Just Not Mine by Rosalind James

you’re an item off-screen as well, aren’t you? I can’t imagine how you film people can keep track, all that chopping and changing you do, shifting partners.”
    “We manage,” Josie said, and this time, she wasn’t smiling, and it was time to go.
    “How are you, Mrs. Duncan?” Hugh put in, and he’d moved a step forward, putting himself between her and the women. “And Mrs. … I’m sorry, I’ve forgotten,” he said to the other one.
    “Fiona Garber,” she said. “You know Jocelyn, do you? Your aunt never mentioned that. How is she, by the way? How’s her butcher doing?”
    “ She seems pretty happy,” Hugh said. “Having a good time, from what I can tell. She’s talked more to the kids than to me, though.”
    “Yeh,” Amelia said. “She asked how we were eating.” She sent Hugh another accusatory glance.
    “Well, I suppose you celebrities are constantly running into each other, functions and that,” Mrs. Garber said, Hugh’s aunt having clearly been shoved into the less-interesting pile. “How’s your poor hand faring, Hugh? My Tom told me about it, said you’d be out of the test matches. In Europe, isn’t it? He was sorry to hear it, I’ll tell you. He’s worried the … I think it’s the French, worried that they’ll win. I hardly listen,” she admitted with a chuckle. “He said that without you, there’d be trouble with the—can’t remember again, because I don’t really follow it, to tell you the truth, dear.”
    “The scrum?” Hugh asked
    “That was it. What should I tell him?”
    “Tell him everybody’s ready to get stuck in, that they all know we’re in for a contest and that the boys will be playing their guts out, like always,” Hugh said. “And that we’ve got some good cover at 7, too, no worries.”
    “That’s not what he thinks,” she insisted, and Josie, who had just figured out exactly what it was that Hugh did for a living, had the feeling that he was as used to awkward, prying questions as she was.
    “How do you two know each other?” It was Mrs. Duncan this time, back to the more fascinating topic, her sharp eyes darting between Hugh and Josie.
    “Josie’s a good friend of Charlie and Amelia ’s,” Hugh said. “I only just met her, I’m afraid.”
    “Well, you’ll want to watch out,” Mrs. Garber said roguishly. “Not sure you’re safe. She likes the big, strong ones. Don’t we all know it.”
    “ Is that right. Got to be going, sorry,” Hugh said, wheeling his trolley around so quickly that Josie had to grab hers to keep it from getting bashed. “Dinnertime. Come on, you two. See you ladies later.”

    “Got any more shopping to do?” he asked her when they had put an aisle between themselves and the inquisitive ladies, the kids trailing behind.
    “Not anymore, I don’t,” she said. “I’m done.”
    “I’m sure. D’you get that a lot?” He still looked upset, she thought. For himself or for her, she didn’t know.
    “Well, yeh. I play an unpopular c haracter, as you saw.”
    “ And you’re not just an actress,” he said. “You’re pretty famous, apparently. I thought you watched TV, Amelia,” he complained to his sister.
    “I don’t watch Courtney Place,” she said. “Aunt Cora never let me. My friend Holly does, and she said I should. She talks about it constantly . But you’re always watching The Crowd Goes Wild then anyway, so I can’t.”
    “Not always child-friendly,” Josie clarified for Hugh’s benefit, in case he hadn’t got that point.
    “Are you in a show on TV, Josie?” Charlie asked with interest, not following the rest of it. “I didn’t know that.”
    “None of us did,” Hugh told him. “And I’m feeling pretty dense about that just now.”
    “Not so dense,” Josie said. “I could hardly expect to compete with The Crowd Goes Wild, and I’m guessing you don’t have much opportunity to look at supermarket magazines, or pay too much attention to the gossip columns in any case. In