A Sprinkle of Sabotage by Fiona Leitch (bill gates book recommendations TXT) 📗

morning and made sure the bare minimum was plugged in, just in case … well, you know, what with this…’

‘This what?’ Mike looked puzzled.

‘This curse thing.’ The technician looked at him defiantly but withered under the man’s steady, no-nonsense New York stare. ‘I don’t believe in it or anything, but everyone’s saying—’

‘Oh, for God’s sake!’ muttered Lucy under her breath. He bristled.

‘Yeah, I know it sounds daft but look at all the weird stuff that’s been happening! And now the generator. There’s absolutely no reason for the power breaker to trip; it should have been easily able to cope with what we had plugged in. If it’s not a curse, what’s causing it all?’

Wrong question, I thought. The real question is, WHO’S causing it all?

‘Is there really a curse?’ whispered Daisy. I shook my head.

‘Of course not. Let’s leave this lot to it.’ I took her arm and steered her away from the group, who had barely noticed us while we were standing right next to them, and sure as hell didn’t notice us leave.

I got a text from Jade’s mum, Nancy, agreeing to the cinema plan, and half an hour later the two of them came to pick up Daisy. I’d offered to pop out and drop her at their house, but Jade was very keen that her mum should come along to the shoot ‘to help me out’; I was certain it was nothing to do with the fact that Daisy had been texting her about seeing Zack Smith in the flesh, and that Jade had absolutely no interest in meeting him herself… I made Nancy a coffee and we sat at a picnic table, wrapped in our coats, while Daisy took Jade over to where they were filming, both giggling.

‘And so it begins…’ Nancy said, ominously. ‘They’ve discovered that not all boys are annoying little brothers who were only put on this earth to hide your Sylvanian Families and eat all the crisps.’

I laughed. ‘Life would be so much easier if they were.’

We had just finished our coffee and were about to go and round up our errant daughters when they came back anyway; filming had apparently ‘wrapped’ for the day by the time they’d got there, but they had spent the last twenty minutes talking to Zack and making a fuss of the horses. Both of them were flushed and giggling even harder than before. Nancy rolled her eyes at me and herded them into her car.

Again, I’d left food on the hot buffet for anyone who needed it, but the extras were heading home and the stars, who would normally have headed back to their hotel for an evening meal, were getting changed in their trailers, ready for Zack’s dinner party.

‘You done for the day?’ Tony made me jump. He stood at the counter, peering in as I cleaned down all the surfaces.

‘No, I’m helping Zack with his dinner party.’

Tony nodded. ‘Oh yeah, I’d forgotten. You and Zack…’

I snorted. ‘Don’t say it like that! Like there is a ‘me and Zack’. He’s at least fifteen years younger than me. It’d be like, like…’

‘Like me fancying Faith?’ he said, grinning. I felt uncomfortable. Was he saying he did fancy her? Or was he trying to wind me up because he knew I’d felt a bit … not jealous, not really, just sort of…

‘Well, she’s still a good-looking woman,’ I said carefully.

‘Yes, she is. She’s also old enough to be my mum,’ he said. I laughed.

‘Only just. Can you imagine her at the OAPs’ coffee morning?’

‘Now that sounds like a blast.’ Zack stood behind Tony, grinning. I saw Tony’s face tighten for a moment; oh yeah, he was jealous, all right. Was I pleased about that? Did a little thrill run through me at the thought of it? Now that Nathan was leaving (the emotional tummy-eel started up again), maybe I needed to look elsewhere…

Tony or no Tony, I still didn’t want to think about Nathan’s departure.

‘You ready to get your pinny on?’ I said to Zack. He nodded and clapped Tony on the back.

‘Thanks for lending me your girlfriend for the night,’ he said, and I nearly died on the spot. Tony’s face turned bright red.

‘She’s not— We’re just mates,’ said Tony stiffly. ‘And even if she was, it wouldn’t be down to me to ‘lend’ her to anyone.’ He turned back to me. ‘I’ll see you tomorrow,’ he said, and walked away.

‘Oh dear,’ said Zack. ‘I think I upset your boyfriend…’ He grinned at me mischievously and I rolled my eyes.

‘He really isn’t my boyfriend,’ I said, ‘but don’t worry about it. Today seems to be the day for over-sensitive male friends. Now get in here and sort your bloody poisonous poisson out before you annoy anyone else.’

Chapter Thirteen

Zack turned out to be a surprisingly good cook. He methodically selected his chopping boards, lined up the knives he would be using (he had brought his own set, a very high-quality, expensive-looking set as well, better than mine), and got everything ready to hand before he started. He had disposable gloves and plastic bags ready to dump the fish waste in, so as not to contaminate anything. I was impressed.

I had turned on the radio, concerned that it might be a bit awkward being alone with a bloke I didn’t really know in such close proximity, but he was also surprisingly good company: chatty, but not too chatty, because we were both busy. And pretty soon we were both tapping our feet as we worked, then humming along to the music, and then eventually singing along at the tops of our lungs. This was my happy place, not standing around in front of a camera. Exciting food, good music, and friendly company. If Zack ever had enough of the movie business, I would offer him a job as my sous-chef.

He gave me a hand with peeling and chopping veg, not wanting to prepare the fish too early; fugu sashimi, being raw, needs