Page 65 of Once upon a Summer Night

Ellie frowned, immediately understanding. “Gwen…are you sure you want to chase him?”

Gwen tossed her hair over her shoulder. “I’m not chasing anyone. Are you okay? Colin’s leaving seems kind of…”

“Abrupt?” When Gwen didn’t reply, Ellie heaved a sigh and turned towards the forest. “I shouldn’t care. Let’s go find Reilly. But when I break my ankle tripping over a tree root, you’re going to owe me.”

“I just want to see what he’s really doing,” Gwen replied quickly, flashing her a smile. “He’s not leaving for a booty call, Ellie. He’s not one to kiss and tell.”

“You’re a besotted fool.”

“I’m not, I’m just curious. And no one uses the term ‘besotted,’” Gwen pointed out as they rounded the corner of the house.

“But they do use ‘fool.’”

“Touché, Eleanor. You’re a smart one.”

“That I am, Gwendolyn. Best not to—oof!”

Gwen helped Ellie up, righting first her friend, then therake she’d tripped over. “Maybe you should concentrate less on your words—”

“And more on your steps!” they chorused, laughing at the phrase Winnie was forever using. They linked arms and headed onward, reminiscing about their teen years, and entered the forest.

“It’s kind of…”

“Still?” Ellie supplied. “Yes, I noticed that the last time I was here, too. Today it seems almost otherworldly, though, doesn’t it? Probably the storm coming in.”

Gwen drew to a halt. “The last time?”

“Um…” Ellie scrambled, but she wasn’t fast enough.

Gwen stared at her. “You’re not telling me something. Whenelsewere you here?”

Ellie knew she wouldn’t let it go, so told her the whole story, cringing when she admitted to using her middle name. As she picked her way around a tree stump, she finished with, “As he made it clear that he doesn’t want me, here we are. Me, being set up on dates with strangers.”

Gwen patted her arm in condolence. “The company has a really good track record. They have already found someone who seems great, right? I’m sure, given the chance, Reginald will fall madly in love with you. It’s just a sweet bonus that he’s loaded,” she added with an exaggerated waggle of her eyebrows.

Ellie swatted at her friend, then chuckled. “I don’t want to be rich. I want to work in my bookshop and drink my tea and just be happy—”

Gwen cocked her head and interrupted, “Did you hear something?”

Ellie shook hers. “No, why?” But even as she said the words, an unwelcomeclick click clickdirected her attention to a nearby bush.

“Oh!” Ellie exclaimed in horror, as she noticed the man behind the camera. She threw up her hands. “Stop!”

Gwen shouted at the paparazzi cameraman, who merely stood up and snapped faster. She looked at Ellie and grabbed her hand. “Run, Ellie!”

They took off deeper into the forest, away from the little cottage, and within minutes the man’s footsteps faded into the eerie silence of the woods around them. The women stood, breathing hard, and Ellie sank down onto a fallen log. “This is a disaster. How have they found me already? How are we to get back to the cottage without him following us?”

Gwen pulled out her phone, but frowned as she looked at it. “No signal. Do you have any?”

Ellie raised a single brow. “Really? When have you ever known me to take a phone on a walk?”

“Well, my compass app seems to be working,” Gwen noted. She pointed her phone in various directions. “But the trouble is figuring out which way the cottage lies. Do you know?”

Ellie groaned. “I have no idea. I wasn’t paying attention to anything except staying upright.”

“That might turn off some potential matches if a picture of you on your bum is splayed out for all of the kingdom to see,” Gwen murmured, trying to load her GPS app. She rolled her eyes and shut the phone off. “It’s no use. I don’t have any service out here, so we’re going to have to just wing it.”

“Grand,” Ellie muttered. Her lack of directional sense was only trumped by her inability to stay upright an entire day. “Well, perhaps we ought to go back the way we came.”

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