“You okay?” It was one of her adult students, a girl called Melanie. She had seventeen piercings in her face. Davina knew, she’d counted them during class one night.
“Yeah.” She tried to smile reassuringly but couldn’t pull it off. So much for her acting ability. Melanie was clearly unconvinced.
“They’re waiting for you downstairs.”
“I’ll be there in a minute.”
Melanie hesitated before closing the door.
“You can do this,” Davina told herself when she was alone again. “You want this. It’s your big break. It’s only two weeks and then your life will change. You can do two weeks.”
The problem wasn’t the two weeks. The problem was the consequences of the two weeks. She had a horrible feeling that those would last a lot longer.
“There’s a problem,” Marianne said as she rushed into the room. “One of the boys has to go away this weekend.”
Davina pretended to pound her head on the table.
“Drama queen,” Marianne said with a grin.
“Seriously though, how am I supposed to keep to a schedule without him?” Davina’s brain was hurting. First blackmail. Now the crew were jumping ship.
Marianne made reassuring noises beside her. Together they headed out of the kitchen and down to the basement, where everyone else was rehearsing a scene.
“It’s too late to replace him,” she told Marianne. “I’m going to have to change everything. We’ll have to work during the day. Maybe we can get his part done before he goes away? Do you think he can skip school tomorrow?”
“He might for another plate of brownies.”
“I am sick to my back teeth making brownies. I wish I’d never started.”
Marianne pulled her into a hug.
“I know, honey. Just take a deep breath. It’ll be okay.”
“How am I going to shoot the outdoor scenes with the Terminator working in the garden all day? He made it crystal clear he’s going to stick to me like glue until the inspection deadline.”
“What we need is a plan. Something to get him out of our way for the day. There are plenty of capable people here now who can shoot the scenes. It frees you up a little,” Marianne said, with a twinkle in her eye. “You don’t know any way we could distract your landlord, do you?”
Davina’s shoulders slumped. She looked down at her strapless dress. Unfortunately she did, but she wasn’t sure she wanted to go there.
CHAPTER FIVE
11 DAYS TO MAKE A MOVIE...
JACK WAS SERIOUSLY getting into this gardening thing. The more overgrowth he cleared away the more excited he became about his inheritance. He hadn’t really thought much about what he’d do with the place until Davy had brought the topic up, but now his head was full of ideas. He stopped piling up the stones that had fallen off the raised garden bed and looked around. The old house had serious potential. He thought about Davy’s idea for a B+B but dismissed it – he couldn’t see himself as a welcoming host.
Still, he couldn’t help think that the place should be shared with people – the way Millie had opened up her garden. He surveyed the outside of the house. Maybe once he’d renovated it he could run tours. Nope. That didn’t sit right with him either. It would come to him. He had time to figure out what to do with it. After all, as everyone kept pointing out, he was unemployed. In the meantime he had more than enough to keep him busy.
He walked over to the lawn mower he’d borrowed from a mate and yanked it to start the motor. It spluttered a few times before roaring into life. That was more like it. Jack grinned with satisfaction. Maybe, if he kept the property, he’d invest in one of those ride-on mowers. Now, they were cool.
He mowed one perfect strip along the side of the house, smiled at his work, turned to mow another strip and stopped dead when a plant pot missed his head by an inch and shattered in front of him.
Davina was leaning out of an upstairs window and she didn’t look happy. He turned off the mower. Folded his arms and waited for the latest tirade.
“What on earth do you think you’re doing?” she shrieked. “It’s seven in the morning. I was asleep.”
Her hair was tousled, her eyes were slanted with sleep and her cheeks were flushed. Mm. Jack felt his stomach rumble at the sight of her. Hungry. And not for food.
“Get out of here,” she ordered. “Let me sleep.”