Chapter 11
“You are absolutely sure you don’t mind joining me while I do this?” Alastair asked. It was the following afternoon and they were getting into their respective cars to drive to Isla’s school to pick up her and her friends ahead of their end-of-term outing. “I’ve only just realised that I made an assumption and never really asked you . . .”
“You asked if I was happy to drive your spare Land Rover,” clarified Rose.
“True . . .”
“And I think an event organiser should really attend the event,” Rose said with a grin. “Plus the burgers sound amazing.”
“They are pretty good.”
“Also, I want to come,” said Rose. “It’ll be fun. And, I wouldn’t be cruel enough to leave you in charge of six pre-teen girls.”
“Thank you, I appreciate that.”
They drove to the school and parked up. The girls came over in a group and divided themselves between the two cars.
The girls all wanted to bowl together on one lane.
“Shall we get a lane for us?” Alastair asked Rose.
“I’m pretty good . . .” warned Rose.
“You’ll definitely beat me. I’m going to be too busy worrying about who wore the rental shoes last to be able to concentrate on the game.”
“Then I’m definitely happy to play you. You book a lane and I’ll get the girls drinks. Do you want anything?”
“How bad do you think the coffee is here?”
Rose looked over at the food counter. “I suspect really, really bad.”
“I’ll have a Coke then.”
“Good choice,” said Rose, turning to go. “Oh, and Alastair?”
“Yes?”
“Don’t book the lane next to Isla and her friends.”
“Why not?” Alastair looked perplexed.
“Because,” explained Rose, patiently, “look around. There are boys here.”
Alastair looked horrified.
“She’ll want to look cool in front of her friends. We can keep an eye on them from further away.”
“You’re right,” he finally said with a sigh.
Rose grinned. “I’ll be back in a minute with the drinks.”
* * *
Alastair truly was terrible at bowling and lost quite spectacularly to Rose, though part of that could have been the fact that he spent most of the three games they played looking over to check no boys were going over to speak to Isla.
“I thought you’d be better at sports,” said Rose as they returned their shoes.
“Does bowling count as a sport?” Alastair asked.
“I suppose not,” admitted Rose. “But still . . . you were pretty bad.” She ignored him as he pretended to look offended. “Right, I’ll gather the girls together and we’ll head over to the restaurant.”
“I’ll meet you by the entrance in a minute, I just need to use the loo,” said Alastair.
Rose wandered over to the girls, who were removing their shoes and collecting their stuff together.
“Are you having fun?” Rose asked Isla.
“This is the best!” she said. “I got two strikes. Bowling was a great surprise.”
“I’m glad you liked it. Are you all ready to eat now?”
“Yep, I’m starving!”
At the restaurant, the group were led over to a table for six, with a balloon floating above it.
“The second table you booked is just over there,” the waitress explained, gesturing towards the other side of the restaurant.
Alastair looked like he was going to say something but Rose quickly cut in and said to Isla, “You girls order whatever drinks and mains you like. Don’t forget, we’re having dessert at home later, though. Your dad and I will be over there.” She pointed to the table on the other side of the restaurant where she and Alastair would be eating.
Just the two of them. Like a date, she suddenly realised. How had she not considered that before? Well, there wasn’t much she could do about it now.
She took hold of Alastair’s arm. “Let’s go eat, I’m starving,” she said, giving it a little tug.
He reluctantly turned and joined her to follow the waitress over to their table.
They sat down and opened their menus.
“That was sort of sneaky,” Alastair said from behind his menu.
“You can still see them and she’s having so much fun!”
“She does look happy,” admitted Alastair.
“She loves you,” said Rose. “But it’ll mean a lot to her to have dinner with her friends now.”
Alastair sighed. “I guess the company over here isn’t completely terrible.”
“Thank you,” said Rose. “You are so very kind. Now, what do I want to eat . . . ?”
“This is definitely not a place to worry about eating healthily in,” said Alastair.
The waitress returned to take their orders.
“A double cheeseburger, fries, onion rings and a strawberry milkshake, please,” said Alastair.
“That sounds really good, I’ll have the same. Thank you,” Rose said.
The waitress took their menus and left.
“I appreciate you being here. I don’t feel quite so outnumbered,” Alastair admitted, fiddling with a packet of salt.
“I’m having fun,” said Rose. “There are definitely far worse jobs. I should know, I’ve done a fair few of them.”
“I’m glad we’re not the worst,” he chuckled.
“Definitely not. I’d even say I like working for you.”
“And we definitely appreciate you being around. It’s hard to believe you’ve been here for less than three weeks. You seem to have fitted right in. I honestly don’t know what we’d do without you.”
Rose blushed. “Thank you. It’s been . . . wonderful being here and helping with everything.”
Their milkshakes arrived. “To you, and a Christmas I might actually end up enjoying some of,” said Alastair, holding up his drink.
Rose clinked her glass against his, not able to wipe the smile from her face.
* * *
By the time they left the restaurant and loaded everyone into the cars to drive back to the house, Rose’s cheeks were aching from grinning and laughing so much. She and Alastair had had so much fun and she somehow managed to work her way through the huge plate of food she’d been served. Rose had been careful to steer clear of certain topics, she didn’t want to go into why she’d ended up with the life she had, but they’d talked about their very different childhoods and bonded over school experiences. Alastair had also told her more about how he’d built up his businesses. He’d only checked on his daughter once every minute or so which was honestly better than Rose had expected. The girls were happy and giggly. Rose caught Alastair’s eye and smiled.
* * *
Mrs Reed had already left for the night when they returned but the house looked warm and welcoming as they approached with the Christmas trees lit up on either side of the door and all the fairy lights.
They all traipsed in and Isla took her friends to feed Houdini, which everyone was very grateful for as he’d started bleating indignantly from his paddock as soon as he heard the car pull up.
“There’s something for each of you on the table in the library,” Rose said when Isla and her friends came back into the house.
The girls raced through and found the pamper baskets she’d prepared. Rose smiled at the happy gasps and chatter.
“There’s even a basket of treats for Houdini,” Isla called out.
“How on earth did you make a pamper basket for a goat?” Alastair whispered.
“Houdini’s favourite things are food and being made a fuss of . . . So I just combined the two,” said Rose with a shrug. “Mrs Reed said she’d set out the stuff for the ice cream sundaes in the kitchen. I’ll just check whether they’d like their desserts now or if they’re still too full.”
The girls unanimously voted to eat straight away and they took their goodies upstairs to Isla’s room while Rose took the ice cream out of the freezer.
Mrs Reed had set out the sundae glasses and spoons on the kitchen island and had made a strawberry sauce and a toffee sauce from scratch after she’d heard that Rose was going to pick up some bottled stuff. There were also various sprinkles, squirty cream, and a large platter of raspberries, blueberries and strawberries to go with the four flavours of ice cream.
The girls helped themselves to the treats and disappeared with them upstairs, much to the consternation of Houdini who bleated by the back door until Alastair gave him some fruit.
“Do you want some ice cream?” Rose asked.
“I’m still full from the restaurant to be honest.”
“Me too.”
“But I could maybe manage a bit of . . . Chunky Monkey,” Alastair said, producing a pot of Rose’s favourite ice cream from the back of the freezer.
“How did you know?” she gasped, “And where did you find it?”
“Isla told me and I shopped around.”
Rose quickly opened the lid and helped herself to a spoonful. “Oh my goodness, that is so good ,” she said.
“So, not so full after all?” Alastair chuckled as he watched Rose take an ice cream scoop and serve herself a huge bowl.
“Turns out no. Are you gonna join me? Or just watch me eat the whole tub myself?”
“I wouldn’t want to get between you and your favourite ice cream . . .”
“I think you need to save me from myself.”
Alastair smiled. “In that case . . .”
* * *
They ate their ice cream sitting at the kitchen table and then cleaned up.
“I would go upstairs and work, but I’m guessing you’ll tell me that’ll spoil Isla’s fun.”
“I will indeed,” said Rose. “You’re staying downstairs.”
Alastair checked his watch. “There’s nearly two hours until that lot are being picked up. What am I supposed to do for nearly two hours?”
“Well, there are some extras left over from the pamper kits. It would be a shame to waste them . . .”
* * *
“You’re going to have to get that,” Alastair said when the doorbell rang with the first of the parents coming to pick up their daughters. “My mud mask has still got another two minutes to go.”
“If this messes up my nails, I will never forgive you,” Rose muttered as she got off the kitchen stool.
This was undoubtedly the most fun, if unusual evening she had ever spent, and was ever likely to spend, with a Scottish laird.