My statement was followed by a pause so long, I had to check my phone to make sure we hadn’t been cut off.
‘Hello?’ I said. ‘Are you still there?’
‘You mean you don’t want to leave,’ Desi said calmly. ‘There’s nothing stopping you but you.’
‘Maybe you should come here,’ I answered with an unnecessary touch of petulance. ‘It’s only an eleven-
hour drive to Balmaclay.’
‘Don’t tempt me,’ Joel replied. ‘You know I love a road trip.’
I laughed loudly at the thought of the two of them bickering in Desi’s Mini then almost fell backwards down the stairs when a massive black bird flapped past the window.
‘You OK?’ Desi asked when I shrieked.
‘Fine,’ I replied, watching it fly away. ‘Bird.’
A hint of homesickness poked at me. It would’ve been nice to be squished on the sofa like three sardines, eating junk and doomscrolling, while Michael Caine put in the greatest performance of his life on the TV.The fact he didn’t get an Oscar for it was a travesty. Perhaps I could convince Callum to watch it with me later.
‘I’d better go,’ I said as my teeth started chattering. ‘It’s freezing here.’
‘Cold in Scotland?’ Desi said with sarcastic surprise. ‘You don’t say?’
‘If I don’t call you again it’s because I couldn’t be arsed to climb a five-storey tower to get the reception, and no, I won’t be elaborating on that statement,’ I said as Joel blew kisses down the line. ‘Happy Christmas Eve Eve, love you.’
‘Love you too,’ they chorused before the call ended with three beeps and I was alone in the tower again.
It really was stunning. Thin strands of cotton wool clouds had appeared out of nowhere, stretching across the sky as if someone were trying to wrap up the world. Down on the loch, I spotted a handful of small boats, men with fishing rods, and wondered if their catch would be on the menu at The Clach later. Gorgeous as it was, I hadn’t been kidding when I told Desi and Joel I was cold. Not outside-the-pub, bitter-to-the-bone frozen, but uncomfortably chilly. After taking dozens of photos from all four sides of the tower and texting them back to my friends, I gazed out at the landscape one more time to commit it to memory, then dashed down the stairs, dreaming of the open fire I hoped was still burning in my room.
But when I reached the bottom of the staircase, the door I’d left open was closed.
Hmm.
Not panicking even a little bit, I attempted to push the latch upwards but it didn’t budge an inch and, inthe back of my mind, I remembered the loud bang I’d heard at the top of the tower when the wind blew in.
Double hmm.
Bearing down in a semi-squat, I heaved the latch upwards again. Still nothing.
‘Hello?’ I called, banging on the door from the inside. ‘Hello? Is anybody there?’
No one answered.
No one was home.
And I was trapped in a freezing cold tower wearing a sweaty mohair sweater and a satin skirt and uncomfortable underwear all by myself.
Chapter Seventeen
‘Help!’ I yelled, hammering on the door. ‘I’m trapped in here! Can anyone hear me?’
Strangely enough, there was no response from the completely empty house. I didn’t know if Elsie had gone with her parents and Callum or she was working on the farm but, even if she were around, she was just as likely to leave me here to freeze to death as help get me out.
Without too many options, I trudged back up the stairs, whimpering by the time I got to the top, practically on my hands and knees.
‘Hello?!’ I was screaming now, the back of my throat scratching with the effort. ‘Hello!’
But the boats on the loch were too far away, any farm workers out of earshot. Even the cows in the closest fields ignored me when I shouted in their direction.
