Chapter 29
‘Putting a bit of business my way?’ Gayle slammed the boot shut and looked at Robyn as though she was mad. ‘Is that what you call it, inviting someone—’
‘Nicolas Addison. But he likes to be called Nick.’
Gayle looked at her wide-eyed, and finished her sentence ‘—
to stay here without discussing it with me first?’
Robyn pursed her lips. She’d known this was coming.
‘Robyn, honey, I’m not running a bed-and-breakfast business.’ Gayle shook her head and strode toward the house.
‘But it could be,’ Robyn called after her. Gayle didn’t stop, or comment, on her way to the house.
Robyn stood for a moment by the car, deflated. What on earth was she going to tell poor Nick when he arrived?
Robyn ran after Gayle to catch up, which was heavy-going on the gravel. She felt like she was running in slow motion, expending a lot of energy going nowhere. Gayle was just putting her bag down outside the front door.
Robyn caught up with Gayle at the front door. She was getting the key out of her purse.
‘But he had nowhere else to go. And you took me in. So I thought …’
‘You thought I’d just agree to take in anyone?’ Gayle snorted, glancing at Robyn over her shoulder. ‘Do you think I’m running a charity?’
‘No, of course not. He knows what the daily rate is.’
‘Daily rate?’
‘For a bed-and-breakfast in the area,’ Robyn clarified.
Gayle paused before putting the key in the lock and turned with a bemused look on her face. ‘Robyn, I told you that I’m not running a bed-and-breakfast.’
‘Why not?’ Robyn paused. ‘You said yourself you didn’t know how you were going to keep this place going.’
Gayle nodded her head.
Robyn took this as a cue to keep talking as Gayle put the key in the lock, ‘and besides, I know you wouldn’t have the heart to …’
‘I know, I know.’ She turned around and stared at Robyn for a long moment.
‘Does that mean?’
‘It means a house full of strays.’ She looked heavenwards then turned back to the door. ‘Now what an earth is wrong with this lock?’
Robyn leaned forward and turned the handle. To her surprise, it opened.
They exchanged glances. Robyn pushed the door. They stood and watched the door swing open.
‘Ah, I saw you arrive from the lounge window. Sorry, thought you knew there was someone home.’ David stood a few feet away from them in the hall, a teacup and saucer in hand. He noted the look of surprise on their faces. ‘Oh, this?’ He held up his teacup. ‘Your mother kindly made me a cup of tea while I was waiting.’
Robyn and Gayle exchanged glances again. Then, as if they were reading each other’s minds, they turned to look back down the drive. There, only a few feet away, stood David’s beaten-up old van. They had been so busy bickering that they had missed it completely.
‘You see, a house full of strays.’ Gayle swung her arms in the air, then walked in. ‘Mother, what have you been up to?’
Robyn heard a clatter of cutlery in the kitchen and guessed that it was where Gayle would find her.
‘Gayle.’ David nodded at her as she strode past him. ‘Yes, yes, make yourself at home, everyone and their mother seems to be, lately.’ She eyed Robyn as she turned toward the kitchen. She turned back to David and asked, ‘When did the community bus drop my mum home? I thought I’d have plenty of time to get home before she did.’
‘Ah, the driver said there was some issue with the heating in the community centre, so they had to cut the session short. I’d turned up and no one was home. I was about to leave when the bus turned up.’
‘How did you get in?’
‘Your mother had a key in her purse.’
‘She did?’
Robyn heard this exchange, and Gayle thanking David for hanging around and keeping an eye on her mum. ‘Obviously one of my mother’s better days,’ Gayle commented. ‘She found her door key, and made a cuppa.’
David said, ‘They tried to get in touch with you.’
Gayle rolled her eyes. ‘Oh, damn. My phone was switched off.’
‘Never mind,’ David said cheerfully as he finished his cup of tea.
‘I’m going to see what she’s up to.’
Robyn watched Gayle disappear down the hall to the kitchen.
David followed her gaze too. He turned to look at Robyn. ‘Everything all right?’
Robyn called after her. ‘What about Nick?’
Gayle didn’t answer.
Robyn frowned. She hoped she hadn’t changed her mind about letting him stay.
Robyn walked up to David. ‘What are you doing here?’
‘Having a cup of tea – what does it look like?’ he replied good-humouredly.
Robyn shook her head, then turned abruptly and plodded into the lounge. She guessed that it was a stupid question – he’d come to see her, obviously. She slumped down on the nearest sofa, landing with a plop on the sofa cushions.
She felt a bit down, and wished she hadn’t stupidly taken it upon herself to invite Nick to stay. Now, she wasn’t looking forward to him turning up.
A teacup tinkled from the hall.
She turned her head to look through the doorway at David standing there awkwardly. He walked towards her, the cup still rattling on the saucer. He stood in the open doorway. ‘Who’s Nick?’
Robyn frowned. ‘I don’t want to talk about it.’
David’s smile dissipated. ‘Is he … like, a friend?’
‘No. I only met him today.’
‘You only met me the other day.’
Robyn rolled her eyes. ‘What are you getting at?’
‘We’re friends. At least I hope we are.’
Robyn stared at David. ‘Yes, of course we are. Good friends.’
David’s smile returned. ‘Great! Can I come in?’
Robyn patted the sofa beside her. ‘Of course.’
‘Do you mind putting that down,’ she gestured at the cup and saucer. The little tinkling noise was getting on her nerves.
He swung around, obviously unsure where to put it.
‘Here, let me take that.’ Robyn bounced off her seat, took it and unceremoniously dumped it on the nearest piece of furniture, which was probably an antique.
‘So, what’s with Gayle? She seems a bit, you know, out of sorts.’
‘Never mind.’ Robyn was curt.
David looked around the room. ‘Nice room.’
‘It’s ok,’ Robyn wasn’t feeling in a talkative mood. It wasn’t just because of Nick. She was feeling a little put out that David hadn’t stopped by the previous day. She knew that she wasn’t really being fair. They’d only just met. Perhaps he’d been working. Besides, he was visiting now.
‘I brought you something.’ David swung the backpack he was carrying to the floor and opened it as he took a seat on the sofa next to her.
Robyn leaned forward.
‘Here.’ He handed her a magazine.
She’d had just about enough of magazines for one day. ‘You came here today to deliver that?’
‘They keep appearing in my van, and I have to deliver them to somebody.’
Robyn offered a weak smile at the joke, recalling what he’d said at the hospital, intimating that the magazines would be an excuse to visit her at Gayle’s. She smiled, happy that he hadn’t forgotten her, although she would have been quite happy at that moment to never set eyes on another magazine. She knew she would enjoy working on Rose and George’s house, but she still felt guilty about taking their money. And Nick was still on her mind. She wished she’d never answered their front door.
Robyn looked up to see David walking out of the room. She’d been so preoccupied with her thoughts that she hadn’t noticed he was leaving. ‘David?’
He looked back, ‘Yes?’
‘Are you leaving already?’
‘It looks to me as though you’ve got things on your mind. I thought perhaps I should go. I just came to deliver the magazine.’
‘Thank you.’ She held up the magazine. ‘I really appreciate it.’ She actually did, on reflection. It would come in handy for her new job.
He leaned one shoulder on the doorframe. ‘Robyn …’ He studied his shoes as though he had come over all shy. ‘That wasn’t strictly true when I said I’d just come to deliver the magazine.’
Robyn stared at him.
‘It’s Hogmanay. That’s Scottish for the last day of the year. There are some fantastic celebrations around Aviemore. Hogmanay in the square in Grantown-on-Spey is quite the event. It’s one of the largest gatherings for Hogmanay in the Highlands. I love the atmosphere, the music, the streets around the town just come alive. The whole town comes together. It really is something special.’
Robyn wondered why he was telling her all this. ‘It sounds fantastic. I don’t think I’ve ever been to one.’
‘Oh, you’d remember it if you had.’
There was an awkward silence. David took a deep breath, and said, ‘I was hoping you’d come.’
Robyn felt apprehensive. Was he asking her out on a date? And should she be going when she had no memory of her past? It had been one thing, enjoying his visits in the hospital, but now he was visiting her at Gayle’s, even though she had desperately wanted to see him again, it felt different. This would be going out together.
Robyn really wished she could remember. Did she have a boyfriend, a fiancé, someone special already in her life? But if that were the case, surely she wouldn’t have been on her own in that car on Christmas Day.
She looked at David, and shrugged. ‘Sure – why not?’ Although she was wondering where this Grantown-on-Spey was, and how she’d get there. ‘I’ll have to ask Gayle if she’s going.’
‘Why?’
‘How am I going to get into town?’ With that thought, she also wondered how she was going to get to Rose’s house to do her job. It wasn’t like Gayle could give her a lift each time. She had other things to do, like looking after her mum, and running her hairdressing business. And running a guesthouse.
Robyn frowned at that last thought. She was still feeling nervous about Nick turning up and Gayle turning him away.
David laughed and shook his head. ‘Actually, the idea was that you came with me, Robyn.’
‘Oh, right. I see.’
‘I’ll pick you up. It’s no trouble.’
‘Will there be many people there?’
‘Oh, it’s going to be huge.’
Although she’d agreed to go, Robyn was now undecided. If there were going to be a lot of people there, what if someone from her past recognised her? But that would be a good thing, wouldn’t it? It would, but perhaps not if she was out, on a potential date, with David. Robyn decided she should scrutinise her diary to see if there were any clues about whether she was in a relationship.
Robyn looked at David. She wished she hadn’t been so quick to accept. She was seriously thinking of backing out already.
‘We’ll take Gayle too, then.’
‘Really?’
‘Hell, let’s take Gayle and her mother.’
‘Take my mother where?’ Gayle walked past David, who was still standing in the doorway, and carried two steaming mugs of tea into the lounge.’ ‘Here.’ Robyn took the mug that was offered. ‘Thanks’ she said sheepishly.
‘Don’t think you’re forgiven.’ Gayle said, adding, ‘And don’t look at the mug like that – it’s tea, not arsenic. Although it did cross my mind that I could always poison the stray if I didn’t like him.’ Gayle smiled wickedly.
‘I didn’t see a cat.’ David looked around him.
Robyn looked at Gayle and they both laughed.
‘What?’ David looked at them bemused.
‘Nothing.’ They both said in unison. ‘Now what’s this about my mother?’ Gayle asked, looking at David as he sidled back into the room, and took a seat opposite them.
Gayle said, ‘I think you’ve been getting her into enough trouble for one day.’
‘Trouble?’ David looked concerned.
‘Dementia,’ Robyn chipped in, then turned apologetically to Gayle, wondering if she shouldn’t have said anything. But she waved the comment away.
‘Sorry – I hadn’t realised,’ David said. He looked toward the kitchen. ‘Ah, that might explain why my tea was lukewarm.’
Gayle nodded. ‘You weren’t to know. We have some new house rules, due to her condition. I’ve written them down on post-it notes and stuck them in various places around the house. One of the notes has a picture of a kettle with a cross through it. I stuck it to the kettle, and the cupboard where the cups and saucers are …’
David glanced at the cup and saucer that Robyn had taken from him.
Gayle continued. ‘And I even put a sticker on the fridge, so she knows not to go in there either. If she dropped a carton of milk all over the floor, she might slip over.’ Gayle frowned. ‘She knows not to boil water in case she scalds herself.’
‘I’m so sorry,’ David apologised.
‘Don’t be. My prompts usually make her stop and think, that is, until we have visitors. Then she slips into being a host and offering drinks and food like she used to do. But no harm done – this time.’ Gayle paused. ‘So what were you saying, something about bringing my mother too …?’
‘Ah, I was talking about Hogmanay.’ David said, ‘I can pick you all up later – around seven?’
‘You’ve invited us all to go along with you to a Hogmanay celebration?’ Gayle leaned forward and put her empty mug on the coffee table in front of Robyn.
‘Yes.’ David started to repeat what he’d told Robyn until Gayle held up her hand. ‘I know what they are, David.’
‘Well, I’ve asked Robyn, and I’d like you and your mother to come along too.’
‘I’ll bet.’
Robyn looked at Gayle. Was she being sarcastic?
‘Anyway, sorry to disappoint you, David, but Mother obviously can’t go. So that’s one down and me to go.’
Robyn shot her a look. She was definitely being sarcastic. ‘Gayle, please come. It would do you good to get out and do something different,’ Robyn urged.
‘If I wanted to do something different, it would not be a street party.’
‘But it sounds like it’s going to be fun.’
David chipped in, ‘It most definitely is.’
Robyn started to protest, but Gayle insisted she wasn’t going. ‘Believe me, wild horses couldn’t drag me out to stand in the freezing cold to watch fireworks and listen to music, when I can do all that in the comfort of my own home with the heating on, wrapped in a cosy duvet, with my feet up on the sofa.’
Robyn smiled. That was what they’d done the previous night, with a bottle of wine too, watching TV and chatting. Her smile slipped when she realised that if she went out with David that evening, Gayle would have to see in the New Year on her own.
Gayle must have noticed Robyn’s expression. ‘Do not worry about me. Perhaps if I was twenty years younger, I’d feel like braving the cold. But you, girl, should have a night out. And you’ll love the Hogmanay celebrations. As for me …’ She pulled a face. ‘Thanks for the invite, but sorry, David, it will just be Robyn going with you.’
Gayle didn’t look very sorry.
And neither did David.