She turned the heat off under the pan. She had to stop thinking like that. It wasn’t helpful or healthy.

“I made breakfast. Sorry it’s so late. I had a meeting. We’ll eat this out on the deck. There’s no one around.” Milly divided the omelet and slid each half onto a fresh plate. Then she sprinkled the top with finely chopped parsley and handed one of the plates to Nicole, who lifted it to her nose and sighed.

“It smells incredible, but I don’t normally eat breakfast.”

Tiger appeared in the kitchen, alerted by the smell of cooking.

“You had a long journey, and you didn’t eat last night. I don’t want to have to take you to the emergency department because you’ve fainted. The eggs are fresh and organic, so is the cheese, which comes from the goats down the road. And don’t tell me you’re not hungry because that isn’t possible.”

“I’m hungry, but I’m always hungry. It’s part of the job.” But Nicole lifted the plate again and breathed deeply. “Okay. Let’s do this. I don’t suppose one plate of eggs is going to do much harm. And my acting days may be over anyway.” She said it lightly, an almost throwaway comment, but Milly knew Nicole. Whatever gulf there might be between them, she knew her. And she knew the comment wasn’t made lightly.

“That’s the way you feel?” Milly handed her a fork. “You love acting.”

“Maybe. But I don’t love all the things that go with it. And things are complicated at the moment.” She paused, and Milly had the feeling that she was going to confess something momentous, but then she shook her head. “I’ll figure it out.”

Figure what out?

In the old days they’d had no secrets from each other, but that was then and this was now.

And how complicated could Nicole’s life be, really?

Milly had a job to do, a child to care for, a life to live, and she had an A-list movie star hiding away in her home. It didn’t get much more complicated than that.

Was Nicole afraid to do another movie because of the adverse publicity? No, surely not. She was used to that.

She wanted to ask what this was all about really, what Nicole was doing here, but she was conscious of all the jobs stacking up waiting for her attention. She didn’t have time for a long conversation. Later, she thought. It would have to wait until later.

“What are you going to do all day? I’m worried you’ll be bored.”

“I never have time to myself. This is going to be a treat.”

They settled themselves at the table by the water and Nicole sampled a mouthful of her food.

“Oh—” she said and closed her eyes, lost in a dream state as she chewed “—this might be the best thing I’ve ever tasted.”

“It’s just eggs and cheese.”