‘He’d probably just fill the entire castle with dogs and stray animals,’ Niall responded.
Bex couldn’t help but smile at this. He was totally right. That was absolutely what Duncan would do. Still, every time the conversation returned to Duncan, she felt herself twitching uncomfortably and shifting in her seat or fiddling with her wine glass as she avoided eye contact. If she wasn’t careful, she was going to give herself away.
‘I should go give Ruby a walk. Just around the village,’ she added when she saw their expressions.
‘You want company?’ Eilidh asked.
‘No, it’s fine. You stay in the warm. We’re not going to go far. She doesn’t seem to be a fan of long walks at the minute.’
That was one way of putting it. It was great that Ruby was eating more, and definitely putting on weight again, but she still wasn’t herself. There was the fussing with her bed, to start with. That wasn’t something Ruby normally did, and her behaviour at Duncan’s had been peculiar too. After walking down to the lodge, she had slept most of the time she’d been there, rather than playing with the other dogs as she’d normally do.
Maybe it was just the cold making her act up. It wasn’t like Bex liked being out in it either.
‘Speak to you guys tomorrow?’ she said as she stood up.
‘Sure,’ Eilidh said as she gave Bex a quick hug goodbye. ‘Unless you find out something about the laird situation before then. You will keep us updated if you do, right?’
Bex rolled her eyes. ‘Honestly, you guys would believe anything.’
As she headed outside, and her breath condensed into a thick white plume, Bex regretted not taking Ruby out a little earlier. It wasn’t snowing, and it wasn’t like she was going to go off across the fields, but it was pitch black, and being out in the cold still made her nervous. Not that she had a choice.
There had been a string of salami sausages hanging on the door when she’d gone down earlier. If she even tried to get Ruby past it and outside, not only would they risk being caught, but she’d also have to hope none of the sausages ended up with dog slobber on. And that was the best-case scenario. Thankfully though, there were no items, food or otherwise, when Bex went and got Ruby this time, although she needn’t have worried about spending too long out in the cold. Less than ten minutes after leaving the pub, Ruby was refusing to go any further, and they were heading back.
‘I guess it’s another early night then, girl?’ she said as they slipped up into the room. Once again, Ruby headed straight for her bed.
As she watched the dog curl up into a ball, she wondered whether she should message Duncan and ask if it was normal for dogs to sleep as much as Ruby did or whether they should get her checked out by the vet again. But almost as soon as the thought crossed her mind, she dismissed it again. There was no ‘they’ any more, and the internet could easily tell her the average sleeping hours for a Lab of Ruby’s age. Not that she knew what that was. The truth was, she simply wanted to speak to him.
Still, she probably did need to know how old Ruby was, and Duncan was the only person who could tell her that.
As she picked up her phone, it began buzzing in her hand. Duncan would have to wait.
‘Hey, Mum. You okay?’
‘Well, we think we are,’ her mum replied, flipping the phone camera to show the view in front of her. They were in the car, down a narrow lane, though the road in front of them was barely visible, obscured by fog.
‘Where are you? The weather looks terrible. You shouldn’t be driving in that.’
‘I know, but don’t worry, we haven’t got far to go. Satnav said it’s another hour. And this rental car’s lovely.’
‘An hour? Rental car? What are you talking about? Where are you?’
‘Where do you think we are? We just landed. We’re coming to see you.’
‘What?!’ It was a testament to how shocked – and loud – she was, that her comment actually woke Ruby up. If only for a moment.
‘Well,’ her mum said brightly, ‘you sounded so upset on the phone yesterday, we were worried about you. And your father hasn’t taken all his holiday yet, and it needed using up. And you know we’ve always wanted to come see the village, so we thought, why not? Kill several birds with one stone. Check on our baby girl and see this lovely place you’ve told us so much about.’
‘Wow. Oh,’ Bex stammered, unsure how to respond. Her parents always did lovely things, but this was above and beyond. It was the sweetest, most wonderful thing she could think of, yet also the worst timing. She had so much on her plate already. The last thing she needed was to juggle looking after her parents and playing tour guide.
‘It’s really sweet, but I?—’
‘I know what you’re going to say,’ her mum interrupted. ‘But we’re not going to be in your way at all. Not unless you want us to be. We’ll be here if you want to meet up – for dinner or a chat – but otherwise, we’ll keep ourselves busy during the day. Maybe a couple of evenings together, that’s all we’d ask? We’ve already sorted out accommodation.’
‘You have? Where?’ Bex asked, a wave of relief washing over her. Of course her parents wouldn’t add to her stress. That wasn’t what they did.
‘Yes. Your dad found a place online. A lovely little pub with rooms above it. It’s called the White Hart, do you know it?’
Bex glanced around her room, closed her eyes and let her head drop into her hands.
