Page 9 of The Boathouse By the Loch

Just phone her.

His thoughts drifted to Marcus instead as he stared out of the window, his attention drawn to Cairngorm Mountain. Even in summer, the peak could be snow-capped, but this summer, although he could still see snow, it was patchy rather than the traditional snow-capped mountain he was used to.

The mountain reminded him what he was still doing there. All along, he’d thought Marcus had taken Eleanor away from him by choosing to dig him out of the snow first, but now Marcus had almost convinced him there had been someone else up there. He was determined to find out if Marcus had been telling the truth all along.

Chapter 4

Jake heard someone knocking on his bedroom door. His eyes shot open. He looked at his phone, which was still in his hand, to check the time. He’d only sat down on his bed and closed his eyes for a moment, but had then felt himself sinking back into the very soft, feathery pillows. That had obviously been a mistake. He imagined the knock was Gayle, asking him to join her for dinner.

‘Just a sec.’

‘Mr Campbell-Ross?’ A man’s voice called back.

Jake raised his eyebrows. He pulled on his shoes, walked to the door and opened it.

‘You remember me? From the forest on the edge of town?’ The young guy smiled at Jake as he held out his hand. ‘Nick Addison.’

‘I remember,’ said Jake wearily, grasping the man’s hand. He was in no mood to be in the company of some bright-eyed, bushy-tailed, life-is-oh-so-wonderful young man. Although he knew Nick had been staying at the guesthouse the previous night when he was there too, before he had left for the airport, Jake had missed dinner in Gayle’s kitchen with the rest of the house guests, and he’d missed breakfast too. It meant that he hadn’t actually seen Nicksince bumping into him in the woods, when he’d suggested that Jake could stay at Lark Lodge. Nick had been wearing a smart suit and a yellow hard hat then. This evening, he was in jogging bottoms and a grey sweatshirt with the name of a university emblazoned on the front.

Jake looked past him, expecting Olive to be bounding up the stairs. ‘Where’s Olive?’

‘Oh, she’s shut in the kitchen with Gayle. Muddy paws. I couldn’t have her bounding up the stairs after me, leaving muddy paw prints on Gayle’s new carpet. And you know what my dog is like. She would have had muddy paws all over you too. We can’t have that, can we?’

‘Of course not,’ Jake said, although he wouldn’t have really minded seeing Nick’s shaggy sheepdog bounding up the stairs, greeting him as though she hadn’t seen him in an age, when it had only been a matter of hours.

‘Ooo … that looks nasty,’ Nick pointed.

Jake wasn’t surprised that Nick had spotted the large welt forming on his temple, not to mention the black eye. ‘I walked into a door.’

‘Of course you did.’ Nick grinned. He wasn’t fooled. It was obvious Jake had walked into a fist. ‘Gayle was out of ice; I suggested the frozen peas – any good?’

‘Kind of,’ said Jake, feeling upset that Gayle had shared his unfortunate comeuppance even though she didn’t know the details.

‘I expect you’ll see Olive at dinner time.’

Jake smiled at the thought.

‘Please tell her off if she begs at the table.’

I’ll do no such thing, Jake thought. In fact, he probably wouldn’t be able to resist feeding her scraps from the table. He kept that thought to himself.

‘On that note, Gayle sent me up to see if you’re wanting dinner here this evening.’ He leaned towards Jake, whispering, ‘I wouldn’t recommend it myself.’

‘Why?’ Jake wasn’t in the mood for polite conversation, so he was going to make every effort not to be congenial.

‘Oh, right. I didn’t realise you hadn’t dined here yet.’

Jake had eaten dinner at the guesthouse just the previous night, but Nick did not know that. As he’d arrived back at the guesthouse late, after the other guests had dined, he’d had dinner with Gayle instead. She’d waited for him to return and had then served up a ready meal from the freezer. He already knew that home cooking wasn’t Gayle’s forte.

‘No ready meals this evening,’ Nick elaborated. ‘She’s cooking tonight.’ He pulled a grimace and then laughed infectiously.

Jake, despite his foul mood, felt the corners of his mouth twitch. He slowly shook his head at the young man, excited about everything and nothing – about life. Jake remembered what that felt like – just. He managed a smile. ‘So, I take it you’ve experienced the delights of her cooking before?’

‘Oh yes. And once is quite enough, I can tell you.’ He peered at Jake. ‘So, are you still up for it, or do you want to grab a takeaway with me?’

Jake shuddered at the thought of fast food. Besides, given the way he was feeling, he thought his brain would melt if he had to keep up with young Mr Addison. Jake declined. ‘I think I’ll risk it.’

‘Brave man,’ Nick replied. He turned to go, but almost as an afterthought, he glanced back at Jake and asked, ‘Was I right – about the guesthouse being nice and all?’

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