“Tall One?” I can’t help but ask as she gives me a quick hug.
She nods. “Tall One, Grumpy One, Big Butt One.”
“…Lulu, they havenames.”
“Do they?” she asks, uninterested. “See ya.” She breezes past.
When the door has shut behind her, I frown up at Alec. “Why are you here? I thought you were helping Isla make wedding favour boxes.”
After we saved Lochview, Alec finally gave Isla a proper apology for being such an absent friend. Isla said she would forgive him, on the condition that he agreed to be her best man. She’s texting him about napkin colours and dragging him to taste tiny slivers of cake. I think she’s testing him. There is no way she hasn’t worked out what cake or colour scheme she wants just a few weeks before the wedding. If it is a test, though, he’s definitely passing; Alec is doing all of his Best Man tasks with the focus and determination he has for every other job on his to-do list.
“We finished early. She said my fingers were too big to tie the bows properly.” He looks troubled.
“Is everything okay, then?”
“I don’t know.” His hands run down my arms. “Your mother is here.”
My heart stops in my chest. For a moment, I can’t speak.
Shit.
I shouldn’t really be surprised. My mum has been calling for weeks now. Ever since the pictures of me and the three men in the club went viral. I’ve been ignoring her calls. I know that she’ll just criticise me, and I’ve been so happy. I haven’t wanted to deal with it.
Alec nods, his gaze intent on my face. “She just drove up a few minutes ago and demanded to speak to you. Cameron and Fraser are with her in the kitchen now. If you want me to ask her to leave?—”
“No,” I say quickly. I’ve hidden away for long enough. I should handle this. “I should get it over with.”
“We should go now then. She seems…impatient.”
I nod. He starts pulling me to the door, but I stop him. “Hey.”
“Hm?”
I touch his chest. “I love you.”
The change in his face is subtle, but very familiar. It happens every time I tell him I love him. His eyes darken. His expression softens. His shoulders relax slightly. He looks almost…surprised. Like he never believed someone could love him.
He really didn’t. He found a therapist in the local town a few weeks ago. He’s only seen her three times now, but she dug that out of him pretty quickly. After what happened five years ago—the blame he felt over Cameron, and Mr Gray, even hismother—he genuinely felt like he didn’t deserve a family. Like it was fundamentally impossible.
It breaks something in me whenever I see that flash of shock. I want to tell him over and over and over again, until it stops happening. Until all he feels when he hearsI love youis peace.
He holds my eyes as he lifts my hand to his mouth, kissing my fingers. “Thank you,” he says, and I smile.
EIGHTY-THREE
SUMMER
When we step back into the farmhouse, my stomach is swirling with nerves.
My mum is sitting at the kitchen table. Fraser is hovering over her, chattering easily as he pours tea. Cameron is watching her with a frozen expression of dislike. She looks up as Alec helps me out of my coat.
“Summer,” she says, and ice trickles down my back. “I’m glad to see you’re alive.” Mum looks just the same as she always does—beautiful and imposing. Her blonde hair is pulled back in a tight chignon, and she’s dressed in a black pantsuit. She looks ridiculously out of place in the boys’ cozy kitchen.
I switch myself on. I’m a bit out of practice. I don’t think I’ve forced myself to sparkle once in the last month. “Hi, Mum!” I say brightly. “Did you get the present I sent?” She looks at me blankly. “The cashmere?”
“Oh, yes. Thank you. I can’t exactly wear pink in court though, dear.”
“Elle Woods did,” I mumble as I join her at the table. Fraser winks at me, passing me a mug.
