Page 64 of You Belong With Me

‘Absolutely, sounds great. Please thank her for the invite.’

Fraser squeezed Edie’s free hand. ‘I want you two to hit it off so much, you know?’

Fraser followed this with the trademark glance around the room to assess who was present and if they could be overheard.

‘Do you think Elliot’s all right at the moment? Apart from being overjoyed to be back with you, obvs. I think that story his father did knocked him for six. Shit, feels so weird saying “his father” and not meaning our dad.’

‘I bet.’ Edie thought Fraser, as well as Elliot, had dealt with that blow magnificently well, from what she could tell. ‘He was upset at the vitriol at first, but equally, I don’t think his dad had much ability left to disappoint him.’

‘The thing about Elliot is, he does that thing … what’s the word for thinking? The thinking that men on horses do? In those shows where the women are in long dresses and it’s all about proposing in gardens and having tea at each other’s houses? In gloves?’

‘Period dramas? A word for thinking?’

‘Yeah, by men who are like this …’ Fraser affected a haughty curl of the lip.

‘Err … brooding?’

‘Brooding! That’s it. Elliot does a lot of brooding andoverthinking. I know I under-think everything. But he gets anxious worrying about all kinds of random,out thereshit. He’s always planning three chess moves ahead and too smart for his own good, you know? He doesn’t have a cruise control setting.’

Edie nodded and smiled in agreement, while wondering if this was leading to a request. Her brain, on the Owens subject, already had too many tabs open.

‘You’re so good for him, though. You can keep up with him and calm him down. I’ve never seen anyone who can do both before.’

Edie beamed.

‘Do you think someone he trusts might be selling stories on him?’ Fraser said casually, and Edie’s whole body went tense.

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‘Why do you say that?’ she said.

With almost anyone other than Fraser Owen, Edie might smell gambit. However, Fraser would never do that. He was devoid of machinations, low cunning, and deceit, and Edie knew the esteem he held her in was genuine. Even having overheard him being frank with Elliot about their shaky foundations, she never thought any different. Truthfully, it was Elliot betraying her there.

‘There was the one about you and him at our engagement party. That was probably my fault, and I’m really sorry. People get wankered, and phones get waggled.’ Fraser gave awhat you gonna doshrug. ‘But it’s not the only sneaky thing. Don’t tell Elliot this – I’d feel strange about him knowing – but after the adoption came out, I set up a Google Alert on mentions of him. You know I generally stay away from that bullshit, but I didn’t want any surprises for a while. As a result, I’ve caught a few things that made me gohmm.’

Oh God. Neither of the brothers were telling each other about the leaking mole? The Leaking Mole sounded like a tavern in a fantasy novel.

‘Too accurate?’ Edie said, sipping her drink.

‘Yeah, like it’s been briefed by someone who knows a lot? Quoting Elliot’s Elliot-isms? As you say, they’re getting too much right, which is certainly a massive change. Then at the weekend, Molly shook the shit out of me by pointing out some American account she follows on Instagram had the story he came to see you in Derbyshire. I mean, how in the fuck? That knowledge was super locked down, he said? I only found out ’cos I happened to call him and could hear he was at an airport.’

‘Yes, Elliot’s publicist told him about that one. I was pretty embarrassed – it made me sound like a banshee. Mind you, I was.’

Wait,Mollytold Fraser? Molly – she wouldn’t actively alert him to her own misdeed, would she? Hope flourished that it wasn’t Molly. Fraser could prove it if he’d not told Molly about Elliot’s mad transatlantic dash beforehand, but he very likely had. Edie’s purpose would be far too obvious if she asked.

‘But who can it be? We’d not do it – his friends wouldn’t do it. Your parents wouldn’t do it,’ Edie said.

‘Exactly. Super sinister. I best get to the bottom of it, because if it carries on, he’ll think it’s Molly, and there’s no way it’s Mol. No way. Don’t tell him this, but she thinks Elliot’s a bit distant with her as it is. She doesn’t need this hanging over her.’

Edie held her breath in case Fraser asked her if Elliot suspected his fiancée, but he didn’t. She intuited it was due to Fraser not imagining his brother’s thinking could be thatfar along rather than sparing Edie being put in the middle.

She and Fraser parted outside, a typically effusive farewell that involved her being enveloped in Puffa jacket to point of suffocation.

‘C’mere! I’m so loving having you as a sister! Dunno what the whining soy boy did to deserve you, but I’m glad he did.’

Edie WhatsApped Elliot as she walked to Ad Hoc.

Edie

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