Page 24 of Highland Games
‘He did the same with me when I was a few years older. It really helped.’
‘You ran away from home? You got a lot farther than I did.’
Zoe smiled. ‘No, my father got made redundant, mum got cancer, and we had our house repossessed. Everything fell apart and they didn’t want me to be around it all. Willie came down on the train and brought me here halfway through the summer term. I stayed until September.’
‘Did she make it?’
‘Yes, thank god. She’s wonderful. In every way.’
Rory paused before he replied. How much more could he ask without cocking up? ‘So, what made you want to come back?’
Zoe stuck her nose into the flask, inhaling before she spoke. ‘When I came to live with Willie, it was the saddest and happiest time of my life. Knowing Mum might die made everything more urgent, more vivid. Those three months were the most important of my whole life. They shaped something deep within me. London never felt like home, but Kinloch always did, even though I was only here that once. For the last three years of his life, Willie lived with my parents. His mind wasn’t really in the present, it was here, in the past. He remembered more about the time we spent together than I did, and it brought everything flooding back. When he died and gave the cabin to me, there was no questioning, no hesitation. I knew immediately I was going to come back here to live.’
‘What do your parents think of you coming here? Your friends?’
‘They all think I’m crazy, and I’ll be back before Christmas.’
The moon had set and the world was still, holding its breath for the arrival of the dawn. Rory felt as if they were in a liminal space, a space outside time, where he could be anyone he wanted to be. He wanted to know more about her.
‘And your job? You’re an accountant?’
Zoe let out a puff of air. ‘Yes, I am. My parents wanted me to have a stable career after all they went through when Dad lost his job. I’m good at it, and Morag is helping me get work in the village, but it doesn’t challenge or inspire me.’
‘Whatdoyou want to do?’
‘I don’t know yet. I love photography. And in my last job, I was in charge of overseeing the rebranding of the company and the building of a new website. I loved that. Being in charge of a big project, creating something new, building something from scratch. It was amazing. What I did more than doubled the company’s turnover.’
‘That’s incredible.’ The words were out of Rory’s mouth before he could stop them. She dipped her nose towards the flask.
‘Can I ask you a question?’
Rory stiffened. ‘That depends on what you want to ask.’
She didn’t meet his gaze, apparently absorbed in her hot chocolate. The sky was getting lighter. Eventually she spoke. ‘Why don’t you have a Scottish accent?’
Tension shot through him. The box to his past was being opened. ‘Not everyone born here speaks with an accent,’ he said carefully. ‘I’ve just spent a lot of time in England, that’s all.’
‘Why?’
Rory hesitated, unsure how much or what to tell her. ‘I went to boarding school in England, then joined the army at seventeen. I’ve spent more of my life in England than I have here.’
‘How old were you when you went to boarding school?’
‘Seven.’
‘Seven?’ squeaked Zoe. ‘Didn’t your parents love you?’
An old wound tore open. He couldn’t speak.
Zoe angled her body towards him, a frown puckering her forehead. ‘Shit, I didn’t mean it to come out like that, sorry.’
He looked into her deep dark eyes, pulling in his emotions. ‘It’s okay. My mother does love me but she always deferred to my father. I’m sure he loved me in his own way, but he had very clear ideas about how children should be raised.’
‘Had?’
‘He died a couple of years ago. I came out of the army and back to Edinburgh to be there for my mother.’
‘I’m sorry.’
