“Oh Evie, that was a stroke of genius, getting Finn to go south by dangling the prospect of beavers in front of him. It’s too much.”
“I don’t care what it takes to keep them together. He just has to meet her halfway and everything will work out fine.”
Chapter Thirty-Two
Freya’s House
The next morning, Freya was congratulating herself on helping Finn and Sophia get back on track and happily talking to Amelia about her plans for another date with Ross, weighing up whether it was better to go out for a meal again, or should she cook him something.
“I can always make myself scarce,” suggested Freya. “If you want the place to yourself. Evie or Kate would have me for a sleepover, or I could stay with Maureen.”
“No way,” said Amelia hastily. “I don’t want to turn you out of your own home. Anyway, he might get the wrong idea and think I’m trying to seduce him by inviting him here, especially if I’m on my own.”
“Aren’t you, though? Trying to seduce him, I mean?” said Freya with a wicked smile.
Amelia laughed, “You are terrible. He’s gorgeous and I really fancy him, but I think we might have something special together and I don’t want to rush things. It’s only the second date after all.”
She frowned and looked at Freya. “Do you think I am being utterly ridiculous?”
Freya smiled reassuringly. “Not at all. But to be honest I’m not sure that boy will ever make the first move. You might have to jump on him like a ninja.”
“I can do that,” said Amelia with a giggle, “but maybe not quite yet.”
“Let me make us some coffee,” said Amelia, “and we can have some of your chocolate shortbread that I’ve become addicted to.”
Amelia got up to go to the kitchen and saw Evie’s car pull up into the drive. Florence screeched to a halt, and Evie raced out of the car and burst into the room, out of breath and looking distraught.
“Freya, are you alright?” said Evie.
“I’m fine. Whatever is the matter? What’s happened?” said Freya, bewildered.
“You haven’t seen it then?”
“Seen what? Evie, you aren’t making any sense.”
“I hate to be the one to tell you but there’s been some disgusting posts about you on Twitter, or X or whatever the hell it’s called these days. I wouldn’t have given it a second thought but it’s getting a lot of attention and has already been retweeted hundreds of times. It must be some kind of bot, not just a vile troll.”
“I have absolutely no idea what you are going on about,” said a baffled Freya. “I didn’t understand a word of that last bit, but it’s obviously got you all upset. Sit down and take a deep breath and tell me what’s going on.”
Evie was becoming tearful. “Oh Freya, it’s horrible lies about you on social media and it’s being seen by loads of people.”
Freya replied, “You know I don’t take any notice of all that nonsense. I’ve just about got my head round Instagram but I’m not going anywhere near the other mad stuff.” Freya had once been on Facebook but had hastily given it up after Rory had dismissively told her it was for ‘old people’. She’d never bothered with Twitter.
Seeing Evie so het up, Amelia asked worriedly: “Exactly what sort of lies are they telling about my Freya?”
Evie was too distraught to take umbrage at Amelia claiming Freya as her own.
“About her past,” she said tersely.
Freya said quietly, “What about my past?”
“About Magnus.”
“Ah, I see,” said Freya with a heavy sigh. “But that’s never been a secret, Evie. You all know that. I’ve never hidden anything in my life. I admit I rarely think of it these days. It all seems so very long ago. It was another life.”
“Who is Magnus?” asked Amelia. “Was he an old boyfriend?”
Freya signed. “I was Magnus, my love. But Magnus has been effectively ‘dead’ for almost sixty-five years. Why would anyone bring it up now?”
