Chapter 29 Mac
MAC
“Arro always wants to stay at her house. I’m worried about that.”
“Why?” Iona asked.
“I’m worried she’s afraid of going back to mine. She hasn’t been there since March. Since that night.”
“Have you tried talking to her about it?”
“I’m being a bit of a coward,” I confessed. “I don’t want to burst this bubble we’re in. I don’t want to take her back to a place that might make her change her mind about us.”
“That’s understandable. However, if your relationship is to last, communication is key. Tough discussions can’t be avoided. They only prolong the inevitable. Don’t you think it would be better to do it now?”
“I don’t want to hurt her.”
“If she isn’t ready to be in your house again, then you can support her in that. But I also think it’s important you two talk it through, because it isn’t about the house. It’s about the trust between you.”
Another week passed, but it might as well have been months.
That was what it was like to be with Arro.
An endless high. I hadn’t known it was possible to be this fucking happy.
I’d longed for contentment for so long, and I was sure this would eventually ease into something like that, but right now, I was ecstatic.
I was in love for the first time in my forty-five years on the planet.
All those years without her seemed like a waste, and yet I’d relive every single second—even the worst—if it led me to this moment with her.
It was the third Saturday since our date at North Star.
That seemed like a lifetime ago. Time was acting strangely.
Having spent our days at work and much of our nights together at Arro’s, we’d dodged the village.
Spending all our downtime at Arro’s bungalow, however, meant there was surely some neighborly gossip about why that was.
But I wasn’t hiding our relationship. We’d worked too bloody hard to make a go of it. We still were.
“Are you ready for this?” Arro asked after we’d parked her Defender in the village’s main car park on Castle Street.
“I am. Are you?”
Her answer was to curl her arm around mine as we walked toward Flora’s. That morning had been a heavy one. Instead of going to the gym, I’d made Arro breakfast in bed.
“What’s all this?” she’d said, blinking sleepily as she’d pushed into a sitting position.
I’d placed the breakfast tray over her, and she grinned up at me in delight. “I want to talk to you about something, and I didn’t want you to have to do it before your coffee.” I smirked at the omelet I’d made. “Then somehow that turned into breakfast.”
“Aren’t you hungry?”
“I ate as I cooked.”
Arro sipped at her coffee. Then, “You look serious, Mackennon. Should I be worried?”
“No.” I sat down on the bed beside her. “But I don’t know if I should be worried.”
“I’m confused.” She picked up her cutlery and began eating. A few seconds later, she impatiently swallowed a bite and said, “Well?”
“You don’t want to stay at my place,” I blurted out.
That concern grew as Arro sat back against her pillows and studied me carefully.
Finally, she sighed. “I didn’t want to ruin what’s happening between us. I thought going back might bring everything up, and I didn’t want to …” She trailed off, guilt flashing across her face.
“Didn’t want to what? Arro?”
“Didn’t want to feel differently toward you again.”
Anxious heat warmed my skin. “Do you think you will?”
Thankfully, she shook her head. “I’ve forgiven you, Mackennon, I promise. It’s just … the trust is still building. I’m worried the memories will mess up that process.”
My fears had tried to take hold, but I was done letting them control me. “I want you to come to the cottage today. We don’t have to stay long, but I want you to try. We can’t ignore these things, Arro.”
To my gratitude, Arro nodded. “Okay. You’re right.”
So here we were, back in the village. But on the drive in, Arro had requested we lead up to the cottage by stopping for a coffee at Flora’s.
That I could do. It would also mean putting ourselves out there with the villagers, which seemed risky considering Arro might take one step into my house and decide we were forever tainted by the memory of my fuck-up that night.
I was living on the side of hope that it wouldn’t be as drastic as all that.
We were great together, and though my demons liked to argue with me now and then, I knew deep down, Arro thought we were great together too.
Ardnoch was at the height of its tourist season, but we were in the village early enough to find a parking space, and hopefully, a table at Flora’s. We passed more strangers than neighbors, but the villagers we passed definitely gave a double glance at us arm in arm.
“There’s a table in the back,” Arro observed as we approached the windowed front of Flora’s.
I opened the door for her, the bell above ringing to announce our presence. Some people looked up; others didn’t. A couple of faces I recognized, but the rest were tourists.
Flora came out from behind the counter as I held open the door for Arro. She strode past me, her floral perfume no longer provoking thoughts of desperate, pathetic pining but memories of kissing and caressing every inch of her. I now knew this woman’s body as well as I knew my own.
Forcing away thoughts that might get me into trouble, I closed the door behind us and placed a guiding hand on Arro’s lower back as I led her across the small café.
“Morning, Flora,” Arro said to the owner.
Flora’s gaze zeroed in on where I touched Arro, but she merely nodded and welcomed us to the empty table before taking our order. Like last time, I moved my chair close to Arro’s so our knees touched. I could tell by Flora’s unusual stiffness that gossip had definitely circulated.
I lit a fire under it.
Arro’s sip from her cappuccino had left a foam mustache across her top lip.
Before I could think about my actions, I bent my head to kiss the foam off.
Except, as always, the kiss changed into something a little longer, hungrier.
Reluctantly, I broke it, stroking my thumb over her bottom lip, holding her gaze, silently telling her the three words I hadn’t spoken in almost three weeks.
Because it had grown too painful not to hear them back.
As much as I was ready to wait for her, I couldn’t take that particular rejection.
I’d say them if I thought she needed to hear it, but for now, I hoped my actions spoke those words for me.
That was when I sensed the staring.
Lifting my head, I found Flora gaping over the counter at us like a codfish. Arro groaned under her breath, and I followed her gaze across the room to see Janet Mulree, owner of a tourist gift shop, sitting at a table with her college-age daughter.
Janet Mulree was one of Ardnoch’s biggest gossips.
I was aware of her and her daughter leaving five minutes later … but honestly, I had no idea the woman could work as fast as she did.
When I got up not long later to pay our bill, Flora admonished me with one hand and offered me well wishes with the other.
She said as she handed me a receipt, “It’s not what I expected from you, but I do hope it’ll work out for you both.
” Flora’s tone suggested she thought Arro and I would not last.
I tried not to let that into my head. My immediate thought to myself: Aye, everyone can see you don’t deserve her. But I choked that thought down and let it dissipate as Arro stood and placed her hand in mine.
“Let’s grab a sandwich from Morag’s to take back to yours,” she said as we stepped out of the café. A summer drizzle wet our hair and skin as we hurried across the street, the sky darkening above. Though we’d been lucky with a very warm summer this year, downpours were still a common occurrence.
I ushered us into Morag’s, but before we could make our way to the back to the deli counter, something caught Arro’s eye at the end of the first aisle. I followed her as she stopped at a row of magazines, and then walked along the stacks until she suddenly plucked one out of the kids’ section.
“Eilidh is obsessed with this.” Arro waved a copy of National Geographic for Kids.
“I bought an issue months ago just for something for her to read in the car, and now it’s our thing.
I need to get Lewis something, too, though.
” She scanned the stacks as I looked tenderly down at her, wondering what life might be like with our own kid one day.
If I’d have the energy for it.
I’d find the energy for it.
If it made her happy.
I was vaguely aware of the store door opening, but I was too busy watching Arro, obsessed as I was, to note anything else. Then I heard, “Did you hear, Morag? The Adair family are at it again. That family and the scandal that follows them is atrocious.” The voice was familiar.
Arro stiffened in front of me, and I placed a comforting hand on her shoulder as she listened.
That was when I realized the store aisles hid us and the gossiper had no idea we were even there.
“You know I don’t listen to gossip, and especially not about the Adairs. They’re good people.” Morag tried to wave off the male gossiper.
I always liked Morag.
“Och, you won’t be thinking that when you hear what I have to tell you. Janet Mulree was just in Flora’s, and that security guard was all over the Adair girl. He’s twice her age! And there they were, just brazenly kissing. And Janet said it was not an appropriate kiss.”
“Mr. Oliphant, for a start, Mac Galbraith is not twice Arrochar’s age, and second, it’s nobody’s business what they do. Now, what can I get you?”