Chapter 20
Her cheeks flushed, and she scrunched her eyes closed for a fleeting moment, laughing. Gabe watched as she bit her lip and looked at him with eyebrows quirking upwards.
‘I wasn’t working at all.’
‘You don’t say.’
She laughed.
‘Next you’re going to tell me you’d only just got out of bed.’
‘Caught in the act.’ She laughed.
He held back a long branch of pine which crossed the track, letting her walk ahead for a moment, noticing the bare skin of her neck where her hair was tied back in a loose ponytail. A tendril of hair had come loose and curled on her neck like one of the early ferns that grew in the damp forest.
‘So what do you do when you actually are working?’
She looked slightly uncomfortable, rubbing at her nose for a moment and frowning slightly as she spoke.
‘I’m not working at all right now.’
‘Nice.’ He shot her a sideways look. ‘You look about thirty years too young for early retirement.’
She laughed at that, rolling her eyes heavenward. ‘It’s closer than I’d like to think.’
‘Tell me about it.’ He grinned.
‘I worked in design. Work in design?’ She looked slightly confused. ‘I’m not sure which, at the moment. I’m still trying to figure stuff out.’
‘You sound like me six months ago.’
‘Maybe I should get a job working in forestry.’
‘We’re always looking for new starters if you’re interested,’ he said, lifting an eyebrow.
‘I don’t think I’m the forestry type. I’d keel over after half a day planting trees.’
‘We get all sorts, believe me. We’ve just agreed a deal with one of the big landowners up here to work on a project that’s going to see people coming to volunteer alongside paid workers, planting a huge swathe of mixed leaf forest along the Glen of Lochbrannich, which is –’
He stopped himself mid-sentence. ‘Sorry, listen to me going on. If you’d told me a year ago I’d be waxing lyrical about biodiversity and the positive impact of rewilding I’d have thought you’d lost your mind.’
But she was looking at him with what appeared to be genuine interest.
‘That’s amazing. Imagine coming here and finding something you’re really passionate about.’
‘You’re right.’ He’d never really considered it. ‘It is pretty surprising.’
There was a wooden stile ahead that led into a field full of shaggy Highland cows.
‘Better put these two on a lead while we go through here,’ he said, catching Stan’s collar and hooking on the leash. A moment later, he held the two dogs in one hand and offered the other as support as Meg navigated the winter-soaked wood of the stile.
‘Thank you,’ she said, taking his hand as she climbed over. The field was at a lower level, and she looked up at him with a smile that lit up her dark eyes. She was flushed from the walk and her hair windblown and untidy and he thought, as he passed the dogs through the gap in the fence, how pretty she looked in that moment, totally natural and at ease.
‘So you’re not working – at the moment – and you’re house-sitting for your mate. I’m guessing that big campervan parked at the cottage is yours, yes?’
Stanley tugged impatiently at the lead as they made their way along the edge of the field. The cows gathered against the opposite fence, watching them with interest. Eliza, Meg’s corgi, was wide-eyed.
‘She’s only seen about three cows in her life,’ she explained, laughing. ‘I think a whole herd has blown her mind. Yes, it’s my van.’
She screwed up her nose again in the same expression as before.
‘You say that like it’s a bad thing. Most people would kill for something like that.’
Something about that seemed to tickle her, and she gave a snort of laughter.
‘I would like to state for the record that I definitely didn’t kill for it,’ she said, shaking her head.
They circled back through the woods then, passing through a newly cleared path which took them past the edge of the grounds of Applemore House, which stood surrounded by trees with a huge sweeping gravel drive in front of it.
‘It’s nice of them to let people walk on their land,’ said Meg, as they headed back downhill. The tip of the lighthouse was just coming into view, and Gabe felt a pang of regret that their walk was almost over.
‘Yeah, it’s been a real surprise to me to find that the landowners round here seem to be pretty friendly. I only realised I’d bumped into the woman who lives at the big house afterwards.’
‘Rilla?’ Meg pushed her hair back from her face.
‘Have you met her?’
‘She was at the Pilates class I went to the other night. That – for the record,’ she added with a cheeky grin, ‘– is why I was still in my pyjamas. I couldn’t move.’
‘That explains everything.’
‘I’ll make sure I’m fully dressed the next time you turn up,’ she added, as they reached the cottage.
Gabe tried to keep his tone casual as she opened the little wooden gate.
‘Probably best,’ he said, thinking as he headed back home that – despite his resolution that he had no interest in anything other than friendship up here in Applemore – the thoughts racing in his mind were focused in a different direction altogether.