“Same. My stomach was making enough noise a minute ago that Lochland growled at it,” she said with a giggle.
Alistair found two cans of tomato soup in one of the cupboards and heated them up. He served out two large bowls, each with a thick slice of bread with butter, and brought them into the living room, setting them on the old coffee table in front of Nora. The rich aroma of the creamy tomatoes reminded her of home. Homemade tomato soup was her mother’s go-to dinner on cold winter evenings. The smell gave her a twinge of homesickness, but the idea of going back to her old life felt strange. So much had happened since she had arrived in Scotland, yet she still had no clue what she wanted to do with her life. She felt like she may never find purpose, her true passion. Maybe she just didn’t have one, or maybe she was just one of those people destined to work a normal 9-to-5 job and be content with that.
“Do you think they will have the roads cleared by tomorrow?” Nora asked, taking a slow tentative sip of the soup, which was nowhere near as good as her mother’s homemade version.
“I hope so, but it really depends on how many places along the way need to be cleared of snow drifts.”
“My flight back is two days from now. I’m worried I might not make it back to Edinburgh in time,” she confessed. The homesickness quickly faded, replaced with the desire to be snowed ina bit longer with Alistair. She still didn’t know how she would go about telling her dad about his true father, and then there was the conversation she needed to have with her parents about the bakery. Nor was she ready to leave Alistair. Her mind was awash with a hundred different scenarios of what might happen if she stayed longer, even though she figured it would probably just end in heartache.
“It might be a close one, that’s for sure. What do you need to be back for?” he asked, blowing on a spoonful of soup. Nora’s mind drew a blank for a moment as if she couldn’t think of a good reason to rush back.
“It’s the busiest time of the year at the bakery, and my parents are counting on me to help them. I can’t just leave them hanging. What about you? You must have something you need to be back for as well?”
“I need to convince my boss not to fire me, but that might be a long shot if Tom actually told him I said, ‘fuck off,’” he said with a sideways smirk.
“Bosses don’t typically like to be told that,” Nora joked.
“Do you have travel insurance? You might just want to reschedule your flight,” he suggested, taking a bite of the bread.
“No, it was an old flight voucher and I didn’t buy travel insurance.”
“Ouch. Well, out of pocket it is then if you can’t make it.”
Booking a new flight could end up costing her thousands of dollars. The thought made Nora’s stomach turn. She didn’t make a lot of money working at the bakery and had already used a significant portion of her savings for this trip. Her recent car accident complicated matters further as the insurance company provided scant compensation due to her car’s age. The predicament left her without enough money to buy a replacement car unlessshe dipped into her savings, which was minimal now.
“Did you find anything else interesting in the letters?” he asked as he stood up and placed his bowl into the sink. As Nora chewed through her last bite of bread, she thought about how she wanted to tell Alistair about the book. It was all a bit confusing even to her, and she was a little worried that he might think she was nuts.
“Yeah, something kinda crazy, actually,” she said, realizing he had given her a perfect segue.
“Really, what?”
“This is going to be hard to believe,” she told him, taking a deep breath before going on. “When I first arrived here, I had wanted to recreate the photo of my gram on the Royal Mile with the book and wine bottle. I went into a bookstore in search of a little red book to use for the photo. I happened to see this one wedged between the wall and the bookshelf in the store and fished it out,” Nora said, showing Alistair the book as he sat down next to her. “I began reading it and knew there was something strange about it. At first, I thought the book was predicting events that were happening to me, but then I began to realize it was pulling me in, egging me on to keep reading. I know that sounds crazy, but I promise that’s not even the half of it,” Nora said, handing over the book.
“Those letters that Colin wrote to Marjorie were about this very book and a curse inside it. I think it might even be the same book that he had carried into the war that ended up saving him. Look here.” She pointed down at the indent in the cover and turned the page to show him the darkened spot that was on nearly every page but the last few.
Alistair stared down at the book for a long moment, saying nothing. Nora’s stomach twisted as the silence drew out. Did hethink she was crazy? Her mind whirled with self-doubt, and she wished she hadn’t brought it up.
“There is no way a bullet hit this. There would be a hole,” he said, finally breaking the momentary silence. Nora breathed a sigh of relief. Yes, he may be doubting the idea, but he wasn’t acting like she was a complete nut job.
“That’s what I thought too, but I swear it’s the same book.”
“It’s definitely weird that you just happened to pick up the book that your grandfather had been reading, but it must be another copy,” he challenged.
“It’s not. I know it’s the only one in existence because it was originally a handwritten account from one of my ancestors, which a family member had printed into a book so that it could stand the test of time. I have no idea how it ended up in that shop since it seemed to be an important family heirloom passed down from generation to generation,” Nora told him.
Alistair inspected the book more closely now, opening it and looking for the publishing information just as she had done the first time she opened it.
“What’s it about?” he asked, intrigued.
“It’s sort of a tragic romance. Girl meets boy, they fall in love, he dies, and she becomes cursed by a fairy.”
“Aye, it’s a fairy story? Those never turn out well. How do the letters tie into the book?” Alistair asked, inching closer to her as he set the book back down on the coffee table. She could see his interest had been piqued.
When he sat back, they were so close their legs were touching, and Nora felt a flush come over her. Heat rose from her belly and spread through her like wildfire. All of a sudden, the only thing she could think about was how close they had come to a night of passion.
“Well?” he asked, looking at her with raised eyebrows.
She had been so caught up thinking about the romantic possibilities, and the blasted board that had stopped it all, that she had forgotten what he had even asked her.
