Chapter 26 - Quinn
Abead of sweat rolled down my temple as I stepped back to survey our day’s work.
“Happy?” Felix, the joiner from the kitchen manufacturer, asked as we surveyed the Keatons’ new kitchen.
The couple had ordered it from Germany, and it had been delayed for so long I’d tried to convince the client to cancel it and order somewhere else.
But they insisted this was the kitchen they wanted.
It had arrived first thing this morning, and I’d helped the small team from Germany fit it.
I could see why my clients had insisted this had to be the one.
It was charcoal gray, concrete worktops atop the wall cabinetry—almost industrial with no handles, no frills.
The cabinetry had inset detailing in antique gold, and that, with the addition of the 40 mm thick gold-and-white quartz countertop on the island, added a touch of glamor that gave it a wow factor.
The kitchen was something out of a high-end interior design magazine. And it should be for how much it cost.
“Looks great.”
“Again, sorry for the delay.”
I wiped the sweat away with the back of my forearm and shook my head.
There was no point going over that issue again.
What was done was done. I gave the kitchen a thorough once-over to make sure everything was as it should be and then I signed it off so the Germans could leave.
They were staying at Tierney’s inn and taking their small lorry back over on the ferry first thing tomorrow.
As they left, my crew guys who were working on other parts of the house departed, including Ramsay.
Yesterday after my agonizing meeting with Taran, I’d met Ramsay to discuss the possibility that Eoghan McCall had tried to mow me and Taran down.
Eoghan had been abusive toward Taran in the coffee shop, and the fact that Cammie had been targeted only heightened my suspicions that this was about me.
I’d relayed my and Forde’s complete history with Eoghan so Ramsay understood Eoghan’s possible motive.
“Still nothing,” Ramsay told me as we stood alone in the Keatons’ place. “If it was McCall, he knew to avoid Main Street. None of the shops or ferry terminal CCTV picked up that car. He must have fled the back roads.”
“If it was him.”
“Who else could it be?”
“Then we have nothing?”
Ramsay scowled. “Nothing. None of Cammie’s neighbors saw anyone vandalize her car, and no one has a front door camera. I’m seriously considering donating a bunch of them to the entire fucking populace of Leth Sholas.”
I grunted in agreement. “I’m installing one on Taran’s front door tomorrow.”
“Good. I’ve got my tech girl looking into McCall’s background. We’ll check for priors, bank statements, all that. If we find something, I’ll let you know right away.”
“Thanks.”
“You sure you don’t want to let the police in on this?”
“And bring up Liam’s death again for this town? It was bad enough when it happened. I can’t deal with it on top of everything with Taran right now.”
Ramsay nodded in understanding and left me to lock up.
I checked over the house, making sure tools had been set down safely and switched off, and then checked all the doors and windows to make certain those were locked.
Just as I was inputting the code on the digital front door lock, my phone rang.
I knew it was Heather without even looking because I’d set her ringtone to “Isn’t She Lovely” by Stevie Wonder.
We’d been texting back and forth since she’d returned to Oban, and it was the one bright spot in my life right now. “Flower,” I answered. “How are you?”
“How am I? How are you? How’s your back?”
Having promised to treat Heather like an adult, I’d told her about the incident the other night before one of her pals from the island could. “All good. It was just a bit of bruising.”
“And they still haven’t found the idiot?”
As far as my daughter and everyone else in Leth Sholas was concerned, it was merely a dangerous driver who almost ran us over. Nothing insidious. “Nah. Unfortunately.”
“Where are you now?”
“Just getting into my car to head back home from the Keatons. Where are you?”
“In the house. Hazel and I are babysitting Angus while Mum and Gary have date night.”
Heather had confessed Hazel was her girlfriend to Kiera as soon as she’d returned home after the kids’ summer visit with me.
I’d had no concerns about Kiera, but I understood after Heather’s explanation why she was wary of telling us.
Kiera had made Heather feel safe and loved and assured.
But for Hazel’s sake, we’d agreed to keep it quiet for the girls until Hazel was ready to tell her parents.
By the sounds of things, Kiera and Gary’s had become a haven lately for my daughter’s girlfriend. “That’s good of you. How is Angus?”
“Excited for his game next weekend. Anyway … speaking of date nights, how are things with you and Taran?”
I shook my head as I got into my truck. “Is this the real reason for your call?”
“Well, I still have friends on the island, Dad, and reports say you and Taran were getting very cozy on the dance floor at the end-of-games’ ceilidh until some kind of tiff happened and you dragged Taran out of there like a caveman.”
“For fuck’s sake,” I muttered as the phone connected to the car. This bloody town.
“You’ve also been spotted in each other’s company on numerous occasions. Everyone’s watching you like you’re their favorite soap opera.”
“Have folks got nothing better to do with their lives?”
“Than to watch two star-crossed lovers find their way back to each other and beat fate?” I could hear the teasing in her voice. “You’ve got to be kidding, Dad. You and Taran are the most interesting thing to happen to Leth Sholas since Tierney arrived and bagged Ramsay.”
“Bagged?” My tone was disapproving.
“Don’t get all politically correct on me.”
“I’m just saying, if someone said Ramsay had ‘bagged’ Tierney, there would be feminine outrage.”
“You really don’t want me to explain how thousands of years of female suppression is the reason women are allowed to indulge in a wee bit of double standard, do you?”
I grinned as I pulled away from the house. “You’re right, I don’t. I want to know how you’re feeling about university instead.”
We chatted the entirety of my drive home and I promised I’d book her favorite burger place in town for dinner next weekend.
Angus’s hockey team had gotten to the finals of their league, and I’d promised to come watch the game.
I’d already booked a hotel room on Oban so I could spend the day with the kids.
“That’s me home,” I announced as I pulled up to the house.
“Okay. We’ll see you next weekend. And Dad?”
“Aye?”
“Stop putting it off and tell Taran how you feel.”
I winced, thinking of yesterday morning. “I have, flower. I told her everything.”
My daughter’s silence felt heavy. When she did speak, she sounded young and confused. “And you’re still not together?”
I swallowed hard around the emotion as I stared at my empty house. Heather might think she was all grown up, but she had years to learn that sometimes pretty words couldn’t solve everything. “No. She needs time.”
“Huh. Someone should tell her time isn’t guaranteed.”
I squeezed my eyes closed. “She knows that. She more than anyone knows that. I guess that’s just how much I hurt her.”
“You were a kid, Dad. You were only a year older than me.” Heather sounded defensive. “You made a mistake. I hope whatever mistakes I make in the next few years, there isn’t someone to hold them over me for the next two decades. If she can’t forgive you, then she’s not the right one for you.”
As much as I appreciated my daughter’s loyalty, I couldn’t get the look on Taran’s face yesterday out of my mind. It was also that look, however, that gave me hope. Because to still be that devastated by our breakup meant once upon a time, Taran Macbeth had loved me beyond imagining.
That kind of love never faded.
I knew.
Because it was how I felt about her.
“I’ll see you next weekend, flower. I love you.” I said those words every time we spoke now. They were getting easier to voice out loud.
“I love you too, Dad. See you soon.”
After we disconnected, I pulled up Taran’s number and sent her a text.
Hope you’re okay. Got the doorbell camera. I’ll be around tomorrow to install it. When suits?
I waited, my pulse racing, like I was a teenager and not a grown man.
Three little dots started bouncing underneath my text and I tensed with anticipation.
Thanks. About 10 a.m.? That’s when I’m on break from the store.
A smile curled my mouth at her easy acquiescence. I took it as a good sign.
I’ll be there at 10.
I wanted to tell her I couldn’t stop thinking about her, but I didn’t want to push.
She sent me a thumbs-up emoji and I snorted. The woman was stubbornly trying to keep me at a distance even as she kept the door open for me. It was obvious Taran was a mess of confusion, and I wasn’t going to hold her mixed signals against her.
Well, that wasn’t quite true. I was certainly going to use those mixed signals against her … but only to produce the results we both needed.
Taran wasn’t sure of me.
But I was.
I knew that if Taran Macbeth let me love her again, I would spend the rest of my life trying to make her the happiest woman who ever lived.