Page 64 of Scotch on the Rocks

“I don’t know. Because they’re bored and like to gossip. And this—” She gestured between us. “Is perfect gossip. Jill was at the shinty game, you know.”

“Was she?” I still didn’t see the point she was making.

“And Freya has always hated me because I dated her husband briefly in high school.” She nodded with her chin to the brunette still looking our way. “Because while you might not have noticed as the village golden boy, it’s hard to shake a reputation around here.”

I was hardly a golden boy, but I got what she was saying.There was nowhere to hide in a small community. “And what’s yours?”

She folded her arms, holding the fabric tighter to her chest. “Troubled youth turned scorned woman and now it probably sits somewhere around Satan’s mistress.”

“Damn. It’s the horns and tail that does it for you, isn’t it?” I brushed a hand over my head. “I have an old Halloween costume lying around somewhere, you’ll never know the difference.”

“Be serious. Ensnaring the venerated village vet pushes me firmly into the scarlet woman category they love squeezing me into.”

“Scarlet woman?” I couldn’t help laughing at her completely serious expression. “This sounds very high school.”

“Some people never grow up.”

“At least you got one thing right. Thisvenerated vetis completely ensnared.” We smiled at one another, only for her face to fall when the group laughed again. Louder this time. And I was able to make out a single sentence. “With all that black she looks like she works in a mortuary.”

These fucking people. Ask me six days out of seven and I’d tell you I adored Kinleith and its occupants, that there was no better place on earth to call home. Today, bearing witness to the gradual sinking of Juniper’s shoulders and the quiet tension creeping around her mouth, as their immature words struck like bullets, today … I wanted to burn it to the ground. How dare they hurt this woman who’d faced more heartache in her short life than many others could survive. No wonder she kept everyone at arm’s length. I could force her out of her shell all I wished, but it would never fix the root of the problem.

Fists curling, I cut across the street in the trio’s direction. “Macabe.” Juniper’s hushed shout followed me but I didn’tslow. I didn’t care what they were saying, what excuses they gave, from now on, they’d keep their poison to themselves. “Macabe, stop.” She was at my side, tugging my sleeve. And then she uttered four words that turned my insides to ice. “Is that your dad?”

Stopping dead, my head swivelled as though detached from my body. A hundred yards away, he slowly ambled his way along the uneven cobbles. Alone.

“Dad!” It took thirty seconds to reach him. “What are you doing here?” It was a stupid question. I could already discern from the glazed sheen in his eyes, he didn’t recognise me.

Clearly agitated, he shook me off, trying to continue down the path. “I’m going to work … I must have got turned around somewhere.”

Relenting my hold, I attempted to steer him beneath the awning of the beauty salon as the first smattering of rain began. “I can take you in my car.”

“Leave me to it, boy, I’m more than capable.” He snarled the nickname with the usual bite of loathing but the tightness in my chest eased some as his gaze settled on me. If it was one of his better days it would be easier to get him home.

“Did you come with Mum?”

“No.” He yanked his arm free, wobbling so precariously I lunged to catch him. His thinning hair fell over his forehead in grey wisps as I settled him against the wall. “I drove myself.”He drove himself?How the hell had this happened? I yanked my phone from my pocket, Mum’s number already on the screen. “Don’t call her.” He slapped it from my hand, I didn’t even watch it land. “I don’t need you checking up on me. Who raised you, boy? Who clothed you and fed you? It’s time you showed me some bloody respect.”

How could I ever forget?

The snarl bubbling up my throat melted away when I noticed the front of his trousers, the small but noticeable wet patch staining the dark material.

My chest cracked in two.

For the first time since this man had dropped a terrified sixteen-year-old off at basic training – smaller, weaker and younger than every other recruit – without so much as aSee ya, kid, I wanted to sink to my knees and sob.

The urge only grew when Juniper appeared at my side. So lost to my grief, I hadn’t even heard her approach.

“Hello again, Mr Macabe.” Her voice held a softness I couldn’t place, all traces of our previous conversation washed away. “Do you remember me?”

It took him a moment. “Juniper Ross. My son’s lass.”

My son’s lass.He spoke of Alistair, and yet the untamed caveman inside roared at me to answer, Yes, your son’s lass. Mine, mine, mine.

Easily nudging me aside, Juniper offered her arm. “Would you mind escorting me to my car, I’m parked just up the street?” To my surprise, he accepted, allowing Juniper to tuck her arm beneath his, giving the illusion of letting him lead. Struck speechless, I could only follow.

“You’re a lot prettier without all that metal in your face.” He waved a hand to her profile. “I never understood what my boy saw in you before, but now … if I was twenty years younger I might try myself.”

He insulted her so casually, like he was reading aloud an article from the newspaper. That was the cruelty of Alzheimer’s. It took more than the ability to create and retrieve memories, it stole empathy, and Jim Macabe hadn’t been an empathetic man to begin with.

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