Page 59 of Wishing Under a Starlit Skye
Later on, when Archie and Sophie had gone home, and Grace had taken herself and Cleo off to bed, a message pinged on her phone. She opened WhatsApp to see a photo of Sophie, fast asleep in her newly decorated bedroom. Then a photo of Archie giving the thumbs up sign. Once again, her heart melted. For Sophie obviously. Not Archie. Absolutely not Archie.
She replied with a smiley face and placed her phone down, but it started ringing. A number she didn’t recognise flashed on the screen. It was after ten at night and so the call unnerved her a little. She hit the screen to answer.
‘Hello?’ she asked hesitantly.
‘Erm, Caitlin? Hi… This is Bram. Your friend Morag gave me your number and said I should call you about maybe going out some time.’
Caitlin straightened up in her seat. Bram had a very nice voice. Quite silky sounding and gruff. ‘Oh, yes, hi Bram, lovely to hear from you.’
‘I’m sorry it’s so late, but I was on a run up north on the mainland and I’ve only just got in.’
‘No, no, that’s fine. I’m still up.’Way to state the obvious, you dufus.
A message pinged through, and she pulled the phone away from her ear to read the screen where there was a message from Archie.
I know you kind of advised against it but I’m throwing caution to the wind. BBQ at mine on Saturday, 6 p.m. Jules, Reid and Evin are up for it. Morag and Kenneth, Ruby and Mitch too. How about it? Archie
Bram cleared his throat. ‘Anyway, I was wondering if you’re free on Saturday at all? I thought we could maybe go grab a bite to eat.’
She hit reply to Archie.
So sorry Archie but I have a date. Grace would probably love to come if I can send her with Evin though.
She replied to Bram. ‘That would be lovely. Where are you thinking of going?’
Another message pinged through from Archie.
Bring your date! PLEASE! I know Sophie would love you to be here.
Bram replied, ‘I’ve heard the Coxswain is good for food. We could go there maybe?’
She hesitated for a moment before saying, ‘Erm… I know this is a bit presumptuous, but my friend in the village is having a barbecue and I wondered if you would like to come with me?’ She closed her eyes and chewed her lip as she waited for the reply.
‘Erm… Yeah, that sounds grand. So long as they won’t mind me tagging along.’ He sounded quite taken aback.
Relief flooded her veins. ‘They’ve invited you actually.’
‘Oh, great. What time?’
She shot a quick reply back to Archie.
Okay. Bram and I will be there!
Then replied to Bram. ‘Six? I think you know the bakery I own, so do you want to meet me there?’
‘Okay, sounds good. Six it is. See you then. Oh… you don’t even know what I look like,’ he said, sounding unsure.
‘Actually, please don’t be cross, but Morag took a sneaky snap of you and showed me.’
‘Oh! Great! And you still want me to come to the barbecue?’ he laughed.
She grinned. ‘Absolutely.’
21
Grace had been making a keepsake scrapbook for Cora in the hope that Lyle would let them say goodbye. She had included photos, messages and little trinkets collected from their many times together. But contact from Cora had been almost non-existent, just a couple of quick emails presumably when she was alone. Caitlin was grateful that at least she still had a good friend in Evin in the village because she would soon need him more than ever.
On Wednesday evening, Grace went to Jules’ house to see Evin and Caitlin met Dexter at the Coxswain. It felt good to have her drinking buddy back after his extended holiday. Time spent with Dexter was easy and relaxed and meant she could simply be herself.
