‘Nope, I’m really not. Okay, well anyway, enjoy your walk,’ she said quickly, standing up and feeling her cheeks colour again. What was wrong with her andwhydid he keep looking at her that way? Her dog’s name wasn’t that weird, was it? Or did she have snot hanging from her nostrils or something? She brushed her nose with the back of her hand, suddenly feeling very awkward and a bit shaky. ‘Bye for now. Come on, Coisty.’
‘See you later,’ he said. His smile seemed to push his cheeks up to his eyes and light up his whole face.
Rosie managed a sort of grin back, which felt more like a gurn and, turning away, she tugged at the lead so Coisty would follow. Why had she turned into a mushy mess? Clearly the first interaction she had with a man who wasn’t her husband had thrown her into a spin. Yet he wasn’t just any old bloke, a voice in her head reminded her. He was a man she hadn’t thought about for over twenty years and his sudden reappearance had stirred up memories. With every memory the nerves in her body tingled, as though on fire. She walked away and made herself focus on the horizon ahead for as long as she could. Then she briefly looked back over her shoulder. But Luke had disappeared.
Chapter Nineteen
Bella opened her eyes and then closed them again for a moment as she realised where she was. And why she was there. Then it all came back to her.Nightmare.What a disaster yesterday had been. She was in Ben’s room, in Rosie’s cottage on Arran. Bella rolled onto her side, pulled the duvet further up and placed her hands under her head in a prayer like position. Then she found herself looking straight at a picture of a group of guys that sat on the bedside table. As she looked properly at it, she realised that it was Ben and his friends. At least, she assumed that was who it was. It had been years since they had seen each other and she barely recognised him. He was standing on a ski slope, wearing bright blue trousers and a matching jacket. A pair of sunglasses were perched on his head and he was grinning at the camera. She picked it up and studied the image more closely. It was definitely Ben. His dimples were the giveaway. It was odd to think how close they were growing up yet now they were practically strangers.
Bella was older than Ben by one year and, she realised with slight guilt, she had enjoyed bossing him around when they were younger. When they hit the awkward teenage years, and she had viewed him as an extremely annoyingboy, they had drifted apart. Especially as he lived in Edinburgh and had his own friends. She had her own social circle in Glasgow and certainly didn’t want to be forced to hang out with a gangly teenager. So it had then tended to just be their mums who got together which was, she now realised, a bit of a shame.
As she looked back at the photo, she realised he was nowverygrown up. He was tall and broad and had chiselled features and her eyes lingered on the picture for a few extra moments. He was the type of guy who would usually make her heartbeat faster. If she hadn’t known it was Ben she would have certainlybeen tempted. Why was she even thinking about stuff like this anyway? She had more important matters to deal with. Like yesterday’s mess.
Groaning, she lay there for a while longer, trying her hardest to go back to sleep. But it was no use. Even though she was exhausted, she was also wide awake and knew she would have to get up and see her mum at some point. She had to face up to it. Bella pulled on yesterday’s clothes and plodded downstairs where she found her mum sitting, nursing a cup of coffee at the kitchen table.
‘Hello you,’ said Isobel, smiling cautiously.
‘Hi, Mum,’ she said with a sigh. Dropping a kiss on her mum’s head she said, ‘I’m such a muppet.Whatwas I thinking?’
Isobel stood up and pulled her in close for a hug. ‘It’s alright, sweetie. It was an easy enough mistake to make. I’ve no idea how Rosie’s diary ended up in that box. But there you go. You now probably know far more than you would like to about Rosie in her twenties . . . but I suppose the silver lining in all of this is that you have helped Luke out.’
‘What do you mean?’
‘Well, it sounds like you did him a favour by bringing him to Arran.’
Bella smiled. ‘Yes, I suppose so. And it was worth it to see the look on Rosie’s face. That was priceless. Who would have thought she had a fling with Luke Giles. You were both quite wild back in the day, eh?’
‘Definitely Rosie, not so much me,’ said Isobel. She hesitated briefly as she looked at her daughter. ‘You are the best thing that ever happened to me, Bella. And I’m sorry that I haven’t been able to give you the answers you want.’
Bella sat down at the table and rested her chin on both hands. ‘It’s okay. You’ve told me all you know, Mum . . . anyway, I suppose I should think about heading back home.’
‘Och, there’s no rush,’ said Isobel. ‘Not if you were going to be away camping anyway. Stay on for a bit if you want. The room is there anyway and there’s plenty of space. Ash won’t be here until next week.’
‘Ash is definitely coming over?’ said Bella, yawning. ‘I thought it was all a bit up in the air?’
‘Yes, well, you know Ash. It’s all a bit last minute.’ Isobel smiled fondly. Ash was always flitting off to exotic locations and had always been charmingly unreliable. ‘There’s some kind of conference on at one of the universities in Glasgow — I don’t know all the details — and Ash was asked to step in and cover a speech for a colleague who had to cancel.’
‘Ah, great,’ said Bella. ‘I bet you can’t wait. It’s been ages since you all got together.’
Her mum nodded at her. ‘I know, to think we haven’t seen each other since before lockdown.’
‘Hey sleepyheads,’ said Rosie as she came into the kitchen with Coisty. ‘You two are up early. I thought you would be shattered and having a lie in.’
‘I’m sorry, Rosie, about yesterday,’ said Bella sheepishly.
Rosie shook her head. ‘Nothing to be sorry for. It’s easy to put two and two together and get six. Anyway, thanks to you, Bella, my dog walks have suddenly become awholelot more interesting.’
‘What do you mean?’ said Bella, raising an eyebrow.
‘We bumped into Luke. Or I should say that Coisty threw himself at the man.’
‘Is that why you’re all flushed?’ asked Isobel with a raised eyebrow.
Rosie shrugged at Isobel and grinned.
Bella chuckled as she looked at Rosie’s glowing face which was either down to the sea air or the giddiness of being in close proximity to someone with a lot of sex appeal. Even though hewas old enough to be her dad, she could see why Rosie was attracted to him. For an older guy, he was very charismatic. A bit like George Clooney who, in her eyes, was ancient but still hadit.‘I don’t blame you,’ Bella said. ‘He is a nice guy. Obviously far too old for me but some nice talent for you and Mum to appreciate. I thought he looked a bit like an older version of that guy fromOutlander.’
Rosie looked blankly at her. ‘What’s that?’
