Page 48 of Under A Sicilian Sky
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Ruby awoke and glanced at the bedside clock. The number ten flashed bright in green. ‘Bloody hell!’
She scrambled out of bed and opened the curtains to peer out. From her room at the front of the house, she could see right down to the inlet where the late-March sun glinted on the surface of the water. The sky was cornflower blue and down on the field at the opposite end to the church was a newly constructed building, scaffolding still surrounded it and some men were standing there with clipboards, and wearing high-viz jackets. She wondered what the building was. It looked like it had been sympathetically built to fit in with the others in the village but appeared too large to be a house.
Movement caught her eye and when she moved her focus on to the garden, she saw Shelby jogging around in skintight leggings and a fitted fleece top. Her breath was forming little clouds as she exhaled rapidly from exertion. She looked up and made eye contact with her.
‘Shit!’ Ruby mumbled. ‘Don’t invite me down, don’t invite me down, don’t invite me down.’
Thankfully, Shelby just waved up at her, a wide grin on her pretty, glowing features, her sleek, almost black ponytail glinting in the sunshine.
‘Ugh, she’s almost perfect.’ Ruby closed the curtains once again.
She picked up her phone and noticed she’d had a text from Kitty.
Hi gorgeous. To be honest, I’m fat and need to exercise, so send her here to kick my bum! Is she one of those uber-pretty girls with perfect skin? If so, spike her food with butter! Lol! Only kidding… or am I? Anyway, the kids are driving me mad today so a few days on Skye sounds like bliss! Swap you? Any news on the hacking?
Ruby hit the reply button and typed a quick reply.
She’s skinny, pretty and sweet too. I wish I could dislike her, but she’s really nice. And BTW you’re pregnant not fat! No news on the hacking. I’m on the verge of taking my own action again! And can you believe I’ve JUST got up? Off to find food. Bloody starving! Speak soon. Love you xx
Ruby had a quick shower and dressed in yoga pants and a hoody. Thankfully, no one was in the kitchen when she arrived downstairs and she clicked the kettle on to boil. She found fresh bread on a board on the worktop and cut a slice before slotting in the toaster.
Mitch arrived in the room. ‘Afternoon!’ he said with a grin.
She glanced at the clock. ‘Cheeky. It’s only eleven o’clock. And I must have needed the sleep seeing as I never stay in bed this late.’
He gave her a friendly nudge. ‘I’m pulling your leg. You can sleep as long as you want. Nothing spoiling.’
‘What’s going on down at the village green? I saw some men standing by that new building.’
Mitch smiled. ‘Aye, I wondered that myself, so I asked Morag when I went to collect the newspaper. Apparently, it’s the new village hall. The co-operative has been trying to raise funds for a while and find a plot of land that was reasonably priced enough to build one. I donated a while ago but totally forgot about it. Anyway, it turns out the land was under their noses all the time, and the lottery have funded the majority of it. There’s going to be a music festival and grand opening a week on Saturday. It’s a big deal. All our village meetings have always been in the pub or the church, so the new place will be much better. They’re getting an alcohol licence too.’ He grinned. ‘They have the Highland Games on the same field in August, so they had to make sure there was still enough room to carry out the events. Anyway, Morag was telling me there’s going to be some local bands playing at the opening and some from the mainland too, provided there’s no freak snow. Should be good craic.’
She nodded but sneered at the same time. ‘Great, another thing I can’t get involved with.’
‘I bet we can sneak you in.’
She huffed. ‘Hmm, I tried sneaking before, remember? Look where that got me.’
He grinned. ‘I like a challenge. And anyway, no one will approach you withThe Rockby your side.’
Ruby burst out laughing. ‘Is that what you’re calling yourself now?’
He joined in her laughter. ‘Not me, you numpty! Dougie! He’s built like a brick outhouse, so no one will try to cross him.’
Ruby laughed harder. ‘Oh right! Hilarious! I might start calling him The Rock.’ It felt good to laugh. She hadn’t done enough of it lately.
‘Anyways, you cheeky wee mare, are you trying to say I’m scrawny or something? I’ll have you know, this is a swimmer’s physique. Well, it used to be anyway,’ Mitch said with another playful nudge to her shoulder.
She eyed him up and down. He was toned and muscular for sure, but he was around half the size of her new bodyguard. ‘Let’s just say, if you were in the ring together, I wouldn’t be betting on you.’
He rolled his eyes and feigned hurt. ‘Charming. And who’s to say I couldn’t outwit him with my intellect or something?’
Dougie appeared in the doorway. He hit his fist into his opposite palm and glared. ‘Are you trying to say I’m some kind of doaty bawbag, mate?’
Mitch stopped laughing and the colour drained from his face. ‘Erm… no, I… It was just a… I mean, not at all.’
Silence fell on the room and Ruby swallowed hard, unsure what to do.
