Page 132 of One for the Road
Well, didn’t Sammy’s daddy sound like a treat.
Determined to ignore him, I slammed the fridge closed, decanting the pasta into a bowl and placing it in the microwave. Then the second verse kicked in, and I couldn’t stand it anymore.
Before I was even aware of what I was doing, I marched across the room. Pounding my fist against the plasterboard. “Keep it down over there!”
The music clicked off. I flexed my tingling palm, satisfied. Then –the orchestral opening of ‘I Don’t Want to Miss a Thing’kicked in.
The volume intentionally turned up a notch.
I could sense Teddy watching me as the cinematic string arrangements swept through the room, and Aerosmith’s vocals set my already pounding heart into overdrive.
“Not a word,” I said, marching back into the kitchen. Pulling the pasta from the microwave with shaking hands.
Alistair was trying to woo me.
On Monday, flowers arrived at Brown’s.
“What are these for?” I couldn’t contain my shock as Callum handed me freshly picked daisies over the counter, fully decked out in his usual scrubs.
“Wait, wait, let me get this right.” He fumbled between pockets, eventually pulling out a folded piece of paper lined with neat handwriting. “There it is . . . okay, I’m supposedto say: Isla . . .” He let out a breath, staring at me with eyes that looked so much like his brother’s. “I picked these from the clifftop at Kestral Cove, overlooking Croft Cottages. If you’d told me six months ago that this tiny, impermanent home, with its paper-thin walls, would become one of my favourite places in the world, I swear I would have laughed. But it has. Only because of you and Teddy.”
My hand closed too tightly around the stems. “Why’d he send you? Why not come himself?”
Callum slid the note across the wood surface. “Because I’m the handsome brother. And I think he’s trying to give you space.” He winced at the makeshift bouquet. “And to prove he doesn’t always throw money at a problem apparently, though he probably could have dug into his pocket on this occasion.”
The flowers were beautiful. A little wilted, maybe. But arranged with care and tied with a small piece of pink ribbon.
Daisies. In honour of my car, no doubt.
“Space?” I laughed. “Tell that to my eardrums. Actually, please tell him that his taste in music sucks. If I’m forced to listen to one more cheesy love ballad, I’m moving back to England.”
“Alistair’s playing you music?” he asked. I may as well have said Alistair was quitting medicine to become a dog groomer – it might have been more believable, in fact – for the shock that splashed across his face.
“Yep.”
Callum left with a grin on his face and a “Good luck at the Cairn & Crust, Isla. The whole family will be cheering you on.”
“Car trouble?” Alistair’s face appeared at Daisy’s open window Thursday morning. He was dressed for work, wearing the navy tie that made his eyes look even more blue.
“Nope.” I turned the key again, inwardly groaning as the engine turned over, sputtered then stopped. “Shit.”
“Hey, Ali.” Teddy waved from the back seat.
“Theodora.” He bent further into the tiny car’s cabin, looking genuinely thrilled to see her. “Those are some sweet pigtails.”
She preened at the compliment. “Mummy plaited them just like Rapunzel fromTangled.”
Trying my best not to breathe him in, I tried the engine again, with no luck.
“Heading to work? I can take you,” he offered. Fresh-from-the-shower curls danced over his forehead. It was very distracting.
“I don’t want to make you late,” I said. Code for:I don’t trust myself in an enclosed space with you.
“It’s no bother, I’m heading through the village.”
“Please can we go in Ali’s car?Please,” Teddy cried, already unbuckling her seatbelt.
How could I argue with that?
