Page 1 of Heirs and Graces at Highland Hall
1
Bex was sitting in the living room of the September Rose, with the log burner crackling away in the corner as Daisy recounted her latest escapades on the boat. Bex tried to laugh in the right places, tried to smile, to make it look like she was enjoying herself. And it wasn’t as though she was having a bad time. She was spending time with her best friends – Daisy and Claire – whose company she loved, in a beautiful part of the country. But no matter how much she tried to be in the moment, it was hard when part of her mind was elsewhere. It always was now. Her head and her heart.
When she was at work, sitting in meetings where she would normally be the most vocal in the room, Bex now struggled to listen and instead stared off into space, normally spinning a pen between her fingers as she imagined him strolling around the Highlands. When she sat in her apartment in the evening, she imagined him going home at night to Kenna, his giant Maine Coon cat, or heading to the White Hart for a drink. Or maybe, just maybe, taking someone to The Haven, where they were about to experience their most perfect first date ever, the same way she had done.
It had been eleven weeks since Bex and Duncan had broken up. Well, almost. Technically, it had been seventy-four days. Seventy-four days since the longest, most uncomplicated and close to perfect relationship that she’d ever had had come to an end. She should have known, though, that it was too good to last.
‘You’re thinking about him again, aren’t you?’ Daisy’s voice brought Bex back to the moment and when she lifted her head, she found Daisy glowering at her. Rather than responding immediately, Bex let out a long sigh. There was no point denying it, not to her best friends. They knew her better than that.
‘I was just wondering what he’s been up to,’ she said. ‘That’s all.’
‘Well, you could always ring him and ask,’ Daisy replied, ‘rather than sitting here looking like the most miserable person in the world.’
‘I do not look like the most miserable person in the world,’ Bex said with a pout.
‘You’re a pretty close contender,’ Claire agreed.
With the distinct feeling that she was being picked on, Bex grabbed the bottle of wine and topped up her glass before taking a very sizable gulp. Like most weekends since the breakup, she was on one of Daisy and Theo’s boats down in Wildflower Lock, meaning there was no need to worry about driving back to London.
‘Look, I know you thought breaking up was the right thing to do,’ Daisy said, ‘but if he’s half as miserable as you are, you’ve got to admit that maybe it was a mistake.’
‘What was a mistake was thinking we could ever make something work long-distance, long term. I mean, it’s not possible, is it? I spent more time on planes and trains the past year than I did seeing you guys.’
‘And we were okay with that because we knew you were happy,’ Daisy said. ‘Sure, we missed you, but if Duncan is the one?—’
‘He is not the one. There’s no such thing asthe one,’ Bex interrupted. She wasn’t going to have them put ideas like that in her head, because the truth was, if there was a one for her, then surely it had to have been Duncan. In all her years of dating, she’d never had a relationship like it. So full of love and trust and complete commitment to one another. But then, if that had been the case, they would have been able to make it work, right?
They had known when they’d got together that it was going to be difficult, which was why they’d tried to keep things casual. Pretend they weren’t falling head over heels for one another, but they had been. It was love, pure and simple. And that had been great while she’d been working in Scotland, but then, when she’d finished her work at Highland Hall, she’d had to come back to London. Somehow, they’d thought that love, and the willingness to travel, would be enough to make it work, and for a while it had been, but then the pressure began to take its toll.
Bex had taken a promotion at work – a promotion she’d got because of the work she’d done in Scotland – and while it hadn’t been quite the leap up the corporate ladder she’d hoped for, and the damn corner office still eluded her, the job demanded an unfeasible amount of her time. Several train journeys and plane rides back up to LochDarroch to see Duncan had to be cancelled last minute, because of impromptu meetings, or brainstorming sessions that had run over, and when Duncan came down to London, she would often find herself tapping away at her laptop instead of heading out, or watching a film or simply enjoying the time together.
It didn’t help that Duncan struggled with London life, either. He’d had fun the first few times he’d visited – she’d made sure of it. Shows, museums, trips on the London Eye. She’d pulledeverything out of the bag and each time, he promised he’d enjoyed himself, but she knew what he meant.
He’d enjoyed visiting. Enjoyed spending time with her. But while London was somewhere that Duncan could cope with for a weekend every now and then, it wasn’t a place he could ever imagine himself living. So the only option for them to have any hope of a long-term future was for her to move up to Scotland. To live in the tiny town of LochDarroch, but how could she do that when her job was here? Not to mention her friends.
It was just too complicated. Too difficult. That was what it came down to. And it was better that they’d ended things while they were still friends, while they still felt that affection – well, love – for each other, rather than let the obvious flaws in the relationship chip away until they became one of those bickering couples she always saw and wondered why they bothered staying together. No, it was better this way. The feeling of sadness would fade. The constant thinking about what he was up to and missing him so badly her body felt bruised would fade. Eventually. She was sure of it. It was just how long that was going to take that was the question.
‘I need to ring Lorna anyway,’ Bex said. ‘I’ll see how he’s doing then. He might have moved on and forgotten about me already. I’m sure she’d let me know. Although she hasn’t replied to my last message from a couple of days ago, which isn’t like her. So maybe Duncan has moved on and she’s too afraid to tell me.’
Lorna – Duncan’s stepsister – had become one of Bex’s firm friends during the four months she’d lived in Scotland the previous year. It had meant to be a two-month job, and when Bex had been assigned the position, she’d hoped to get it done even quicker than that. But then, when she and Duncan had got together, coming back to London hadn’t seemed like such an issue. And it wasn’t like there wasn’t plenty to keep her busy.So she’d taken her time completing the task she’d been sent there for, sorting out decades of accounts for Fergus, the laird of the castle. She’d done a bloody good job, too. So good that the promotion had been waiting for her when she got home. And for a brief while, she’d thought she had it all. The career she’d been working all her adult life for, and the kind of partner she’d always dreamt about sharing her life with. She should have known it would be too good to last.
‘You see, it’s clear you’re nowhere near over him,’ Claire said, once again interrupting Bex’s thoughts. ‘I just don’t want you to end up regretting this down the line. I mean, it’s not like you considered all the different options, is it? Maybe you could have found somewhere else to work, you know. Got a transfer to another accountancy firm, maybe in a city.’
‘There’s no point going through this,’ Bex said. ‘I went through every option, and they didn’t work. Breaking up was the only feasible thing to do. At least this way, we both have a chance of being happy.’
Claire opened her mouth as if she was about to say more, but Daisy shot her a look that silenced her on the spot. Thankfully, her friend knew when she’d pushed things too far.
‘So, what are everyone’s plans for the rest of the weekend?’ Daisy said, her voice unnaturally perky as she topped up everyone’s glasses. ‘I take it you’re staying here, Bex?’
‘Just for the night. Then I need to head back and do some work.’ Hopefully she’d be able to focus on it too. The fact that at least half her mind was constantly on Duncan meant she was far slower at getting things done than normal, and if she didn’t sort herself out soon, she was sure her boss, Nigel, would notice.
‘Amelia wants to drag me to that fair,’ Claire said, replying to Daisy’s question. ‘I can’t think of anything worse. Not in this weather. Do one of you want to go instead?’
Bex laughed. ‘I think I might prefer work. Those fairground rides make me ill.’
‘Whereabouts is it, and what time?’ Daisy asked.
While Claire began telling Daisy the ins and outs of the fair, Bex was distracted by a sudden buzzing by her feet.
