Chapter Ten #2
áedán made a strangled noise beside me. “Moira—” he started.
“Just an observation!” She laughed, clearly delighted by our reactions. “Have a braw walk, laddies.” She closed the door before either of us could respond.
I stood frozen on the path, my face burning. I could feel áedán staring at me, but I couldn't bring myself to look at him.
“This is only the second time I've spoken to that woman.” áedán's voice was tight with mortification.
“She seemed pretty certain it was you.”
“She invents romances for her own amusement.” He started walking quickly toward the road. “She's impossible. Absolutely impossible.”
I followed, trying hard not to smile. “She knew your true name. She knew about the festivals. She knew about you saving her mother.”
“That doesnae mean anything.” He stopped walking and ran a hand through his hair. “I have never brought a scholar to meet her. I've never brought anyone to meet her. I dinnae even know her.”
“Maybe she saw you walking through town with someone,” I suggested. “Another Velascan, perhaps? Years ago?”
áedán gave me a look that could have curdled milk. Then he turned and resumed walking.
I couldn't stop smiling. The image of áedán sitting at that tiny, lace-covered table, drinking tea and eating shortbread as Moira fussed over him was possibly the most endearing thing I'd ever witnessed.
And she thought I was more handsome than his last boyfriend.
He had wooed a man! That meant he liked men.
And that meant he might have truly been flirting with me. I smiled wider.
We walked in silence for a few minutes. The road curved away from the village, back toward the quieter stretches of shoreline. The clouds had thickened overhead, and the air smelled like approaching rain.
“She adores you,” I said finally.
áedán made a noncommittal sound.
“I'm serious. The way she looked at you—”
“She's impossible,” he muttered again. But his voice was softer now. Less defensive. Then he went on. “She reminds me of what it feels like to belong somewhere. It has been a long time since I felt like part of something instead of apart from everything.”
I wanted to say something profound, something that would make him feel better, but I couldn't find the right words. So I just walked beside him, close enough that our shoulders almost touched. We were nearly back to his cottage when I noticed the figure across the road.
It was a man wearing a dark jacket and a fedora pulled low. I couldn't see his face, but I saw the professional-looking camera he held. He was standing partially hidden by a stand of trees, his camera raised and pointed directly at Moira's cottage in the distance behind us.
I slowed. áedán noticed immediately.
“What?”
“Someone's photographing Moira's cottage.” I kept my voice low.
áedán turned to look, but the man had already lowered the camera. For a moment he stood there, perfectly still, watching us. Then he turned and disappeared into the trees, moving quickly and deliberately.
“A tourist?” áedán asked, but his voice was uncertain.
“Maybe.” I stared at the spot where the man had been. “But tourists usually photograph the loch, not random cottages.”
“Maybe he's interested in the architecture. It's old.”
“But there are old cottages along Pier Road. There's no reason for him to be here.”
áedán shrugged. “People like that want to find things others havenae. He probably left the main road, hoping for better cottages.”
“Perhaps.”
But something about it felt wrong. The way the man had stood partially hidden. The way he'd left so quickly when he realized we'd seen him. I thought about the spiral in the water. About the kelpie myth changing drastically. It felt like looking at a piece of a picture without knowing the whole.
“We should tell Moira,” I said. “Just in case.”
áedán nodded slowly. He was still staring at the trees where the man had vanished. “We'll go back tomorrow.”
I pushed aside my worry so it wouldn't ruin the rest of the day.
áedán said he wanted to get a cooling box like the one I mentioned.
So, I led him to the Village Shop. It was at the edge of town, past my rental cottage, one of those places that sold everything: bread, milk, fishing supplies, postcards, ice cream, hot food, and rubber ducks with tartan hats.
There was even a petrol station and a second car park for visitors.
I grabbed a basket. áedán walked the aisles as if he were touring a museum, picking up items and examining them with careful curiosity.
He passed the wine and spirits with a turned-down mouth, but stopped at the display of ice cream.
When I asked if he wanted to try some, he shook his head and said he was full.
Then he spent three full minutes reading the ingredients on a box of cereal.
He shoved the box at me. “This has seventeen ingredients that I have never heard of.”
“Like what?”
He tapped the list of preservatives and who knows what else.
“Some of those are to preserve the food, keep it from going stale. The others are probably flavoring and color.”
“They color their food?”
I nodded. “To make it more appealing.”
“Well, that failed.” He put the box back.
I chose the single self-checkout they had, mainly to mess with áedán. He watched me swipe the items and narrowed his eyes at the beeps.
“Please place item in bagging area,” the machine said in its pleasant, mechanical voice.
áedán watched me place the eggs on the metal platform. “I shall try now.” He moved the bread over the scanner, and nothing happened.
“You need to aim the barcode at the scanner.” I pointed at the barcode, then at the scanner.
He scanned the bread, straightening with satisfaction when it beeped.
“Please place item in bagging area,” the machine said.
He placed the bread in the bagging area.
“Unexpected item in bagging area.”
He frowned at the machine, then looked at me. “I just put it there. It told me to put it there.”
“Sometimes they're sensitive about weight.” I held back my grin.
“Please remove item from bagging area.”
áedán removed the bread.
“Please place item in bagging area.”
He placed it again, more deliberately this time.
“Unexpected item in bagging area.”
“That's the same item.” His voice had taken on a dangerous edge. “The expected item. The item you just told me to place there.”
I bit my lip to keep from laughing.
“It does that sometimes. I just have to override it.” A teenage girl came over, scanned her card, and pressed several buttons. The machine beeped approvingly.
“Please place item in bagging area.”
áedán narrowed his eyes at it as he set the bread down.
“Please scan next item,” the machine said.
“There you go.” The teenager went back to restocking the shelves.
áedán took the next item and scanned it.
“Please place item in bagging area.”
He set the cheese on the metal platform.
“Unexpected item in bagging area.”
“I will drown you, machine!” áedán pointed at the scanner.
The teenager sighed and headed over.
After she left, I took over. We finished the transaction in tense silence, áedán glaring at the scanner every time it beeped. When we finally escaped with our cooler full of groceries and ice, he looked genuinely rattled.
“That was designed to make people feel stupid.” He glared over his shoulder at the store, the blue plastic cooler in his arms.
“It's designed to save money on staff and speed up checkout time.”
“By making customers want to commit violence?” He shook his head. “Your modern world is very strange.”
We walked back to his cottage in silence. The first drops of rain began to fall as we reached the door, cold and sharp against my skin. áedán set the cooler down, unlocked the door, pushed it open, then paused.
He turned to look at me. “Thank you for breakfast.”
“You're welcome. I'm glad you enjoyed it.”
“See you tomorrow.” Then he picked up the cooler and stepped inside.
I stood on the threshold, rain beginning to soak through my jacket, and realized I had just wasted the day. I was supposed to be investigating his myth, but he had distracted me. Tomorrow, I had to focus. His life depended on it.