Total pages in book: 114
Estimated words: 109368 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 547(@200wpm)___ 437(@250wpm)___ 365(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 109368 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 547(@200wpm)___ 437(@250wpm)___ 365(@300wpm)
Ramsay scowled. “Akiva.”
The dog seemed reluctant to return to him.
“Don’t make her pick sides.”
“She’s my dog. There are no sides but one. Mine.”
“Territorial, aren’t we?”
“When something is mine … aye.” He answered in a tone that almost bordered on teenage girl duh.
“I have to get to the B and B.” I moved past him, stopping to stroke Akiva’s head in goodbye, before hurrying down Main Street.
Problem was, Ramsay had a good eight or nine inches of length on me and easily caught up. Akiva happily followed along. “I’m heading that way too or did you forget I’m one of your contractors?”
“I haven’t seen you around so yeah, actually, I did forget.”
It was true. Not the forgetting part but the not seeing him around part. Ramsay had successfully avoided me for most of the past six weeks. We’d seen each other across the church at Isla’s funeral, which I’d attended out of respect and to be a comfort to Cammie and Quinn. Ramsay stood at the back, unmoving, face blank. I’d caught glances of him here and there, but I’d also taken myself off to the mainland a lot these past few weeks. Cammie and I had gone on interior decorating trips that sometimes had us staying overnight. We spent an entire weekend in Edinburgh, which was nostalgic and a much-needed escape for the two of us.
Ramsay didn’t respond to my cheeky reply. Instead, as we turned the corner past Macbeth’s Pages & Perks, taking the back road that led up the winding hill toward the B and B, he asked again, “Why were you crying?” This time his tone was softer, curiouser. Less demanding.
For some reason, that was even worse. “It’s been an emotional few weeks. I’m kind of on edge, I guess.”
“Because of your parents?”
I shrugged.
“So … everything’s all right?”
“I’m fine,” I lied.
And he knew it too.
A muscle clenched in his jaw but he didn’t push me any further on it. We stood to the side to let a couple of cars pass and then turned up onto the private road that led to my B and B in her elevated spot. My phone suddenly rang again and I yanked it out of my back pocket, thinking it might be Perri.
It wasn’t.
It was Hugh. I’d blocked his last number and then he started calling me on another.
Asshole.
With a frustrated growl, I blocked him again.
“Who is Hugh?”
I glowered up at Ramsay. “No one that matters.”
“Is he harassing you?”
“Not everything is ominous, you know,” I teased. And immediately changed the subject. “You didn’t drive over today?”
Akiva sped upward ahead of us.
“Left my vehicle here last night and stayed with Quinn. We worked so late, I missed my safe crossing.”
“Oh. You know, I can always compensate you if you need to book a room somewhere.”
“It’s the height of the season and, anyway, there’s no need. I have Quinn’s place. You’re already paying toward accommodation for much of the crew.”
It was true. Quinn and Ramsay’s crew were men from all over the islands. Some ferried in and part of the fee I paid them covered the cost of accommodation for those guys during the week. “Okay.” I knew I shouldn’t, but I could feel the question vomiting up out of me before I could stop it. “How’s Ava?”
There. I sounded casual. Normal.
Even though the older brunette’s appearance had bothered me for days. Weeks, even. If Ramsay was avoiding me, I was avoiding him right back after Ava showed up.
I did not lust after other people’s partners.
At first, I didn’t think Ramsay was going to answer. Then he replied, “I don’t know. She was all right last time I saw her.”
“Oh.” Wow. Was that what he was like in a relationship? Ugh. Poor Ava.
“We’re not together,” he explained as if the words were torn from him. “I don’t do relationships.”
“I hate to break it to you, but I think Ava thinks you’re in a relationship.”
“Aye, noticed that, did you?” Ramsay scrubbed a hand over the back of his neck as we leveled out onto the driveway of my guesthouse. “That’s why I ended our casual … thing.”
Ah.
“I don’t do serious relationships or any kind of relationships.” He suddenly stopped, looking me directly in the eye as if he was warning me off. “I’m not that man. That’s not who I am.”
The little warmth that crept into my chest at the news he was single iced over. I looked away, staring out at the water, at the spectacular view of the Scottish coastline. “I used to think I knew exactly who and what I was.”
“And now?”
I shrugged. “You know, my maternal grandmother was Scottish.”
“Aye, you told me.”
“I’d visit her every year with my family. She died about a year after my grandfather passed. I didn’t get a chance to say goodbye to him, but I had time with my grandmother. I flew to Edinburgh for our last moment together.” Emotion thickened my throat, and I had to take a minute as I recalled the image of her lying in bed, so small and frail in contrast to the larger-than-life person I’d always known her to be. “I took her hand and confessed that I didn’t know who I was without her.” I wiped away my falling tears, looking back out at the water in an attempt to hide them.