Page 36 of These Pucking Boys: Part Two

“Oh... I need to check my calendar. It’ll have to be when I get off work, though.”

“That’s not a problem. Email me the dates you’re available. The sooner we get you prepared for the sharks, the better.”

The giddiness in my stomach turns into an ache. “I’m not looking forward to facing the press, to be honest.”

“No one ever does. I gotta go. Talk to you later.”

“Okay. Bye.” I end the call and set the phone down on the table.

“What was that all about?” Katrina asks.

“Melissa wants me to have media training ASAP.”

“That’s not a bad thing, right?”

I shake my head. “Not at all. But it means things are about to get real.”

She tilts her head. “In what sense?”

I lean forward and whisper, “I haven’t quite wrapped my head around dating three guys.”

“Oh? You haven’t?”

“I could handle the novelty better when we were in a bubble. Now that Jake and I will be the official couple in this relationship, we’ll be under the scrutiny of the public eye. I’m terrified it will ruin everything. And Jake had that strange reaction I told you about.”

“You’re worrying too much. He was the one who stepped up and told April he was your boyfriend. He wouldn’t have done that if he didn’t have feelings for you.”

I let out a heavy sigh. “You’re right. I’m probably overthinking.”

“Of course I’m right. I’m awesome like that.”

My phone vibrates with an incoming text from April, making me frown.

“What’s wrong?” Katrina asks.

“April sent me an all-caps text telling me to click on the links she sent.”

“God, why must teens be so dramatic?”

I click on the article link, and the headline makes me sick to my stomach. It says, Are Lachlan Stewart and Lorena Pearson Reigniting Their Flame?

“Son of a bitch.”

“What?”

“April sent me a link about Lachlan and his ex-fiancée.” I show her the picture of Lachy talking to Lorena when she ambushed him at the farmer’s market.

“They think they’re getting back together based on that image? Lachy looks like he’s a second from telling her to go to hell.”

“Like the tabloids care about the truth.”

“I thought you were with Lachy. You’re nowhere in that picture.”

“They must have taken it after I walked away.”

“Don’t read the article, June. It’ll only bum you out more.”

“Why would April send me this though?”

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