Chapter 29 Fraser
TWENTY-NINE
FRASER
After dinner, Cameron leaves, and Summer and I spend the rest of the day watching TV in the guest bedroom. Summer is, unsurprisingly, a big fan of Project Runway. She falls asleep on me in the early evening, but I can’t sleep. I’m too angry. I spend the entire night looking through her comments.
They’re vile. Calling Summer ugly. Making fun of her. And for what? Getting upset?
Summer sleeps like the dead all night and only stirs when the sun begins to rise outside. I watch her eyes flutter open. I bet she feels awful, but she still does that massive fake smile.
“Hi!” she says, stretching. “Ugh, I’m so embarrassed—”
I kiss her. I kiss her over and over, until she’s gasping for breath and that fake smile is wiped off her face. “You okay, baby?” I ask, stroking back her hair.
“You shouldn’t be so nice to me,” she whispers.
“That’s actually up to me, I’m afraid. And I think I should be being plenty nice to you.” I pat her hip. “I’m gonna get us some coffee, yeah?”
She nods, curling under the quilt.
When I step into the kitchen, Alec and Cameron are both up. Cameron has his phone in his hand, which is an unusual sight. I didn’t know he knew how to switch it on.
“Is she all right?” Alec demands when he sees me.
I shrug. “As well as she can be.”
His face is pale. “This is my fault. I shouted at her.”
“Not everything is your fault,” I say tiredly.
“Aye,” Cameron agrees. “It’s these people online.” He scowls at his phone, tapping clumsily at the screen.
Jesus. “Tell me you’re not responding to comments.”
“They’re calling her ugly,” he says, disbelieving. “She did nothing wrong. They can’t say this shit about her.”
“No.” I grab the phone. “I did not make you a Picturegram account so you could respond to the comments. I made it so you could accidentally like her pictures from three years ago and get really embarrassed.”
He glares. “We have to do something. Some of these people post their real names.” His jaw tightens. “There are old tools in the shed.”
“A murder spree might make you feel better, but not her,” I point out. “I know what’ll cheer her up.” I head to the coffee jug.
“Bring extra layers,” Alec tells me. “And towels. She’s smaller than you, she won’t handle the cold as well—”
“All right, boss.” I pour the coffee into a thermos. “How long have we got?”
Alec checks his watch. “The morning. I need you both to finish village deliveries by the afternoon.”
I nod and go to leave.
“Fraser,” Alec calls after me. “If she wants to stay longer, she can,” he says stiffly. “If it will help her.”
Despite the situation, I feel my chest warm. I knew my friend was still in there. “Thanks. I’ll ask.”
Back in the bedroom, Summer is sitting up in bed. I lean in the doorway and grin at her. “Hey, baby. Wanna go for a walk with me?”
We’re both silent as we make the trek towards Loch Thara. I hold Summer’s hand, helping her over logs and through the trees.
I remember the first time I came down here. It was my first time at Lochview. I was seven. That day, Mum had come straight from one of my sister’s hospital appointments to pick me up from school. My teacher had pulled her aside and told her I was being “unruly.”
Mum had started to yell at me and then burst into tears in the middle of the playground. “I swear,” she’d choked out, “I can’t deal with him right now, not on top of everything else. I can’t handle—”
Alec’s mum had appeared and hugged her. “Honey, it’s okay,” she’d said. “I’ll take him home with me, get him some dinner. He can play with Alec. You’re friends, aren’t you, boys?”
I remember looking at Alec, who was clutching his book bag and frowning at the two grownups.
We were friends. But I didn’t want to play. I was angry. Rosie was always sick, and Mum never paid any attention to me, and I hated everything. But it wasn’t my decision, so I was sent to Lochview Farm.
When we got out of Alec’s mum’s car, I had to hide how impressed I was. We lived in a bungalow, and they had so much land. They had animals. I was too mad to admit I thought it was cool, so I ran away while Alec’s mum was making us a snack and hid behind one of the barns.
Alec found me. He crouched next to me, all solemn behind his glasses. “Let me show you my secret place.”
I was angry, but I was also a small boy. I couldn’t resist a secret place. So Alec brought me down to the loch.
“Here we are,” I say, lifting aside a branch so Summer can duck under it. She gasps at the sight.
This bank of Lake Thara is a secret of the forest. You have to find your way through the trees to get to it, but if you manage, the reward is spectacular.
The loch is dark and still and deep, pooled in the hands of the hills.
The bank is soft with green moss and rushes and tiny star-shaped wildflowers which slope gently down to the water.
Summer spins to take it all in. “It’s like a fairy tale,” she murmurs.
She’s not wrong. The place feels magic. Untouched.
Birds sing undisturbed in the trees overhead, and the great hills of the Highlands stretch up around us, fading to blue in the sky.
I lead Summer down to the water, passing the willow that Alec, Cameron, and I engraved our initials into as teenagers.
Nostalgia drifts through me, bittersweet.
We spent so much time here growing up. This is where we’d come to hide from Alec’s dad when he was angry. Or when Cameron’s nan accidentally-on-purpose locked him out. Or when Rosie had a recurrence. After Alec’s mum died, I remember Alec floating in the loch for hours, staring up at the sky.
We haven’t been here together in years. Cameron hasn’t swum since his injury, and Alec always says he’s too busy. I’m the only one who ever comes here these days.
And now, I suppose, Summer. I watch her pretty face as she takes it all in. “It’s so lovely,” she says, gazing at two jewel-coloured dragonflies flitting across the water.
“Aye.” I reach for my belt. “Off with your clothes then.”
Her mouth falls open as I pull down my trousers. “You’re kidding.”
“Not at all,” I say innocently, stepping out in my undies.
“But…” Her eyes jump between the water and my bare legs. “But it looks freezing.”
“Aye,” I say, yanking off my shirt. “Don’t judge me, all right? Remember that men’s bits try to hide in cold water.”
“But…” Her protests die as I pull off my underwear and stand in front of her fully naked. As she stares blatantly at my dick, I help peel off her little coat. “What if someone comes?” she says. “This is public indecency.”
“No one ever comes here.” I fold her clothes carefully on a tree stump and run my finger under the blue lace strap of her bra. “Now. Do you want to keep this on like a wee bikini or get the full wild swimming experience?”
“You’re serious.”
“Aye.” I kiss her shoulder. “I swear it’ll make you feel better, London.”
Summer crosses her arms, shivering. “Oh, screw it,” she mutters. “Take it off.”
I grin and reach behind her back, unclasping the bra and letting it fall gently to the mossy floor. The panties are next, and then she’s standing in front of me, fully naked.
For a moment, I just look at her. In the early morning sun, her hair is gleaming gold, and her soft curves are practically glowing.
“So…what now?” she asks, looking nervously at the loch.
“Pop your arms around my neck.”
Confused, she does as I say, and I hoist her up into my arms.
Her eyes widen. “Wait, Fraser, no—” she starts.
I grin. “Brace yourself,” I tell her. Then I sprint into the water.