Page 81 of Slow Burn Summer

Kate paused, feeling pressure on H’s behalf. “I genuinely don’t,” she said. “I wanted to, at the beginning, but given how things have turned out, I’m glad I don’t.”

“In case one of your family accidentally revealed that too?” Niall softened his smart aside with a rueful smile, but Kate wasn’t ready to let the dig slide.

“No,” she said. “My family has been dragged into this through no fault of their own.”

“The speculation around who the real author is has been feverish, though, hasn’t it?” Ruby said, refocusing the conversation back where she wanted it to be.

Kate nodded. “It has, and although I honestly don’t know who they are, they’ve sent me kind, supportive messages and I know that writing this story was a personal catharsis for them, never intended for public eyes. They were brave enough to allow their publisher to share it with the public under certain conditions, and I know they’ve followed the fallout since with utter dismay. Does it matter who the author is, really? I was in tears on the train the first time I read it, because it’s soul-baring, and vulnerable, and ultimately redeeming. I’d come through a horrible divorce and lost any faith in love, and reading that fragile, lionhearted love story made me believe again. I felt the power of the words actually superglue my heart back together.”

She straightened her shoulders, and imagined Liv straightening her crown.

“Did I expect it to snowball into such a success that I’d end up on TV and national radio and at events signing readers’ books? No, I absolutely didn’t.”

“And would you have refused the job if you’d known what it was going to lead to?” Niall said.

Kate took a breath. “I don’t honestly know. I’ll never be sorry that the book is out there. It’s been my honor and privilege to help it on its way into readers’ hands, but if I’d had the benefit of a crystal ball, there are some things I’d have done differently to protect the people I love.”

Ruby nodded. “It’s fair to say your family have become quite involved in the whole drama.”

Kate swallowed hard, because Ruby had unwittingly cued her up perfectly.

“Yes,” she said. “Readers have had their trust broken, something I didn’t reckon on, and I’m sorry to my bones for that because I’m a reader too, first and foremost—books are in my blood. I accepted the job because love stories gave me somewhere to turn to when my daughter was tiny and didn’t sleep through the night, and when my husband didn’t come home at all, some nights. They’ve made me feel seen and safe, so as of today I’d like to just be Kate Elliott again, part of the reading community. If they’ll have me.”

Ruby and Niall nodded in unison, and she plowed on before they could ask her any questions.

“I know many people have seen the video online of my sister defending me,” she said.

“Trifle-gate,” Niall interjected, with an ironic raised brow. He really did play up to the camera.

“She reacted in the heat of the moment,” Kate said. “We lost our mum when we were little girls. Liv’s the eldest and has always felt responsible for me. She’s the kindest, funniest, most loyal person you could ever wish to have in your corner, and I’d really appreciate it if people could leave her alone now, please? She’s recently found out she’s expecting a baby, and all of this stress is too much on her. She’s spent the last ten years building her fancydress shop up, she makes all the costumes herself by hand, and every morning for the last week someone has been throwing trifle at the windows.”

Kate saw the way Niall and Ruby sat to attention at this turn of events, and she didn’t dare even look at Charlie.

“And I know it may sound harmless—my sister’s away at the moment, thankfully, so I’m clearing up the mess—but actually it’s become quite sinister. I went out the other day to try to see who’sdoing it, and a guy in a balaclava appeared and threw trifle right in my face. In my hair, in my mouth, in my eyes. I was alone in the street at half past six in the morning, and I’m honestly not telling you all this out of self-pity, but because it needs to stop before my sister comes home.”

Ruby looked horrified. “You poor thing, Kate, that’s horrible.”

Kate swallowed hard, relieved she’d made it through the interview. They’d allowed her to speak for longer than her allotted time slot, and she could see the floor manager urgently gesturing for Niall and Kate to wind it up.

Niall took his cue and delivered his endpiece to the camera, then the familiar jingle sounded to signal the show was off-air for the day. Ruby pulled Kate into a quick hug as they stood.

“I hope they catch him and force-feed him trifle until he fucking chokes,” she said into Kate’s ear, completely different to the mild-mannered persona she portrayed on TV.

Kate gulped back tears, because it was such a Liv thing to say, and then she found herself jostled around and being de-mic’d until she was finally back across the studio with Charlie. He was subdued as they left the building, steering her across to a quiet bench in the shade of a willow tree on the embankment.

“I just hope that going public will be enough to stop him,” she said.

“And what if it isn’t?”

She sighed. “Then I’ll have no choice but to involve the police. I messaged Nish this morning to fill him in on everything, asked him to make sure Liv sticks to her social media ban for the next few days. He said she’s the new queen of Zen, which I can hardly imagine, but thank God right now.”

“You know it’s going to go nuclear online,” he said.

She pulled her mobile from her bag and turned it back on. It had been switched off in the studio and now burst into noisy life.

“Can I suggest something radical?” Charlie said. “A self-imposed social media ban might not be such a bad idea for you either, even if it’s just for the rest of today.”

She looked at her mobile, the furious torrent of alerts and messages stacking up, missed calls from journalists, and she closed her eyes, exhausted by the whole thing.

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