I’m only a few seconds into prying the taped edges apart when the others start banging on the table and shouting their encouragement.Laughter spills out of me as I tear the paper off and cast it aside.My giggles turn to a choked sob when my brain processes the image on the outside of the box: a DSLR camera.
“We miss seeing you with a camera in your hand,” Brodie says.“None of us will ever forget the days when it was practically attached to you at all times.”
When I was nine, my grandma gave me an old camera of hers, and photography quickly became my favourite hobby.Throughout the years, I’ve owned multiple cameras, including one similar to this, which was an early graduation gift from the MacKinlays before we visited Scotland.That camera got broken during Rodger’s and my move, and I never replaced it.Considering photography was no longer an active hobby, I convinced myself the camera on my phone was good enough.
“We need more pictures of all of us, especially now that we’re all back together,” Drew says.“Well,almostall of us.”I don’t miss the way her gaze darts to Brodie or the way his eyebrows lift in a silent response I can’t interpret.
“You’re starting a whole new phase of your life, and we thought you could use that to document it,” she continues.“I know things have felt off for a while now, but brighter days are right around the corner.Maybe photography is just what you need to find your way back to yourself.”
Her words hit me like a blow to the chest, causing fresh tears to fill my eyes.Through the wavering moisture, I see that the three of them are exchanging glances again.Something else is going on here, which means now isn’t the time to get lost in my thoughts.
I clear my throat and pry the box open to get a closer look at the camera.“Okay, so...a Highland cow, a rain jacket, and a new camera.”Something niggles at the back of my mind, but I dismiss it.“I have no idea how these things tie together or why I need them before my birthday.Am I being dense?What am I missing here?”
Drew points to the box the camera came in.“Lift the tissue paper at the bottom.”
I snag the flimsy paper and pull it out, along with an envelope.That niggling feeling returns when I see the logo of a local travel agent.As I stare at the envelope in my hand, my stomach flips, my throat tightens, and my eyes and nose sting with the threat of more tears.I don’t remember opening the envelope or pulling the ticket out, but there it is, in my hands: a plane ticket to Edinburgh with my name on it.I make a choked noise, then another when I see the departure date is one week from today.
“We’re all going!”Drew says, clapping her hands.“The timing has never worked for all of us to go back together, so we thought we should jump on the opportunity before you get a job.We’ll be there for two weeks, and we’re staying with Mum and Dad.”
The tears come in earnest now.Drew appears beside me, her hand slipping into mine as she crouches at my side.“Hey.What’s going on in that big, beautiful brain of yours?”
I’m vaguely aware of Brodie moving behind Drew.In the next moment, she’s sitting on a chair, so close our knees bump.
“I was right, thisistoo much,” I say, flapping the ticket around.
Drew wipes my tears away.“It’s not.You deserve this.You don’t talk about Scotland much these days, but I’ve seen your social media pages, and the algorithms make it impossible to hide obsessions.We all know you fell in love there.”
My breath catches.A wave of panic threatens to add itself to the overstimulation I’m experiencing, but then I realize she means ‘with Scotland’ and not ‘with Graeme’.
“I know a trip isn’t some magic fix, and two weeks away won’t change your life, but I also know how unhappy and unsettled you’ve been.Andthat you were never happier than when we were in Scotland.”
Drew knows I left a piece of my heart in Scotland fourteen years ago.What shedoesn’tknow is that the missing piece is deeply, irrevocably linked to her brother-in-law and my one-time best friend.
“Say something, you’re freaking me out,” she says, her fingers tightening around mine.
I look at our linked fingers and then at the plane ticket in my other hand before returning my gaze to hers.Whatever she sees in my expression has her brow smoothing, and a smile taking over her face.“There it is.”
A slightly manic-sounding laugh spills out of me.“Holy shit, we’re going back to Scotland!”
