Page 61 of Surprises on the Scottish Isle

‘Nothing to do with Cal living just up the way?’

Tara could feel her cheeks growing warm. ‘No…’

‘Liar. Come on, spill. I want all the deets. By the way, you’ve made a big impression on Bonnie – she can’t stop talking about you. Whenever I see her, it’s Tara this and Tara that. I think you’ve got a fan. That’s got to bode well for you and lover boy. Half the battle is getting the step-kids to like you, or so I’ve been told.’

‘Bonnie doesn’t know that Cal and I are an item. He wants her to get used to me being around first.’

‘I can’t blame him,’ Jinny said. ‘That’s what I would do if I were in his shoes. But I don’t think you’ve got anything to worry about on that score. She thinks you’re wonderful.’

‘And I think she’s wonderful, too.’

‘Aw, get you, that’s so sweet. So, now we’ve established that you and Bonnie are firm friends, how goes it with the delectable Cal? Have youfully rekindledyour relationship yet?’ Jinny waggled her eyebrows.

Tara blinked. The question was rather personal.

‘You can tell me to mind my own business,’ Jinny carried on cheerfully. ‘I won’t be offended.’

‘It’s not that. It’s just that it’s early days yet,’ Tara explained.

‘I think it’s lovely how you two have found each other again.’ Jinny’s expression was dreamy. ‘I love a good romance. Fill me up.’ She held out her empty glass.

Tara also loved a good romance, but there hadn’t been a happy ever after with Cal the first time. Would it happen the second time? Could she trust him to put the pieces of her heart back together? Whatever happened, it was too late to back away now. She hadn’t put just a toe in the water, she was immersed up to her neck and with every kiss, every look, every touch, she was in danger of being swept away.

The shrill sound of an incoming call woke Tara, and she groaned. Herhead was thumping, her tongue was sticking to the roof of her mouth andshe felt sick. She never should have drunk so much last night. It wasJinny’s fault.

She groaned again when she saw the time.

It was her mother on the phone. ‘Tara? Are you OK? I haven’t heard from you in ages. I was beginning to worry. Sorry to ring so early, but I thought I might catch you in.’

‘Yes, Mum, I’m fine. No, honestly, I’m good. Really good.’ Damn it, she knew she shouldn’t have left it so long since her last phone call, but she’d been so busy.

She’d sent her mum loads of photos and they messaged each other often, but she hadn’t actually spoken to her for nearly three weeks. She didn’t want to speak to her now, but only because she had a raging hangover, and the thought of talking to anyone made her feel queasy. Tara hoped Jinny was suffering equally as badly, since it was all her fault for bringing the bottles of wine.

‘Toby and I will have to come and visit,’ her mum said. ‘But I honestly don’t know when that will be; after Christmas probably.’

Christmas was half a year away, but with Mum and Toby owning a caravan park and this being the height of summer, Tara knew they would be hard-pressed to get away any time soon. The site was open ten months of the year, only being closed for January and February, so if she wanted to see her mum before then, she’d have to be the one who did the travelling. But not just yet. She had too much going on.

‘I’ll try to visit you before then,’ Tara promised. The number of tourists to Skye dwindled as the days shortened and the weather turned stormier, so autumn would be an ideal time to fly south, like the swallows.

‘It looks beautiful,’ her mum was saying. ‘But then, Skye is. Did I tell you that your father and I spent a weekend there before you were born?’

‘Yes, Mum, you did.’

‘We didn’t climb The Old Man of Storr though, or go out in a boat to see whales. Maybe we could do something like that when we visit?’

‘Maybe.’ By then she would have told Mum about Cal, so perhaps they could all go together, including Bonnie. Tara knew that her mum would simply adore Bonnie. The one thing Mum lamented was the lack of grandchildren, and with the end of Tara and Dougie’s marriage, the idea of grandchildren had been put on ice.

Would Cal want any more children, Tara wondered. He’d had Bonnie so young, that nearly all of his twenties had been taken up with a child. Maybe he felt he was done at one, because in another few years his nest would be empty and he could begin to do all those things he’d probably missed out on when he had a small child to consider.

How did Tara feel about the possibility of not being a mother? If she had to decide between being with Cal and having a child of her own, which would she choose? She would be Bonnie’s stepmum, obviously, but would that be enough?

Tara thought it might…

With a sigh, she realised she was getting ahead of herself. She and Cal hadn’t even slept together yet (or theyhad, but not for many years), and any future they might have hadn’t been hinted at. Tara knew one thing, though – her mother wouldn’t be happy when she found out that Cal was back in her life. Mum had witnessed first-hand the devastation he’d wrought.

Oh, well, that was a conversation for another day. Even if Tara didn’t have a hangover from hell, there was no way she could face telling her mother about Cal right now. Their relationship would have to be on a much firmer footing before she put that particular cat amongst the pigeons.

A loud, persistent knocking woke Tara with a start. It took her asecond to remember where she was and what day it was. She was in theboathouse and it was Sunday.

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