonely. I walk around with all these thoughts in my head like, I must tell Mum this or Peggy will laugh when I show her this. But then I remember they’re not here any more.’
‘Oh, Kay!’ Gemma said, leaning forward in the chair she’d sat down in.
‘It’s all right,’ she said. ‘I mean, it’s easier with me living here. If I was still in my old town, I’d be reminded of them everywhere I went but it’s different here. Everything’s new.’ She looked out of the window. The sky was darkening and the lamps had come on. ‘But I still find it all impossible to believe. It’s horrible to think that I can’t pick a phone up and talk to them. I can’t ask their opinions about things any more. All that’s been taken away from me and I wasn’t ready for it.’
Gemma put her mug of tea down and leant forward to take Kay’s hand in hers.
Kay blinked her tears away and then waved her hand in front of her face. ‘I’m okay,’ she said. ‘Don’t worry about me. I didn’t mean to be miserable. You shouldn’t be sitting here, listening to me wittering on. You should be down at the pub with the others.’
Gemma shook her head. ‘I’m not into all that. They’ll all be drinking too much and bitching about the business. It’s not me.’
‘No,’ Kay said, ‘it wouldn’t be me either. I’d rather curl up with a good book.’ She picked up her copy of Persuasion and showed Gemma.
‘You’re reading Persuasion ?’
‘It’s one of my favourites. It’s why I chose to move here.’
‘And then the whole cast descended on you!’
They sat quietly for a moment, sipping their tea.
‘Well,’ Gemma said at last, ‘thanks for the tea. I think I’ll go and do a bit of swotting.’
Kay looked quizzical.
‘It’s what Beth calls learning your lines,’ Gemma explained. ‘She’s always teasing me that I’m swotting again but I can’t help it. I need things fresh in my mind.’
Kay smiled and watched as Gemma left the room. She was one of the sweetest people Kay had ever met and she was going to make a wonderful Anne Elliot, she thought.
Suddenly, Kay got very excited at the thought of being able to watch some of the scenes being filmed. She had a front row view of the Cobb for a start and she wondered if Teresa would let her get even closer whilst they were filming. Maybe she’d be asked to be an extra! Or maybe nasty Beth would twist her ankle during the scene on the Cobb steps and Kay would stand in for her, doing such an amazing piece of acting that Teresa would be completely bowled over and recast Kay as Louisa Musgrove. And, during that wonderful scene where Louisa jumps down the steps into Captain Wentworth’s arms, she’d look deep into the blue eyes of Oli Wade Owen and he’d fall madly in love with her.
It would be a small wedding with six hundred guests, Kay thought, and a few helicopters from rival magazines flying overhead trying to get a shot of Oli’s bride. They’d become media darlings – their every move photographed.
She shook her head. It was so easy to get carried away and daydream – it was one of the little quirks from her childhood that had followed her into her adult life and she knew she really had to learn how to control it because daydreams, as harmless as they might seem, had a way of disappointing the daydreamer by not coming true. Kay was just an ordinary young woman running a bed and breakfast and Oli Wade Owen was never going to pay her the slightest bit of attention, was he?
Chapter Nine
As predicted, the cast and crew came home only once they’d been chucked out of the pub. Kay heard them halfway down Marine Parade from
The kettle boiled and Kay got two floral mugs out of the cupboard and made the tea, noticing that Gemma liked hers with milk and one sugar – just like her.
‘It’s hard some days,’ Kay said at last as they walked back through to the sitting room with their tea. ‘I can’t help feeling a bit lonely. I walk around with all these thoughts in my head like, I must tell Mum this or Peggy will laugh when I show her this. But then I remember they’re not here any more.’
‘Oh, Kay!’ Gemma said, leaning forward in the chair she’d sat down in.
‘It’s all right,’ she said. ‘I mean, it’s easier with me living here. If I was still in my old town, I’d be reminded of them everywhere I went but it’s different here. Everything’s new.’ She looked out of the window. The sky was darkening and the lamps had come on. ‘But I still find it all impossible to believe. It’s horrible to think that I can’t pick a phone up and talk to them. I can’t ask their opinions about things any more. All that’s been taken away from me and I wasn’t ready for it.’
Gemma put her mug of tea down and leant forward to take Kay’s hand in hers.
Kay blinked her tears away and then waved her hand in front of her face. ‘I’m okay,’ she said. ‘Don’t worry about me. I didn’t mean to be miserable. You shouldn’t be sitting here, listening to me wittering on. You should be down at the pub with the others.’
Gemma shook her head. ‘I’m not into all that. They’ll all be drinking too much and bitching about the business. It’s not me.’
‘No,’ Kay said, ‘it wouldn’t be me either. I’d rather curl up with a good book.’ She picked up her copy of Persuasion and showed Gemma.
‘You’re reading Persuasion ?’
‘It’s one of my favourites. It’s why I chose to move here.’
‘And then the whole cast descended on you!’
They sat quietly for a moment, sipping their tea.
‘Well,’ Gemma said at last, ‘thanks for the tea. I think I’ll go and do a bit of swotting.’
Kay looked quizzical.
‘It’s what Beth calls learning your lines,’ Gemma explained. ‘She’s always teasing me that I’m swotting again but I can’t help it. I need things fresh in my mind.’
Kay smiled and watched as Gemma left the room. She was one of the sweetest people Kay had ever met and she was going to make a wonderful Anne Elliot, she thought.
Suddenly, Kay got very excited at the thought of being able to watch some of the scenes being filmed. She had a front row view of the Cobb for a start and she wondered if Teresa would let her get even closer whilst they were filming. Maybe she’d be asked to be an extra! Or maybe nasty Beth would twist her ankle during the scene on the Cobb steps and Kay would stand in for her, doing such an amazing piece of acting that Teresa would be completely bowled over and recast Kay as Louisa Musgrove. And, during that wonderful scene where Louisa jumps down the steps into Captain Wentworth’s arms, she’d look deep into the blue eyes of Oli Wade Owen and he’d fall madly in love with her.
It would be a small wedding with six hundred guests, Kay thought, and a few helicopters from rival magazines flying overhead trying to get a shot of Oli’s bride. They’d become media darlings – their every move photographed.
She shook her head. It was so easy to get carried away and daydream – it was one of the little quirks from her childhood that had followed her into her adult life and she knew she really had to learn how to control it because daydreams, as harmless as they might seem, had a way of disappointing the daydreamer by not coming true. Kay was just an ordinary young woman running a bed and breakfast and Oli Wade Owen was never going to pay her the slightest bit of attention, was he?
Chapter Nine
As predicted, the cast and crew came home only once they’d been chucked out of the pub. Kay heard them halfway down Marine Parade from
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