Page 21 of Hollywood Crush (West Wales Romance #2)

She gave me a look that saw right through the embarrassed blush I could feel creeping up my face.

“Well…no. But I don’t really know what you’re saying.

One minute you said I shouldn’t be going after Daniel because of what happened between you and Dad, and now you’re telling me I should be going after him? ”

“Don’t listen to me either way,” Mam said. “It’s your heart. I just don’t want what I’ve experienced and what I’ve told you over so many years to make you turn bitter. There are better men than your father out there. It wasn’t my place to judge.”

I wanted to believe Mam. But it was one thing to hook a Hollywood star, quite another to convince him that he could find happiness in a rainy little town on the Welsh coast.

“Come on,” she said, gesturing up the stairs. “We have bedding to change and units to dust. And ledgers to fulfil. It’s amazing how many marshmallows Marjorie can get through, she has such a petite figure for her age…”

◆◆◆

It was in Roland’s room on the top floor that we encountered what could only be described as a problem .

The ceiling in one corner had turned brown and was leaking a steady supply of water from the attic above.

It hadn’t been raining overnight and the man who complained about literally everything hadn’t yet complained to us about it, so it could only be ascertained that it was a new leak and that it was coming from the water pipes that ran through the building.

“At least we aren’t so worried about money any more,” Mam had sighed when she had seen the damage. “We can probably afford an emergency plumber.”

Affording an emergency plumber was one issue.

Finding one available to come out and fix the issue before a notoriously picky director came back for the evening was another.

So with some reluctance I’d called Llywelyn, my best friend and local handyman to see if he could help me DIY a solution that would hold off the issue until we could get someone more qualified out to fix it.

“Right,” Llywelyn said, pausing for what seemed like dramatic effect. We had located the stopcock to shut off all water throughout the hotel and we were now stood in a dark and dusty attic which felt a bit like an oven in the summer.

The pipe in question shone under the light of both our phones. It had come loose from a corner join and had gushed water all over the attic, dripping through a weak point into Roland’s room. Luckily for us it didn’t seem to be coming through any electronics.

“Luckily for us, I can’t see anything snapped, cracked or bent out of shape,” he said. “So it should be simple enough. Spanner?”

“Yes, doctor,” I replied. I passed him a spanner from his bag and watched him get to work.

“I could probably have fixed this myself looking at it now,” I said.

“But you didn’t,” Llywelyn chuckled. “Sounds like something I hear from James all the time. ‘ I could have fixed the coffee machine, but you just looked so good bent over the counter’ ”.

“Sorry Llyw, I didn’t call you here for your good looks.” I grinned at him in the weak light. “I just needed a quick fix.”

“Funnily enough James says that too,” he said.

“God, we were better friends when you weren’t shagging and making innuendos. Bring back chaste Llywelyn,” I said with a smile.

“Those were the days, weren’t they?” Llywelyn said. He stopped talking for a second as he heaved on the spanner tighten up and join the two sections of pipe. “I thought I was happy. Thought I was OK with being alone in my little cottage, poor handyman to the whole village. I never thought…”

“That someone could drop out of the sky and change how you felt forever?” I asked.

“Familiar, are we?” Llywelyn asked. I realised how little I had spoken to him over the last few weeks and felt strangely guilty.

“Well, something like that.”

“I know, I know. You don’t have to tell me everything, Tud. I saw the way you and Daniel Ellison looked at each other when you went down to see him on the beach.”

“On-on the beach?” I spluttered. “We weren’t even…sleeping together then, let alone…”

“Really?” Llywelyn looked surprised. “Well, it was pretty obvious to me and James that there was some fire between you. And probably anyone else with eyes too. James was very upset when he started seeing all the news coverage of him with that ginger co-star. Started talking about heading over to the hotel to give him a piece of his mind.”

“That was all staged,” I admitted. “All to sell their next movie.”

“I know, and that’s what I told James. Whilst the press and paparazzi were getting all their pictures of your boy with someone else, I could tell that fire wasn’t in their eyes.”

“Oh.” I said. I was all I could think to say.

Because when Daniel had told me he was going to break things off with Patrick, a little bit of me was worried that there was real chemistry there.

That a young, attractive and famous actor could offer him more.

“And you could tell all that just from pictures of the two of them together?”

“Well, that and I hear rumours of that Patrick messing round with…it doesn’t matter. Not my business to spread the tale.”

I knew there was no point pressing Llywelyn for information. He had always been the strong and silent type, and he only ever spoke when he needed to. The very fact he’d said so much in the last ten minutes meant he really believed what he was saying.

“They’re stopping the charade now anyway,” I said. “Daniel wants it just to be us for the weeks he has left here.”

“And after that?” Llyw asked. I shrugged, not wanting to put my hopes out in the open even to my best friend.

He knew not to push the point. “Let’s check this out,” he said.

He crouched and shuffled into the dark and dusty corner of the attic where the stopcock was located and turned it.

The pipes rattled but stayed put without any leak.

“Thanks, mate. Send me an invoice for the work as soon as you can and I’ll pay? ”

“No worr-” Llywelyn started, then stopped himself. “Yes, I will.”

I knew his partner had been getting him to know his worth, to stop accepting backhand fivers for the work he did. It was great to see my best friend reach his full worth.

As we descended from the dark and musty attic into the bright and airy corridor I took a long look at Llywelyn. I knew that had James not come along, we might have ended up together at some point. He was my solid and dependable best friend, and the sexual experiences we’d had hadn’t been terrible.

But we wouldn’t have made each other better. James had pushed Llywelyn into making more of himself, making more money, taking courses to qualify in trades. Daniel had made me feel like I could make something of my food, to make myself better.

“What are you thinking?” Llywelyn asked.

“Just that we’d have made terrible partners to one another,” I half-joked.

“Damn right. I just can’t believe we’re both going for Saes ,” he said with a smile.

“It’s not their fault they’re English,” I said. “You’ve forcibly turned James into a Welshman.”

“Duolingo has dragged him into the language kicking and screaming. Are you done at work for the day?”

“Until all of them are back from filming,” I said. I could relax with a book now or even use Daniel’s bath. I was sure he wouldn’t mind…

“Why don’t you go and watch? It would be nice for him to see you there.”

I hesitated for a second. “Yeah, I think I will…”

“I’ll give you a lift.”

I found Mam and let her know what I’d be doing, and to her credit she didn’t purse her lips or shake her head. Llywelyn was waiting outside so I hopped into his van and we headed down the hill towards the beach.

The paparazzi were in full crazy mode on the beach wall when I jumped out of the van and gave Llywelyn a wave goodbye. I tried to elbow my way past one, but he just grunted and shoved me back. I had to walk all the way to the other end of the beach wall just to see what was going on.

And what was going on turned my stomach. I could see Daniel in the distance, at the far end of the beach.

Rather than telling Patrick that he wanted to end the charade, he was laying lazily in the redhead’s lap.

Rather than move away, he seemed perfectly content to let Patrick stroke his head.

It wasn’t for a scene, that I knew - cameras on the beach had been stood down and it was just the two of them.

They were peacocking for the paparazzi in a way that Daniel had assured me he wanted to move away from.

Fuck this, I thought. It wasn’t just Daniel who could act.

I could act alright, act completely fine.

When he came back to the hotel that evening it would be to a hotel owner who’d never had more than a passing word about the weather with him.

I could smile, and serve, and give the best customer service this side of the Severn Bridge.

But he was mistaken if he thought for a second that he could act in a way completely opposite to what we’d agreed.

I needed some sense of control in this relationship, short and fleeting as it might be.

And the man I was starting to fall for — who was I kidding, had completely fallen for — was in the arms of another, peacocking for a quick paparazzi shot and a chance to sell some more stuff on Instagram. I couldn’t do it any more.

I elbowed my way past the paparazzi and started the long trek up the hill. By the time I got to the top I was sweating and exhausted. It was only quarter of an hour later as I watered the vegetables growing in my happy place did I hear the sirens. And realised something had gone terribly wrong.