“I forgive you for hurting me. As long as you stop acting like I’m your Goddamn victim, I forgive you.Hehurt himself. And as for Summer…” He trails off, looking over my head. “Huh.”
I turn. Fraser is standing in the open doorway, Summer’s lamb in his arms, staring at us both.
“Well, thankGod,” he shouts.“It only took youfive yearsto haveone conversation.”
I rub my wet cheek. “How long have you been standing there?”
He shrugs. “Few minutes. This wee one escaped again, she was headbutting the door. But I came in and didn’t want to interrupt.”He stomps over to us and crouches down at my side. “Go on,” he says. “Don’t let me stop you.”
I swallow thickly. “Fraser. I’m sorry. I screwed everything up.”
“Define ‘everything.’”
“The storm. The farmhouse. The council. I should have asked for help sooner. I should…” I look at the fluffy white lamb in his arms. “I should never have told Summer to go,” I admit. “I know it hurt you both.”
“Nah,” he says simply. “It’s on me and Cam too. We should have told her how important she was. That she was so much more than just some…holiday fling for us. Our relationship shouldn’t have been left in your highly incapable hands, to be fair.”
Cameron swears under his breath.
“So,” Fraser says patiently, “what do we do now?”
Neither of us says anything.
“What do you have here at Lochview?” Fraser prompts me. “Honestly?”
I rub my throat. “What do you mean?”
“Are you happy?”
“Happy?” The word feels foreign in my mouth.
Fraser’s lips press together. “Is this what you wanted? Cameron’s quit. Summer’s gone. And I can’t do this forever. I’d go eventually too.”
I stare at him.
“You’d be alone,” he continues grimly. “Working on your family legacy in memory of a dad who treated you like dirt. It’s not like you’re ever gonna have a family here. You’ll grow old alone and probably keel over from a stress-induced heart attack in your fifties.” He leans forwards. “So…Are youhappy, Alec? Is it all worth it?”
I don’t know what to say. Growing up, whether or not I washappywas never a question. All that mattered was the farm. I was quite literally born to manage it. It’s the whole point of me.
Crumpet wriggles out of Fraser’s arms and hops over to me. She lays her head on my knee, looking up at me with a dopey expression. I feel like I’m about to choke.
“God, I miss her so much,” Fraser says quietly. “I fully fell in love with that girl.”
Cameron nods. “We all did.”
The lamb nudges me, and I put a hand on her head, my heart thumping hard.
They’re right. Of course they’re right. I love Summer. “How—” I swallow thickly. “How would we even get her back?”
There’s a long pause. Then Fraser lets his head fall back. “Finally!” he shouts at the ceiling. “JesusChrist, you are such a stubborn git!I thought I might actuallydiebefore you came around.”
“She won’t respond to your calls,” I remind him. “I don’t know her address.”
“We’ll find her,” Cameron declares.
Fraser beams at him. “Actually…” He hooks his phone out of his pocket. “I happen to know where she’s going to be tonight.”
“What?”
