Chapter 18
Alistair
Isla: Guess what?
Alistair: Jess got arrested for arson?
Isla: Nope. But frankly, that could be any day now.
Alistair: CamCam paid the money for Teddy’s school trip?
Isla: No. But I’m definitely wearing him down.
Alistair: Don’t keep me in suspense, Lang.
Isla: Drum roll . . .
Alistair: Nope.
Isla: So boring!
Isla: We are officially participants in this summer’s Cairn she was suitably starry-eyed. But I think I like this side of you.”
Starry-eyed? That had to be good, right? “What side?”
“The insecure boyfriend.”
Boyfriend. The word jolted through me, making me miss the next step.
That’s exactly what we were doing, what we wanted people to think, but hearing it aloud widened the ever-growing pit in my stomach. Every time I was around Isla, it stretched a little more. It was getting hard to ignore.
“I’m not insecure,” I scoffed, tasting the lie. “Hey, can I ask you something?” I asked, changing the subject. “Are Ava and Emily going on that school trip?”
She frowned, dusting off her jeans. “The one to Loch Ness?”
I nodded.
“Aye, I paid before the end of term. Getting to choose who they get to share a room with is first come first served so I didn’t want to leave it until the new term starts,” she said.
I followed her down the stairs and out into the sun, boots crunching on the gravel as we headed for the tasting room.
I held the door open. “Can you send me the details?” I asked, trying to keep my voice nonchalant.
I’d been wrestling with this since the day at the market, the night Isla had cried in my arms, and I’d been willing to do anything to take that burden off her shoulders. This one seemed the most manageable.
Less of an overstep at the very least.
“Of course.” She halted on the threshold, concern on her face. “Wait – is Isla having financial trouble?”
“What? No,” I said quickly. I was crossing a line by even having this conversation.
I couldn’t seem to stop myself. I’d rationalised it by telling myself I’d given Cameron more than enough time to do the right thing.
That a few hundred pounds was nothing to me – what was the harm?
“I just want to know the trip dates. I’m planning a surprise for Isla and Teddy, and I don’t want it to overlap. ”
“Oh. That’s really sweet. So was signing up for the Cairn & Crust with her.”
“We’ve finally been accepted, too,” I said. “No thanks to Annabelle.”
Heather cut me a glance. “Of course she was behind the delay. Annabelle pretends to be all sweet and nice, but she can be mean. Especially to Isla.”
“I know,” I said. I’d witnessed that mean streak first hand. Finally tired of watching Isla fret, I’d paid a visit to Queen’s Cakes on my lunchbreak yesterday. “But apparently even Annabelle can’t resist the Macabe charm.”
“The Macabe charm?” Her laughter cut a little too deep. “What did you do? Get Callum to talk to her?”
“Fuck off. I can be charming,” I said, offended, despite knowing Callum had been my back-up plan.
“Sure you can.” She rolled a finger, edging deeper into the tasting room. “Can we wind back to the story. You’re finally doing something interesting for once, I don’t want to miss it.”
I reached out, flicking her nose. My sister was a wee shit sometimes. “I bought a box of six cupcakes and threatened to complain to the committee board.”
“So you gave her your money and threatened her with a strongly worded letter?”
“Exactly.” Not exactly white-knight behaviour, but it got the job done. “Don’t tell Isla, she wanted to do this by herself, and I don’t want to ruin that for her.”
“You really like her, don’t you?” I stared at her, saying nothing, and she threw her hands up in disgust. “Ugh, you lot make me sick.”
“Who makes you sick?” April called. She was sitting in one of the booths in the empty bar, the curve of her baby bump brushing the table.
It was always strange being in the tasting room in the daylight. It felt bigger. Muted. Like the place shouldn’t exist when there weren’t customers to fill it.
“My brothers,” Heather said, moving toward her. “How is it possible the boys I once watched drink mud soup have turned into the most romantic men I know?”
“Pretty sure the mud soup was your concoction,” I said, following.
“Yeah, and you guys drank it. Absolute idiots.”
“While we’re on the topic of idiots,” April cut in, a scowl etched into every corner of her face. “Alistair, can you please help rein in Mal before I explode?”