Chapter 12 #2
Carli heard herself mumble something that sounded like ‘okay,’ but was possibly more of an indiscriminate noise that betrayed how discombobulated this encounter had left her.
‘Catch you downstairs after, Cass.’ Niall turned away and strolled towards his room. ‘Unless you want help shampooing your hair. Just friendly, like.’ He turned and walked backwards, slowly, eyeing her with that knowing glint that made her insides cartwheel.
She managed to tip her head to the side, a question mark to his flirting.
‘What? Friends shampoo each other’s hair, don’t they?
’ A glimmer of a cheeky smile was playing at the corner of Niall’s lips as he stopped outside his room.
How was he so damned cute and sexy and funny all at once?
Damn him for being all those things but entirely unreliable.
No way would she fall back into the arms of the man who one month claimed she was the love of his life and the next said oops, my bad, I don’t love you after all.
Even if it was seventeen years ago and he’d done a whole lot of growing up since then.
‘Sometimes,’ she said. ‘But not on…’ What day was today? Jeez, her internal calendar was all messed up because of the travel.
‘Sundays?’ Niall finished the maths her brain was struggling with.
‘Not on Sundays. Okay, maybe tomorrow. By the way, the en-suite in there has crap pressure, so use the main bathroom like I did.’ And he turned to the bedroom door, leaving Carli with only the sight of the perfectly intricate swell of muscles across his back to torment herself with.
Well, this might be quite an interesting shower, even without him in there.
‘I’m insanely jealous of your trip, by the way,’ said Eilidh as they all sat round the large oak table to eat the giant fry-up Sean and Niall had prepared for lunch. ‘I wish I could go on the Harry Potter train. What’s it called again?’
‘Officially, The Royal Scotsman,’ said Carli, ‘but I’m sure its informal name is the Harry Potter train. It definitely goes over the bridge from the movie.’
‘We could always come and stand under there and wave to you as it goes over,’ said Cara. ‘Like poor wastrels that aren’t allowed on the posh train.’
‘It’s definitely not cheap,’ said Carli, who had paid for the trip from her paternal grandmother’s inheritance.
‘But it looks like something out of a dream. Men in kilts serving you dinner and bringing a nightcap to your private cabin. Or maybe I imagined that last bit. Still, there are definitely men in kilts, and when it stops in Edinburgh, we can meet for coffee or drinks.’
‘Sounds brilliant,’ said Eilidh. ‘Even better if you invite us in to meet those hot men in kilts.’
‘Do you like a man in a kilt?’ Carli thought Scottish women might be indifferent to men in the national dress.
‘Hell yeah!’ Eilidh exclaimed. ‘I love them!’
‘Me too,’ said Cara. ‘I’m a goner for a man in a tartan skirt.’
‘Feeling objectified much?’ Sean asked Niall as he shovelled a hash brown into his mouth.
Niall shrugged. ‘Absolutely not. On the contrary.’ He winked across the table at Carli.
‘I saw that!’ cried Cara.
‘Well done. You don’t need glasses then.’ Niall winked even harder at his younger sister.
‘You guys should get a room or something,’ said Cara. ‘Or you should get a room on your own, Niall, where you can sit and think about how weird you are.’
‘Is this a room you’ve spent time in yourself?’ Niall asked his sister, a smile tugging at his lips.
‘Might be.’ Cara popped a cherry tomato in her mouth and bit down on it before yelping. ‘Aarrgh, fuck!’ followed by some indecipherable noises.
‘Sorry what?’ Niall asked, clearly with no intention of helping his sister.
‘Are you okay?’ Carli checked in on Cara.
‘Why is this tomato so fucking hot?’ Cara fanned her whole face.
Niall and Sean were laughing hard. ‘Have you never had a cooked tomato Cara?’ said Sean. ‘That’s what happens. They get hot.’
‘Gosh! That’s news to me,’ said Cara. ‘I always get my personal chef to cook my tomatoes to an ambient temperature, so I don’t try to eat something hotter than the sun.’ Cara had been an actress in a popular Scottish soap opera before landing a role in a Hollywood film. Her star was on the up.
Niall’s jaw dropped open. ‘Really?’
‘No, you numptie, of course I don’t.’
By this point, Carli was laughing hard at the banter between the siblings, their energy and love was so contagious.
‘Anyway,’ said Sean, ‘where else are you going on your wee trip besides the train with men in kilts?’
‘I’ll start with some camping down by Loch Lachnashin.’ This was where Carli’s mother’s ashes were scattered, and she planned to camp there on her mum’s birthday to remember her. Just the loch, Carli and her mum. Lots of peace and reflection.
Niall raised his gaze to her. ‘Loch Lachnashin? You’re camping there? On your own?’
‘Yes. Mum’s ashes are scattered there.’
‘I know.’
Of course he knew. He’d been with her there to visit. So was he concerned that she was facing a difficult memory alone or because she would be alone in general? Or both?
For a moment or two no one said anything, Carli and Niall’s interchange hanging heavy in the air. Then he spoke, again, concern a low undertone in his voice.
‘There’s no campsite at Loch Lachnashin, Cass.’
‘There are some facilities.’ Carli had done her homework. ‘But it’s an unstaffed site.’
‘That you’re going to alone?’
‘Yes, it means a lot to me.’
‘Of course.’ Niall stared at her, and she drilled her gaze back into his. Sure he was aware how much losing her mum had hurt but he didn’t get to come in and tell her what to do with the memories.
Eventually Niall looked back down at his food and Eilidh filled the space left by the awkward silence.
‘After the camping, where are you going, Carls?’
‘I’m heading over to the east coast to St Andrews, and some little coastal villages in the East Neuk of Fife, back to Edinburgh for the train ride and then home to Melbourne.’
‘You can stay at mine when you’re in Edinburgh,’ said Eilidh. ‘Don’t dare get a hotel in the city. It’s way too expensive. We’re only half an hour on the train and Cal and Bea are along the road.’
‘Sounds great, thank you.’
‘You shouldn’t camp on your own,’ Niall cut in, like he’d been stewing on this point the whole time and couldn’t hold back.
‘She’ll be fine, Noo Noo. It’s Loch Lachnashin, not Glasgow.’
‘Aye, it might be, but it only takes one fuckwad to be passing by. Cass…’ Niall looked at her with such sincerity that she might do whatever he was about to ask her. ‘Can you please not camp there? Get a hotel. I’ll pay for it, if money’s a problem.’
‘Niall…’
‘I’m serious. Go to the loch during the day – I get how important it is to you – but at night can you please get a hotel and sleep with a locked door?’
Carli was lost for words. Niall’s vociferousness had stunned his siblings into silence and the atmosphere in the room was loaded.
It would be easy to say she’d be fine and not to worry, but she understood that his concern came from a genuine place, and although it was unlikely anything bad would happen, it was also impossible to say that it wouldn’t.
‘I’ll happily pay,’ said Niall. ‘Please.’
‘Carli has her heart set on camping by a loch.’ Cara tried to lighten the mood. ‘The true Scottish experience to remember her mum by.’
‘Aye, I get that, but there’s also a lot of true Scottish weirdos out there. I don’t want that to be part of her experience, too. I’m not trying to control your holiday, Cass, I promise.’
Carli considered what Niall was saying. While she wasn’t especially worried about the weirdos he talked about, she saw the genuine concern in his eyes. The spark had been replaced by a dark pleading. But it didn’t sit well with her to take his money.
‘I’m not suggesting I join you in the hotel, by the way,’ he added. ‘All I want is for you to be safe.’
‘I understand—’ Carli began.
‘I’ve got it!’ Cara clicked her fingers excitedly. ‘Why don’t you go camping together? In separate tents. Niall, you camp your tent in front of Carli’s so nobody can get in, and he’ll make sure you’re safe after dark.’
Sean splutter laughed at this, then apologised. ‘Sorry… I’ve a tent in the loft you can borrow, bro.’
‘She doesn’t want that,’ Niall cut in. ‘She wants to travel on her own. Hence, I’m happy to pay for a hotel.’
‘I’ll think about what you’ve said.’ Carli didn’t want Niall paying for a hotel and she wasn’t scared of camping by the loch, but if he wanted her to be safe, then maybe she should pay for one herself. She had the money and it would be better for her than camping in the cold.
‘Thanks for thinking about it,’ Niall sounded genuinely relieved. ‘Scotland can seem like this couthy little place where everyone is a lovely little scone-eating sweetheart, but there are nutters here same as anywhere else.’
The sound of a phone vibrating cut in and Niall’s gaze shot to the kitchen counter.
‘Oh, shit,’ he stood up, brushing crumbs off his lap. ‘I said I’d meet this kid to talk about surfing lessons.’
‘What kid?’ said Eilidh.
‘Och, at the party I was talking to Fiona from Ferniebrae school over in Campbeltown, where kids who’ve been excluded from mainstream school go.
And she said there’s this kid who wants to surf.
Like desperately, but he can’t afford a board or lessons or anything.
So I told her to bring him down here today and I’d have a chat with him and we can sort something out. ’
This sounded so sweet and Eilidh put it perfectly when she said, ‘So very Niall of you, Niall.’
‘What, the teaching or the forgetting about it?’ Niall commented, drolly.
‘Uh, both, I guess.’
‘Hmm, thanks, Sis. Cass, we’ll talk later about the camping.’
‘Okay.’ Carli nodded, happy to if he genuinely was worried about her.
‘Always leaves before the washing up,’ said Sean, as Niall was walking out the door.