Page 70 of Long Live the King

They all reintroduced themselves, then the woman, Emma, said, “The reason why we came...”

I said, “My guess is you came to check up on me.”

Hayley laughed. “Kind of, but not, you know, in the bad way.”

Emma said, “Lochie’s not... he’s not from here, and he hasn’t dated much, so... we were concerned that maybe...?”

Kaitlyn shook her head. “Now that we’re in the conversation, Itotallyregret it. Why did we come?”

Emma said, “I have no idea, honestly, Ash. When we talked this out we thought it was a good idea.”

Hayley said, “Yeah... and Ash, promise you won’t hold this whole thing,us, against him?”

I said, “I won’t hold it against him. I think he’s really wonderful.”

Kaitlyn smiled widely. “Yay! That’s awesome, Ash, you’re going to see him when he gets back?”

“Definitely. If he’ll see me...”

Emma said, “That sets my mind at ease.”

I said, “Phew, this was a little like an interrogation.”

Hayley said, “Oh we have so many questions, we didn’t even get past the first one.”

I said, “If you need my back story, I was in the army, now I work here. I live nearby. I did well in school... is that pretty much all you needed to know?”

Kaitlyn said, “Yeah, again, really sorry that we bothered you.” She took a sip of her drink and said, “I guess he told you all about Scotland?”

“Not much really, except...it’s not at all what I expected Scotland to be like.”

Kaitlyn nodded. “Good, yeah, perfect.” Then she said, “Oh, I mean,yeah,Scotland is not at all like what you see in the movies. It’s got a real ancient vibe to it.”

I said, “I’d love to see it...”

Emma said, “Maybe Lochie will show you someday...?”

I said, “I would love that. He mentioned taking me, I hope he will.”

All three of them leaned back in their chairs, smiling.

Emma said, “That’s awesome. We’re so glad. Thank you for not holding this against us.”

I said, “Your family is really close, huh?”

Kaitlyn said, “Magnus has a lot of responsibilities, everyone works with him?—”

Hayley said, “It’s a family business, sorta.”

I chuckled. “Almost like the mob?”

They glanced at each other then laughed.

Kaitlyn finished her drink and pulled a pen and paper from her purse. “I’m writing down my phone number. If you need anything, want to talk, if you want to ask when he’s coming home, if anything goes down that’s weird, you know... just call, okay?” She passed it to me.

I said, “Thank you, that sounds good. I’ll call if I need to know anything.” I tucked the paper in my pocket.

Kaitlyn said, “Please forgive us for intruding.”She stood and jerked her head at Hayley and Emma. They all gathered their coats and bags. “Call me, if you need anything.”

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