‘I’ll think about what you’ve said.’ Carli didn’t want Niall paying for a hotel and she wasn’t scared of camping by the loch, but if he wanted her to be safe, then maybe she should pay for one herself. She had the money and it would be better for her than camping in the cold.
‘Thanks for thinking about it,’ Niall sounded genuinely relieved. ‘Scotland can seem like this couthy little place where everyone is a lovely little scone-eating sweetheart, but there are nutters here same as anywhere else.’
The sound of a phone vibrating cut in and Niall’s gaze shot to the kitchen counter.
‘Oh, shit,’ he stood up, brushing crumbs off his lap. ‘I said I’d meet this kid to talk about surfing lessons.’
‘What kid?’ said Eilidh.
‘Och, at the party I was talking to Fiona from Ferniebrae school over in Campbeltown, where kids who’ve been excluded from mainstream school go. And she said there’s this kid who wants to surf. Like desperately, but hecan’t afford a board or lessons or anything. So I told her to bring him down here today and I’d have a chat with him and we can sort something out.’
This sounded so sweet and Eilidh put it perfectly when she said, ‘So very Niall of you, Niall.’
‘What, the teaching or the forgetting about it?’ Niall commented, drolly.
‘Uh, both, I guess.’
‘Hmm, thanks, Sis. Cass, we’ll talk later about the camping.’
‘Okay.’ Carli nodded, happy to if he genuinely was worried about her.
‘Always leaves before the washing up,’ said Sean, as Niall was walking out the door.
Chapter 13
Niall
Niall made himself visible atop a windswept sand dune and gazed out to sea. A light breeze tickled at the grass and invigorated his senses. Autumn was such a beautiful time of year in Scotland. Not too cold and never a let-down if it rained, like summer could be. Could he live here again? It had been a great place to grow up. Maybe boring at times, but safe and they’d made their own fun. Living in a small village with little to entertain you in the way of shops or amenities, meant focusing on other things like surfing, being outdoors and running around expending energy. Now he was used to the big city, would Kinshore seem too small? Had it been too small for him back then? There was a danger of romanticising home when you lived so far away from it.
Being with his siblings was part of the package, and although they didn’t all live in Kinshore, there would be more moments like today at Sean’s, hanging out and having a laugh. And he couldn’t help but imagine, for a second, Carli being part of that too.
You might be fast-forwarding a bit too hastily to thehappily ever after, mate. There’s a slim to none chance of that happening at all.
‘Did you learn to surf here?’ Niall’s potential student was a young lad of sixteen – Kieran – who had somehow ended up being excluded from school. His youth worker, Fiona, drove him to the beach and took a walk nearby while Niall chatted to the boy. Kieran talked a lot and had a curious nature, asking about tides and rips. He had clearly been reading up on surfing. Niall took to him straight away.
‘Aye, I did. My dad taught us all as soon as we had the motor skills, so I’ve been at it since I was about six. Fiona says you’ve always wanted to surf.’
‘Aye, but I’ve never been able to afford any of the stuff you need. And to be honest, I’ve been a bit busy fucking up my life.’
Niall chuckled. ‘Och, I’m sure you haven’t fucked up your life at all. You’re only sixteen.’
‘Aye, but a lot of things have gone wrong already.’
‘Like what?’
‘Getting kicked out of school for one, not getting any qualifications. Getting lifted by the police.’
‘Right.’ Niall examined the boy. ‘Look, it’s not a great start, but you’re sixteen and things are redeemable. It’s what your attitude is now. Trust me.’ Kieran was a Scottish version of the kids Niall taught to surf in Sydney. There was a light glowing deep within every one of them if you stood close enough or still enough to feel or see it. This kid had a spark, Niall believed it. And if you nurtured that spark while it was there, there was a chance to have it igniteinto a burning flame.
‘No offence, mate, but you don’t get it,’ said Kieran. ‘You’re posh.’
Niall laughed. ‘I’m posh?’ He hadn’t heard this in a while. In Australia, he was plain old Scottish. But here, there were many more nuanced class categories for him to be placed in. He got why Kieran might think he was posh. Family owns a distillery, looks well put together, reasonably well spoken. And Niall’s accent may have softened a bit from his time in Australia trying to make himself understood by the locals.
‘Aye. You went to a posh school and?—’
Niall laughed. ‘I went to the same school as you.’
‘What? Ferniebrae?’
