“For that too.”
We stay there another hour, drinking cider, eating shortbread, and watching the landscape.
Eventually the sheep wander off together, Ragnar proudly dragging the shredded remains of the plaid behind him.
I let out a resigned sigh, but strangely enough...
I don’t regret any of it.
Because even though this picnic was a disaster, even though we humiliated ourselves in front of the entire village, even though three sheep stole our blanket...
For the first time, I saw Finn truly smile.
And that was worth every ruined plaid in the world.
CHAPTER 15
FINN
Breaking Down Walls
(Or How Everything Can Change in an Instant)
It’s three in the morning when someone starts knocking on my door.
Not the guesthouse door.
My door.
My bedroom door.
I sit up in bed, disoriented. The knocking continues.
Insistent.
Panicked.
I pull on a T-shirt and open the door.
Mary is standing there in pajamas, hair messy, worry written all over her face.
“There’s a patient downstairs. She says it’s urgent.”
I take the stairs two at a time with Mary right behind me.
Mrs. Campbell is standing in the entrance hall of the guesthouse.
The same woman who slammed the door in my face during my first failed consultation in Glenfield. The woman who looked at me like I was an imposter desecrating Dr. McKinnon’s memory.
She’s holding a little boy in her arms.
He can’t be older than six or seven.
His face is red, and his breathing wheezes harshly.
My doctor brain switches on instantly.
“He’s probably having an asthma attack,” I say. “How long has he been like this?”
