with the dog instead of dumping her as fast as he could on someone else. Maybe it was because rehearsals hadn’t started yet today, so he hadn’t had to deal with his difficult co-star; or maybe the dog was helping him relax.
She so wanted it to be the latter.
They worked with the dog for a bit longer before the runner came over. ‘Mr McKenzie, the director’s ready for you now.’
‘Sure,’ he said with a smile. ‘I’m coming now. Jess, thank you—and you’re sure it’s OK to look after Baloo today?’
No, she wasn’t sure at all. ‘Ayesha said it was OK.’
He pulled a wad of paper from the back of his jeans, ripped a corner off one piece and scribbled a number on the back. ‘Any problems, this is my mobile phone.’
Luke McKenzie was giving her his mobile phone number?
Surreal.
It was a far cry from her old life.
She stopped the thought before it could grow any more. The past was the past, and she couldn’t change it. There was no point in dwelling on it and wishing, because doing that hadn’t made a scrap of difference in the last year. The shooting had still happened, the drug-dealers were all still in jail with life sentences, Matt and Comet were still buried under a carpet of flowering bulbs, and she still had nothing left but memories and wishes.
‘I can hardly ring you in the middle of rehearsals. It’d mess everything up.’
‘Text me, then. I’ll leave my phone on silent,’ he said.
‘OK.’
Back in the production office, as promised, Ayesha had another list ready. Jess worked her way through it, either at her desk with Baloo snuggled in her bed next to Jess’s desk, or with the dog by her side as she walked round the set, taking scripts to people and running errands.
‘So what did you do to Luke McKenzie to make him human again?’ Ayesha asked when Jess returned from the last errand on her list.
‘I told him what I thought of him,’ Jess confessed. ‘Sorry.’
‘That’s a dangerous tactic, Jess. If he’d been a certain other member of the cast—one who cannot possibly be named—then you would’ve had to grovel publicly and you would still have been fired,’ Ayesha said. She came over to make a fuss of the dog. ‘But well done. It’s nice to see Luke being more like his old self. Let’s hope it lasts.’ She looked at the dog. ‘She’s beautiful, isn’t she? And she’s the perfect match for him. Sexy movie star hero with the cute dog. How could any woman resist that combination?’
Good question. Well, Jess would have to, for her own peace of mind. She wasn’t looking for a relationship. Even if she was, she knew that Luke McKenzie was from a different world—one where she wouldn’t fit in. She was ordinary, and he lived his life in the glare of the spotlights.
‘Time for your lunch break, I think. Though you’ll need to take the dog with you.’
‘Sure.’ Jess smiled at her boss and then looked at Baloo. ‘How about a run in the park opposite?’ she asked Baloo.
The dog looked at her as if she was speaking Martian.
‘Your owners didn’t do that with you, did they?’ She sighed. ‘OK. Walkies?’
Baloo still looked blank.
‘You’re going to enjoy this, sweetie,’ she said. ‘But I’d better let Luke know where we’re going.’ She didn’t want to call him, in case he was in the middle of a scene; but she was pretty sure a text would be safe and he’d be able to pick up the message later.
She texted Luke to tell him she was taking Baloo to the park, put the dog’s water bowl in a bag, then headed off the set.
When Jess took Baloo for a run, she realised how much she’d missed it. Working out on a treadmill in a featureless gym was nothing like running outside in the fresh air, with grass and trees all around, and the scent of spring blossom in the air. There really was nothing like running with a dog bounding along by your side. She swallowed hard. It wasn’t the Labrador’s fault that her head was still a bit messed up. But the memories made her catch her breath and she had to stop.
She filled the dog’s water bowl from the bottle she carried with her, then bought another bottle of water from the kiosk in the park, along with a chicken wrap for her lunch.
Once she’d settled herself on a park bench and Baloo was sitting next to her, the dog looked hopefully at her. Or, rather, at her chicken wrap.
‘You think I’m going to share this with you?’ she asked.
The dog’s expression was eloquent enough, and Jess laughed. ‘OK. You can have some of the chicken, but I’m going to make you work for this, Baloo. Shake hands.’
To her surprise, the dog caught on very quickly. What a shame that her former owners hadn’t seen her potential. And what a shame that Baloo was only going to have a temporary home with Luke McKenzie.
Maybe she could...
No. She stopped her thoughts before the temptation got too strong.
Her lease said no dogs—and that was one of the reasons why she’d chosen the flat in the first place. To make sure that she had a solid reason not to weaken and let another dog into her life. A dog she could lose, the way she’d lost Comet. She’d spent the last year putting the pieces of her life back together, and the only way to keep herself safe was to keep herself separate. She needed to remember that. She absolutely couldn’t adopt Baloo. No matter how tempting the idea was.
* * *
Luke checked his phone during the scene break. There was a message from a number he didn’t recognise; he assumed it was from Jess and flicked into it.
She was taking Baloo to the park?
That was definitely above and beyond the call of duty. He still felt a bit guilty about dumping the dog on her, but what else could he have done? He couldn’t leave Baloo at home because he knew she’d trash the place and he didn’t want the dog in a situation where she could get hurt. He couldn’t take time off from rehearsals, because that wouldn’t be fair to the rest of the cast. And, thanks to Mimi’s tantrum after the shoe episode yesterday, he couldn’t keep the dog on the set with him either.
And then there was Jess herself. Straight-talking, and not afraid to stick up for an unwanted dog even if it could mean she’d be fired.
Something about her drew him.
Which was ridiculous. Apart from the fact that Luke wasn’t in a place where he was even looking for a relationship, for all he knew Jess could be happily married, or at least committed to someone. Even if she wasn’t, who would want to date a man in the public eye and have her life stuck under the less than kind microscope of the press? And when Fleur’s cronies found out he was dating her, they’d rip her to shreds in the press. He couldn’t let that happen. And that meant keeping some distance between them. Not acting on the attraction.
He texted back:
