Page 73 of Summer Escapes on the Scottish Isle

‘It’ll be nice to sleep in my own bedroom again, and to put the sitting room straight.’

She smiled. This was the liveliest she’d seen him since she’d returned to Skye, but when she said, ‘I think you should keep the riser chair for a while,’ his face clouded over.

She thought he was going to argue, but all he did was nod, and she guessed he would keep it to humour her then get rid of it as soon as she was gone.

If that’s what he wanted to do, that was his prerogative, but for now he still needed it. The armchairs were too low and too soft. Not only were they difficult for him to get in and out of, but they also put unnecessary strain on his healing joint, and having his leg at the wrong angle to his hip was a definite no-no.

Conversation dried up for a moment, as they perused the menu, but resumed again once they’d chosen.

‘This is nice,’ he repeated. ‘I haven’t been somewhere different for ages.’

A flicker of concern flitted through her: hadn’t he said the very same thing a couple of minutes ago? Then she remembered friends and colleagues mentioning how repetitive their elderly relatives had become, and she let the worry go, especially when he said, ‘The pub in Duncoorie is the furthest I get these days, but I can’t manage even that now.’

‘I’ll drive you there whenever you want,’ she told him. Then added, with a smile, ‘I’ll even bring you home again if you’re not too drunk.’

‘And what if I am?’

‘I’ll leave you there until the morning. You’ll have sobered up by then,’ she teased, then became more serious. ‘Promise me you’ll be more careful. I don’t think either of us can take you having another fall.’

‘I’ll try, but sometimes it just happens.’

She narrowed her eyes. ‘Are you telling me that you’ve fallen before this?’

‘I’m not saying anything of the sort. All I meant was…’ He exhaled slowly. ‘I wasn’t exactly cavorting around the kitchen when I fell, and neither was I up a ladder. It just happened. One minute I was thinking about making a mug of cocoa in the hope it would send me off to sleep, the next I was on the lino and couldn’t get up again.’

Freya’s eyes filled with tears. ‘Oh, Dad, I should have—’

‘Hush, I know what you’re thinking. Even if you’d been here, it wouldn’t have made any difference. I would still have fallen.’

‘But I’d have heard you calling and you wouldn’t have been lying on the kitchen floor all night.’

‘Aye, well, that’s as may be, but you weren’t and you’re not going to be. I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again – you’ve got your own life to lead.’

She knew she wouldn’t have been able to prevent him falling, but the guilt continued to linger, regardless.

‘Could you have one of those alarms—’ she began, but her dad cut her off.

‘Pfft! I amnotwearing one of those. I’m not old or—’ Glowering, he broke off, repeating, ‘I’m not old.’

The alarms weren’t just for old people, but there was no point in arguing with him. When he got something in his head, there was no budging him.

‘I’ve got an idea,’ she said slowly, fully anticipating him to refuse to even entertain it. ‘Why don’t you keep your mobile phone on you? Just think, if you’d had it with you when you went downstairs to make a cup of cocoa, you’d have been able to phone for help.’

He scoffed. ‘You’ll have me taking it to the toilet next.’

‘What’s wrong with that? You could have an accident in the bathroom just as easily as in the kitchen.’

‘I’ll never remember it.’

‘You will,’ she insisted, warming to her theme. ‘Just keep it in your pyjama or trouser pocket. Before you know, it’ll be second nature to carry it with you.’

‘Or an addiction,’ he grumbled.

She laughed. ‘I can’t seeyoubeing addicted to your phone.’

‘That reminds me,’ he said. ‘Are you feeling all right? I haven’t seen you playing with yours all morning.’

‘I put it on airplane mode before we set out for the hospital, as I didn’t want it going off in the middle of your appointment and I knew I’d forget if I didn’t do it when I thought about it.’ She often put it on airplane mode when she was working, or at the very least she switched it to silent.

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