Page 62 of Wild Scottish Fortune

“Anything?” Gnora purred, a gleam in her eye.

“Anything,” Gnorman promised, stepping closer to her. Gnora leaned over and whispered something in his ear, and the gnome’s eyes widened, his cheeks pinkening. Turning, she sauntered off, a healthy swing in her step making every curve move, and then she disappeared back into the greenery.

“Right, well, I’ve just got to…” Gnorman cleared his throat, glancing between me and where Gnora had disappeared into the plants. “Sorry to run, but…erm, well. My name’s Gnorman, with a silent G.”

“Orla,” I said, biting back a grin.

“Enjoy your picnic and all. Don’t mess up my plants or I’ll send my army after you.” Gnorman raised a warning finger up at me before turning and running into the bushes after Gnora.

“And those are my gnomes,” Shona said, with a laugh. Bending, she tucked the sleeping hedgehog into a nest of blankets in a box under the table, and he burrowed right in, nuzzling in next to another hedgie.

“Och, they’re pretty incredible, no? I don’t even rightly know what to think. Every time I think I’m growingcomfortable with all this magick stuff, something new comes to basically show me that I know nothing about it at all. I mean, I would have bet money he was a statue when I came in. Not a live being. He looked just, completely fake.”

“It’s his resting gnome face. He does it well. They all do. There’s quite a network of them, from what I can determine. They each have their own wee territories, based on our different gardens, and occasionally I drive them around to meet up with the others since they can’t travel far on their wee legs.”

“You facilitate clandestine gnome meetings?” I grinned at Shona’s laugh.

“Something like that. Nothing much happens except they moan about how we’re all ruining their gardens and that cats are the bane of their existence.”

“Cats? Not dogs?”

“Dogs, yes, because they’ll run up and pee on them sometimes, which I can imagine is pretty disgusting.”

I gasped, covering my mouth with my hand. I wouldsonot want to get peed on.

“I know, right? I don’t blame the gnomes for being grumpy all the time.” Shona laughed and leaned back against the table. “But the cats…they are cunning. Even when the gnomes freeze, they seem to sense there’s something more. So they mess with them, toy with them, you know?”

“Yeah, I could see that.” A car door slammed outside.

“Sounds like Finlay is here. I’ve got a nice spot all set up for you two in the back.” Shona’s eyes gleamed. “How’s that all going then?”

I opened my mouth to say this was just a nothing, a nobig deal thing, but I stopped. I shouldn’t brush it off, not when Finlay was making a concerted effort, and when I knew in my heart of hearts that this was something more. Something was building between Finlay and me, a something that I couldn’t ignore, and if I wanted to build friendships with these women who I now shared magick with, then I needed to open myself more even if it felt at odds with what I was used to doing.

“I don’t know what to think of it all. He’s a bit overwhelming, if I’m to be honest with you. He’s…” I bit my lip as I thought about Finlay. “Confident. Sure of himself in ways that I wish I could be. He navigates different worlds with ease where I would stumble, you know?”

“I get it. Owen’s kind of like that. He just expects things to work out for him and they do.”

“Yes! That’s it.”

“Annoying, isn’t it?” Shona laughed.

“Totally. And now I feel like I’m kind of one of those things, you know? Just something he’ll expect to work out. And I’m scared, I guess.” I brought a hand to my heart, tapping my chest. “Like, scared it’s going to leave a hole that I can’t patch back up.”And I don’t know if I can lose another person I care about.

“Och, I so get that.” Shona stepped forward and pulled me into a hug. I stiffened before relenting and hugging back. She pulled back, her hands on my arms, her blue eyes warm and friendly. “But from the little you’ve shared, it sounds like you’ve had a rough go of it growing up, right?”

“I have.”

“So if you can get through all that, and still remainstanding, nae, flourishing…I mean, you can get through this, right? Even if he ends up hurting your heart?”

“I guess I could. But why put myself through it if I’ll just get hurt?”

“Because what if you don’t?” Shona peered at me, and her words hit home. I was so used to anticipating disaster and shielding myself from it that I rarely considered what would happen if things worked out well. It was easier to prepare myself for the worst and be surprised at a happy outcome than the other way around, and I’d spent my life building nice thick walls to cushion my fall.

“Then…we’d just be together?” Saying it out loud honestly shocked me. I’d never truly considered the possibility of Fin and me as an actual couple existing in the world. At best I’d thought we’d have a few weeks of fun while he was on the project, but now Shona had me thinking about having a real relationship with him. “He does keep asking me to be his girlfriend.”

“See?” Shona pounced, her eyes lighting up. She poked my arm. “Listen to him. The man is telling you he’s interested.”

“Interested and being in a relationship are two different things, Shona. I just…” I shook my head, trying to keep my voice clear as I said the next part. “Everyone leaves, Shona. It’s the only thing that I know.”

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