Chapter Twenty-Nine
Oliver
“Cheers!” The mass of voices was accompanied by the clinking of glasses. We were all sitting in the garden of The Sleeping Goose, the evening sunshine warming our skin as we crowded around our usual picnic tables.
Lane and I had finally decided to come clean about our relationship and our plans, considering it had been over two weeks since I’d dragged him out to Riddle Cove and confessed my feelings.
I wasn’t sure how we’d managed to keep things a secret until now, but I got the feeling everyone had already known, and they’d just been waiting for us to finally say something.
“Cheers to these two fuckers finally getting their acts together,” Alex said. “It’s only taken them nine bloody years.”
“Hey!” Lane objected.
“No, you don’t get to object,” Alex said. “You didn’t have to listen to yourself moan and whine.”
“I thought,” Lane said, “that you didn’t like Oliver?”
Alex shrugged. “I never said that at all. I was just taking sides to make you happy.”
I laughed. It didn’t bother me that Alex had taken Lane’s side because in all fairness to him, he and Noah had been the ones who’d had to pick up the pieces after I’d left. If I’d been in their shoes, I’d have resented me too by the end of it.
Lane had told me a little of how he’d felt after I’d left, and what he’d done, and I’d shared the same.
It hadn’t been pleasant to relive those emotions, but it had been necessary to understand what we’d both been through.
And afterwards, we’d spent several hours in bed, wringing pleasure out of our bodies until we were as physically exhausted as we were emotionally.
“I’m happy for you, though,” Alex added. “You’ve always been good together.”
“You have,” Noah said from beside him. “Even when we were kids, you two were so close you were virtually inseparable.”
“And now you’re stuck with me again,” I said, giving Lane a wry smile.
“Such a hardship.” He leant over and kissed me, and Alex groaned.
“Fuck, I’d forgotten it means we have to put up with them doing this shit again.”
“Are you jealous?” Theo asked, one of his wickedly sweet smiles playing across his lips. “Do you need more kisses? I can kiss you if you want.”
Alex stared, then burst out laughing. “Thanks. I’ll think about it.”
“You know, I think that’s the first time I’ve ever offered to kiss someone and been turned down,” Theo said, looking completely awestruck.
“You were bound to strike out once or twice,” Laurie said from beside him, putting his arm around Theo’s shoulders.
“True. Maybe Alex has a secret boyfriend we don’t know about, and that’s why he doesn’t want to kiss me.”
“What? Fuck off. I don’t have a secret boyfriend!”
“Who’s got a secret boyfriend?” Spencer asked. He’d been chatting to Will about something sporty, but now his attention was fixed firmly on Alex and Theo.
“I think Alex does,” Theo said. “He didn’t want to kiss me, so he’s obviously got a boyfriend.”
“Oh, that would make sense. He has been on his phone a lot lately.”
“I have not! I’ve been trying to sort stuff for the fucking shop,” Alex said, and Spencer gave him a relaxed smile.
“Relax, it’s fine. We’ll be here for you when you’re ready.”
“Jesus fucking Christ,” Alex said, rubbing his face before downing his pint. “One day, I’m going to fucking murder you.”
“Nah, I’m your brother. You wouldn’t do that.”
“Try me.”
“Hey,” Will said, cutting into the conversation before it turned to bloodshed. “Did you hear about the castle?”
“No,” I said. “What’s going on?”
“Is this about the period drama rumours?” Noah asked.
“Period drama?” I frowned, trying to dredge through my memory to see if anything had been mentioned recently. I couldn’t think of anything.
“Apparently,” Lane said, “there’ve been a load of location scouts going up to the castle to look at it for some new period drama. I didn’t think there’d been any confirmation, though.”
“It’d be a nice place for it,” I said, and there were a few nods around the table. The castle—or Hareford House to use its given name that was only used by visitors and in writing—was the large country house overlooking the bay.
It had been built in the 1800s to resemble a Gothic castle when there was a renaissance of that architecture style, which had given it a fairy-tale vibe.
Local gossip said the owner had delusions of grandeur and had nearly bankrupted himself in the process, which according to various people’s family legends had been a source of great dissatisfaction to people in town, who’d been hoping he’d actually manage it.
These days, the castle was open for tours and weddings, and they held various events in the grounds throughout the year like concerts, open-air cinemas, food festivals, and a Christmas market.
Since it was in such good shape and a good size, it would be an obvious choice for a period drama, especially considering its dramatic views over the bay.
“They’ve confirmed it,” Will said, lowering his voice and looking around to make sure nobody else was listening. “We’ve got some land that backs onto the castle estate, and they wanted to potentially use some of it for filming, so they came asking for permission.”
“I take it you said yes?” Lane asked.
Will grinned. “I did. They offered me a little bit of money too, which helped.”
“That’s exciting,” I said. “Do you know when they’ll start filming?”
“Don’t know. I guess it’ll depend on the rest of the process.”
“I wonder if they’ve got a cast yet,” Noah mused. “Maybe we’ll get to meet some of them if they come into town.”
“Come on,” Alex said. “It’s not like they’re going to get someone proper famous to do it. And if they did, they’re not going to come into town. They’re going to stay in their hotel and eat their fancy catered food and ignore all of us.”
“Hey, they might not,” Spencer said. “They might want some good coffee. Maybe we can see if we can get a delivery contract or something. Take them some cake.”
Alex muttered something under his breath that sounded like a concession.
“Oooh, do you think they’ll want extras?” Theo asked. “I’d look cute in period dress. And Laurie would make an excellent brooding regency gentleman.”
“How do you know it’ll be regency?” Noah asked.
Theo sighed. “It’s always regency. It’ll probably be about some brooding, rakish hero who declares he never wants to get married and just wants to be left alone in his castle, and some beautiful, charming young lady who wins him over.
Then they’ll fall in love, live happily ever after, and have many equally beautiful babies.
I wish they’d do something different for once. Like something gay. And steamy.”
“Of course you want it to be steamy,” Laurie teased.
“Hey, if Bridgerton can be steamy, so can my fantasy gay regency show. I mean boobs are fine, I guess, if you like that sort of thing, but where is my copious amount of on-screen period-drama penis?”
I’d chosen the wrong moment to take a sip of my drink because at Theo’s words, I snorted, and half my cider tried to escape into my lungs. Lane patted my back as I coughed and spluttered, trying not to hack up a lung while simultaneously laughing so hard I cried. Either way my eyes were watering.
Luckily, I wasn’t the only one laughing, and the conversation swiftly turned to people’s dream casting of Theo’s fantasy show. Even Alex had some opinions on what that might look like, despite his protestations that he wasn’t interested, and period dramas weren’t his thing.
“I’m going to get another round,” Lane said while Theo and Noah debated the merits of whether it would be worth getting someone like Kayden Hart, who’d have to learn to do a good British accent, or trying to find someone British to fill the role. “Does anyone want anything?”
“I’ll come with you,” I said, trying to memorise everyone’s order, even if it was pretty standard at that point, while we gathered up the empties.
As we walked away, I heard Laurie say, “What about Jason Lu? He’s British, right? He used to be in Celestials, and he’d be perfect for it.” His comment was met with various oohs and ahhhs, and I heard Spencer saying something I couldn’t catch as we walked away.
Lane slipped one hand into mine and squeezed it gently as we made our way towards the door of the pub.
“You know what I’ve realised,” I said.
“What?”
“That things like this—evenings at the pub, pub quizzes, Sunday dinners crammed into our kitchen—they’re all permanent now.
They’re not just something I only get to do for a couple of months before I go home.
This is home.” I shook my head. “Sorry, I realise that sounds ridiculous. But it’s just these little things that keep reminding me that this is my life now, and every time I remember that, it makes me happy. ”
“Good,” Lane said, giving me a fond smile as we slipped through the door.
He let go of my hand so we could weave through the crowd inside.
As usual, the place was packed, and we had to squeeze through a group of regulars to get to the end of the bar.
“I’m glad you’re happy.” He leant across and gave me a quick kiss as we deposited the empty glasses on the polished wooden bar.
“What do you want to do this weekend?” I asked.
“I don’t mind. We can look at some stuff for the house if you want.”
“Depends on whether you mean fun things or forcing me to choose paint colours.”
Lane laughed. “Fun things, like stuff for your library.”
“Sold.” I grinned.
“We will have to look at paint too,” Lane said, leaning closer and lowering his voice. “But if you’re good, I’ll reward you.”
“Oh? How will you do that?”
“I don’t think that’s a conversation we should have here.”
I swallowed. “It’s definitely one we’re having later, though.”
“Of course,” Lane said, the smile evident in his voice. “And I promise it will be fun.”
I tilted my head towards him, capturing his mouth in another kiss. “You make the best promises.”