Page 106 of Under Your Spell

‘No, it can’t.’

‘Ugh, fine…’ Serena practically stomps her foot, but then she’s interrupted by Lil.

‘Oh, shit,’ Lil breathes, looking over my shoulder.

Serena’s eyes narrow as she also takes in whatever Lil has spotted. ‘Did you know about this?’ she asks.

‘No, no, of course not,’ Lil exclaims as I swing around.

Strolling across the garden towards us, all smiles, is Ripp Harris.

And just behind him is Sam.

‘Lily pad!’ Ripp says, grabbing Lil by the shoulders and kissing her on the cheek. ‘Happy birthday, my beautiful girl.’

‘What are you doing here, Dad?’ Lil manages, her eyes moving to me.

‘We’re here to play Lil-Fest!’ Ripp grins. ‘I’m told it’s the hottest gig in town. Your mum sent me an invite ages ago, and we were in the area so I thought I’d surprise you. The rest of the band are arriving soon.’

I think Petty sends Ripp an invite every year. This is the first time he’s ever bothered showing up. Of course.

I can’t tear my eyes away from Sam, who is looking anywhere but at me.

‘What the fuck, Dad?’ Serena says through gritted teeth. Ripp’s smile falters, confusion writ large on his brow.

‘What?’ he says. ‘What’s the matter?’

‘Why would you turn up here with him?’ Lil demands, her hands on her hips.

‘What are you doing here, Sam?’ I ask.

Ripp’s frown deepens.

Sam lifts his eyes to mine, and I can actually see the moment of calculation before the mask of charm descends. ‘Clemmie, it was all such a long time ago. We were just kids. Don’t you think it’s time to let it go?’ He looks at Ripp, sighs heavily, communicating a vague sense of exasperation.

‘Oh, that’s right,’ Ripp chuckles, relaxing. ‘You two used to be a thing back in the day. Come on, Clementine, if I was worried about bumping into an ex everywhere I went I’d never leave the house.’ He laughs harder, and Sam joins in.

The intense, laser focus of my anger switches to my father in an instant. ‘You do not get to chime in on this, Ripp. You’re the one who hired the man who broke my heart, and who still seems to be doing his best to hurt me. Ask him who was giving fucking interviews about me a few weeks ago.’

‘You both need to leave, Dad.’ Lil says the words firmly.

‘Right now,’ Serena adds.

‘What are you all talking about?’ Ripp asks. He’s not smiling anymore; his eyes are moving between me and Sam. ‘What interviews?’

‘Why don’t you ask him,’ I spit out.

‘That’s enough.’ Sam looks pissed now and he moves towards me, reaches out to take my arm. I think he wants to pull me away so that this conversation can happen somewhere a lot less public.

He doesn’t have the chance, however, because suddenly a very familiar voice yells, ‘GET YOUR FUCKING HANDS OFF HER.’

Chapter Forty

We all turn as one, and there, striding across the lawn like an Austen hero with a face like thunder, is Theo, and I don’t have time to process anything except the sweet, sharp spike of joy that cuts through me at the sight of him, before he’s there, pulling Sam’s hand from my arm and ploughing his fist into his face. Sam goes sailing backwards, straight into the pond with a tremendous splash.

There’s a moment of stunned silence.

‘Ow! FUCK!’ Theo yelps, hopping up and down on the spot. ‘I think I just broke my hand. Jesus! Owwww.’ He cradles the hand he used to punch Sam, hissing in pain. ‘Shit, that hurts.’