Chapter 24

24

" G uess what I just found?" Divya asked Luke.

He had been following his latest mark from a distance for most of the afternoon in what had to be the most boring shopping excursion around Jermyn Street and St. James's Street. When he'd eagerly picked up Divya's call, he wasn't sure if he could endure a visit to yet another upscale boutique.

"No idea," he said, keeping an eye on Leonardo Pascual—code name the Irrefutably Sexy—from a distance. The Privateers star was browsing through a selection of top hats even though Luke was sure no one still wore them, and they didn't go with the actor's bohemian-chic style. Luke had liked the silk pajamas Leonardo had just gotten in one of the arcade's shops though. "Did you figure out why Meshflixx hired us?" Luke added.

"Even better. I've got a bit of romance gossip."

"About who?" He hoped he didn't sound too keen. Could Sol be dating someone even if he hadn't found anything about it and she hadn't mentioned it in Barcelona?

"Sara Daniels," said Divya. Luke realized his heart rate had spiked at the idea of Sol dating someone.

Can you please keep it together? he thought.

"You still there, mate?" Divya asked.

"Yes, sorry. I was trying to find a better location while keeping an eye on the mark." He was becoming a natural at deceiving women. "What's your bit of romance gossip about Sara Daniels?"

"I know what happened between her and Martha Broch," said Divya. "At least, according to a couple of articles I found online on some obscure websites. Behind-the-scenes people are not the object of the main gossip rags, eh?"

"So what happened?" asked Luke.

"They met on the set of the Danielses' first show. Martha was a title concept artist there. Don't ask me what that means because I really don't know."

"Something to do with the design of the title opening sequence?"

Divya scoffed. "Please don't let the time you spent interviewing the Stringer get to your head and think you now know what you're talking about. Anyway, it looks like Martha and Sara met then. The series was shot in Atlanta, but Martha was based here in London. She was in Atlanta briefly at some point during production, and I reckon that's when they started shagging. When production ended, I think they did the whole long-distance thing, but then Martha moved to the US and they both lived together in Los Angeles for a while."

"So what happened?"

"From what I gathered, Sara and Bryana got hired to do The Privateers but the show was happening in London even during writing and pre-production. Sara broke up with Martha—the internet says she didn't want to do long distance again—and moved here. Martha stayed for a while in Los Angeles for work and ended up moving back here. She's actually from London, so…"

"It makes sense," said Luke, who didn't require any justification when it came to people moving back to London.

"You know what the cautionary tale is, right?"

"Never move for love?" Luke asked, starting to walk again as Leonardo stopped to grab a coffee. "Never leave London?"

"No, mate," said Divya. "Never mix trade and courtship. The Daniels sisters offered Martha the role of title designer in The Privateers , but she declined."

"It looks like things have worked out for Martha anyway." Luke was a bit wound up about Divya's comment. He knew it was her way of telling him, yet again , that the job wasn't the place to meet people and that he should stay as far away from Sol as possible.

"Tell yourself whatever version you want," said Divya. "But Martha has more motive than we may have anticipated."

"If she was angry because of the break, yes," said Luke. "But would she be so bitter and still go to the same Pilates studio as Sara? The first thing I did after my latest relationship floundered was change yoga studios. My ex still goes to the other one."

"I guess it only makes sense for them both to go to Josie's if they ended the relationship on good terms and are still friends. Or if Martha wanted to remain close to Sara for some reason."

"Like stealing a script from a show where she has no involvement," Luke continued.

"Aye. Should we add Martha to our private list of main possible culprits then?" She and Luke had their own analysis of the case. "Even if Agatha is still at the top."

"Yes, let's keep Agatha at the top," said Luke. "And you know that if Sanjay was also on the call, he'd bring up Mark Green again."

"But Sanjay is not on the call." Divya had always believed Mark was innocent because she'd grown up with his movies and was a big fan of the director. "I can't wait for the day when we can make these sorts of decisions without fearing what the nitwits at the top will think about it. Looking forward to getting rid of P and Sweatshirt."

"Unfortunately, I need to let you go. The Irrefutably Sexy is headed for Piccadilly, and I want to make sure I don't lose him in the multitude."

"Right when I was going to ask you about that ex of yours who managed to keep custody of the yoga studio, you decide to hang up," said Divya.

Even if Sol had been on a semi-crowded flight that morning and she hated the hustle of getting to the airport, security lines, and airline passengers unnecessarily crowding the gates, the day had looked more promising after the flying portion was over.

She'd had a productive meeting with Fionna, who'd given her all the necessary details about the interview with Richard Fynn and the angle and questions they were going for. Sol was scheduled for a twenty-minute one-on-one interview with the filmmaker and couldn't see an issue covering what Fionna expected from her.

She was almost packed, her outfit for the interview was pressed and ready, and her interview prep was in good shape. She was planning on watching a couple of Fynn films during her long-haul flight to LA. The movies were already downloaded to her tablet.

To top all that off, she'd just attended a press screening of the most entertaining and engaging flick starring one of her favorite actresses. She was a bit disappointed that no one had thought of casting Emma Thompson as a rom-com action lead before. The woman was classically trained and could do pretty much anything.

That wasn't the only reason Sol wasn't completely pleased though. She had finally seen the movie she should have watched a few days before when she was supposed to have interviewed Thompson. It was one of those interviews she had been waiting for her whole career and that would have made her seventeen-year-old self so happy and proud. She'd interviewed dozens of celebrities over the years and she was seldomly star-struck, but the idea of meeting certain people, like Emma Thompson, still thrilled her.

But she had been fired before that could happen. And even though she was fully aware that she was catching a flight the following day to do a big Hollywood interview, it wouldn't be with Emma Thompson. She would have bought a brand-new outfit for that. And she'd still be very much unemployed once the interview with Richard Fynn was done, written, and submitted to her new editor.

She was debating whether to walk or take the Tube from the Picturehouse Central movie theater on Piccadilly Circus where she'd attended the press screening. But she decided to drop by Fortnum & Mason first and get something for her tea-loving friend, Lola, whom Sol was planning on seeing during her visit to Los Angeles.

Once at Fortnum's, she was piling on the Royal Blend loose-leaf tea for both her friend and herself—managing to put aside that perhaps that wasn't the best budgetary moment to impulse purchase multiple ￡16 caddies—when she saw someone familiar browsing the big displays of honey and marmalades.

He was tall and thoroughly bronzed, and Sol recognized him instantly this time. If only he hadn't returned to stiff business wear and gelled, slicked-back hair. Is this supposed to be London Luke? He'd looked different and much more casual in Barcelona. If this was Luke's everyday look, Sol wasn't sure she was actually into him.

It would have been easy for her to slip by unnoticed. She was always wearing one of her KN95 face masks when she was in crowded indoor public spaces. They protected her from unwanted viruses while also offering some kind of anonymity that the introvert in her not only liked but had learned to relish. But she had made a commitment not to hide if they ran into each other again, so she decided to do the out-of-character thing and go greet Luke.

"Hola," she said after crossing half the store to stand in front of him. "I would have said you were more of a Twinings person."

There was something in Luke's face that didn't necessarily scream So glad to see you here , and Sol didn't think it was because she could now vindicate her own hometown as a big city and prove it was equally easy to run into someone in London as it was in Barcelona.

"I"—his glazed eyes fixed on something behind Sol—"need to go."

"I'm sorry?" she almost yelled more than asked, although this time she'd perfectly heard him.

Was she having some sort of torturous and exceedingly unfunny déjà vu? What was it with him that he wanted to run away when he was in her presence?

"Let's talk tonight," he said as he made his escape toward Fortnum's exit.

It could have been so easy for Sol to pay for her goodies and leave without saying a word to him. In fact, it would have been consistent with who she was. Yet she had decided to be social, and for what exactly?

She felt like a foolish and disdained woman in the middle of Fortnum & Mason. Somehow, being surrounded by colorful tins and sweets wasn't exactly lifting her spirits at the moment.

Had she offended Luke with her tea comment? It hadn't been Sol's most inspired joke. The brand she'd said she associated with him was six or seven times cheaper than Fortnum's tea. But she had been a bit nervous and said whatever occurred to her, and she had always thought Twinings one of the most iconically British brands. It was also her mom's favorite, so it kind of held a special place in her heart, but she preferred not to read too much into that.

She was sure of one thing though: She and Luke were never going to talk again—and she was okay with it. She had been humiliated one too many times against her better judgment, and she was convinced that he would not call or message her—even if he'd tried making an excuse while leaving in a rush.

Whatever it was, she decided to brush off the whole Luke affair as a pointless and discarded, if rather sobering, experiment.