Chapter Ten
‘Here we are, everybody out,’ Mal cheered when he brought the car to a halt on the gravel in front of Balmaclay’s front door. Its huge double front door and the stone staircase that led up to it.
‘On a scale of one to Jeff Bezos, how rich are you?’ I asked as Mal and the car rolled away.
‘Not me, my family.’
‘Exactly what a rich person would say.’
I took a step back to better take in the view, only remembering about the alleged pond when I turned and saw it right behind me. If I fell in I would freeze to death in an instant.
‘I don’t take money from my parents,’ Callum said. ‘My grandfather left me an inheritance I used to buy the flat, that’s it.’
‘Sounds like a you problem,’ I told him, still shaking my head in awe. ‘You need to lower my rent.’
‘The rent you’re not even paying for the first month?’
Tearing my eyes away from the house, I looked over to see him smiling.
‘We’re not struggling to rub two coppers together but there’s no Scrooge McDuck room full of gold coins or anything like that,’ he explained, picking up my suitcase and starting for the front door.
‘The farm doesn’t bring in half of what it used to and keeping a place like this going?
Total money pit. If it’s not the windows, it’s the roof, if it’s not the roof, it’s the heating, if it’s not the heating it’s structural damage and the only person qualified to fix it costs five grand a day.
’ He gestured to the fairytale in front of me as though he saw nothing but a burden.
‘The entire Campbell wing was closed for the best part of fifty years until Mum scraped the money together to restore it. Every penny we ever had, every penny they ever made, goes back into Balmaclay.’
‘We’ll come back to the fact your childhood home has wings in a minute,’ I promised, holding back as he mounted the steps. ‘But before we go in is there anything else I should know?’
His eyes slid over to the left, pouting mouth pulled to the right as he wracked his brains.
‘Nothing I can think of.’
If I hadn’t found a photo of his ex in his wallet and literally just discovered he’d grown up in a castle on the banks of a loch, I might’ve had more faith in his answer, but there wasn’t enough time to press for more details. A woman’s voice echoed from inside the house and his spine stiffened.
‘Ready, Caroline?’ Callum asked, glancing my way.
‘Ready, babe,’ I replied with a saccharine smile. ‘They’re going to hate my guts.’
‘That’s my girl.’
A mixture of anticipation, excitement and dread churned in the pit of my stomach as I replayed my mantra for the week. WWDKD? What would Desi Kaplan do?
The doors flew open with theatrical flair.
‘Callum, Caroline, right on time!’
Mal had not been wrong. Lizzie McClay was every inch the lady of the manor, even more put together than she had been two days before, when she was, to be fair, standing in her son’s living room, trying to pretend he wasn’t stark bollock naked.
Another silk scarf was fastened around her graceful neck, pinned with an antique-looking gold brooch, her short greying blonde hair swept back from her face to display high patrician cheekbones.
A lifetime in the Highlands had worn away her hardest edges, softening the sharpest angles and etching the fine lines around her eyes and mouth that disappeared when she stopped smiling.
And she stopped smiling the moment she laid eyes on me.
‘Here you are, the two of you.’ She ushered us inside and I followed gratefully, chilled through to the bone. ‘I half thought you would change your mind, Caroline, given such short notice.’
‘Couldn’t let Callum down, Mrs McClay,’ I said, wrinkling my nose. ‘Even if it did cock up all my plans.’
‘Quite,’ she replied without emotion. ‘How was your journey?’
‘Terrible. Felt like I was going to throw up the whole way. Might still if I’m honest.’
‘Caroline gets travel sick,’ Callum said when his mother paled. ‘That’s one of the reasons we haven’t been up to visit yet.’
‘But not too sick to go to Paris in the summer?’
‘Well, no, but that was Paris,’ I said. ‘Not … whatever this is.’
The tiny squeak that emitted from her throat confirmed I’d nailed my thinly veiled insult but, the truth was, her home was incredible.
‘Foyer’ was not nearly a grand enough word for the room I found myself in.
Twice as high as the ceilings in a normal house, the stone floors were covered by richly coloured rugs, the walls painted a warm ochre and dotted with paintings that could not possibly have been created in this century or the last, and behind Mrs McClay was a grand staircase, wooden banister polished to a high shine and curving upwards to a balcony that led off in opposite directions.
But most impressive of all was the centrepiece.
Right between the two staircases stood the most magnificent Christmas tree I had ever laid eyes on.
It was so tall, I had to crane my head backwards to see the star on the top, and decorated with soft white lights and tasteful silver-toned ornaments.
Even a certified Grinch like me couldn’t help but be impressed.
‘Look at your tree,’ I breathed, trying to recall how long it took to cause permanent nerve damage through compressed cervical vertebrae since it appeared I would be spending the entire week gawking up at enormous, gorgeous things.
‘Do you like it?’ Callum’s mother asked, warming up a fraction. ‘I love to decorate at Christmas but the boys never cared much and Elsie always says I’ve gone over the top.’
‘Not at all, Mrs McClay. It’s perfect.’
‘Thank you,’ she replied, touching my wrist. ‘And, please, call me Lizzie.’
Callum draped a solid arm over my shoulders and squeezed my upper arm, bringing me back to the moment. Shit. One look at a shiny tree and I’d already forgotten I was supposed to be an arsehole.
‘I mean, it’s not how I would decorate but you’ve done what you can,’ I said, reappraising the beautiful tree through Caroline’s eyes. ‘Lizzie.’
‘You know what? I’d love to jump in the shower before we do anything else,’ Callum said before his mother could reply. ‘The one on the train wasn’t up to much and I could do with changing my clothes.’
‘Aye, you look like you’ve been dragged through a hedge backwards,’ Lizzie replied before adding, ‘Cal that is. Not you, Caroline, dear.’
And we were back on track. I knew a passive aggressive woman when I heard one and, clearly, I was dealing with a pro.
‘Right-o,’ she said to Callum with a smile. ‘You’re in your room and Caroline has the one next door. On account of her night terrors.’
I wrinkled up my nose in a condescending smirk and Lizzie looked away. Another point to me.
‘Where’s Dad?’ Callum asked, looking around the empty foyer.
‘You know your dad, always busy,’ she replied vaguely. ‘I’d better go and check on the food, Fi’s cooking up a storm. I know you said you wanted an easy day so it’s an early lunch then we’ll leave you to your own devices. You go and get settled in, I’ll call when it’s ready.’
‘Better not be too long,’ I said a shade too loudly as Callum guided me up the staircase, leaving his mother fuming in the foyer. ‘The food on the train was inedible. I’m bloody starving.’
‘And the Oscar goes to,’ he whispered in my ear. ‘Well done, very impressive.’
‘Probably because I’m not acting,’ I muttered back over the sound of my rumbling stomach. ‘If we’re not fed inside fifteen minutes I’m going to eat you.’
The sound of his laughter bounced off the stone walls of the foyer, echoing behind us all the way upstairs.
No matter how much Callum insisted otherwise, I simply could not accept that normal people, everyday human beings who blew their noses and sometimes put their pyjamas on the wrong way round on the first try, lived in a home like this.
‘There are tons of places like Balmaclay in Scotland,’ he said, two steps ahead of me as I dawdled behind, taking everything in. ‘It’s not that big of a deal.’
The portraits of his ancestors glowering down at me with reproachful glares.
‘No,’ I said. ‘I’m afraid it is quite a big deal.’
‘If you’ve changed your mind, there’s still time to back out. I can get Mal to drive you back to the station, put you on the next train back to London.’
‘No one said anything about changing their mind,’ I replied after a quick glance registered his panic. ‘Look, I’m not going to lie, the castle – sorry – the house was a bit of a surprise but I said I’d help you and I will. Obscenely rich people have problems too, right?’
‘We’re not obscenely—’
‘But this is your last chance to tell me,’ I said as he ran an exasperated hand over his face.
‘Is there anything else at all I should know? Like, is someone suddenly going to announce a traditional Christmas Eve hunting party? Is Claudia going to pop up and announce I’m actually starring in a new series of The Traitors? ’
‘As I said before, nothing I can think of.’
‘And there’s nothing else I need to know about your personal situation?’
Boring holes into his soul, I willed him to bring up his ex. I just needed to know. I just needed to hear him say it.
Callum stopped in front of a dark wood door and turned the brass doorknob.
‘This is your room,’ he said, opening the door and changing the subject. ‘After you.’
‘I’m not leaving,’ I replied, changing it right back as I sailed blindly into the bedroom.
‘If there’s anything else you want to tell me, you can.
Professionally speaking, it’s always better to disclose all information, get everything out on the table up front so we can address everything head on and oh my God look at this place. ’
It was a haven. Soft cream rugs on top of dark floorboards, delicate floral wallpaper and exquisite pieces of antique furniture, all arranged around the four-poster canopy bed and a tiled fireplace that was already lit.
The flames danced, crackling happily, and filling the room with the most welcoming glow.
‘I’m definitely not leaving,’ I declared as I took off my coat and hung it carefully on the coat rack by the door. ‘I mean I’m not leaving ever. Tell your mum I’m moving in, I’ll have Desi send on my things.’
Outside the enormous bay windows, I had an unobstructed view of the garden, a neatly kept lawn, dotted with trees and lined with flowerbeds, and beyond that, as breathtaking a sight as you could ever hope to see.
A still and steady body of water, reflecting the December sky as it wended its way out of sight to the north and the south.
I felt as though I’d wandered into a fantasy novel.
Balmaclay was the last home at the end of the world and I was a lost girl in an unknown realm, trapped with a mysterious stranger.
‘Have you ever read a book called A Court of Thorns and Roses?’ I asked Callum, glimpsing his dark hair, brooding eyes and broad shoulders out of the corner of my eye.
‘No?’
‘Then never mind,’ I replied, putting unhelpful thoughts out of my mind. ‘This is all so beautiful.’
‘I suppose. I imagine you’d feel different if you’d spent nineteen years here, dying to get away. To me it feels like a trap.’
‘A trap with snacks,’ I said, pointing at a tray on the bedside table stacked with Tunnock’s Teacakes. Anything I’d ever thought about Lizzie McClay before this moment was completely reversed, she was my favourite person in the entire world.
‘I wouldn’t fill up if I were you, they don’t know the meaning of a light lunch here.’
‘Fill up? What is this completely foreign concept?’
The corners of Callum’s eyes crinkled with a smile.
‘I’m glad you like Balmaclay. The whole place has me feeling claustrophobic.’
‘Then you must be out of your mind,’ I said. ‘because it’s literally massive.’
‘Is that your professional opinion?’
‘I’m training to be a neurosurgeon, not a psychiatrist,’ I reminded him as I tore into a teacake. ‘And I’m officially off the clock this week. Please only come to me with massage-related enquiries and don’t go out of your way to bother with those because I’ve never given a massage in my life.’
‘Never?’ He looked surprised.
Through a mouthful of chocolatey goodness, I scrunched up my face and shrugged.
‘Doesn’t come up much during brain surgery.’
‘I’d hope not. But not even … in your personal life?’
The subtext slowly became text.
‘I’m not really a personal massage kind of girl,’ I said, my words stilted. ‘That seems like more of a relationship thing.’
‘And that’s bad because?’
‘Because I don’t have time for relationships,’ I replied, very ready to end the conversation. ‘Sorry, what time do you think food will be ready?’
Tearing curious eyes from my scarlet face, Callum checked the time on his phone.
‘Knowing Mum, I’m sure it was ready the minute we walked through the door. How long do you need?’
The only thing I needed was some alone time.
‘Long enough to shower and change,’ I told him, giving myself a desultory sniff. ‘I can’t go down in this state.’
‘Why not?’ he asked. ‘You’re not trying to impress anyone, remember?’
‘New plan. I charm your mum and dad, they disinherit you and adopt me.’
‘How about we get through the family feed first then see how you feel,’ Callum suggested, tickling my ears with a low chuckle.
He pointed to a white-painted door on the other side of the room.
‘You’ve got the en suite, through there, and I’m next door if you need anything.
Otherwise I’ll knock for you at …’ He looked down at a particularly lovely leather-strapped watch I hadn’t noticed before. ‘Half-Eleven?’
After a sleepless night, not nearly enough coffee and a distinct lack of sunlight, I had no idea what time it was but I was fairly used to operating in high-pressure situations under those exact circumstances, and so I agreed with a disorientated nod.
Callum cocked his head to one side, a concerned half-smile on his face.
‘You sure you’re good?’
‘Never been better,’ I lied, holding my breath until he looked away. ‘Look at this place, it’s heaven.’
‘Then I’ll be back in a bit,’ he relented, heading for the door. ‘And we’ll get this show on the road.’