Page 54 of Slow Burn Summer

Charlie had already gone bythe time she woke the next morning. He’d left a brown paper bag of croissants on the kitchen table, beside a bottle of champagne and a copy of that morning’sSunday Times.

29

“You look tired,” Liv said,handing Kate a tin of mismatched buttons to sort into a plastic organizer TikTok had convinced her she couldn’t live without.

“I am.” Kate tipped the buttons out on the counter. “It seems to get crazier every day. More reader messages to reply to, more podcasts and online interviews.”

“But look at you handling it all like a pro,” Liv said. “Have you thought about what to do when all this ends?”

“Well, Prue is already talking about the idea of more Kate Darrowby books, but there’s no set plan.”

Liv frowned. “Written by the same author?”

Kate shook her head. “That’s the problem really. He’s got no interest in writing any more love stories.”

“Do you still think it could be Charlie?”

For reasons she couldn’t even explain to herself, she hadn’t told Liv that Charlie had been in Cornwall. The relationship between them had slid straight back into professional mode on their return to London, just as it needed to. And nothing had happened in Pink Cottage, except for the undeniable intimacy of sharing the sofa, and no one had been there to see and misconstrue it.

“I honestly don’t know, but there’s not a chance I could write anything up to scratch myself.”

“Not even those manuscripts we risked a criminal record for?”

Kate screwed her nose up. “They weren’t bad, but they weren’t good enough. Not in the same ballpark. Or even the same city. They’d have to hire a ghostwriter.”

Liv put her head on one side. “A ghostwriter for a ghost author?”

“Too many ghosts,” Kate said, unconvinced. The idea had been floated in one of the many emails between Kate, Charlie, and the publishing team since theSunday Timeslisting. Prue was understandably keen to brand-build, but Kate had found herself unable to get on board with the team’s enthusiasm.

She’d taken the assignment because she wanted to share H’s beautiful story with the world. He’d spilled his soul onto the pages of the book, and as Kate Darrowby, she’d become a part of that story too. But Kate Darrowby was only ever supposed to be a once-around-the-sun deal.

“Weird,” Liv said, fastening a full-size T-Rex costume onto the display dummy.

“That’s actually quite intimidating,” Kate said, impressed.

“I got carried away,” Liv said. “Nish tried it on last night and scared the kids next door.”

Kate laughed at the image of her gentle brother-in-law causing a scene, then reached for her beeping mobile from the back pocket of her jeans. One glance at the messages flying across her lock screen told her something was blowing her phone up, even by Kate Darrowby’s standards. A call buzzed in from a number she didn’t recognize at the exact same time as a message from Charlie slid across the top of her screen.

Kate, don’t answer any calls from the press or reply to anyone online—I’m on the first train back from Edinburgh. Am talking to Prue and the team now. C x

“What the…?” she frowned, letting the call go to voicemail as she read Charlie’s message aloud to Liv. He was away at a film premiere with one of his biggest clients in Edinburgh, not due back for a couple of days. “I’ve no clue what he’s talking about.”

Liv pulled her mobile out too and clicked on Kate’s social media, ominously quiet as her thumbs flew over the screen.

“Oh God…” Kate whispered, trying to read her sister’s face for clues. “People know I didn’t write it, don’t they?”

A storm gathered in Liv’s blue eyes. “Did you tell Alice about the book by email?”

Kate couldn’t fathom the connection between her daughter and whatever was happening right now. “Every conversation we have lately seems to be Flynn-dominated. I just emailed her quickly in case she saw anything in the press.”

“And Flynn is the fabulous Aussie boyfriend she’s ready to throw her life in with, right?”

“Liv, you’re scaring me,” Kate said, spiraling. “Has something happened to her, or to them?”

“Not yet, but if Alice has any sense, she’ll find a deadly spider and put it in his fucking mouth while he sleeps.” Liv laid her mobile screen down and put both hands flat on the counter in front of her sister, a stance that said she was about to rip the bandage off in one swift swoop. “Flynn has sold a screenshot of your email to the press. It’s out there for everyone to see. Your real name, your admission that you didn’t write the book, the fact that you’re a hired actor…all of it. Pictures of you and Alice pulled from her social media too.”

“Oh my God,” Kate breathed, pressing her hands against her hot cheeks. “Oh no, no, no.” Fear paralyzed her, Charlie’s words ringing in her head.This whole house of cards relies on the secret staying a secret.

---