The window on our side of the lorry comes down and a raspy voice shouts, “You need a lift?!”
James steps up to open the door. A large waft of cigarette smoke washes over us. I force myself to smile, deciding that maybe I should trust James with this sort of thing. He did say he’s done this a lot. He must be able to read the situation. I follow him up to the door to get a better look. The man smiling down at us is missing a few teeth. He wears a stained white t-shirt with a picture of Rihanna on the front. His grey hair is missing through the middle of his head which is smoothly bald, the sides thick and long. I can see the promise of a ponytail at the back. But the most stand-out thing is his Saruman-style beard. And yet, his warm brown eyes are bright, kind looking. Maybe I am overreacting to this whole thing.
“Where you headed?” the man asks.
“The nearest town with decent connectivity,” James says in his usual confident voice as if he’s about to sell this man corporate hospitality. “Or a train station. Whatever is closest.”
“Aye. Well, I’m headed towards a few of those. In you hop.” The man gives us one of his friendly smiles.
I give James a glance. I hope it says,I’m trusting you again, please don’t let me down this time.
He returns a warm grin.You can trust me, Felicity.
He reaches out, offering me his hand to help me up. Once I’m seated, I tentatively look to my right. The driver is beaming at me. I smile back awkwardly as James throws both our bags in and closes the cabin door.
Chapter Seventeen
The lorry lurches forwards, the gravel crunching under the tyres as the man steers it back onto the road. I keep my eyes focussed directly in front of me. Ahead, the road remains fairly straight, dipping and curving over the lumpy landscape, the blue silhouette of Scottish mountains set as the backdrop. I shuffle closer to James. It’s not that this driver doesn’t seem friendly. He does. But something is pulling me towards my counterpart in this adventure in a way I can’t seem to control.
James instinctively looks down as if I’m acting weird. I am, I guess. I sort of have this urge to lean into his energy. To enjoy this time with him, even if we both know none of it can last.
As if I’m actually trying to cause trouble, I place my hand on James’ knee. His thigh clenches as I do. The coarse hairs feel nice under my palm. I think he reads me. Or at least he reacts in the way I’d hope he would, placing an arm around my shoulder and pulling me into him.
Oh, thank god. He’s on the same wavelength as me.
But, oh hell,Gloatman is on the same wavelength as me.
What has been going on these past few days? Were we enchanted in that bloody castle? Was there something in the water? Are the protein bars spacing us out?
“So, what you two doing all the ways out ’ere?” the driver asks.
Luckily, James is happy to do the talking as usual. “We’re on a hiking work trip. Our boss is expecting us back this evening.”
Crafty, I think. This man has found himself in precarious positions before. He’s letting this guy know that if he does try to kill us, he’s going to get caught. Someone’s looking for us. Little does he know, that’s bullshit. Our boss is a raving lunatic who probably isn’t even worried about our whereabouts at all.
The air conditioning in here is grumbling. There’s a vent right in front of me pulsing cool air across my skin. I shiver, stroking my arms.
“You cold, darling?” James says in a sickly sweet way. I’d have smacked him for calling medarlingeven fifteen minutes ago, but as he passes me the sweatshirt he had tied around his waist and I slip it on, doing the zip right up to my chin, I have to fight off a cosy feeling that swamps me. It lingers in my limbs, as he tucks me under his arm again, even brushing his lips across my forehead as if we’re a couple.
My heart is beating slower, yet louder and harder, as his long, strong fingers curl over my shoulder, tapping my arm as if that’s what he always does to me. I find myself leaning into him, imagining what he’d actually be like as a boyfriend. He said he’s been in love with women before. That’s definitely not something I can say. I’ve had boyfriends, briefly, but there was never a truly deep, meaningful connection. I don’t think the word “love” was even uttered before any of those inevitable, boring breakups.
But James is different. It’d be just likethis. He’d be gentle, cleverandfunny.
He’d also be a know-it-all. Always up for an argument over trivial things, like how you load the dishwasher. Or whether or not we should get a cat, or a dog. Hint: we should get a dog. He’d probably complain about how many books I have but never read. Actually, we’d argue until we’re both blue in the face. Then we’d get all hot and heavy. I’d trust James with my body because, clearly, he’s not opposed to listening to me.
“Darling?” he says.
“Yeah?”
“Were you listening?”
I blush. Oh, if only he knew where my head had gone. “Er, sorry. What did I miss?”
“Bernie here said he can drop us off near another path. It’s only a mile from there to a train station. But he’s going the other way.”
Bernie nods. “Easy to get you back to Inverness from there, if that’s where you’re headed.”
The thought of walking another mile, although shorter than the miles we’ve already travelled, makes me feel weepy. But if it’s our best bet and Bernie can’t drive us directly to the hotel then fine – I mean, he isn’t a taxi service. Then I guess I have no choice. I’m sure my shins can hear me thinking, they start to ache along the bone in both directions.
