Alec picks up on the second ring. “Summer?” he says urgently, “is everything okay?”
EIGHTY
SUMMER
Iblink.
“I knew it,” Fraser mutters under his breath. “Iknewhe was ignoring me.”
“Um, hi,” I say into the phone. “There are two reps from the council at the front door, they say they need to speak to you?”
“You’re okay?” he demands.
“Yes?”
“Right. Sorry. I just thought…you wouldn’t call me unless—” He clears his throat. “I’ll be there in a moment.”
I hang up and smile awkwardly at the two reps. A minute later, Alec comes jogging up the hill. He looks nothing like the buttoned-up businessman I’m used to seeing. He’s wearing faded jeans and a band shirt, and he’s wiping his hands on a balled-up tea towel. There’s paint streaked in his black hair.
“Gentlemen,” he says, voice edged with irritation. “Can I help you?”
The two reps exchange a look. “Mr Gray,” the taller one begins. “Apologies for the disturbance, you were…obviously busy.”
“Aye,” Alec says impatiently.
The man clears his throat. “We’ve come to deliver the verdict of the council. There’s been more public interest in the Lochview case than we anticipated. Given the amount of feedback we’ve received, we have decided to cancel the proposed compulsory purchase order. Your farm is safe, Mr Gray.”
Oh my God. Fraser grabs my hand and squeezes it. I beam up at him, buzzing with excitement. We did it!
“All right,” Alec says after a moment. He seems distracted, like he’d rather be somewhere else. “Well, if that’s all?—”
The shorter man raises a hand. “Oh, there’s, ah, one more thing, Mr Gray. We’d kindly ask you to refrain from posting more on your social media pages. It puts the council in a…compromising situation, you understand?”
Alec blinks. “No, not really.”
“Well…”
“I’m sorry,” I pipe up. “But I don’t get why you’d ask that?” Both men look at me, and I give them my sparkliest smile. “Lochview’s social media accounts are all about sharing parts of local culture and heritage. Isn’t that one of the council’s stated goals?”
“You completely crashed our servers, girl,” the taller man tells me flatly.
I give him my best ditzy look. “Oops! Sorry, I didn’t realise you were so behind technologically. But all’s well that ends well, right?”
The man looks like he wants to argue, but Alec cuts him off. “You’ve said what you have to say. You can go now.” He nods at the waiting car.
The two men look at each other, stunned. “Well,” the tall man scoffs. “I would have thought you’d be a wee bit more grateful.”
“Thank you,” Alec intones. “Goodbye.”
Confounded, the two men make their way to the car.
Fraser doesn’t even wait for them to start the engine before he makes a megaphone out of his hands. “Summer did it! We saved the farm!” he bellows. All of the villagers scattered across the farm let up a cheer. Fraser grabs me and spins me around in his arms. “Oh, you magic,magicgirl,” he says, smacking a kiss on top of my head. “You’re a treasure, you know that? You’ve only gone and done it!”
When Fraser sets me down on the grass, Cameron touches my cheek. He doesn’t say anything, but I can feel the emotion pulsing off him. My eyes blur with tears. I can’t believe I actually did it. I helped save Lochview.
Fraser slaps Cameron on the back. “Right, I think some refreshments are in order. I’ll crack open the whisky. Dilutin’ juice for the grannies, eh, Mrs Williams?” He winks at an elderly woman stepping out of the farmhouse with a watering can.
She shakes it at him. “I will have whisky, you cheeky sod.”
