I take her hand and shake it, then smile at her as Leith pulls a chair out.
“Sit,” he mutters. I sit.
“She doesn’t speak, Mum,” he says, as the staff fills our water glasses and plates of food.
“Doesn’t speak?” His mum looks at me curiously. “Why not?”
“She’s mute.”
My cheeks flush with embarrassment. I wish I could explain, but I’m not sure I’d want to tell the entire table.
Islan quickly changes the subject.
“Mum, I was telling Cairstina about those books that we found at the bookstore, do you remember?” Islan pulls one out of her bag. “They’re wildly amusing.”
“Och, aye,” their mum says with a twinkle in her eye. “I’d definitely call them that.”
“Not sure why you girls need to fill yer heads with such nonsense,” Leith says, taking a roll out of a basket and handing the basket to me.
“Oh, like you’ve got no better use of your time, eh?” Islan rolls her eyes. “So much more wholesome chopping wood and the like instead of reading a book of fiction?”
Leith butters his roll and points to her with his butter knife for emphasis. “Precisely.”
I immediately imagine him out in the woods, an ax in hand, as he swings it powerfully, the wood splintering with one fell swoop.
Oooh, chopping wood. I want to see him chop wood. That sounds like the sexiest thing ever.
I blink in surprise at myself. Who am I, and why are these crazy thoughts coming to me out of nowhere?
He’s muttering about unrealistic expectations and fantasy, and he’s annoying the hell out of me.
I pull out my phone and send him a text.
Romance novels are every bit as valid as regular fictional novels, thank you very much.
His eyes dance with amusement, a sight I’d pay good money to see more often.
“Cairstina’s joined the argument,” he says, a note of humor in his tone that’s rare. He repeats my text.
Islan grins. “She’s quite right, of course, and only little men with little?—”
Paisley elbows her and their mum stifles a giggle.
“Only small-mindedmen think little of romance,” she finishes with a flourish. “Honestly, though, Mum, the story’s almost uncanny.” She shakes her head. “It sometimes feels like the author herself is sitting right here among us, but that isn’t possible…”
Leith glares at her, and she drops the subject. Does he think I’m fool enough not to put two and two together? What does it mean if he’s part of the mob?
Do I care?
ShouldI?
“We have work to do this evening, son,” his father says, and they go on to talk about all sorts of things that interest me, but I have a hard time following. And a little part of me’s disappointed. Didn’t Leith say he and I would spend the evening together tonight?
“Aye, Dad, we’ve work to do, but not tonight,” Leith says, and my heart soars. “Cairstina and I have much to discuss.”
Islan and Paisley look at each other and burst into giggles. Leith rolls his eyes and exhales, as his brothers enter the room.
“Sorry we’re late,” Mac says, “but you’ll want to know what it is we’ve found.”
