Free Whatever Love Is by Rosie Ruston

Royal Theatre,’ he said, glancing at his watch. ‘My father wangled a meeting with the stage manager and I daren’t be late. There’s a
chance I might be able to shadow her for a week later in the summer.’
    ‘That would be so cool,’ Frankie enthused, despite herself. ‘They’re doing Ibsen next month. Good luck!’
    ‘See you around,’ Henry said. ‘I want to hear your ideas!’
    ‘Sure,’ Frankie replied and then mentally kicked herself for sounding so enthusiastic. He may be more interesting than you thought , she told herself firmly , but remember he
can’t be trusted.
    ‘I’ll come over sometime and we can talk theatre,’ he called after her.
    She knew that was probably just an excuse to see Mia again, but to her great annoyance the idea of talking to him suddenly seemed rather more attractive than she would have imagined.

CHAPTER 6
    ‘Selfishness must always be forgiven,
you know, because there is no hope for a cure.’
    (Jane Austen, Mansfield Park )
    A WEEK LATER , F RANKIE WAS SITTING ON THE SWING SEAT in the garden, eyes half closed, attempting to resolve an impossible
situation in her story about the character called Jasper. She was trying to write to distract herself from worrying about her mother. She’d just come back from a fleeting visit to Hove, where
the doctor had suggested her mother would soon be ready to leave for another try at a halfway house placement – which of course was good in one way, but worrying too, because it might not
work out. Suddenly she heard her name being called.
    ‘Frankie! Oh, thank goodness I’ve found someone!’ It was Alice, trim in a pair of cream jodhpurs and an open-neck shirt, struggling with a saddle over one arm and a bridle,
rope halter and hay net over the other. Since her horse had arrived, she’d been visiting the house twice a day and somehow managing to hang about for far longer than Frankie thought was
necessary. ‘Where’s Ned?’
    ‘He’s helping Nerys move her stuff,’ Frankie replied stiffly. ‘Her boiler finally gave up the ghost and apparently the dogs get traumatised by workmen so she’s
moving into the house.’
    ‘I would have thought that any animal who could cope with your aunt Nerys would find a couple of gas fitters a doddle,’ she said.
    Frankie struggled to suppress her laughter and failed. She had to admit that, like her brother, Alice could be very witty, and if she hadn’t been after Ned, Frankie might well have
regarded her as a friend.
    ‘Sorry, that wasn’t very kind, was it?’ Alice admitted. ‘So I guess she’ll keep Ned occupied for ages?’
    ‘Probably. Tina’s gone away to a health spa with an old school friend so Nerys is in charge. And don’t we all know it!’
    ‘I bet.’ Alice laughed. ‘So . . . I don’t suppose – well, would you . . . Could you possibly . . .?’
    ‘What?’
    ‘Help me with these?’ She hitched the saddle higher up her arm and brandished the halter. ‘And do the gates while I try to catch Fling and get him into the stable? He’s
been somewhat spooked by the move and I want to get him indoors before they start testing the sound systems again for the festival. That high-pitched whistle freaks him out.’ She looked
pleadingly at Frankie. ‘I don’t reckon I can manage everything on my own.’
    ‘OK, as long as I don’t have to go near the horse,’ Frankie replied. ‘They scare me rigid.’
    She waited for some sarcastic reply but Alice simply nodded. ‘With me, it’s caterpillars,’ she said.
    ‘Caterpillars?’
    ‘Mmm, the way they loop along and their bodies are all squidgy and furry and – yuck!’
    She shivered and handed the halter and bridle to Frankie as they began to walk across the lawn and round the back of the house.
    ‘What’s going on in there?’ She gestured through the conservatory window, where a man and a woman were setting up reflectors and umbrellas and fiddling with a camera on a
tripod.
    ‘ Country Life ,’ Frankie