Page 92 of One Night in Edinburgh

‘OK, sure. Will be nice to have your company.’

‘Perfect.’ Anna gets to her feet and brushes herself down to get rid of any crumbs from her food. ‘Keep me updated on the group chat.’

She heads back along the path through the park towards the main road and eventually disappears from sight.

‘So, how are things going with Lukas?’ I ask, suddenly recalling Connor’s own love life. ‘I’m sorry I haven’t been very communicative recently.’

‘No need to apologise.’ His eyes don’t leave the building we’re watching. ‘You’ve had a lot on your mind.’

‘Yeah, but still. I could have asked.’

‘It’s all good. As you know, we’re taking it slow, but we met for a third time the other night. He’s a great guy. Did I mention he’s German?’

‘No, that’s awesome.’

‘It is. He’s from the north, Hamburg. Has this cool accent, likes his beer and he’s really smart. Works as an analyst for a finance company.’

‘Does he give you tingles?’ I prod Connor’s leg theatrically.

‘I’m not going to grace that with an answer.’ He shakes his head at me and turns an interesting shade of crimson, telling me all I need to know.

We continue to watch the entrance to the hostel as we chat, and after a while, I find myself getting thirsty.

‘Gosh, those chips were salty, weren’t they? My mouth is like sandpaper.’

‘Mine, too,’ says Connor. ‘You be OK here while I go find a shop?’

‘I’ll be fine.’

‘Fair enough. Back soon.’ He gets up and heads in the same direction that Anna previously took.

I sit back down and continue to watch the front entrance of the hostel. After a few minutes, my phone buzzes with a WhatsApp message to our group.

Anna:

Nothing to report here so far. You?

I quickly type a reply to the same effect, also letting her know that Connor’s gone off in search of some drinks for us. She responds asking Connor to get her one for later, and I end up chatting to her online. After about five minutes, Connor pitches in.

Connor:

Remind me never to hire you two as private investigators. You can’t be watching the entrance ways if you’re yapping away on here.

‘Shit, he’s right,’ I say out loud and stuff my phone in my bag.

Turning my attention back to the hostel, there’s nothing out of the ordinary going on, but there is a man walking away from it in the direction of Duke Street. What if that’s Jamie and I missed him because I’ve got attention span of a toddler?

Feeling a surge of panic, I’m suddenly certain that it’s him and I’m about to miss my chance. I can only see the back of him and he’s quite far away, but there’s nothing to indicate it’s not Jamie – the stranger has the same colour of hair, and from what I remember, is a comparative height and build. Fuelled by adrenaline, I take off across the park after him. My poor body doesn’t know what’s hit it as I attempt a speed I clearly can’t manage.

Thankfully the man is walking at a leisurely pace and it doesn’t take long to catch up with him. But even from even from several feet away, I still can’t tell if it’s him, so I call out to him.

‘Excuse me?’

The man stops and turns to see what’s going on. The moment I see his face my spirits drop. It’s not Jamie. He’s probably about five years younger and seems perplexed by my sudden approach.

‘Sorry…’ I bend over to catch my breath. ‘I thought… you were someone else.’

Thoroughly disappointed by this red herring, and coming to the realisation that while I was chasing this guy, Jamie could have come out of the hostel and headed off in the other direction, I feel a wave of hopelessness once more. Maybe this is a complete waste of time. The chances of me, Connor or Anna being in the same place as Jamie at the exact moment, even with our carefully crafted plan in place, is highly unlikely as I learned from trying to find him the first time round. As this thought crystalises, my head droops and I despondently return in the direction of the bench.

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