“Because you can’t run this place without me.” Ewan took the customer’s payment. “Now, please do tell me what was happening over there with McCutie.”
“McCutie?” I wrinkled my nose. “Quinn is many things, butcuteisn’t one of them.”
“So, what would you replace it with? McHot? McSexy?” He lowered his voice, cupping a hand around his mouth, “McDo Me?”
I shoved him playfully. “McGo Away.”
“You are in serious denial, Taran Macbeth. When a man like that looks at a woman the way he looks at you … it’s only a matter of time.”
My heart rate picked up. “Before I what? Get a restraining order?”
“Sweetie, you are so far down the river of denial, you’re in freaking Egypt.”
“Your wit is astounding.” I kissed Ewan on the cheek. “But you’re so far off the truth, Sherlock Holmes would mock you endlessly.”
He gave me a knowing wee smirk that unsettled me.
It was bad enough trying to navigate these uncertain waters with Quinn, but the pressure of having the entire population of Leth Sholas discussing our interactions was too much. I needed space. Some quiet. To think.
“Can you hold down the fort? I promised London I’d help her with something today.”
Ewan was unperturbed by the abrupt subject change. “Sure, sure. I’ll call if we need you.”
I couldn’t escape Pages & Perks fast enough and hurried off Main Street before anyone could stop me from finding a quiet place to be alone with my chaos of emotions.
19.Taran
Trying to walk home from Pages & Perks had been a feat this week. The streets of Leth Sholas bustled with tourists, and it felt more than a wee bit suffocating. My store was packed to the rafters, and we were selling a ton of coffee and books, which was wonderful, but my goodness, I hadn’t had a chance to breathe.
London had offered to stay in the manager’s suite with Tierney at the B and B this week so she could be there at the crack of dawn to get breakfast started. The place was fully booked for the Highland Games. Everywhere was. The weather gods had smiled down on us, depending on your outlook. It had been a humid few days, making some of the physical events a bit more taxing for the competitors. Or so I’d heard. Between the paperwork I needed to fill out for the charity and the many grants I was applying for, plus running Pages & Perks, I hadn’t had a chance to attend the games.
Cammie made me promise we’d go tomorrow, so I was trying to ensure my staff could handle a day without me by finishing all the necessary admin stuff. Paisley was now a member of our team, so that helped alleviate some of the workload in the afternoons, even though she was still training.
Wanting a brief respite from the mayhem, however, I’d decided to take my lunch break at the house. What should have been a five-minute walk was instead a ten-minute shuffle, dodging and weaving through tourists. It was nice to see so many handsome blokes in their kilts, paired with T-shirts and hiking boots, but my goodness, I was worried our wee island was going to sink with the weight of all these extra folks.
By the time I turned onto the quieter residential area of Leth Sholas, I was sweaty from the humidity and wished I could just hide in my mum’s bungalow for the rest of the afternoon.
That wish fell out of my head as soon as I started up the front walk to the house.
My eyes registered the front door was ajar, and it took a few seconds for my brain to catch up to why that might be. Heart racing, I slowed as I neared the entrance. Had London returned and forgotten to shut the door?
Reaching for my phone, I swiped up the lock screen to have the phone app at the ready as I tentatively stepped inside. My breathing faltered as I looked into the living room and saw the sofa cushions had been pulled off and flung onto the floor.
Blood rushing in my ears, I took another step into the room and gasped.
It was trashed. Items had been swept off bookshelves, there were pieces of ceramic smashed all over the floor, and the TV was knocked off the side table and lying flat on its front.
Common sense returned to me with icy realization, and I tore out of the house and only stopped running once I was by my parked car. Fingers trembling, I called the police.
London sat pale-faced on the now righted armchair. The police had been at the house for two hours. PC William Shearing stood with his superior Detective Constable Alice Young. Alice was married to the island’s Detective Inspector Paul Young. However, since Paul was head of the island’s station, he was occupied with the organization of the extra police officers who had been sent to the island by Police Scotland’s N Division to help with public safety this week for the Games.
PC William had arrived first and then DC Alice turned up just as London came hurrying into the house. It wasn’t usual to refer to police officers by their first names, but they preferred the informality here since we were such a tightknit community. I’d only ever interacted with them as members of Leth Sholas. Now both officers were in work-mode and had checked over the home to make sure no one was hiding inside and then asked us to check if there was anything missing.
Pieces from my mother’s jewelry collection were gone.
“I’m sorry, ladies.” DC Alice gave us a sympathetic grimace. “It looks like someone has taken advantage of the busy week here to burgle your home.”
No shit, Sherlock.
