Then Jamie had an idea that might work better than a written note in convincing this man to help him.
Chapter 32
Alicia
Sunni and Alicia were having early evening, pre-Christmas drinks overlooking the ocean on the veranda of Alicia’s home. David, their gallerist friend, had joined them with what looked like an entire aisle’s worth of snacks from the store. Sunni poured some smoked paprika chips into a bowl and posed a question to Alicia.
‘Have you heard from the making love by the fireside guy?’ She turned to David. ‘Alicia had a holiday romance and she’s going to tell us all about it.’
‘You did? Oh, yes, please spill.’ David sounded as keen as Sunni to soak up all the details.
‘It’s not that interesting,’ said Alicia. ‘But if you insist on the details, I met this guy at the reception of the hotel I was staying at. He was gorgeous and for some weird reason I decided he was a porter and asked him to carry my bags to my room. He went along with the act, and when I found out I accused him of being a creepy asshole, but then when I got snowed in with him in a remote hut, and there was only one bed, I discovered I had him pegged all wrong.’
‘There was only one bed?’ Sunni’s eyes widened and sparkled like Christmas baubles. ‘You never mentioned that.’
‘Well, nothing happened, which made me like him more. When we got back to the hotel, he posed for me, clothed and then nude. It was so funny because he runs a whisky company and he joked he would put the painting on the label of one of his whisky bottles.’
‘He runs a whisky company?’ David cut in quickly, then muttered, ‘Labels’ as if remembering something from long ago.
‘Yes, Butler’s whisky. Seems he’s quite a big deal in the whisky-verse. Are you okay, David? You look kind of traumatised.’
But David maintained that he was fine. ‘Sure. Go on with your story.’
‘Okay, so he went back to his village and we figured we’d never see each other again, but then I went to Norway and had an epiphany–– Hey, what is that?’
‘What’s what?’
‘That face where you look like you left the stove on. What’s up?’
‘Oh nothing. I’m going to pop to the kitchen for a top-up.’ David stood up with a nearly full glass. ‘Anyone else want one?’
Alicia scrutinised her friend. He was not his usual effervescent self, and she had no idea why. But when he returned from the kitchen with her sketchbook, she found out.
‘Is this your Scottish hunk?’ David was holding up the sketch of Jamie that Alicia had drawn whilst chatting to Connor. She kept meaning to put the pad away butsomething made her leave it lying out on the kitchen table. Maybe because she’d deleted all her photos of him.
‘Yes, that’s him,’ she admitted.
‘Oh Lordy.’
‘Pardon?’ Why was David behaving this way? Did he know Jamie? Know something bad about him? David often warned Sunni and Alicia about international romance scam artists.
‘He came into the gallery today,’ David explained. ‘Told me he owned a whisky company and that you and he had a deal where you would illustrate the labels for his bottles. I gave him short shrift because you’d told me that his email was spam.’
Alicia clapped her hand over her mouth.Jamie was in the gallery? Today?‘Are you one hundred percent sure it was him?’ Her muffled voice filtered through her fingers.
‘Honey, it was this guy in the sketch. He had a Scottish accent and the story fits. It was one hundred percent him. I nearly called you to run it by you, but I decided that was silly.’
‘Are you kidding me right now? What did he say? Did he leave a number?’
David’s face changed to an embarrassed shade of ripe peach. ‘I have good news and bad news. The good news is I let him record a voice note for you on my phone. I figured it had less chance of being poisoned than an actual note.’
‘You did? Oh, please can I listen to it?’
‘Of course, honey.’ David placed his phone on the table and pressed play. A familiar, masculine Scottish voice filled the room.
‘Alicia, it’s Jamie. Look, this is weird, talking into some stranger’s phone, but I’m determined you get to hear this and my sincerity. I can’t guarantee you’ll believe me any otherway, so it’s this or risk losing you forever. This guy here tells me you’re best mates so I hope you don’t mind me speaking in front of him. It’s mainly my baggage anyway.
‘So, I’ve been talking to some people and they’ve helped me understand some things. Here goes. Alicia, you were right. I’ve not been totally honest with you about Katie and Frank. I was truthful about the relationship being dead in the water, but it took me a bit after it ended to accept that. The truth is, she left me because he somehow convinced her that I’m a bad person with negative energy, as well as other rubbish about the business. She didn’t want to have a baby with me but got pregnant to him in five minutes. Probably literally. Anyway, all the slurs bothered me, so much more than I realised, and I was so ashamed. So I made the misguided decision not to tell you because I was terrified you’d believe those things about me too. When we were in the bookshop, I was angry at Frank, but not for stealing Katie. It was for taking advantage of vulnerable people and making me look like a dick. He’s welcome to Katie but what he is not welcome to do is destroy my reputation and chances with someone else. I’m only sorry I wasn’t brave enough to tell you the full story sooner. Truth was, I wanted to wait until we knew each other a little better so I could be sure it wouldn’t scare you away. It’s you I want, Alicia, not Katie. It’s you I think about all day, every day, you’re the reason I’m pouring my heart out in front of a guy in a blue suit who’s looking at me like I’m a slasher. Please, Leesh, don’t let this be a wasted trip. When you get this, come and find me or call me…’
