“Is he alone?”
“Callie and Harley are at the bakery. Why?”
“I just need to talk to him about something. Thanks.” I hung up before he could pester me for more details.
Thankfully, the drive to Lewis and Callie’s wasn’t that far from Fyfe’s. My dad had designed my brother’s home for a wealthy client who ran into financial difficulties and had to sell the spectacular house for a steal.
It was situated on a small piece of private land, nestled in woodland, between Ardnoch and Golspie. The modern midcentury home was designed so that the living space was upstairs and the bedrooms downstairs. On the first floor there were two walls made entirely of glass. With woodland at the back of the home, the living space emulated the experience of being in a treehouse. The stairs brought you up into the kitchen, and beyond that was a living and dining area.
Off the dining area, Dad had designed an oversized square window box you could sit in. There were windows on all three sides and it literally felt like you were hanging in the trees. Below you could see the twinkle of water from the man-made moat around the house. Water was taken from a downhill stream on the back of the property through underground pipes and pumped into the moat, where propeller turbines attached to a hydropower system created hydroelectricity to power the home.There was also a bank of solar panels out front where there were no trees to block the sunlight.
On the ground floor were four bedrooms. The primary suite had a floor-to-ceiling window that abutted the moat so while lying in bed, it was like being on a boat. Similar to the primary suite, Harley’s nursery had a floor-to-ceiling window so you could see the moat that surrounded the house. Lewis, Walker, and my family had decorated the nursery for Callie before Harley arrived and it looked like a fairy glen.
The house was a dream and a beautiful representation of my father’s imagination and talent. I was a little envious my brother owned it, but I was also happy for him, Callie, and my niece. They got to raise Harley in a magical place, in a house filled with love.
Sure enough, a vehicle was parked outside my brother’s dreamy home. A Volvo SUV I didn’t recognize. It had to be Fyfe’s. Those butterflies returned in force as I got out of my borrowed Range Rover, my legs shaky. If I was staying in Ardnoch, I’d need a car. The infrastructure for driving electric was rubbish up here, but Dad and Regan had hybrid cars and had installed their own electric charging point at home. Maybe I could do the same. The random thought of car buying was a good distraction as nerves unlike anything I’d experienced shivered through me.
During auditions, there had always been butterflies, but the good kind. I was one of those lucky people who didn’t get stage fright and enjoyed an audition.
This was not that.
I clenched and unclenched my trembling fingers before pushing open the front door. “Hello!” I called as I stepped into the house.
“Who’s there?” Fyfe’s deep voice called from upstairs. The first floor was pretty much a mezzanine level so you could hear everything happening up there from the ground floor hall.
“It’s me,” I said as I began walking upstairs. “Eilidh.”
Footsteps hurried toward me and then Fyfe was in view as I climbed.
He wore his glasses today and a rush of nostalgia moved over me as I stepped off the stairs and into the open-plan living space.
Fyfe gaped like he hadn’t seen me in years. “Eilidh,” he breathed my name.
He held an iPad that he lowered to his side as he continued to stare.
Not quite sure what to do with my body, I strode into the living space so I could stare out at the treetops. “How are you?”
“I … Aye, I’m fine. It’s … I tried … I tried calling.”
I turned to face him again.
Fyfe set the iPad down on the kitchen island and crossed his arms over his chest defensively. The movement caused the Henley he wore to stretch around his powerful biceps. His strong features were neutral, his expression not giving much away. But his eyes gleamed with questions behind the dark frames.
He looked hot with his glasses on. “You should wear your glasses more often.”
Fyfe raised an eyebrow. “Oh?”
I nodded. “I always liked your glasses.” A noise downstairs made me freeze. “Is there someone else here?”
Fyfe glanced over his shoulder. “There’s no one here. I left a window open in one of the bedrooms while I was mapping it for the new system. It probably blew the door shut. Remind me to close it before I leave.”
“Oh.” I guess my nerves were making me jumpy.
“So. Is that why you’re here? To tell me I should wear my glasses more often?”
Nausea roiled in my stomach again and I took a deep breath. “No. I came to tell you something.”
His arms dropped to his sides. “Okay?”
