Page 24 of A Summer House on Arran
Chapter Twenty
Kitty was tying her shoelaces when her phone started to buzz. It was Cameron, FaceTiming her.
‘Hey, Mum,’ he said in a bit of a drawl.
‘You’re starting to sound like a local,’ joked Kitty, delighted to hear from him, but inwardly groaning at his timing. She and Olivia needed to leave in the next couple of minutes if they were to make the start of the tour. ‘How are you, sweetie? You’re up late or early?’ She looked at her watch, realising it must have been about 2 a.m. with him.
‘Good, thanks. I was out kayaking with the kids yesterday and then we had a barbecue. Just thought I’d call as I couldn’t sleep . . .’
‘That’s so thoughtful of you, and it’s lovely seeing your face. Is it all still going well?’
He paused for only a second — long enough to plant a seed of doubt in Kitty’s mind — before continuing. ‘Yes, all good. How are you? What have you been doing?’
‘It’s a long story,’ she said with a laugh. ‘But, basically, I have a housemate in the cottage on Arran. She’s called Olivia and she’s American. We’re actually about to go out and join a walking tour.’
‘Sounds good,’ he said.
Kitty was aware of Olivia’s presence in the hallway as she gathered her things together and, when she glanced at the clock, she knew they would have to leave in the next sixty seconds if they were to make it to the bus on time. ‘Look, honey, can I try and call you again later? It’s just that we’re booked on this trip, and it leaves in the next few minutes. We really need to get going, otherwise we’ll miss the bus.’
‘Sure,’ he said, sounding a bit deflated. ‘That’s fine, Mum. Don’t worry.’
‘I’m so sorry, love. I’ll try and get you later?’ She felt like the worst mum in the world for cutting their call short.
‘Okay, Mum. Speak to you later. Love you.’
‘Are you okay, Cam?’
‘Yes, honestly, I’m okay. Just missed you so thought I’d phone.’
‘Oh,’ she said, biting back the emotion she could feel starting to build up. Cameron hadneveradmitted to missing her before.Ever.‘I miss you too. But I’m so glad you’re having a great time. Sounds much more exciting than being here with boring me,’ she said, in an attempt at a half-joke.
‘True.’ He gave her a small smile. ‘Okay, you’d better go. You don’t want to get into trouble and be branded the bad old lady on the trip.’
‘Hey. Less of the bad and the old,’ she said, glad he was teasing her again. ‘Get to bed.’ Blowing him a kiss, she ended the call and then grabbed her rucksack and car keys. ‘Come on, then,’ she called to Olivia. ‘We’d better get moving or we won’t be popular. We’ll need to take the car if we’re going to make it.’
As she drove to the car park at the terminal, where they had arranged to meet Logan and the rest of the group, Kitty didn’t say a word, not trusting herself to speak in case she started to cry. She knew that the guilt she felt at cutting the call short was irrational, but the last thing she wanted right now was to be in a group with people she had to make polite conversation with.
‘I hope I don’t get blisters,’ said Olivia cheerily.
Kitty appreciated her attempt to distract her. ‘I do too. But at least we’ve packed those special plasters.’ She pulled into a parking space and nodded her head in the direction of a minibus. ‘Looks like that’s us there. Though there’s no sign of anyone hanging around. Maybe they’re already on it and getting ready to leave. Come on. We’d better hurry. I hate being late.’
‘Yes,’ sighed Olivia. ‘I feel quite nervous now. Why did we think this was a good idea?’
Kitty got out of the car and slammed the door shut before opening the boot to retrieve their rucksacks. Olivia gave her a curious look.
‘Sorry,’ Kitty said. ‘It was Cameron. He called just before we left, and I had to cut him short. I’m worried he had something on his mind and now feel like the crappiest mum in the world. I don’t feel like doing this anymore.’ She jerked her head towards the minibus.
Olivia didn’t say anything, instead putting a reassuring hand on Kitty’s arm.
Kitty sighed. ‘Come on. Best get on with it. It will keep my mind off things. Oh gawd, we’re going to be labelled the troublesome pair before we’ve even started.’ She walked purposefully towards the bus, Olivia trailing right behind her. She could see the tour leader — she assumed it was Logan — standing inside the bus, holding court with everyone, and as she looked up at him and felt herself blushing, she realised that shehadseen him before. He was the handsome guy who held the door open for her at the bakery the other morning.
‘Oh jeez,’ said Olivia quietly behind her. ‘I know him.’
Kitty swung round in confusion to look at Olivia, whose cheeks had flushed red in embarrassment. ‘But how?’ Then she turned and watched Logan look down at both of them. She saw the look of recognition on his face as it clearly dawned on him that he recognised one of them, too. She knew it certainly wasn’t her — he would have barely looked at her at the bakery, other than to hold the door in the polite way that he would have done for anyone.
Great, she thought. Isn’t this just typical? What were the chances of her noticing a good-looking guy for the first time in years — actually, make that in more than a decade — andthe random housemate she found herself with on Arran had clearly had some kind of fling with him. How could that even be possible? Was Olivia leading some kind of double life? She grimaced as she realised just how little she actually knew about her. This morning was just getting better and better.
Chapter Twenty-One
