Instead of choosing a table, Jessa opted to sit at the bar and chat with Lilias.Strangely enough, she already felt an unusual affinity to everyone she’d met at Seven Cairns.Kind of like long-lost friends she never realized she had and was just now getting reacquainted with.Well…except for Keeva and Evan.She was still trying to wrap her head around those two.They were nice enough, just a bit on the odd side.Not that anything was wrong with odd.She’d worn that label a few times herself.
“And what are my lovely Americans up to this fine day?”Lilias set a cup of coffee in front of Jessa, and a small teapot and an empty cup at the place beside her for when Emily finished drying off in the ladies’ room.
“Emilywasgoing to dunk me in the healing waters for good luck, but she might be rethinking that right about now.She hates getting wet and is probably sitting under the hot air hand dryer as we speak.”Jessa laughed and then sipped the best coffee she’d ever had in her life, a rich, full-bodied blend with just a hint of vanilla and barely enough cream to lighten it.“This is the perfect cup.Do you always remember what every customer likes?”
“Most times.”Lilias slanted a brow at Emily as she joined them.“I told ye to get yerself a brolly at Boyd’s.”
“Well, we can’t go for an umbrella today.That man would triple the price and sell us all sorts of other stuff we don’t need.”Emily poured herself a steaming cup of tea, took a sip, then shook her head.“I have never met such a con man in my life, but you can’t help but love him.That old guy is more entertaining than any reality show I’ve ever seen.The stories he comes up with to sell you something are amazing and impossible to resist.”
“That’s our Boyd.His father was the same.Trained him well, he did.”Lilias cocked her head as if listening to something only she could hear.“Got a delivery in the back.Excuse me, ladies.”She hopped down from the step that ran the length of the back of the bar and disappeared through the door to the side of the wide mirror lined with glass shelves loaded down with bottles of alcohol.
“You two were laughing about me hating to get wet, weren’t you?”Emily glared at Jessa with mock sternness, but amusement flashed in her velvety brown eyes.
“We short people have to stick together,” Jessa said.“She and I are the same height.”
“You stood back to back to compare?”
Jessa laughed, then took another sip of her gorgeous coffee.“No.I told her I was five feet tall on a good day with good lighting, and she said she was the same.”She dipped a piece of shortbread in her coffee, bit into it, and closed her eyes, reveling in the luscious, sweet butteriness melting on her tongue.“And we weren’t laughing at you.She asked what we’d planned for today, and I told her that initially, you were going to dunk me in the springs for good luck, but you might rethink that because of the weather.”
“I had definitely planned on you being the one to get soaked to the skin today, not me.”Emily munched on a piece of shortbread, her eyes slowly narrowing as they always did whenever she was deep in thought.“Other than the healing waters and a massage, we’ve enjoyed most of what Seven Cairns has to offer.Been to the bookshop, the treat shop, and even took a tour of the bakery and the distillery.Maybe we need to widen our sphere of exploration.This is the Highlands.Even if we just travel along the coastline, I’m sure there’s plenty to see.”
Lightning flashed, lighting up the windows.A ground-shaking boom of thunder followed.“Wow.”Jessa swiveled on the barstool and eyed the rain sluicing down the multiple squares of the old bubbly glass of the windows.Narrow strips of wood that must’ve taken a steady hand to paint that glossy black separated the small panes that, once put together, created a showcase of antique windows that filled the entire front wall.“I’m not so sure about driving in this.Especially while trying to stay on the wrong side of these narrow roads.Remember how interesting things got a time or two on the way up from Inverness?”
“I did not see all those sheep until we rounded the turn.At least I didn’t hit any of them.”
Jessa grinned.“I got an awesome picture of you in the middle of them, trying to herd them off the road.”
“If you post that anywhere, you won’t make it back to Jersey alive.”
“And here Lilias assured me the two of ye were the best of friends,” said a lilting voice from behind the bar.
Jessa turned back and faced the bar.“Uhm…Hi.”
An older woman, dressed in a colorful shawl and dress and looking as though she belonged behind a crystal ball, smiled at her.“I am Mairwen.Sorry if I startled the two of ye.Lilias told me to come through and meet ye in person.”
“Mairwen?As in the owner of the cottage who sends the nicest emails Mairwen?”Emily asked.
The lovely lady bowed her head and tugged her wrap, a dark blue, knobby weave splashed with rich burgundy flowers, closer around her narrow shoulders.“One and the same.”
“I’m Emily, and this is Jessa.”
Mairwen’s startling blue eyes twinkled with what was surely a lively personality as she turned to Jessa.“And how are ye finding our fine Scottish summer?”
“I love the rain.Always have.”Jessa shot a grin at Emily.“Ems is the one who hates getting wet.She was either a hen or a cat in a past life.”
“Why a hen?”Mairwen asked, her puzzlement clear.
“I had a friend in college whose grandmother always said,madder than a wet hen.I took that to mean chickens don’t like getting wet.”
“Must be American chickens,” Mairwen said with a laugh.“A Scottish chicken would be angry all the time were that the case.”
“We’ll have to research that, Jess,” Emily said, sarcasm dripping from her tone.
Jessa grinned, knowing her friend’s mood would improve once she had thoroughly dried out and finished her favorite tea that Lilias had blended just for her.“Maybe you could suggest something for us to do today,” she said to Mairwen.“We were going for massages and to visit the healing springs, but Emily doesn’t want to get soaked again, and we can’t afford to go to Boyd’s for umbrellas while it’s raining.”
“Aye, ye’ve the right of that.That man would skin ye of yer last pence if given half a chance.”Mairwen resettled her colorful shawl again and seemed to grow thoughtful.“Some of the healing springs originate in the caves, ye ken?I could show ye the way to one of them after yer massages.”She offered them a wily smile and lightly tapped her chest.“After all, I am the main massage therapist, and my sanctuary connects to the caves.”
“Well, there you go then,” Jessa told Emily.“After our nice relaxing massages, you can dunk me for luck, and then we’ll head back to the cottage to enjoy the veggie stew I started in the slow cooker.”
