Chapter 24
Twenty-Four
SARAH
Iwas lost in my thoughts, worrying about Theo, and hadn’t even noticed the two women enter Flora’s Café.
My palms hugged my coffee mug, seeking the heat as nerves churned in my gut.
I was worried about Theo. Other than how he was when he chased after me from London, I’d never seen him so off-kilter as he was yesterday.
He’d told me about the police and the fact that they believed the Hangman serial killer was copycatting the serial killer from King’s Valley.
We’d walked around the village while Theo made a few phone calls, the most important one being to his executive producer at Skylark World Productions, giving her a heads-up and asking for a full cast and crew list from the show that he could forward to the police.
Next, he sent a blunt text message to North.
I know he still hadn’t forgiven him, but I also knew Theo didn’t want his friend going through another year of media scandal.
North had tried to call him after the text, yet Theo couldn’t bring himself to answer.
Instead, he’d just stood there, staring at his phone, looking so lost and forlorn.
Unable to bear it, I’d broken my promise to myself to keep my physical distance from Theo until I felt like I could trust him again, and I’d wrapped my arms around him.
He’d held on so tightly.
I tried to tell him that none of this was his fault, but he was deeply disturbed his work had been used in such a horrific way. And I couldn’t blame him. I’d feel the same if someone took my books and turned them into real-life crimes.
“Sarah? Sarah?”
I blinked, my name on repeat breaking through my thoughts, and I turned to find Sloane Harrow leaning across the distance between our tables, her brows pinched with concern.
She was accompanied by Monroe Adair, a primary school teacher and wife to retired Hollywood actor Brodan Adair.
Brodan and Monroe were a good seven years older than me, so I hadn’t been in their friend group, but I’d known that the famous couple were best friends growing up.
They’d taken separate paths after high school but found their way back to each other almost twenty years later.
Their story was utterly romantic. Monroe had fallen pregnant quickly upon their reunion, and they’d married in a private ceremony.
Their baby boy Lennox followed a few months later.
Sloane, an American transplant and single mum to Callie, was friends with Aria, so Aria had gotten Sloane a job as a housekeeper at the estate.
We hadn’t worked shifts together, but the pretty American had been sweet and polite to me and brought all of us the most amazing baked goods.
She’d had some trouble with her daughter’s father, and Walker, a new security guard at the estate who also happened to be Brodan’s ex-bodyguard, stepped in to help her.
They’d fallen in love, gotten engaged, and according to Jared, they’d married while I was in Gairloch.
Sloane quit housekeeping at the beginning of summer to open a bakery that was now extremely popular in the village.
It was only open three days a week, much to everyone’s chagrin, but I admired Sloane’s determination to run her business the way she wanted to.
I shouldn’t think of her as Sloane Harrow anymore. She was now Sloane Ironside.
“Hi.” I shook my head, blushing at the fact she’d obviously called my name several times before I heard her.
“Are you okay?” she asked, studying me carefully.
“I’m fine,” I assured her. “I hear congratulations are in order.”
She grinned and held up her hand where a beautiful engagement ring was nestled beside her wedding band. “Yeah, still can’t believe it sometimes.”
“Well, congratulations. To you and Callie.”
Surprise softened her features, no doubt because I’d never been a great conversationalist when we worked together. But these last few weeks with Theo had helped me gain a lot of confidence. If I could converse easily with someone as intimidating as him, I could pretty much talk to anyone.
I smiled at Monroe. “I don’t think I got the chance to congratulate you on your marriage or your son, so congrats.”
Monroe stared at me like she’d never seen me before, but then quickly recovered. “Thank you, Sarah. How are you doing?”
“Yeah, Aria said you quit the estate,” Sloane remarked. “Everything okay there?”
It’s time, I thought. Soon enough people would know. And … I was proud of my achievements. Feeling my cheeks grow hot as my heart raced, I pushed through my nervousness and confessed, “I … I started self-publishing a crime series, and … well … it kind of took off, so I’m writing full-time now.”
Both of their eyes widened and then comically, as one, they got up from their table and sat down at mine. It made me chuckle through my nervousness as they leaned closer.
“That is amazing.” Monroe beamed in genuine happiness for me.
“So amazing. Tell us more. Do you write under your own name?” Sloane asked excitedly.
Unused to such focused attention, my hands curled around my mug a wee bit too tightly, but I shook my head. “I write under the pen name S. M. Brodie.”
“No way!” Monroe slapped a hand on the table, eyes round as saucers. “You write the Juno McLeod series?”
Pride and joy filled me that she’d heard of it. “I do.”
Monroe turned to Sloane. “It’s one of my favorite crime series. It’s set in Dundee. Mostly.”
“Is that the series you wanted us to read for book club?”
“Aye, that one.” Monroe turned back to me. “Sarah … congratulations. I mean, I’ve seen the accolades on the blurb. A multimillion-copy bestseller. I’ve seen the book in stores … It’s just amazing. I’m so thrilled for you.”
“Oh my goodness, I have to google you.” Sloane pulled out her phone and did just that while I laughed, blushing wildly.
“Oh, wow. Sarah, this is awesome.” She looked up from her phone.
“Would you come to our book club? It’s us and all the Adair women.
We meet at Arro’s once a month. Would you come to our January meeting? ”
“No pressure,” Monroe added, shooting Sloane an amused but quelling look.
“Oh, yeah, no pressure,” Sloane added.
For the last few years, I’d watched the Adair family women from afar.
How other women in the village envied them for their handsome husbands, some of whom were famous.
I didn’t envy them for that. Well, not really.
I envied what looked to be a tight-knit friendship circle.
If I didn’t see Arro Adair out and about with Eredine Adair or Regan and Robyn Adair together, I saw Monroe and Sloane, or a mix of the pairings.
Sometimes they were all together. And they looked so close.
I wondered what it would be like to have close female relationships.
But I’d been too scared to try. Too scared to trust.
Because of my mum.
I was done being afraid.
I wanted to be brave.
Smiling, I nodded. “I would love that.”
Monroe and Sloane thanked me excitedly and then Monroe got up to grab their drinks and bring them to my table.
I asked after their kids. Callie was in school, and Brodan had Lennox for the morning.
Monroe had been a teacher at Ardnoch Primary but had decided to become a stay-at-home mum until it was time for Nox to attend school.
“We’ll see if I last that long, though,” she grumbled. “I do miss class.”
“Can you imagine teaching all those young kids and coming home to be a mom?” Sloane mused. “It must be so exhausting.”
“Which is what Brodan reminds me every time I get broody for my class.”
“And how is Callie coping with the Scottish school system?” I asked. I couldn’t imagine moving to an entirely different country, even if they did technically speak the same language.
“She loves it. She’s best friends with Lewis.”
“Adair?”
“Yeah.”
Lewis was Thane Adair’s son with his first wife, who died not long after giving birth to their daughter Eilidh. Thane was now married to Regan, Lachlan’s wife Robyn’s younger sister. She’d been his nanny, and it had been quite a scandal at the time.
“You know Regan had her baby,” Monroe offered as if she’d read my mind.
I gaped. “No, Jared didn’t say.”
Monroe grinned. “A wee girl. Morwenna Adair. Our clan is growing rapidly.”
“It’s lovely,” I said quietly. “Please give them my congratulations. Family … family is everything.”
Sloane suddenly reached across the table to cover my hand with hers. “How are you doing?”
Knowing what she asked, I swallowed the grief that welled up at the slightest thing these days. “Christmas … our first Christmas without Grandpa is hard. Sometimes it doesn’t feel real that eight months have passed since we lost him, and then other times it feels forever ago. But we’re okay.”
“You know, you’re welcome, both you and Jared, to spend Christmas with us,” Monroe offered. “We’re having a big Christmas at Lachlan’s, and we’d love to have you.”
Sloane nodded her agreement and I melted at their kindness. These women didn’t know me that well and so I was blown away by their invitation.
“She’ll be spending her Christmas with me and her cousin, but thank you, ladies.” Theo’s voice cut between us, and I glanced up in shock to find him standing there.
How had I not even noticed him come in?
My companions gaped up at him in surprise too, and I could only imagine their expressions as Theo bent to brush a kiss against the corner of my mouth.
He settled into the empty seat next to me, his legs so long, his knees knocked into mine.
Arm casually sliding across the back of my chair, he grinned at Sloane and Monroe.
“But we’ll probably see you at the Ardnoch Christmas party. ”
What? I frowned at him. He turned to look at me, his expression softening. “Party?”
“Yes. I want you to be my plus-one.”
At the Ardnoch Christmas party?
“So you two …” We turned toward Sloane as she gestured between us, expression unreadable. “Are you together?”
“I don’t believe we’ve met,” Monroe interrupted before we could answer. “I’m Monroe Adair.”
“I know who you are. The tabloids wouldn’t leave you and your husband alone for a while there.” He held out his hand to shake hers. “I’m Theo Cavendish.”
Monroe shook his hand. “Are you a club member?”
“Yes. I’m a screenwriter and director.”
“Oh. Anything I’d recognize?”
Theo leaned into me, his expression tightening for a second. “This and that.”
Sympathy sliced through me. Only a day ago he would have proudly announced King’s Valley. You’d had to have been living under a rock not to have heard of the show. Now, it was tainted by some sick psycho.
“Will you be at the party?” I changed the subject, mind still reeling at the idea of me attending an estate party as a guest after years of housekeeping there.
“Not this year.” Monroe went with the subject change, though she kept glancing curiously at Theo. “But, of course, Lachlan will be there.”
“So, Theo.” Sloane eyed him suspiciously. “You met Sarah at the estate?”
“Yes.”
My lips twitched at his bland response. “We’re working on a project together.”
“Oh. That’s exciting.”
“And we’re together,” Theo added with more nonchalance than I knew he felt. “Just so there’s no mistake about the nature of our relationship. I hear the gossip mill runs quick and fast around the village.”
Monroe and Sloane both raised an eyebrow.
Theo looked amused. “To clarify, Sarah and I are in a romantic relationship as well as a professional one … to save you all days or weeks of speculation.”
“Sarah, you’re awfully quiet about that,” Monroe said with a smirk.
I might be taking my time diving back into what he and I had before, but we were together. I wanted to be with him. To work on returning to that place of trust. “Theo and I are dating. People will find out soon enough.”
Sloane grinned. “Well, I’m glad for you both.”
“We can die happy now.”
I elbowed Theo. “Ignore him. Sarcasm is his first language.”
“Just for that”—Sloane pointed at Theo, lips curled at the corners—“I’m going to get Walker to do a background check on you.”
I chuckled as Theo shrugged. “Why bother? I am an open book. Ask away.”
At my snort, he turned to me, eyes narrowed. But there was heat in his gaze that made my skin flush. It felt like years since we’d touched.
“You disagree?”
“You’re an open book with me … but no one else.”
“Well, that’s all that matters,” he murmured with a wicked twinkle in his eyes. “Isn’t it?”
I wished that it was all that mattered. But before Theo had been hit with the awful news about the murders and his show, I’d been thinking more and more that Theo needed to face some of his demons.
And by face his demons, I meant his father.
I was worried that if I fully embraced our relationship, something else would come up to remind him of his father and Saffron’s betrayal, and I’d be the one he’d push away again.
Yet, I didn’t know how to bring up the subject now that he had so much he was dealing with.
But I knew for my peace of mind, and for his, it was something I’d need him to at least consider facing.