Later that night, after I’d cleaned up the flat, done the dishes and sprayed the sitting room and kitchen with air freshener to get rid of the fish-and-chips smell, I flopped down beside Cole on the couch. He’d finished his presentation and was now surrounded by pieces of a comic he was working on.

I handed him a mug of hot chocolate as I squeezed on to the other end of the couch, skirting his drawings. I squinted at a piece of paper that was upside down, trying to make out the image. ‘What’s this one about?’

Cole shrugged, his eyebrows drawn together. ‘Don’t know what’s happening with this one.’

‘Why not?’

‘Jamie and Alan were helping me with it, but …’

Uh-oh, the irritation in his voice did not sound good. ‘But … ?’ I frowned. Now that I thought about it, it had been a week since Cole had asked me if he could hang out at Jamie’s. ‘Have you two fallen out?’

‘Maybe.’ At least that’s what I thought his mumble translated into.

Oh, boy. Cole was a laid-back guy and a fight with his friends rarely happened, so I didn’t even know if I wanted to be made aware of why they were fighting. But it was Cole … ‘What happened?’

The blush on his cheeks made me even warier.

Oh, crap, this better not be teenage-boy gross. ‘Cole?’

He shrugged at me again.

‘That’s it. I’m getting you weights to wear on your shoulders so you can’t do that to me any more. I thought I told you shrugging does not equate to an answer. Neither does grunting.’

My brother rolled his eyes at me.

‘Or that.’

‘It doesn’t matter, all right?’ he bit out, flopping back against the couch to sip at the hot chocolate, refusing to meet my eyes.

‘It matters to me.’

His huge, long-suffering sigh could have filled up a hot-air balloon. ‘He just said something that pissed me off.’

‘Oi,’ I admonished. ‘Watch the language.’

‘He annoyed me.’

‘What did he say?’

The muscle in Cole’s jaw flexed and for a moment I could see him older, a man. My God, where had the time gone? ‘He said something about you.’

I winced. ‘Me?’

‘Yeah. Something sexual.’

Oh, Christ. I flinched. There were just some words you didn’t ever want to hear coming out of your baby brother’s mouth. ‘Sexual’ was definitely one of them. ‘Okay.’

Cole looked up at me from under his lashes, his mouth twisted into a frustrated grimace. ‘All my mates fancy you, but Jamie went too far.’

I did not want to know what that meant.

Instead I thought about how close the two of them were. ‘Did Jamie apologize once he realized he’d gone too far?’

‘Yeah, but that’s not the point.’

‘It is the point.’ I leaned forward so I could catch his gaze, so he could see how much I meant what I was about to say. ‘Life is too short to hold on to silly grudges. Jamie was man enough to apologize. Be man enough and gracious enough to accept the apology.’

For a moment he held my gaze, processing my advice. Finally he nodded. ‘Okay.’

I smiled and sat back. ‘Good.’

Once he’d turned his attention back to the comic, I reached for my latest paperback, readying myself to escape into someone else’s world for a while.

‘Jo?’

‘Mmm-hmm?’

‘I googled that guy you’re dating. Malcolm Hendry.’

My head snapped up from my book, my pulse racing a little faster all of a sudden. ‘Why?’

Cole shrugged. Again. ‘You haven’t said much about him.’ He scowled at me. ‘He’s a bit old, do you not think?’

‘Not really.’

‘He’s fifteen years older than you.’

I really didn’t want to be having this conversation with Cole of all people. ‘I like him a lot. You will too.’

Cole snorted. ‘Yeah, like I’m going to meet him. I met Callum only a handful of times and you dated him for two years.’

‘I don’t want to introduce you to someone who might not stick around. But I have a good feeling about Malcolm.’

His next question was asked softly but with a hint of disdain that shot me right in the heart. ‘Is it because he’s loaded?’

‘No,’ I answered tightly. ‘It’s not.’

‘You date a lot of wankers, Jo, and I know it’s because they’ve got money. You don’t have to.’ His face was starting to colour now with frustrated anger. ‘She makes you miserable enough – you don’t need to be going out with some tool just so we don’t have to worry about money. As soon as I turn sixteen I’m getting a job so I can help.’

I think it was the longest Cole had ever spoken in one sitting in about a year. And his declaration felt like a punch in the gut. I sat up straight, my own cheeks blazing hot with annoyance. ‘Don’t use the “w” word. And to answer your question, I’m dating a guy I really care about, and he just happens to have money. And you are not getting a job at sixteen. You’re finishing high school and you’re going to uni or art school or whatever the hell it is you want to do. But I’ll be damned if you end up in some crap job because you’re a bloody high school dropout!’ I was breathing hard with fear at the thought of it.

Cole stared at me, his green eyes round with astonishment at my outburst. ‘Jesus, chill, Jo. It was just an idea.’

‘It was a bad idea.’

‘Aye, I’m getting that.’

I relaxed at the teasing in his voice and leaned back into the couch, pulling my paperback up to my face. ‘Just draw, you pain in the ass.’

He choked back his laughter and put down his mug to start drawing again.

After a minute, I looked at him over the top of my book. ‘Just so you know … I love you, baby boy.’

‘Mmm-hmm, lu uu uu.’

I deduced that was ‘Mmm-hmm, love you too’ in teenage muttering.

My lips twitched against an answering grin, a warm contentment settling in my chest as I stared down at the pages of my book.

7

Even though it was the end of February, and March was but a day away, Edinburgh was still freezing. The frigid sea air rushed up towards New Town, blasting those who were unfortunate enough to find themselves walking north towards it, unprotected by the buildings.

Malcolm and I stayed out of the direct lambasting of icy wind as we strolled along George Street, going in and out of dress shops, and then down Frederick Street and on to the cobbled Rose Street, one of my favourite lanes in Edinburgh. It was packed with restaurants and pubs and boutiques, and we had lunch in a pub before carrying on to Harvey Nichols on St Andrew Square.

‘No, no, this is awful,’ I told Malcolm through the curtain of the changing cubicle. By this point I’d tried on at least fifteen dresses and neither of us could agree on one that we both liked. Becca was treating us to dinner at the Michelin Star restaurant Martin Wishart and Malcolm insisted on buying me something new to wear.

‘Why? What’s wrong with it?’ he asked, his voice coming closer to the curtain.

I couldn’t believe he wasn’t bored out of his mind yet, but he seemed to be pretty patient with shopping. In fact, I got the distinct impression he enjoyed it. Or at least, he enjoyed spoiling me … which was lovely.

Staring at my reflection in the mirror, I wrinkled my nose in distaste. The dress was so sheer you could almost see my nipples through it. Add the fact that it had a cut-?out back and a short hemline and I might as well pin a piece of paper to my chest that said FOR SALE.

‘Let me see.’

‘No.’ i moved to hold the curtain closed, but i was too late.

Malcolm’s face appeared in the gap he’d created and his dark eyes glittered mischievously as they ran down the length of me and then came to rest on my chest. The mischief slowly disappeared and when he looked back up at me there was heat in his eyes. ‘If we weren’t in a changing room right now …’

I felt a niggle of something in my gut and wondered if it was disappointment. I imagined that if this was Joss and Braden or Adam and Ellie, it wouldn’t have mattered if they were in a changing room. Braden and Adam would have pounced on their girlfriends with no thought to the consequences.