Page 55 of Under A Sicilian Sky
Once she had paid for her baked goods, she said goodbye to the shopkeeper and left. She contemplated going to chat to Dougie but felt she may blow the cover he had so carefully planned, so she headed back to the house instead.
Once inside, she wrote a note and left the cakes on the kitchen table telling everyone to help themselves. The chocolate cake, however, she kept to take to Reid and Jules’ later.
22
Shelby had done really well on her shopping trip. She had visited both the mainland and Portree on Skye. She had returned with two pairs of jeans, a warm coat, a couple of pretty shirts, some long-sleeved tops, a pair of black boots, some undies and several sweaters, one of which was navy blue and printed withDREAMING OF SKYE. Ruby held it up and glanced at Shelby with a raised brow.
Shelby blushed. ‘Okay, I admit it, I totally bought that with myself in mind. But after what I’ve seen today, I think it may be true. I’m not sure I ever want to leave here.’
Ruby held it towards her. ‘I think you should have this one.’
Shelby’s eyes widened and her mouth made an O shape. ‘Are you kidding me?’
Ruby shook her head. ‘Absolutely not. You’ve done such a great job here with these clothes, it’s the least I can do.’
Shelby chewed her lip. ‘You do know I’m being paid, right?’
Ruby laughed. ‘Well, I hardly imagined you’d be here with me if you weren’t. Just take the sweater. It’ll really suit you.’
Shelby took the sweater and flung her arms around Ruby. ‘You’re the sweetest, kindest movie star I’ve ever met. And I’ve met a few.’
Ruby was unsure how to reply, so she mumbled, ‘Well, you’re the sweetest assistant I’ve ever had.’
Shelby giggled. ‘Technically, I’m theonlyassistant you’ve ever had, but I’ll take it.’ She almost skipped to the door of Ruby’s room clutching the sweater, and shouted, ‘Toodles!’ over her shoulder as she closed the door behind herself.
Once again, however, Ruby wondered about the conversation she had overheard. She hadn’t recommended Shelby to anyone for auditions. In fact, she had only recently discovered that she was a budding actress, but the fact remained that Shelby had been more than helpful so far.
* * *
At six forty-five, Ruby descended the stairs in pair of black jeans, black boots and a teal shirt with silver thread running through the fine, pale grey stripes.
Mitch was staring in the mirror, his expression crumpled. He turned to watch her walk down the last few steps. ‘You look… erm… You look really nice,’ he said, clearing his throat. He wore dark blue jeans and a V-neck sweater in navy blue.
She smiled and nervously ran her hand through her hair. ‘Thanks, so do you. Although I need to make a decision about my hair. My natural colour is showing through.’
‘You could always ask Shelby to pick you up another colour,’ he suggested. ‘Right, well, I’ve grabbed a bottle of wine. The cellar here is more of a winerack, but I chose a nice bottle to take with us.’
‘I bought a chocolate cake from the little bakery. I thought I could take that for after dinner. What do you think?’
He grinned. ‘I say heck yes! Caitlin’s baking is incredible. She’s Jules’ best mate, so Morag says, so I’m guessing she’ll be happy.’
‘Great! Let’s get going then.’
Mitch and Ruby said goodbye to Shelby and Dougie, then walked out of the house and towards the village. The sky was a mixture of purples and oranges above them as the sun made its descent. They took a left turning along the road, past a B&B and up a lane lined with trees that made it dark.
Mitch took out his phone and flicked on the torch. ‘One of these days they’ll get some street lighting down here.’
Ruby linked her arm through his and squinted in the dim light. ‘Yes, it’s not somewhere I’d want to be walking alone at night.’
‘It’s not too far, don’t worry.’
Around five minutes later, a house came into view with a pretty porch lit by fairy lights. It was a whitewashed building like so many in the village and there was a large garden surrounding it. Mitch knocked at the door and they could hear Chewie barking inside. Almost immediately the door was opened.
Chewie bounced around excitedly, as a dark-haired boy said, ‘Hi! You must be my dad’s friends. I’m Evin.’
Ruby bent to say hello to the dog, who proceeded to lick her from chin to nose, making her giggle.
‘Hi Evin, I’m Mitch, you won’t remember me, the last time I saw you, you were a wee lad. And this is my friend Roo.’
