“Only one way to find out,” Fraser declares, picking me up and tossing me over his shoulder. I shriek as he carries me to the couch and lays me out on it.
“Order her a bigger sofa,” Cameron tells Alec, who just nods.
EIGHTY-TWO
SUMMER
ONE MONTH LATER
Somewhere, an alarm is beeping, and it’s making me want to die.
“Summer.” A hand shakes my shoulder. “Wake up. Everyone is calling you a dirty slag online.”
I groan and roll over. And promptly fall onto the floor, because I’m on a sofa, not my bed. I flip over onto my back and stare at the ceiling of my studio. When Alec installed the lighting, he bought tulip-shaped lightshades. I smile at them happily.
“Hello?” Lulu appears in my frame of vision, squinting down at me. “Did you hear what I said? Hi, by the way.”
“Er. Hi.” I sit up and look around me, disorientated. My studio looks like a bomb has hit it. There are piles of fabric everywhere.
I scrub my eyes and pick through my memories. Last night, Alec was working, so Fraser and Cameron took me to the Dewdrop for dinner. Isla and Emmy were both there, and I helped them party plan for their joint hen do. We had a couple of drinks, and everything got a bit giggly and blurry. Eventually,Fraser and Cameron kidnapped me and brought me back home. I was fed toast and water and tucked safely in bed between them both, but as the hours passed, I couldn’t turn my brain off.
So I came down here to sew. I must have crashed on the sofa. And then…
I squint up at Lulu. My best friend is standing over me in Chanel tweed trousers and a ruffled Dior top, smiling slightly. I haven’t seen her in a month.
“Lulu, I’m sorry, I meant to meet you outside.” I fumble for my phone, turn off the alarm, and hop up to hug her.
She laughs. “It’s fine. I didn’t exactly need directions to the bright-pink cottage.”
I breathe in the sweet scent of her perfume. “Thank you for driving up here. You didn’t have to.”
Lulu called me a few days ago and announced that she would be spending the week in the Highlands. The men offered to let her stay on the farm, but she informed them that she “didn’t do farms” and booked into the luxury lodge I was meant to do a brand deal with. The irony is not lost on me.
She shrugs. “I needed an excuse to wear tweed. I look like if Sherlock Holmes was hot. And, you know…” She pokes my cheek, “I wanted to see how you are.”
My heart immediately melts. “Lulu.” I pull her into another hug.
She bats me off. “All right, all right. You know I’m an emotionless husk, please don’t cry on me.” She sweeps across to my desk. “You look like you’ve been busy.”
“Er, yes.” I look at the racks of clothes lining the room.
In the past four weeks, I’ve sewn more than I have in my entire life. I’ve made cotton floral sleepwear sets. Gingham microskirts. Babydoll dresses rimmed with ribbon. Everything is soft and sweet, in petal pink, primrose yellow, mintgreen, cornflower blue. There are ribbons and lace and tiny embroidered details.
One could say it’s almost a full collection.
“Sit.” Lulu pats the chair next to her. “I have so much to catch you up on.”
I grimace. “Because everyone is calling me a slag?”
To be honest, since I moved back to Lochview, I’ve completely ignored my socials. The last month has been a blur of lazy sex, playing with animals, and sewing in my new studio. I swim, I eat good food, I get cuddled to death every night. Cameron quit his new job and moved back onto Lochview to take up his old position. With the three men, I feel supported and surrounded by love for the first time in my life.
Lulu shrugs. “It’s been a month. You got romantically whisked away by three men at your own party, and then you went silent.” She opens her bag and dumps a pile of papers onto the desk. I try not to be alarmed. “Good news is you’re literally drowning in deals. Congrats on six mil.”
“What?”
She looks at me oddly. “You really haven’t been online at all?”
I shake my head. I’ve tried, but every time I open my Picturegram, I start to panic and need to find a man to sit on.
