Summer Season on the Seafront

‘It’s Gregory actually,’ he corrected, and Nate felt a flush of embarrassment. ‘Come on, Mr Bennett,’ Gregory said cheerfully to the cat.

‘Right, sorry.’ Nate ran his hand through his hair and smoothed it back down, admonishing himself for not getting the name right. The man had taken him in at a moment’s notice. It was the least he could do and the height of bad manners to have got it wrong.

‘No problem, dear boy. I’m sure with everything else that was going on last night, your poor brain was a whirl. And this is Cecil.’

Nate laughed self-consciously and gave Cecil a small smile to show he’d registered his name. ‘Yes, it was all a bit … unexpected, but please call me Nate.’ The French doors were open onto a small courtyard garden filled with plants in brightly coloured pots, all flowering and falling into each other in a strange organised chaos. A small wrought-iron table had been laid with a milk jug, sugar and a biscuit barrel in the shape of a pig. Gregory and Cecil went out to the table and sat down facing each other, leaving Nate to sit between them. He followed and absent-mindedly tapped the side of the tea cup set out for him, wondering how much they knew and how much to tell them. He didn’t want people to think he was a creep, cheating on his wife, but he had an agreement with Emma he didn’t want to break. No one else was to know his marriage was already a wreck. He really needed to speak to her. What had happened last night had changed everything. Maybe once he’d had his tea, he’d call her and talk things through. If she’d answer, that was.

‘Tea?’ asked Cecil, his kind, bright blue eyes twinkling in his tanned face. He’d either been out in the hot summer sun that had stifled the country these last few weeks, or he had a bottle of instant bronzer in the bathroom. Nate made a mental note to check.

‘Yes, please.’

‘It’s just English breakfast tea. Nothing fancy.’

‘That’s the best kind,’ said Nate. He much preferred a good cup of tea to coffee.

‘Help yourself to milk and sugar.’

Mr Bennett strolled lazily out into the garden, flopping down in the sunniest spot, and a strange silence descended. Not uncomfortable, but not easy either. After adding milk to his tea, Nate clasped his hands together in his lap, feeling awkward. Gregory pushed the cheerful porcelain pig towards him. ‘Biscuit?’

‘No, thank you.’

The two men glanced at each other, clearly unsure what to say next. Nate cleared his throat before speaking. ‘I’m very grateful to you both for taking me in at such short notice. Hopefully I won’t be here very long.’

Cecil sat backwards. ‘I see,’ he said after a moment’s pause and Nate realised how ungrateful and rude that had sounded. He hadn’t meant it as an insult; the cottage was beautiful and the town, from what he had seen last night, seemed sweet and quiet. This was not going well. ‘I didn’t mean that rudely,’ he reassured them. ‘I just meant that hopefully I won’t be under your feet for too long. I really am very grateful for your help.’ Cecil relaxed back into his chair and Gregory smiled at Nate.

After a sip of tea, Nate tried a little harder at starting a conservation. ‘You have a beautiful house.’

‘Thank you, dear boy,’ Gregory replied, clearly warmed by the compliment. ‘We moved down here years ago. I used to be on the West End, but when my time was up, we decided to come down and start our little bookshop.’

‘Is that how you know Robin?’

‘Yes, we were around at the same time. We’d often go for the same roles, though he was far better than me, which is why I decided to give up and hideaway down here, but when his career started to wane, as happens ninety-nine times out of a hundred, he stayed and became an amazingly well-known agent. How do you like him?’

‘He’s great,’ Nate said without hesitation. He trusted Robin implicitly and had been with him since the very early days of his career, when the only roles he got were bit parts in Midsomer Murders or three lines on Casualty. If anyone could get him out of this scrape it was Robin. ‘Did you ever act together? You and Robin?’

Gregory nodded as he drank some more tea. ‘A few times. I hate to remember it though, he put me to shame. He really was a very fine actor in his day. I was nearly always relegated to the chorus if we went for the same role. Still, I wouldn’t change it for anything. I had a blast and to end up here, with Cecil, well, I couldn’t be happier.’ He reached out his hand and Cecil gave it a squeeze before returning to their respective cups.

Nate found himself smiling as he listened to Gregory talk of the stage. He hated that he would miss the last few performances of Of Mice and Men. It was odd that no matter how tired you became towards the end of a run, you still craved that thrill of stepping out onto the stage. When doing TV Nate missed the stage, and when on the stage he missed doing TV. Silly, really. The thought of losing both struck him again.

‘Have you spoken to Robin today?’ asked Gregory.

It was the first time they’d referred to what was going on and Nate felt himself stiffen defensively. He drew his arms in closer to his body as if to guard himself, and the muscles of his back tightened. But then he reminded himself that these men were Robin’s trusted friends and not reporters. Robin wouldn’t have suggested Nate stay with them if there was any risk they’d run to the papers. Nate caught them exchanging glances again at his silence, and felt guilty for being so suspicious. ‘No, I haven’t,’ he replied eventually. ‘I might give him a call when we’ve finished here and just see what’s happening. I’m sure it’s all over the papers now, but I daren’t look.’

‘No, dear, I wouldn’t if I were you,’ said Cecil. Nate looked up, expecting to see a gleeful face. It was what he’d come to expect from Emma and from critics, even fans sometimes. Everyone felt they had a right to judge you when you were in the public eye. But Nate was surprised to see a sympathetic, almost reassuring smile.

‘This will all pass, dear boy,’ Gregory said, pulling out a biscuit from the porcelain pig. ‘If you can be sure of anything, it’s that the press will soon find something else to write about and this will be old news.’

Nate’s voice was small and shaky, and he cleared his throat again. ‘I’m sure you’re right.’

‘Don’t tell him that, Nathaniel,’ replied Cecil, smiling. ‘He’ll only get big-headed.’

‘I am always right, though.’ Gregory grinned, and as they bickered playfully, Nate excused himself from the table and made his way upstairs to the cosy quiet bedroom to call Robin.

On the ninth attempt he finally got through. ‘Robin, it’s Nate. What’s happening, mate?’

‘“Good morning, Robin”,’ his agent said, pretending to be affronted at the lack of civility. ‘“I realise you’ve been working for hours and hours, most of the night in fact, trying to clean up my shit-show of a life, but I thought I’d check in and see how you are.”’

Somehow managing to find a trace of his sense of humour, Nate smiled. ‘I should really. You’re not as young as you used to be.’

‘That’s enough of that.’

‘But I do appreciate everything you’re doing, Robin. You know that, right?’

The fondness in Robin’s voice was evident. ‘I do. How are you, Nate? Have Greg and Cecil settled you in?’ Robin made it sound like this was a hotel, or some kind of wellness retreat for his own good and Nate felt a flare of frustration at the mess he’d created and all the extra work he’d caused Robin. Nate didn’t have time to be settled in here, he needed this all sorted so he could get back to London and get his career back on track. He took a deep breath, knowing it was tiredness and stress making him lose control of his emotions.

‘They’re very nice but I really need to know what’s happening there. What’s going on with Hannah? Is she gone? And have you talked to Emma yet? She’s—’

‘Wow, slow down, slow down.’ Nate drew back the net curtain and watched the sea shimmer in the light before rubbing his hot eyes with the heel of his hand. ‘We’re in a difficult situation with her. She’s threatening to sell her story to the tabloids. Hot News are offering a lot of money for it, but I’m in discussions with her agent.’

‘I thought that you paid her before and it was understood that she’d forget about it?’ Hearing himself say the words made him feel dirty and a complete scumbag. If only he could wind the clock back and stop himself from making such a stupid mistake.

‘We didn’t have a contract drawn up and signed, Nate. It was just an understanding. Normally that’s enough.’

A lump formed in Nate’s throat and he had to work hard to get the words out. ‘So what do we do now?’

‘I’m negotiating another payment to her. Her agent will make it clear she really has to let this go now.’

‘Do you think she will?’ He could hear Robin’s polished brogues tapping on the floor as he paced.

‘Yes, I think so. We don’t want to get all legal and make this more complicated than it needs to be. If the press were to pick up on something like that it’d look even worse for you. Has she made contact with you?’

‘What? Called?’

‘Yeah.’

‘No. Nothing yet.’ He rubbed his eyes again as the bright sun made them sting.

‘If she does, don’t answer her. She could record it and go straight to the press.’

‘Really?’

‘Yes.’

‘Okay.’ Nate nodded to himself. As horrid as it was to believe, Robin was right. ‘Robin, tell me honestly, how bad is this looking?’

‘Look, Nate, I know this feels like the end of your career and it is a blip, I won’t lie. It’s a big one. But you’re not the first man to have done this and you won’t be the last. It will all die down soon enough, and we’ll try and repair the damage. You haven’t Googled yourself, have you?’

‘No.’

‘Good. Don’t. Things will get nastier before they get better.’

‘Just give me the rundown.’ He had to know how the world was seeing him. How his fans were seeing him. It wasn’t vanity, it was that, stupidly, their opinion mattered to him. These people he didn’t know had sent him nice messages on his birthday. They hadn’t known that he’d been alone because Emma was out shagging her lover. Their messages had made him feel less lonely. He knew his actions had disappointed them. He’d let them down and he desperately wanted to say sorry, but he couldn’t.

Robin went on, ‘The papers are portraying you as a complete dick for cheating on your wife, who’s now the nation’s sweetheart by default. That’s no surprise and we’re sending out a press release just asking for privacy while you deal with recent events. We’re not saying you did or didn’t do anything at this stage. Then there’s outrage from those who were hoping to see you in the last few shows. Twitter’s gone mental, so turn off your notifications, and you’re now a meme thanks to some recording people took on their mobile phones.’

Nate sat down on the side of the bed, his shoulders slumped.

‘It’s all to be expected though, and within a week this will have calmed down if we keep up with the illness story and you and Emma show a united front. We’ll have to do some good PR and you and Emma are going to have to put off your divorce for a bit—’

‘Oh, she’ll love that.’ She’d hate him even more now, if that was possible.

‘It can’t be helped. An amicable divorce is far more acceptable to the public than something like this. A few public appearances together and then in six to eight months’ time you can divorce as planned.’ Nate smiled to himself at how Robin had it all figured out. It was why he was one of the best. ‘A couple of casting directors have politely withdrawn the offers of roles, but I don’t think you were going to do them anyway, so never mind that.’

‘Which ones?’ Nate asked, feeling a stone settle in his stomach and his intestines wrap around it.

‘It doesn’t matter.’ The fact that Robin didn’t want to tell him was worrying. ‘There’ll be more though, so be prepared.’

‘Have you spoken to Emma again?’ Nate asked cautiously. Though Emma didn’t love him and hadn’t for a while, his heart still ached. They’d been together for so long. A part of him still cared for her and wanted her to be okay. Robin didn’t answer. ‘Have you?’

‘Sort of.’

‘Sort of?’

‘I’ve made sure she’s okay, but I think you should talk to her about the plan to put off the divorce. It isn’t my place to go into that sort of thing.’

A wry smile pulled at Nate’s mouth. ‘You mean you’re scared of Emma blowing her top?’

‘Terrified.’

‘Don’t worry, I’ll call her in a minute.’ Nate sighed.

‘Good luck,’ Robin replied. ‘Let me know what she says, especially if it changes things. I’ve got to get back to Hannah’s agent. She wants quite a lot of money this time. But, Nate, this will all be okay in the end, okay? Just give it time.’

‘All right. But I’ll pay anything, Robin. I just need this to end for mine and Emma’s sakes.’

‘I don’t know why you’re worrying about her after the way she’s treated you, but I’ll do my best. It’s all I can do.

‘I know, and I appreciate it. Truly.’

‘Just chill out there and stay out of sight. We don’t want the papers getting wind of where you are. Okay? Oh, and some clothes will be delivered to you shortly. I’ve sent them via courier.’

‘Okay, I’ll speak to you later.’ As the call ended Nate realised he was shaking. His hands trembled and his head pounded as he pressed the button to call Emma. It rang a few times before she answered. When she finally spoke, her voice was cold and harsh.

‘You’ve got a bloody cheek ringing me.’

‘Emma, look, I’m really sorry for all of it, but we need to discuss how we’re going to get through this. I’ve been speaking to Robin and he suggests we put off the divorce—’

‘What? For God’s sake, Nate, really? You know how serious things are between me and Stewart now.’ Christ, she was selfish sometimes. And cold. She’d always had an ice queen quality about her that, in the beginning, he’d found attractive. Her cool good looks – pale skin, blue eyes and light blonde hair – had set her apart from all the other girls. But as time had gone on, the coolness had become an impenetrable coldness freezing him out of her life. At first, she’d been happy to stay with him as he was getting more famous, hoping there’d be a knock-on to her career. But then she’d become jealous, jealousy had turned to anger, and anger had turned into affairs. Since things had got serious with her latest fling, divorce was suddenly on the cards. ‘Why shouldn’t I just do it now?’ she asked spitefully. ‘The world’s on my side remember, Nate. Every woman in the country is going to sympathise with me. Do you know how humiliating this is for me? A glamour model. I mean, how corny can you get? Every little detail of your sordid affair is going to come out if we’re not careful. Do you realise you’re dragging our name through the mud?’

Nate felt the heat of shame rise up his spine. ‘I’m sorry,’ he said again. ‘But I think we can come out of this with some dignity though if we do what Robin says. He’s concerned that if we split now and the press go digging, they’ll find out …’ He searched for the right words, not wanting to openly mention her affairs and settled on ‘more’. Nate lowered his head, placing his thumb and index finger on his temples. Applying some gentle pressure, he tried to ignore the pounding at the back of his eyes. ‘I made a mistake, Emma, just like you did.’ He didn’t want to remind her that she’d begged him not to end their marriage when he’d discovered her first affair. The memory still stung. She’d asked him to keep it quiet, and he’d agreed to turn a blind eye for months now. ‘Please? All I’m asking for is a little … understanding.’ She scoffed. Emma loved to throw salt onto the wound and he was fed up of being a doormat, all for the sake of public image. ‘Listen, Robin is trying to speak to Hannah’s agent, offering her some money to keep this private. He thinks we should put off the divorce for another six to eight months and let this die down—’

‘Six to eight months? Are you fucking joking? I was thinking two at the most.’

‘I wish I was.’ The line went quiet while she considered it. She must know it was best. Making a bigger deal of things now with a messy split would only encourage the press to dig into their lives and see if he’d done it before, which would risk them uncovering her affairs and ruining her reputation. Her big-wig producer daddy would ruin his career forever if that happened. He’d already threatened that after one of her early affairs. They both needed this. He could picture Emma thinking, pushing her hand through her long, blonde hair. She was more likely to listen to a suggestion of Robin’s.

‘Fine,’ Emma agreed with a huff. ‘But, Nate—’

‘Yes?’

‘Get this sorted. Now.’ She hung up.

‘I will,’ he said to himself, placing his phone down on the bed. He had to. If he didn’t, he’d lose everything.

Chapter 5

Thank God it was Wednesday, Sarah thought, checking the work diary on her desk. The start of the week was always ridiculously busy at the doctor’s surgery where she worked as a receptionist. Somehow the townsfolk became super sick over the weekend and so, at eight-thirty each Monday morning, when the phone line switched from voicemail, the entire population of Greenley-On-Sea called up to see the doctor. Sarah loved her job, but she was always surprised at how open people were about their problems, even though she never asked. The things she’d heard had created frightening mental pictures. Pictures she could never un-see. She also suspected some of the more menopausal women had a crush on Finn too, because they insisted on seeing only him. Sarah couldn’t imagine anything more embarrassing than discussing hot flushes, dry lady bits, and hormone replacement therapy while Finn looked at you with his gorgeous brown eyes and smiled reassuringly with his lovely kissable lips. Realising she was chewing her pen lid and ignoring Mandy, the other receptionist, Sarah quickly pulled her attention back to the conversation.

‘So then,’ Mandy continued, ‘Harry says to me, “Don’t you think you should cut down, you’ll only moan about being fat later.” Bloody cheeky sod. So do you know what I did?’

‘What did you do?’ asked Sarah, smiling and switching on her desk fan. It was getting hot already. When the doors opened for the day their location on the seafront meant a cooler breeze would let some air in, but it was going to be another scorcher.

‘Well, I hit him over the head with my family bar of choccy and told him if he ever said anything like that to me again, I’d divorce him.’ Sarah could well believe it. She didn’t want to get on the wrong side of Mandy, as some of their more pushy patients had found out. Though a little bit scary she was an absolute joy to work with. She’d started at the surgery six months ago and was both scarily efficient and hilariously funny. They both liked Wednesdays best. The crazy Monday morning rush of emergency appointments had passed and it was all a little more relaxed come the middle of the week, which meant they could actually enjoy their jobs and catch up on the gossip. Even moody Dr Stephanie Shepherd was a little bit less horrible. Unlike Finn, Dr Shepherd didn’t like to take extra appointments, and from Monday through to Wednesday had a face like a constipated bear.

While Mandy regaled Sarah with a detailed account of the subsequent argument between husband and wife, a figure approached the automatic door and held up his hand in greeting. It was Dr Finn MacDonald and Sarah could feel the smile lighting up her face. She got up to go and open it, smoothing down her dress. Her favourite striped summer dress that stopped at just the right place, making her legs look long and lean. She reached down behind the fake plastic pot plant to switch the automatic door to open and let him in. He was in his normal black suit with a grey shirt, undone at the collar and no tie. His slightly curly strawberry blond hair fell onto his face and Sarah tried to play it cool. As soon as the gap was wide enough, Finn squeezed his tall, rangy frame through the doors. ‘Thanks. Morning, Sarah.’ He smiled and his eyes sparkled.

‘Morning, Dr MacDonald.’

‘Morning, Mandy.’

She broke off mid-sentence. ‘Morning, Doc.’

‘Nice weekend?’ he called over his shoulder as he strode towards the office.

Sarah’s mouth opened, ready to tell him all about Nathaniel Hardy but remembering it was a secret, closed it again. ‘Not bad, thanks.’ She tidied some magazines on the small coffee table next to a bank of chairs. ‘I didn’t really do much. You?’ He turned to answer her, walking backwards.

‘Oh, I met some friends but otherwise no, pretty quiet actually.’ The corners of his mouth lifted causing creases to form in his cheeks, then he spun back and went into his office. Sarah took her seat at the reception desk and tried to stop fantasising about kissing him, by tidying up her in-tray. About ten minutes later Finn came back out carrying a file and Sarah concentrated on her screen. The next thing she felt was him leaning down, his arm resting on the back of her chair as he placed the file beside her keyboard. His naturally husky voice sent a shiver down her spine. ‘Could you chase up Mr Robinson’s MRI results for me please? I need to call him today and they’re taking ages at the hospital.’

A husky voice asking her to chase up a crotchety old man’s MRI results shouldn’t make her leg twitch and get her all hot and bothered, but something about Finn MacDonald’s voice did that to her. She swallowed. ‘Yes, of course. I’ll do it first thing.’

‘Thanks. I’ll tell you what, I’ll make you a cup of tea in return.’ He picked up her cup emblazoned with the phrase, ‘There’s a fairly good chance this is gin’, and disappeared. It took every fibre of her being not to turn around and watch him go. Mandy teased her enough already.

In fact, Mandy was already holding her cup in the air, waving it madly and saying, ‘Oi, what about me?’ to which Finn came back and grabbed it.

‘How could I forget you, Mandy, hey?’

When he’d gone to the kitchen, Mandy looked over and gave Sarah a wink. ‘He likes you.’

‘Only as his receptionist,’ Sarah replied with an ache in her chest. Finn was the perfect man as far as she was concerned. She’d known him for a year so if anything happened it wouldn’t be a whirlwind romance. She wasn’t making that mistake again. People always said the best relationships begin at work but there wasn’t much chance of anything happening as far as she could see. ‘I don’t think he sees me as anything more. He’s been here for a year and hasn’t made a move yet.’

‘Well, he never flirts with me like that.’

‘He wasn’t flirting!’Was he? ‘He was making tea and asking for MRI results.’

Mandy shrugged. ‘Maybe he’s not sure how you feel about him?’

‘How can he not be?’ As much as Sarah hated to admit it, she knew she sometimes went bright pink when Finn spoke to her, and he must know, from the way she looked at him. But it wasn’t just his body she was attracted to. He was kind, caring, charismatic, and good with kids. You only had to see him with the young ones who were scared that something was really wrong with them. He always had them laughing and joking before they even entered his consulting room.

Oh, this was ridiculous. She could pretty much feel herself ovulating at the thought of having kids with Finn. They’d be bloody gorgeous.

Mandy gave her a knowing smile. ‘You wait,’ she said sagely. ‘Just you wait.’

Finn delivered them both cups of tea, pausing by Sarah’s desk. ‘It’s not gin, I’m afraid.’

‘That’s okay,’ Sarah replied. ‘I’ve got a hip flask in my top drawer.’

Much to her delight, Finn laughed at her joke. Making him laugh was one of the highlights of Sarah’s day. The way he lifted his head and tipped it backwards did something to Sarah’s heart. And the way his Adam’s apple bobbed up and down made her want to reach up and kiss him. She felt her cheeks grow hot.