Page 1 of Lipstick Kiss

Chapter One

Freya

“I’m not speaking to you,” Freya said, turning her back on her best friend.

Laughing heartily, Heidi came around the other side of the sofa in Freya’s front room and sat next to her.

“What is it today that irks you, babe?” Heidi asked, tugging on Freya’s pussy bow on her blouse.

Freya shifted up the sofa and sniffed the air like she’d smelled something foul. This made Heidi laugh harder.

“You don’t live next door anymore. You buggered off and got married and left me all alone to fend for myself. You took the chef with you, too.”

“He is my husband,” Heidi said, holding her hand out to admire her engagement ring and wedding band. They shone under the overhead light. Freya felt a pang of jealousy that Heidi had married a Turner. Once upon a time, Freya wanted to marry a Turner, not any Turner, but Luke Turner,her best friend. However, after his last two visits home, it was clear he wasn’t interested in her other than friendship.

Folding her arms, she drummed her fingers on her elbow. “Still mean.”

“Are you missing his cooking or me?”

“Both,” Freya whined.

Heidi tapped the toes of her clogs together, then swivelled to the side to face Freya. “Well, you need to get over it, as I have an awesome thing to show you,” Heidi said, holding up her hands like she was a mine artist.

That got Freya’s attention. “More awesome than the rock I have stashed in my sock drawer?”

Heidi frowned, excellent news forgotten momentarily. “I forgot I gave that to you. Jason can’t stand seeing it and won’t return it to Cynthia. Unfortunately, none of the siblings are talking to their aunt, so I can’t get Archer to do it. Maybe Luke will take it to his aunt. Can you keep it a while longer until we know what to do with it?”

“Of course,” Freya readily agreed. That meant she could try it on again before she had to part ways with the biggest diamond she’d ever seen. “What awesomeness do you have to show me?”

Heidi stood and downed the last of the coffee in her mug and walked to the kitchen attached to the living room. “Can you be at Edward Hall for six tomorrow morning?” she called out after Freya heard the water go on and off.

“O’clock?” Freya said, aghast.

Heidi chuckled on her way back into the living room.

Freya loved her tiny house. She could walk from the kitchen through the opening with no door into her living room and then past the open staircase to her front door in fifteen steps. It was perfect for lazy Saturday mornings. If she positioned her body just right on the sofa, she couldwatch TV and be nosey looking out of the window to see who was wandering past. Her front door opened straight onto the street.

“Yeah, what else? It will only take ten minutes. Plenty of time to go to the kitchens for my husband to make you breakfast before you have to teach teenagers.”

Heidi shuddered at her words, and Freya laughed.

“Teenagers are cool. I’d rather teach them than look at women’s vaginas all day,” Freya quipped and scrunched up her face.

“Meh, seen one, seen them all. Anyway, is that a yes?”

“Only if Jason makes me a bacon bap with his homemade tomato sauce. I want a white floury bap, large, with proper butter. I’ll bring my travel mug for the expensive coffee. I know he has stashed in the lockable store room.”

Heidi laughed hard and dragged her friend into a hug. “I’ll be sure to let him know. You won’t regret it, I promise.”

Heidi kissed her cheek, and Freya watched her with squinty eyes as she picked up her OBGYN bag, straightened her nurse’s top, and left. Freya waited until she passed the window before she finished her coffee and looked around to see where her school bag was.

Freya loved that her best friend was doing her dream job. They were rocking it like they’d always planned.

Freya wasn’t exaggerating when she felt lonely. They’d always lived near each other. Copper Island was small, but it was still a buggy ride up to the cottages where Jason and Heidi lived. Plus, her best friend was only three months married, and she didn’t want to be a third wheel.

Freya sipped her second coffee while pouring her third into a travel mug. She loved teaching, but she needed caffeine to fuel her enthusiasm.

Thankfully, it was Friday. One more day to get through,and Luke would be home for good. She’d missed him so much over the last nine years. She sent him letters, and he sent her postcards, letters, and parcels, but it wasn’t the same as having him back on the island.

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