She stopped scrolling, pausing on an image of a good-looking guy Peaches had never seen before in her life, and he was absolutely covered in kittens and grinning in a casual sweater and shirt collar.
‘Isn’t he lovely?’ Carenza enthused.
‘Uh… I guess?’
Had her mum finally cracked? She was the one not making any sense. Maybe she’d inhaled some fumes during the fire?
‘And here he is again.’ Carenza scrolled one more time.
This time her screen showed the same guy in a suit, his shirt collar open, shades on, leaning against a wing-door car, his sockless ankles crossed casually, and again with the same perfect white grin.
‘Sorry, Mum. Why are you showing me these?’
‘This is your Beltane date, of course. Valerie Cromarty’s son?’
Peaches had to hold herself very still for a moment while the world spun around her.
‘My date?’ she said as the heavy-hearted, nauseous feeling spread through her system.
‘Oh, don’t be nervous, darling! I know he’s handsome, but you’re a true beauty! He’ll be besotted with you! Besides, he’s already seen your pictures, and just like you, he agreed to the date without reservation.’
‘He did?’ Peaches shrank down in the seat. How was this happening? ‘The other day, in the repair shop, this is who you were talking about? This guy?’
Carenza wasn’t listening. ‘You know he donates a percentage of his company profits to Cairngorm cat rescues?’
Peaches could only shake her head.
Carenza carried on misreading her daughter, just as Peaches had completely misread her mother the other day when she had heard only what she had wanted to hear. Her mum hadn’t had any intention of setting her up with Euan, a lowly local sparky.
‘Well, who even is he?’ Peaches said.
‘I’ve already told you, Valerie Cromarty’s son. Felton.’
‘Felton?’
‘The tech trader. I’ve talked about him many times, remember?’
Her mother talked about a lot of people, but it was true, she’d told her about this Valerie and her clever, rich son.
‘He’s a good sort, but, as I’ve said, he doesn’t know a soul in town, other than his own mother, and knowing this, and what with everything I’ve done for you, I knew it would be a small matter for you to say yes to a simple date with this impressive chap.’
‘Valerie Cromarty, from your Women in Business Association?’ Peaches said, monotone and dry, piecing together fragments of half-remembered one-sided conversations at home.
‘That’s right.’
‘The woman you said was expanding her apartment staging and interior design business into Cairn Dhu?’
‘Correct again. I knew you were taking it all in, clever girl. Valerie is looking for properties to showcase her apartment-dressing and design talents, and might well be willing to work for a reduced fee, and… well, who else has a luxury property portfolio that could benefit from a little showcasing sparkle, hmm?’ She preeningly pulled at her singed scarf. ‘To get a foothold in the region, Valerie is prepared to compromise on price, and as an added bonus, you get to meet a nice boy.’
The gleam in her mother’s eyes said it all. A city boy, steeped in stocks and shares, would make an extremely nice addition to the McDowell business empire, plus she’d get her mates’ rates with Valerie Cromarty.
At that moment, Euan let himself out of the repair shop doors and clambered onto his motorbike. He didn’t look their way. In a blink, he had zipped his leathers, hidden his face behind the visor, and was gone in a dusty plume of bike exhaust.
‘Win win,’ Peaches said, her voice cracking, not that her mother noticed.
Those were the words Euan had said only moments ago, when she’d mistakenly thought he was talking about how he’d landed a job and a date in one fell swoop, back when Euan had thought Carenza so reasonable, like she represented nothing to be feared.
The whole time, the pair of them had been talking at cross purposes. Peaches knew now that he couldn’t have been talking about dating her, because Carenza had never even considered approaching him about entertaining her precious daughter. When her mum had dragged Euan aside out here on the gravel the other day and they’d shaken hands, they must have simply been talking about the electrical installation job that had led to his downfall.
