19. Beth
CHAPTER NINETEEN
BETH
Present day
M y aunt Liv was the head librarian at the University of Edinburgh and had been for years. Via her mum’s position, Lily had gotten a coveted tutoring job through the library. Cara and I had spent today on Bristo Square, which housed the Pleasance and McEwan Halls, and was a vital part of the university estate. We were capturing footage of one of our clients who was an Edinburgh Uni alum, as part of a “getting to know you” reel. It had been a long morning, shooting footage in Old Town and on university grounds. Scotland was popular on social media, and we were not above using our location to get our clients views.
After lunch, I’d left Cara to make the short walk to George Square, through the small park between the uni buildings and the main campus library.
It had been weeks since I’d seen Lily, and I was trying to make a more concerted effort to be present in the lives of the people I loved all while juggling this crazy, busy career. Lily had a quick half hour before her next tutoring session, so we’d agreed to meet in the large reception where there was comfortable seating and people were free to talk and be social without bothering those who were studying elsewhere.
Lily spotted me as I sauntered through the glass entrance doors. She caught my eye, standing from a low-backed, two-seater sofa. Her laptop and books were scattered on the table in front of her.
Genuine joy filled me at the sight of my cousin. I’d missed her.
I pulled her into a hug. She embraced me with a tight squeeze. “Missed you, cuz.”
Squeezing her back, I replied, “Missed you too, Lil.”
As I released her, she immediately tugged on her shirt to cover the slither of skin it had revealed. Trying not to frown, I took the seat opposite her and watched as she sat down and wrapped an arm around her belly, covering herself. It was an unconscious move, one I’d seen her do many a time. Lily was a beautiful girl, inside and out. She had her mum and dad’s dark hair and her mum’s unusual golden-hazel eyes. Both Lily and January had inherited their dad’s dimples and their mum’s glamorous smile. Altogether, the combination of Nate and Liv in their daughters had resulted in unfairly gorgeous human beings.
While Lily’s younger sister, Jan, was confident and outgoing, Lily was only ever confident behind the podcast mic. In real life, she struggled with self-image issues and shyness. It was frustrating to see her pop back into her shell around people she didn’t know well, or cover her curvy body like there was anything wrong with it (there wasn’t!), because Lily Sawyer was sweet, kind, and utterly hilarious once you got to know her. At least listeners of the show had gotten to know her. That was something.
“You look great. Summer must be agreeing with you.”
Lily grinned, her dimples flashing adorably. “It’s been nice just tutoring and doing Seek and You Shall Find . I’m preparing myself, though, for the craziest senior year imaginable.” Since doing the podcast, Lily had switched her degree from art history to psychology. She’d applied to schools to do a post-graduate degree in counseling and psychotherapy. Through the show, she’d realized how much she enjoyed listening to and helping people.
“When do you hear back about grad school?”
“Applications have to be in by January next year. We hear at the end of April.”
I nodded, crossing my fingers with a smile. Lily wanted to stay at Edinburgh and do her postgrad here, but she planned to apply to several universities across the country.
“So, what’s this I hear about a rival podcast?”
Lily rolled her eyes and settled back on the sofa, forgetting to be self-conscious enough to allow herself to relax. “A bunch of anonymous idiots who decided to try to build off our success by basically running the male version of our show,” she huffed. “It wouldn’t bother me so much if they weren’t critiquing our episodes as a way to siphon our listeners. Apparently, they’re calling me out for being a fraud. They said I’m clearly not shy or introverted and shouldn’t be pretending to be.”
Part of Lily’s appeal to her listeners was that she spoke about dating from an introvert’s perspective. It was in no way fake. Someone could be an extrovert in some ways and an introvert in others.
“Haven’t they heard of an extroverted introvert?”
“Exactly! It frustrates me how you’re not allowed to be more than one thing these days or feel more than one thing. It’s either or. No wonder we’re all depressed and doing anything to escape it, like dating morons so I have material for a dating podcast. These Potterrow Blokes are a typical example of men coming along and stealing from women, becoming successful off our backs, and then pretending like they invented the bloody wheel!”
I let her rant a wee bit longer about the competing podcast until she’d vented. Then Lily asked about Social Queens.
“Mum says your mum is worried you’re working too hard?” There was a question in Lily’s tone. Concern glimmered in her pretty eyes. “Are you?”
“Probably.” I sighed heavily. “Lil, I don’t know how else to do it. We can’t maintain the business otherwise.”
“That worries me.” My cousin leaned forward. “Beth, you’ll burn out.”
The thought squeezed my chest with anxiety. “I’ll be fine,” I promised breezily.
Lily seemed to see right through me. “Beth?—”
“Are you Lily Sawyer?” a deliciously posh male voice interrupted us.
We both looked up at the same time, and I quirked an eyebrow.
Staring down at Lily was a tall, golden god of a bloke. He had the broad-shouldered, lean, muscular physique of a swimmer, clearly displayed in the fitted black Kaleo T-shirt he wore with jeans and trainers. His skin was tan against dark blond hair that looked sun-bleached in places, and his pouty mouth was at delicious odds with the sharp angles of his jaw and nose. Dreamy blue-green eyes pinned Lily to her seat.
My poor cousin gaped at golden god.
Golden god quirked an eyebrow and shot me a look. “Is she Lily Sawyer?”
“Who’s asking?” I gave him a teasing smirk.
“The person paying for a tutoring session.” He had a plummy Etonian accent and a deep voice that oozed sex.
Poor Lily.
Her olive cheeks thankfully didn’t turn red, but she licked her lips nervously as she glanced from her books back to golden god. “You’re Sebastian Thorne?”
“At your service.” Sebastian gave her a mocking bow of his head.
“A-and you n-need help?”
“In more ways than one.” He frowned down at her. “Are you sure you’re Lily Sawyer?”
She nodded vigorously. “I’m Lily Sawyer. Lily Sawyer is me. I have ID if you want.”
His lips twitched as he continued to study my cousin like she was fascinating. “Not necessary.”
Lily practically gawked back at him.
Feeling like I was intruding, I shot to my feet. “Well, I’ll leave you to it. I’ll talk to you later, Lily.”
“But—”
“Nice to meet you, Sebastian.”
He barely acknowledged me, apparently unable to take his eyes off Lily. I smiled to myself as I walked away. My cousin deserved to have a golden god stare at her like she was the only person in the room. Her last boyfriend had been a total tosser who slept with one of her so-called friends. January paid his flatmate to let her into Lily’s ex’s room where she’d retrieved some of the belongings Lily had left and then stuck a fish she’d bought from the fishmonger in the back of his wardrobe.
“I hope it takes him months to find it,” Jan had declared with savage satisfaction.
No one messed with January Sawyer’s big sister and got away with it.
I couldn’t wait to talk to Lily about Sebastian later when we were alone. Forever the secret romantic, I imagined their tutoring session turning into something far more exciting.
Even through my thrill at the prospect of Lily dating handsome Sebastian, I felt a twinge of envy. For some reason, lately, I had to admit I’d been reluctant to go back on the dating app. Time was ticking, though. Next February I’d turn twenty-five. That put me three years behind my mum when she found love. I didn’t want to waste my twenties looking for it! I wanted what Mum had.
A lifetime with Mr. Right.