Chapter 5 Tierney #2
I heard what she wasn’t saying and battled the urge to tell this stranger how sorry I was. Now I recognized that look on her face. I’d seen it on my own whenever I looked in the mirror after my parents’ death.
Gesturing with my cup, I gave her a little wave and walked out of the coffee store feeling unbelievably sad for her.
“Tierney!”
I glanced up to find Cammie strolling toward me.
The McQuarries were a tall bunch. Cameron was five ten, built like a glamor model, and had a thick mass of long blond hair.
Every other week there was a new streak of color in the two bands framing her face; today it was fuchsia pink.
Her nose was a little too long and her mouth a little too wide—but she had that thing, that quality, that made her attractiveness transcend the nonsensical lie referred to as “traditional beauty.”
She wore a tight-fitting rain jacket with a belted waist with her jeans and hiking boots, barely any makeup, and yet still managed to look put together.
Slim gold rings with varying stones decorated almost every one of her blunt-nailed fingers, and when her right sleeve was pushed up, it revealed her tattoo, a beautiful, delicate branch of heather to symbolize her niece Heather.
When her nephew was born, she had his name, Angus, wound into the tattoo in script.
Usually of a sunny disposition, I tensed at Cammie’s somber facade as she approached. She gestured to the store behind me. “Did you hear?”
“Hear what?”
Her blue eyes glistened. “Isla Macbeth has metastatic breast cancer. It’s not … They didn’t catch it in time. She’s decided not to seek treatment.”
I’d known it was something like that. I’d seen it written all over a devastated Taran Macbeth. I squeezed Cammie’s arm. “I’m so sorry. That’s why Taran is home.”
Her head whipped toward the coffee shop. “She’s in there?”
I nodded.
Cammie stared at the store for a few seconds, hesitating. Then she gestured for me to walk with her. “Taran is … was Quinn’s girlfriend in high school.”
I thought about my handsome contractor and the pretty brunette and could absolutely see it. “How sweet.”
She made a huffing noise. “It was until it wasn’t.
We all thought they’d end up together. Finding love here isn’t easy.
But Taran left Leth Sholas for Glasgow Uni and things fell apart between them.
They broke up and my brother in a drunken, miserable state, made the stonkingly bad decision to sleep with Kiera. ”
“That’s his ex?” So far, I hadn’t been given many details about the personal lives of the villagers I now found myself among, but it felt good that Cameron trusted me enough to share.
“Heather and Angus’s mum.” She referred to Quinn’s children. I’d learned over the past few weeks that Quinn was a single dad to a seventeen-year-old girl and twelve-year-old boy of whom he shared joint custody with his ex.
“He became a dad at eighteen and because our own father bolted when we were kids, leaving Mum to raise us alone, Quinn didn’t want that for Heather.”
“Wait. I thought your parents owned a farm.”
“Greg is our stepfather,” Cammie explained.
“He came back to Leth Sholas to take over his parents’ farm and he and Mum reconnected from their childhood.
Don’t get me wrong, we think of him as Dad now, but he didn’t come into our lives until Quinn was eleven and I was eight.
Quinn remembered how hard it was for Mum.
He didn’t really get a chance to be a wee boy because he had to help her out so much, even taking care of me so she could work nights.
Anyway, he married Kiera because he didn’t want Heather to grow up without a dad in the house.
They tried for years to make it work, even going so far as to deliberately have Angus.
I love my brother, but he should never have …
Anyway, Kiera did what was best for her in the end and left.
She’s moved on and is happy with her new partner. ”
I’d noted the lack of ring on my contractor’s wedding finger. “And Quinn? Did he move on?”
Cammie huffed. “One thing you should know about island life is that it makes for a very shallow dating pool.”
That I didn’t mind at all. I wasn’t here to date. I shoved thoughts of Ramsay McRae from my mind. “Now Taran’s back …”
“Aye, that’s not going to happen. Taran …
When she found out Kiera was pregnant, she was beyond devastated.
She never came back to Leth Sholas. Taran and I were close, but she cut me off too.
” Cammie gave me a sad shrug. “I understood. Quinn broke her heart so badly she hasn’t returned to Leth Sholas in eighteen years.
Isla and Taran’s brother, Laird, would always leave the island to go visit Taran in Glasgow.
Last I heard, she was engaged … I wonder if her fiancé is here too. ”
Not only was her mom dying, but Taran had to return to a town where everyone knew her painful history … where she had to face the man who broke her heart. I hoped her fiancé was with her to support her. “That is too much for anyone to deal with all at once.”
“Aye.” Cammie took a shuddering breath. “Her dad died when she was eight. So all she’ll have left is her brother Laird and Laird’s wife and their kids too. But maybe if she has a fiancé … I don’t know. I wish she’d let me be there for her.”
“Have you tried?”
“I don’t think she’d want me to.”
“Cammie, I just looked into the grief-stricken eyes of a woman who probably needs all the support she can get right now.”
My new friend halted in her steps, biting her lower lip as she considered this. “You’re right. I’ll … I’ll make an approach. Let her know I’m here if she needs me.”
“Good. And I know I’m new here and all, but I would like to be helpful. And I … unfortunately know what it’s like to lose a parent.”
“You more than anyone will be able to offer her comfort. You don’t have the baggage we all do. And you get it. I’m sorry that you get it. But you do.”
“I’ll check in with her,” I promised.
Cammie smiled. “I’m so glad you chose our wee island to start over on.”
Grateful she’d offered her friendship so easily, I returned her smile. “Me too.”
The B and B was bustling, organized chaos as the demolition crew tore down walls and pulled out the old kitchen and bathrooms under Quinn’s direction.
He greeted us at the door. “We’re making this quick,” he said stone-faced. “Too easy for accidents to happen in this midden.”
“We need to talk after this,” Cammie replied, her tone pointed.
Sorrow flickered over Quinn’s expression. “If it’s about Isla, no need. I heard.”
“Did you know Taran is back and working at Pages & Perks?”
His chin jerked back, nostrils flaring. “What? No.”
“Wanted to give you a heads-up.”
Quinn’s gaze darted to me and apparently that was the end of the discussion. He handed us hard hats, insisting we put them on. As we moved through the dust-clouded building, I tried not to get anxious at the wreckage as Quinn shouted over the noise, explaining everything that was going on.
That’s when I saw him again.
Ramsay McRae was in the old kitchen, ripping out the cabinets, muscles straining against his tight, sweat-soaked T-shirt.
He might as well have been in a porn movie for the impact the sight of him had on my body. I felt a deep pull low in my belly and an answering wet tingle between my thighs.
What the ever-loving fuck?
“McRae!” Quinn shouted.
Feeling heat on my face, I turned to find Cammie staring at me, lips straining with laughter, eyes wide with knowing.
That’s when I realized my mouth was hanging open like a panting dog.
I snapped it shut.
Cammie leaned in and spoke in my ear, “Apparently, we also need to talk.”
My cheeks heated. “What? I don’t …” I laughed lamely and then whirled around, giving the men my back. “Am I that obvious?”
“Eh, only a wee bit.”
“Oh God.” I grimaced. “Okay.” I wiped my expression clean. “Better?”
“Aye. But you and I are going to talk when we’re alone,” she murmured before she stepped toward her brother and Ramsay.
The men were frowning at us and Quinn practically barked, “Problem?”
“No!” I answered a little too loudly. “Cammie and I were talking about the design for in here. But the demo is going great. Obviously.” I couldn’t make eye contact with Ramsay.
“Oh, hey, I need to show you two something.” Cammie pulled her phone out of her back pocket, shooting me an amused look.
I could kiss her for saving me from my own awkwardness.
“I posted a video last night from your gig on Skye last week and it went viral.” She held up her phone screen, and I heard the pipe band music ever so slightly beneath the sounds of the demo going on around us.
My curiosity had me straining to peer at her phone, but Ramsay snatched it out of Cammie’s hand, his fingers flying over it.
“What are you doing?” Cammie yelled over the noise.
Without a word, Ramsay handed the phone back to her.
“Uh! You deleted it. And you deleted it from my video folder. The brazen cheek of it!”
Ramsay glowered at Quinn who turned to his sister with an exasperated sigh. “Cam, I told you not to post any videos of the band online.”
She crossed her arms over her chest. “You know it’s interesting, because I see a ton of people videoing your performances but somehow there’s nothing online … though curiouser and curiouser, there are hashtags for the band name.”
“What’s the band’s name?” I hadn’t thought to ask Ramsay last week.
“Leth Sholas Pipe Band,” Cammie supplied. “So there’s no mistaking that at some point there were videos of the band uploaded to the internet that mysteriously disappeared.” She raised her eyebrow. “Don’t you find that curious?”
I did. My eyes were round with a million questions. “I do.”
“See? Tierney thinks it’s weird too.”
Quinn gave another long-suffering sigh. “Cam, stop reading into things, eh. Right. I think that’s enough of a tour for now.” He eyed me. “How about you come back at four and we can talk about the progress?”
Awareness prickled over me and my attention pulled to Ramsay. Just like last time, I found myself caught in his wolf-gray eyes. What was that?
I tried not to suck in a visible breath as my heart rate accelerated. “Sure,” I said to Quinn and then, weirdly desperate to have some kind of interaction with Ramsay, asked, “Where’s Akiva?”
“Annie at Leth Sholas lifeboat service watches her when I can’t have her around for safety reasons.”
“I could watch her,” I blurted without thought. “She and I kind of bonded.”
“You did?” Cammie pouted. “I always thought Akiva was aloof with everyone but Ramsay.”
Not me, I thought, feeling a little smug.
However, Ramsay gave me a small shake of his head. “She’s fine with Annie.” And then walked out of the room to continue the demo. I felt dismissed. And rejected.
My cheeks heated as I shrugged, flashing a forced smile at Quinn. “Four o’clock.”
A few minutes later, Cammie and I walked downhill back toward Main Street. I braced myself, waiting for the interrogation.
Cammie didn’t make me wait. “So, hot for McRae, huh?”
I rolled my eyes. “Say it louder, why don’t you? I don’t think they heard you on the other side of the island.”
She chuckled. “Sorry. It’s not like you’re alone in your attraction. There are many women here who cursed being married when he first appeared. You have to tell me what happened between you two on Stòr.”
“Nothing. He abandoned me for most of it to hide in his workshop while I snuggled up with Akiva.”
“Akiva snuggled with you?”
“Yes. We snuggled.”
“Wow.” Cammie shook her head. “But you and Ramsay didn’t …”
“Didn’t what?”
She wiggled her eyebrows.
I huffed indignantly. “I’m not the sleep with a guy I just met kinda person. And anyway, if you didn’t notice, Ramsay McRae isn’t interested. I think he finds me mildly irritating.”
“Uh, no.” Cam shook her head, her hair bouncing with the movement. “I picked up on definite vibes between you two. The way he was looking at you …” She fanned her face with a laugh. “That’s why I thought something had happened.”
So … it wasn’t only me? There really was something electric between us.
“Nothing happened.”
“Well, despite the crackle in the air, I wouldn’t anticipate anything happening.
” Cammie gave me a smile to soften the blow of her words.
“Quinn has done a good job of pulling Ramsay out of his hermit ways, but as long as he’s lived here, he has never slept with a woman from Glenvulin.
Quinn says Ramsay doesn’t do serious relationships and he won’t ever sleep with a woman from the island because he wants to avoid complications.
Last I heard, he was casually seeing a woman over on the mainland. ”
Disappointment deflated my crush-induced butterflies. I didn’t know why. It wasn’t like I was looking for a relationship right now. Only eight months ago, I was living with someone.
“Look, it’s nothing,” I assured Cammie. “I’m not interested in anything right now. I have enough on my plate. Just … don’t tell anyone.”
She chuckled, wrapping her arm around my shoulders to give me a quick squeeze.
“Aw, Tierney, you don’t need to ask me that.
A little over two thousand people live on Glenvulin …
which means you get very good at keeping secrets unless you want every bloody person in Leth Sholas to know every minute detail of your life.
I’ll keep you right and let you know who you can trust to keep their mouth shut and who fancies themselves the town crier. ”
I laughed, leaning into her. “Thank you. I honestly don’t think I’d be able to make this transition without you.”
And I meant it. Despite all the darkness I had gone through and still had to go through, in that moment, I felt very lucky to be in Leth Sholas with a friend like Cameron McQuarrie at my side.