Page 10 of The Perfect Gift

‘And such a coincidence that Charlie started taking an interest in the cottage when word got around the production company were coming to the village and keen to rent as many properties as they could lay their hands on for the cast and crew,’ Kat continued, her tone heavy with sarcasm.

Even in his muzzy-headed state, Ed’s ears pricked up. ‘Production crew?’

Once again both Harry and Kat stared at him. ‘Why else did you think Frankie was here?’ Kat asked, her tone incredulous.

Ed frowned back at her. ‘You say that like I’m supposed to know who she is.’

‘Bloody hell, Ed, you’ve been on a ship in the Caribbean, not in a crater on the dark side of the moon!’ Harry said with a shake of his head. ‘Frankie is Frankie Webber from Ton!’

The use of Frankie’s full name finally registered and things started to fall into place. He’d had a vague feeling he’d recognised her the night before but what with all the screaming and spraying and general vitriol she’d rained down on him it had been hard to concentrate. ‘That nonsense TV show with all the flouncy outfits and the shagging?’

‘It’s not nonsense!’ Kat cut in, a fierce scowl twisting her pretty features. ‘Why do men always dismiss programmes aimed at a female audience as nonsense?’

‘Sorry, sorry.’ Ed held his hands up in surrender. ‘I just meant it wasn’t my sort of thing, that’s all.’ He hadn’t watched much of anything while he was away. A few of his crew mates had downloaded favourite shows on their laptops but crowding around a screen at one of the tables in the crew lounge hadn’t been his idea of a fun way to spend his evening. Ed had spent most of his time up on deck, staring at the stars and listening to a multitude of podcasts. Part of his efforts to improve himself had been to spend less time caught up in the endless dross of social media, so he’d deleted all his apps apart from WhatsApp. It had taken a few days of itchy fingers and an even itchier brain wanting its dopamine fix, but once he’d made the break, he’d never thought about any of the platforms he’d spent hours, weeks, probably cumulatively years of his life scrolling. Now and then one of the crew would show him a meme or clip that had gone viral, but being out of the loop meant he lacked the context to understand the humour. Ton! had broken through to his consciousness because it had been everywhere. The cast had been gossiped and swooned over by some of his female crew mates and he’d picked up enough of the chatter for Frankie’s attitude to make more sense. ‘Isn’t she the one they call the Ice Bi⁠—?’

‘If you say that word in this house, Edward Penrose, I swear to God I’ll bounce you down those stairs myself and you’ll never set foot over my threshold again!’ Kat shot out of her seat and thrust her finger in Ed’s face.

It should’ve been comical, like being threatened by a miniature terrier, given the difference in their sizes, but Kat was scary. ‘I… it’s… I mean it’s not something I would call a woman, ever, only that’s what I heard is her nickname on the socials.’

‘Only if you’re a troll, or a misogynist, or both,’ Kat snapped. ‘Frankie is nothing like the way those idiots portray her. She’s lovely, and more importantly she’s my friend.’

How on earth was he messing everything up so badly? It was like setting foot back in Halfmoon Quay had undone the months of hard work and self-improvement and he was back to that feckless, aimless waste of space bouncing from one disaster to another. For a moment Ed wished he’d stayed away. Life had seemed much easier around people who didn’t know him, where he didn’t carry years of expectations – most of them bad – and he was free to be the best version of himself. He placed an apologetic hand on Kat’s arm. ‘I’m really sorry, Kitty. You know I’m not that kind of man. Can we put it down to horrible travel lag and not enough caffeine and start again?’

Kat glared at him for a few more moments before her posture softened and her features relaxed. ‘I’m sorry I snapped, but it just makes me so mad that people say such awful, cruel things about someone they don’t even know.’

‘People are dicks. And this morning I’m definitely people.’ When that earned him the ghost of a smile, Ed wanted to punch the air in triumph. ‘If Frankie is your friend, then she must be one of the good ones.’

Kat reached out and patted his chest. ‘You’re one of the good ones, too. Most of the time at least.’ Raising her hand to his cheek, she pressed gently and Ed turned his head obediently. ‘You’re going to have to do something about your hair,’ she said. ‘We can’t have people gossiping.’

‘Hopefully it’ll fade in a few days,’ Ed replied. ‘And besides, I’ve never cared what other people think.’

‘Oh, I’m not worried about you, I just don’t want rumours to start that might cause trouble for Frankie. She doesn’t need any bad publicity right now. In fact we’ve been trying to avoid publicity full stop until they’ve finished filming. The production crew have brought in a great deal of money to the community at a time when we need it the most, and we’re doing our best to make sure that they have a positive experience while they are here. They’re hoping to finish up on Wednesday, so it’s just a few more days to keep everything running smoothly.’

‘I should never have shared that photo,’ Harry said, his face a picture of contrition.

Ed’s eyes narrowed. ‘What photo?’ He vaguely recalled Harry pointing his phone at him last night. ‘You didn’t?’

Harry shrugged. ‘It was too good an opportunity to resist, but you might not want to look in the family WhatsApp any time soon.’

‘Well, that’s just bloody brilliant, isn’t it? Now everyone’s going to think the worst of me again.’ Ed blew out a breath. ‘Coming home really was a mistake.’

‘You don’t mean that?’ Harry looked appalled at the thought. ‘Honestly, Ed, if I’d known you were going to take it this badly I never would’ve shared it. The last thing I want is to make you feel unwelcome. It was just a joke.’

‘That’s the problem, though, everyone thinks I’m a joke. I really wanted to prove to everyone that I’ve changed, but I’m not off to a very good start.’

His twin closed the short distance between them and dragged Ed into a bear hug. ‘You’re not a joke and you don’t need to change anything about yourself. You’re perfect just the way you are.’

Ed accepted the hug and leaned into it. Being away from Harry really had been like missing the other half of him. ‘You have to admit I was a bit of a pain in the arse before I went away.’

Harry laughed. ‘Well, that makes two of us, then.’ He pulled back and stared hard at Ed as though by force of will he could drill into Ed’s brain and read all his thoughts. ‘I hate the idea you went away thinking there was something wrong with you. I know we had our moments, but we love you, Ed, and we only ever wanted the best for you.’

Ed smiled, hoping it didn’t look as wobbly as he felt inside. ‘Yeah, I know and I finally figured that out and decided I wanted the best for myself as well, which is why I went away to figure some stuff out. But here I am messing everything up again.’

‘Rubbish,’ Kat said, moving close enough to put one arm around his waist. ‘Last night was a silly mix-up, that’s all.’

‘Which only happened because I lost my phone and I was too disorganised to get another one,’ Ed interrupted her to point out. ‘And I showed up without letting anyone know I was coming home. You don’t have to try and make me feel better, Kitty. I know I’ve messed up.’

‘Oh, hush yourself and let me try anyway. I had breakfast with Frankie earlier this morning and she’s fine. She was a little bit shaken up but there’s no harm done and she understands it was a genuine mix-up. If you pop down to the chemist, I’m sure they’ll have some black dye and I can help you apply it this evening.’