25
25
Juniper
Surprise.
I didn’t wait there.
Back pressed to the wall beside a series of black and white prints of Skye’s moody landscape that I’d very much like to hang in my own home, I listened to the brothers move about the kitchen.
“Sorry.” Callum sounded out of breath.
“I was … just about to climb in the shower when I heard you.” I cringed at his words.
How it would pain him to lie to his brother.
“Why are you all wet?” Alistair’s familiar clip cut straight to the point.
“I went for a hike this morning. Got caught in the downpour.” Cups clacked and I knew Callum was tidying away the evidence of my visit.
“I thought you were going to Portree,” Alistair said and I could picture the little “problem-solving” indent he always got between his brows.
“I did. And then I went for a hike. What are you doing here?”
“I dropped by to see Juniper.” My heart stalled, one beat stretching into another.
As did the silence from the next room.
“ Oh? ” Callum reached for casual and failed.
“She wasn’t in?” Bloody hell.
Hadn’t I accused him of being a very skilled liar only days ago?
I might as well have opened the door and announced myself.
“Ada said she’d be back this afternoon.” Damn Ada .
I need to have a word with her about handing out that kind of information.
“I thought you were giving her time.” Tension oozed in Callum’s words.
He almost sounded jealous.
“ I did .”
I couldn’t contain my snort.
One bloody day.
“One day hardly signifies.” My thoughts and Callum’s biting words went hand in hand.
“You wait for her to come to you. I mean it, Alistair. She’s earned that right.” Trying to picture the menacing look on Callum’s face, I let my eyes flutter shut, fingers flying to my racing heart.
Calm down, heart , I warned the cold, shrivelled organ threatening to take flight beneath my ribs.
Don’t be hasty .
The only bright spots in my day were you.
The memory of those words only made my heart beat more furiously, like a warm fist had wrapped around it, melting it’s icy shell.
My back slid down the wall.
Juniper Ross does not beg for anyone’s love.
But I might. One more hour in his sunshine presence and I might just beg for his.
Tucking my knees to my chest, the words , Danger!
Danger! , flashed like sirens behind my lids.
Loving Alistair had been easy.
And still it had broken me.
I’d allowed it to break me.
I’d turned him into a monster in my head.
An ogre to blame all my unhappiness upon.
I still wasn’t ready to forgive him, but I was clear-sighted enough to see that the blame didn’t lie entirely at his door.
This thing with Callum wasn’t love …
not yet. It was worse – it was hope.
Shit.
I scrubbed my hands through my still damp hair, a memory rising of Alexander – my dad – in the last days of his life.
It’s all pain in the end, wee one, might as well make the journey worth it.
Even back then he’d been trying to warn me, as if he could see the wall I’d erected around myself.
Knowing his death would lay the final brick.
“How’s Dad today?” Callum’s voice filtered through the crack in the doorway and I knew it was time to remove myself.
Rising on shaky legs, I scrawled a note, placed it atop his pillow and climbed out his bedroom window.