‘Her face was like thunder – impossible to miss.’
‘I actually feel sorry for her. I mean she’s going to get lynched by the media for being a part of Milo’s lies to further her career.’
Carla took three mugs from a cupboard and turned back to Jenna. ‘I’ll be here for her, don’t worry. It might be a good thing, snapping her out of the mad world she’s been living in the past couple of years. She can’t carry on like she is without burning out.’ She splashed milk into two of the mugs. ‘Will Finn want coffee?’
Jenna had left him in bed in Carla’s spare room. They’d managed a few hours’ sleep after the excitement of the night before. The hangover and her fur-lined mouth were an unwelcome result. She desperately needed coffee and she knew Finn would too.
‘I’ll wake him. We should go out for brunch.’
~
The cafe was just around the corner from Carla’s, a chilled-out place with wooden tables and mismatched chairs. Compared to the night before in her slinky dress, with her make-up and hair done by professionals, she felt relaxed and comfortable in skinny jeans and boots, her hair wound up into a messy bun.
Their plates of breakfast arrived, Finn’s filled with bacon, eggs, sausage, mushrooms and hash browns, Jenna with a poached egg and salmon, and Carla with smashed avocado and halloumi. They tucked in greedily, feeling more alive with food and more coffee.
‘I did not see that coming,’ Finn said through a mouthful of bacon. ‘What the hell did you say to Milo?’
It was all they’d talked about since the moment Milo told a roomful of people that he was gay. Less than an hour later he was trending on Twitter and the world seemingly went mad over the ‘shocking news’.
‘I told him the truth – that some day someone would find out about him and Timothy and sell the story. I suggested he’s better than the persona he’s hiding behind, basically making himself out to be a womanising bastard. Or words to that effect. I’m sure he didn’t come out just because of me. He had to have been thinking about it for a while.’
‘Probably his whole damn adult life.’ Carla picked up her flat white. ‘I think it’s a smart move. I mean, he wanted the column inches, which is why he was talking to Heidi about them “getting back together”. Well, he’s certainly got the attention he craves – the media are having a field day. And, most importantly, he’s got so much support for being honest.’ She sipped her coffee and looked across the table at them. ‘Anyway, enough about Milo. When are you two lovebirds getting the keys to your flat?’
Finn smiled. ‘A week Monday.’
‘Great, so you can stick around here for a few more days. You’re welcome to stay at mine unless your parents want you back for a bit.’
‘Actually I’m really sorry, we can’t,’ Jenna said. ‘We’re going down to Cornwall.’
‘And I’ve got a job lined up in Bristol the week after next which is going to take me through to Christmas,’ Finn said. ‘So it’s our last opportunity to have a break for a while.’
‘Ah bugger, I thought you’d be hanging around for longer.’
‘Plus I’ve got a garden to weed.’
Carla laughed.
‘You think she’s joking?’ Finn put his arm around Jenna’s shoulder.
‘In fact I’ve got two gardens – Bramble Cottage when we’re in Cornwall and then the garden flat in Bristol.’
‘Ah, Jenna Wilson, you’re the most unshowbizzy, showbizzy person, you know that right? You look like a film star without even trying but you love everything that’s not about being in the limelight. I think it’s amazing that you know your own mind and are following your heart.’
Jenna reached across the table and took Carla’s hand. ‘I’m going to miss you.’
‘Don’t be so soppy. You spent weeks away down in Cornwall last year, what’s the difference?’
‘The difference is this move is permanent.’
‘And yet you’ve already told me you’ll be back in London in two weeks for a casting. We’ll get to see each other loads. Now let’s talk about something else before I start crying.’
~
The two sides of Jenna’s life felt like ying and yang. In the space of a weekend, she’d gone from walking the red carpet of a major film that she’d starred in, to driving down to Cornwall in Finn’s van for a quiet few days pottering around the garden, going to the beach, surfing, and eating fish and chips by the sea.
The move to Bristol had happened naturally in the end. After her summer working on The Cornish Affair had come to an end, along with her last day and night in Cornwall with Finn, holed up together in the cottage, she was torn when she left on the Sunday. The start of a relationship with Finn seemed to finish the moment she got in her car and drove out of the gate leaving him and Bramble Cottage in the rear-view mirror. She’d cried all the way back to London.
The pull of Finn was bigger than the pull of Cornwall, and although she missed the peace of the cottage and its garden, the sea air and the countryside, she embraced the opportunities that came her way back home. With auditions lining up she began to be choosey about the roles she went for and when the opportunity to work on a mini-series in Bristol came her way, she jumped at it. It was closer to Cornwall and that meant being closer to Finn.
It was only for a week, but Jenna realised there was the possibility of living somewhere other than London and still being able to work as an actor. Not only did she realise it was a vibrant and creative city, but it was also a filming hub. An idea began to form. Cornwall had stolen her heart as much as Finn had, but Finn was eager
