Page 98 of The Rescue

“I’m proud of you laddie,” she taps Rabbie’s arm.

He smiles at her, and looks at his mum. She shifts in her seat, and looks down at her hands in her lap. I can feel the pain coming from Susie, so many regrets in her life and something she will have to live with. It can’t be easy to witness this interaction between her son and mother.

“And you,” Mrs. MacNee finally looks at her daughter.

Susie’s head snaps up, and her eyes grow wide. Her mouth has fallen open and the shock on her face is visible. I tense thinking she’s going to start laying into her in front of the whole town. I can feel all eyes on us as we sit here talking.

“You finally left that lowlife, well done.” Mrs. MacNee says with a hint of bitterness and relief.

Susie’s lip quivers, and I place my hand in hers under the table for support. She squeezes my hand back.

“Aye, I wish I’d have done it sooner,” she chokes out.

Rabbie is looking between his mum and nan with hesitation, he doesn’t say anything. I think like me, he wants to see where this conversation is going.

“I know, but you’ve done it now. Time to put the past behind us and focus on the present. I’m not getting any younger.” Mrs. MacNee offers a soft smile to her daughter.

A tear escapes Susie’s eye and she quickly wipes it away.

“I don’t deserve your forgiveness,” she whispers.

Rabbie dips his head, and Mrs. MacNee looks at her and cocks her head to the side.

“If he can move forward and learn to forgive then so can I. Everything I do is for him, always has been. There’s a long road ahead, and it will take time, but I want to enjoy what years I have left.” Mrs MacNee looks at her grandson.

“Jesus nan, you’re acting as if you’re dying.” Rabbie rubs his chin.

“I am dying laddie. I’m not far off being eighty years old.”

Rabbie lets out a laugh and the tension of the conversation melts away. The hardest part is over, and they can start to move on and heal as a family. It’s nice to see that Rabbie’s wishes are coming true because god dammit he deserves it. Susie lets out a huge sigh of relief and she looks brighter. Mrs. MacNee winks at me, and I smile back at her. Apart from Rabbie, she’s quickly becoming one of my favourite people in this town.

I look over at Rabbie and the stress that was there on his face before has gone, and he looks truly happy. He opens his hand to me, and I stand from my seat and walk around the table to him. He stands with his whisky glass, and whistles to grab the attention of the whole pub. I feel my face flush, I hate public speaking, and every single person is now looking towards us. Rabbie wraps his arm around my waist and pulls me in tight to his side.

Everyone has fallen silent, you could hear a pin drop. I look around the pub and see so many faces that have now become so familiar it’s hard to imagine a time before I came here. Dylan, Cam, Hamish, Fiona, Rosie, Ruby and Grannie Jo are stood by the fire. Nellie and David are standing at the bar with Mac. All these people are here for Rabbie, and I’m in awe at the sense of community. Crossmackie shows up for one another, and I’m dumbstruck by the kindness. Now that Rabbie has everyone’s attention, he smiles down at me.

“I would like to make a toast. To all of you for supporting me through the years, especially since I became the new owner for Sweet Treats. To my wee team of Nellie, David and my mum, there wouldn’t be a Sweet Treats without you. To my friends for keeping me grounded. To my nan for being my biggest supporter and for teaching me how to bake. And finally, to Crystal for changing my life. I’m the luckiest man in the world.” He doesn’t take his eyes off me as he raises his glass.

“Slàinte” he takes a sip of his whisky.

Everyone returns their cheers to us as Rabbie dips his head and kisses me soft and slow in front of everyone. Cheers erupt around us as we make a very public display of affection. I never thought in a million years that when I came to Crossmackie that I would end up falling in love with an incredible man, and that I would actually want to stay in this tiny little town. But now when I think about my future, I can’t picture being anywhere else. I sink into Rabbie, and kiss him back, and I don’t care who’s watching, this man drives me crazy.

Our moment is quickly ruined by one of the local teenagers running into the pub and shouting. I can’t quite make out what he’s saying over the cheering as he reaches Cam. The teenager is frantically telling Cam something, and Cam’s eyes shoot over to Rabbie and the look of worry on his face is enough to unsettle me. Cam pushes through the crowd with the rest of the group behind him. Rabbie is too distracted to notice to look on Cam’s face.

“Rab,” Cam rushes over.

“Mate,” Rabbie laughs.

“Don’t panic, but Sweet Treats has been vandalised.” Cam’s face is pale.

Rabbie hand drops from my back, and my stomach drops. No, this can’t be happening, not tonight. I grab Rabbie’s hand and it’s shaking, he looks down at me and I see the pain in his eyes. Everyone is looking over at us, and they’re starting to whisper. Rabbie wastes no time and pulls me through the crowd and out through the front door of the pub. Everyone is hot on our tails. I don’t remember running to Sweet Treats, but I held my breath the whole way.

Please don’t let it be bad.

Rabbie doesn’t let go of my hand the whole way. Cam, Dylan, Hamish, Fiona and the rest of the town soon catch up to us. Ican’t bring myself to look at Rabbie, I can feel the stress coming from him and I don’t know how to make this okay.

Sweet Treats’ beautiful window that displays all the cakes and pastries has been smashed. The door has been kicked in, and the beautiful cream signs have been spray painted red. My heart is in my throat, and the bile in my stomach is threatening to come up.

It doesn’t take a detective to figure out who would’ve done this, only one person could’ve done this. The anger is slowly bubbling away in me, that fucking prick can’t let Rabbie live his life. The sadness creeps in and replaces the anger. Rabbie’s livelihood, his passion, and safe space has been cruelly ruined. The commotion from the whole town isn’t making the situation easy. People are talking over each other, and I can feel Rabbie tensing next to me.

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