Chapter 30
30
VIOLET
After our wonderful dinner in the hotel restaurant, we’re now having evening drinks on the rooftop patio of the presidential suite.
Lincoln’s father has booked the whole top floor for the family for two weeks.
When Lincoln showed me around the place, I may have dropped more than a few wow s and I’m pretty sure at one point Lincoln had to lift my jaw off the marble floor when I walked into the bathroom and saw the floor-to-ceiling window that looks out over the entire city. “I’ve had such a lovely evening.” I sigh, resting my back against the enormous semicircle outdoor sofa as I stare at the stunning view across my hometown and take a sip of my crisp white wine.
“Me too.” Lincoln lays his hands on my exposed thigh.
I like that I didn’t have to go back to my house to change or put make-up on. This family is all about keeping it real and being natural around each other.
I really like them.
Eva’s sister Eden and her husband, Hunter, have triplet boys while Ella, her other sister, and her husband, Fraser, have one boy, and they’ve made me feel incredibly welcome tonight, like I am already part of the family.
With the atmosphere combined with Lincoln’s incredibly loving family, it’s as if I’ve been wrapped up in an enormous hug this evening. My own family doesn’t hold a candle to this one.
Lincoln gives my leg a quick squeeze and then heads off to sit beside his father on the other side of the sofa.
Curling my knee underneath me, I turn to speak to Hunter King; he’s a famous pro golfer and originally from the US. I’ve seen him on billboards, advertising men’s underwear, and on the television, but he’s even more handsome up close, and he’s cut. Very, very cut.
“Was moving from America to Scotland a big decision for you, Hunter?” I ask.
He looks over at his adorably cute wife and smiles. “Never. I just knew. The great thing about my job is that it allows me to stay anywhere in the world because we travel so much and it makes no difference where my base is.”
“Yeah, I can’t do that,” I mumble under my breath, then take a long sip of wine.
“What do you do?”
“I work for my father as an operations manager. All of my work is based in the US.”
“Ah. So that could be a problem if you wanted to, say, move to Scotland, for instance?” He gives me a knowing look.
“Yeah.” I glance over at Lincoln, who’s deep in conversation with his father.
Hunter stretches his long legs out in front of him and crosses them at the ankles. “Before Eden and I got married and had kids, Eden’s mother once told her this great story about how you don’t have to see or know your final destination. You only have to take one junction at a time. A bit like traveling, you never know what you will find when you do.” He looks from Lincoln to me, then back again. “She was right.”
What a wise woman. “What do you love most about living in Scotland?” I take another sip of wine and place my glass on the table.
“They use the word ‘shag’ a lot. It’s a great word.” He smiles. “ Fancy a shag; want to shag; let’s have a shag; they are shagging .”
I almost snort my wine through my nose.
He adds, “And I like how excited they get about a cup of tea, especially in the morning and…” Hunter looks across at his half-asleep wife. “Eden is there, and my boys. I wouldn’t change the four of them for the world.”
“Do you miss America?”
“I did in the beginning. But I don’t anymore. Even if I did, it’s only twelve hours on a flight.”
“Twelve hours?”
“Trust me, I know. We did that with seven kids.” He shakes his head. “And we have to return home. Maybe we should leave them all here. Or I will go home separately.” I think he’s seriously considering that as an option.
Twelve hours.
That’s a lot of distance between Lincoln and me.
Could we make it work?