Chapter 2
It took a split second for Jamie to remember where he was when he woke the next morning.
North Berwick, not London. The realisation gave a little context to the seagull in his bedroom.
Not much though – why was there a seagull in the bedroom?
Had he left the window open? Since he had his arms up to protect his head, he had no idea.
Curling up in a ball probably wasn’t going to help the situation.
When the screaming bird fell silent, he braved a look. Where the heck was it? Sitting up, he scanned the room. No bird.
When the shriek came again, he flinched.
“What the hell?” he said aloud, stumbling from the bed to the window.
A clatter sounded on the roof as he shoved the window open, then the huge bird took off to glide down to the beach.
When more squawks hit his eardrums, Jamie leaned a little out of the window and spotted another white and grey bird on the neighbour’s chimney pot.
“I guess you don’t need an alarm clock around here,” he muttered, taking in the calm sea under the bright blue sky before stumbling back to bed. After dozing for a while, he plucked his phone from the bedside table and was faced with numerous messages from Violet.
Among them was a list of things he might like to do in the next few days before he started work.
Website links were included, and Jamie felt a pang of annoyance.
Sometimes he wondered if she thought he was completely incompetent.
He had access to the internet too – if he wanted to see the sights, he was quite capable of figuring that out for himself.
She meant well, he reminded himself, swinging his legs off the bed and rooting in his case for a pair of jogging bottoms. Her wanting to organise everything wasn’t a new thing, but it had got worse in the last six months.
Since his stepdad had died. It was her way of looking after him and he should be grateful.
Mostly, he was. But sometimes it felt stifling.
What was he going to do for the day, anyway?
He needed food so a shopping trip was definitely in order.
Heading downstairs, he was intent on getting a coffee and making a shopping list, but a quaint wooden box beside the kettle caught his eye.
He lifted the lid to peer at the compartments, filled with speciality teas. He took out one of the packets.
“Earl Grey Blue Flower,” he murmured, reading the words. He pulled out another. Nettle and Fennel. He went to the fridge and stared at the paper he’d thought had been a game.
“They were rating the teas,” he said, looking over at the cat, who peered at him from the kitchen doorway.
He was usually a coffee person, but the ten stars given to Rooibos Vanilla by the person called Skye had him intrigued enough to change his plans and switch the kettle on.
Five minutes later, he concluded he had different taste to Skye, whoever she was, but it wasn’t terrible. He’d give it a six out of ten.
While he scribbled out a shopping list at the kitchen table another message came through from Violet. He chuckled as he read it:
If you go shopping today, don’t buy a load of junk food.
He wrote junk food on his list in big letters. Going shopping without having to worry about the lecture when he got home would be quite refreshing. He could buy the sugary cereals that Violet despised.
With that in mind, he typed out a reply:
I won’t. Have a good day x
She wrote back straight away.
If I were you I’d go to the Seabird Centre today. It’s right at the harbour and looks lovely. They have webcams on the little islands in the bay so you can watch the gannets and puffins.
Jamie’s shoulders tensed. He’d decide for himself how to spend the day.
Except the Seabird Centre actually sounded cool. Scrolling up, he clicked on the link she’d sent for it. It seemed like it was worth a look.
He turned to look at the cat. “I’ll do the shopping, then I’m going exploring.”
The next few days were spent wandering the quaint town and harbour, and ambling along the vast stretches of beach. He also ticked off a couple of things on Violet’s list – the Seabird Centre, a couple of coastal towns nearby and some impressive castle ruins which loomed high on a cliffside.
On Sunday morning, he set off to tackle another item on the list: North Berwick Law.
Law was the Scots word for a conical hill.
The lady in the artisan coffee shop on the high street had informed Jamie that morning when she recommended he hiked up there.
He’d seen it, of course, presiding over the town.
Compared to the flatness of the surrounding landscape it was really quite striking.
His phone rang when he was about halfway into his hike. Calls from his aunt were always welcome, but since his only human contact for the last few days had been phone calls with Violet, and short interactions in cafés and shops, he was even more happy than usual to hear from her.
“Hi!” he said, smiling as he answered.
“Is it a good time?” Angela asked.
“Yes, perfect. I’m just out for a walk.”
“How’s it going? I’ve been thinking about you.”
“It’s great.” He paused to catch his breath. “There are ponies here.”
“What? Where are you?”
“I’m walking up North Berwick Law. It’s this huge hill next to the town. The view is supposed to be fantastic from the top. It’s pretty great already,” he said, looking out towards the coast. “And there are ponies wandering the hillside.”
“It’s a bit different than home then?”
“So different. You wouldn’t believe the house.
It’s right by the beach. I open the curtains in the morning and there’s the sea.
And the sunsets are unbelievable! For the past two nights I’ve sat on the patio and watched the sunset over the water.
The town is fantastic too. There are all these cute independent cafés, and shops. You’d love it.”
“I’m glad you’re having a good time.”
“The food is amazing as well.” Apparently, now that he had someone to talk to he couldn’t stop. “There’s this cute little restaurant at the harbour where you can get lobster and chips and it’s the best.”
“Developing expensive tastes, are you?”
“It’s not expensive,” he said, grinning and turning to face the wind as it blew through his hair. “The lobster are all caught locally. They haul them out of the sea and serve them up! It’s not like ordering lobster in a fancy restaurant. It’s like a slightly upmarket chip shop.”
“You sound happy.”
He sucked in a lungful of air and continued ambling up the hill. “The change of scene is refreshing. And some time to myself probably isn’t a bad thing.”
“I’m surprised you know what to do with yourself when Violet’s not cajoling you.”
A smile tugged at his lips and he set off walking again. “She sends me suggestions of what to do with my days so I’m all good.”
Angela laughed loudly. “I could actually imagine her doing that.”
“I wasn’t joking,” he told her.
He could hear the exasperation in her sigh. “Have you started work yet?” she asked, thankfully changing the subject.
“Not yet. I have my first job tomorrow. Then a couple more lined up later in the week.”
“How does it work, are the jobs already booked in for the next two months?”
“No. There are a few regular gardening jobs, but other than that I only have things booked in for the next couple of weeks. Moira – the woman whose house it is – left my number on her voicemail, and also gave my details on her email out-of-office responder. She also gave my number to a few of her regular clients. I’m not sure how busy I’ll be, but it’s good to have a little bit of structure to my time. ”
She gave a hum of agreement. “And how’s the cat?”
“She’s fine. A little standoffish, but I’ve been told she takes a while to warm up to people. Every time I feed her she seems to like me a bit more, but she’s not exactly cuddly or anything.”
“Have you met anyone? Neighbours or anything?”
“No. I said hello to the woman next door but she ignored me. Moira already warned me that she wasn’t friendly.”
“And you’re okay on your own?”
“Yeah. I’m quite enjoying my solitude. But I’ll also meet people when I start doing some jobs.
Moira said a friend of hers would call in and say hello at some point too.
” He wasn’t far from the crest of the hill, but he slowed at the burning sensation in his calves. “How’s everything with you and Duncan?”
“Fine. Same as ever. He’s at work now, but maybe we can all get on a video call sometime. You could give us a virtual tour of the house. I’m dying to see it.”
“Yeah. We should do that. I’ll send you photos too. Oh, also, I wanted to ask if you know the address for where I used to live in Edinburgh.” He had no memory of it, but he’d spent the first few years of his life there before he and his mum moved to London.
“I can probably track it down,” she said hesitantly.
“You and Mum used to write to each other, didn’t you? You must have the old address.”
“I will have, I’m just not sure where.”
“Could you also have a look through those boxes of Mum’s stuff at your place and see if you can find any old photos from that time?”
“Yes, I can look.” She hesitated. “Are you going to go to your old house?”
“I thought I might have a lurk outside. And have a look around the area. Do you think my biological dad still has family around there?”
“I don’t know.” There was a sharp edge to her tone. “But they never took any interest in you, Jamie. I wouldn’t go poking around expecting any happy family reunions.”
“I was only wondering. It’s not like I want to contact them. It’s just strange to think I might have aunts and uncles and cousins around here somewhere.”
“As far as I remember he didn’t have a lot of family.” She paused. “Your mum wouldn’t want you digging around in the past.”
Jamie rolled his eyes. “I’m not going to. Stop stressing! Can you just find the address for me, please?”
“I’ll have a look later.” Her voice softened. “It’s good to hear you sounding so relaxed.”
He smiled widely. “I’m always relaxed, aren’t I?”
“Not so much recently,” she said sadly.
“I’ve got to go,” he said, not liking the sudden weight to the conversation. Also, his breathing was getting heavier as the incline got steeper. “Thanks for calling.”
“We’ll speak again soon.”
He ended the call and focused on the last section of path. If you could call it that – there wasn’t a clear path anymore, it was more of a scramble over the rocky hillside. Completely out of breath, he bent over at the top, heaving in air until his heart rate calmed down.
A family was up there too, the parents chatting while the two kids sat side by side on a rock, giggling away.
Jamie ventured to the information board beside a huge replica whale jawbone.
Quickly, he skimmed the words but was soon distracted by the captivating view of the sea and dotted islands.
Fluffy clouds hung in the sky, perfectly white against the bright blue background.
Out at sea, the iconic Bass Rock stood out from the other islands.
Jamie had read about it during his trip to the Seabird Centre at the harbour.
He screwed his nose up thinking of why the volcanic rock was strikingly white – accumulated bird droppings from its vast gannet colony.
There were boat trips out around the rock, but Jamie had been put off by the thought of the stench if you got too close.
Gusts whipped at his face and lifted his hair, leaving him feeling invigorated. Turning, he gazed out over a patchwork of fields and farmland to Edinburgh in the distance.
His first home.
For twenty minutes, he lingered up there, taking in the view and clinging to that feeling of contentment. Then he started back down, thinking of Misty, who’d no doubt be vocal about her hunger when he got back.
He needed to check through Moira’s van too, which he’d been mortified to find was emblazoned with her company slogan in hot pink. That would be slightly embarrassing to drive around, but he didn’t have much choice since he couldn’t easily fit all the tools and equipment in his car.
He felt good about starting work anyway.
The day of gardening should be satisfying and it’d be interesting to meet some of North Berwick’s residents.
Moira had given him information about the first few jobs on his calendar, but they were all mixed up in his head now, and he couldn’t remember what she’d said about the couple he’d be gardening for.
Hopefully, they’d be nice.