Page 54 of A Recipe for Love
‘Only during the week. And that wasn’t posh. All the kids from round here did that. There isn’t a high school near enough to go in every day.’
‘The nearest secondary school is too far away to drive to in a morning?’
He nodded. ‘Well, it’s about an hour and a half, so you could get back if you had to, but three hours’ driving every day is a lot, so yeah, we stayed in the residence during the week.’
‘Wow. My school was just round the corner and past the shops. If you were running really late you could climb over the fence at the back of the flats into the playing field.’
‘I can’t wait to see where you grew up.’
Something about that thought jarred. Adam was a creature of beautiful places. His hair had the assured flop of someone who’d never needed to get it styled because he was raised with the understanding that whatever he didwasthe style. He owned chinos. Bella wasn’t sure she’d ever been friends with someone who owned chinos before. She wasn’t quite sure what her nan would make of him.
‘So have you been to this place before?’ Bella changed the subject, she hoped not too abruptly.
‘Not since McKenzie bought it. My dad used to be friends with Mr MacCellan though. I think his parents were my father’s godparents.’
‘What happened to them? The MacCellans?’
‘Not sure. Probably moved to a nice draught-free unhaunted semi-detached in Locharron.’
They drove south from Lowbridge village and along the coast for close to an hour, before turning sharply inland until they reached the entrance to what proudly proclaimed itself to be the McKenzie Estate Visitor Experience Hub.
The car park was lined with densely packed pine forest. Bella caught Adam shaking his head. ‘What’s up?’
‘None of these are native. Fast growing, so they use them in commercial forestry, but the wood’s as soft as shit.’ He pulled her to a stop in front of him, and placed his hands on her shoulders. ‘Listen.’
Bella could hear a babble of chat from other visitors and the rumble of cars arriving and departing. ‘Listen to what?’
‘Exactly. No biodiversity in the planting means fewer insects, means fewer small mammals and fewer birds, means no bird song.’
She listened again. He was right. The forest wasn’t exactly silent, but it didn’t sound alive.
He moved around to face her and waved his hand towards the offending trees. ‘It looks like an ancient forest, if you have no clue what an ancient forest actually looks like, but it’s just a stage set.’
They made their way into the Visitor Experience Hub.
‘Bloody hell,’ muttered Bella. The whole place was festooned in blue and green checks, with lines of bright yellow running through the design. It was a visitor centre that was crying out for a dial to turn the contrast down.
Adam was silent alongside her.
‘That’s a lot of tartan.’
‘Yep.’ He was looking around. ‘MacCellan tartan as well. Bit of a cheek. Take someone’s home, stick your name all over the shop, and then use their clan tartan as window dressing.’
‘Doesn’t McKenzie have a tartan?’
‘Think they have about four.’ He shrugged. ‘Maybe they didn’t match the colour scheme?’
‘Good morning. Welcome to the McKenzie Experience Hub!’ The woman in front of them was about the same age as Bella but was groomed and put together in a way Bella didn’t even aspire to be. She was wearing air hostess levels of make-up.
‘Oh, we’re just having a look around.’
‘That’s great.’ The woman smiled in a way that somehow still managed to look bored. ‘We have walking trails around the woodland, or you can hire bikes, or relax in our top-class eatery.’
Cafe, Bella mentally translated.
‘I believe we do also have a very limited number of spaces available on our Silver Whisky Experience at two p.m.’ The welcome-bot looked down at her iPad. ‘Booking is essential though.’
‘We’re fine. We’ll just get a drink and maybe go for a walk.’
