“Thought what?”Graeme asks.
“I thought you hated me,” I say in a rush.“After what happened at the wedding, and then how we grew apart.”
Graeme nods slowly, turning his gaze toward the dark window.“There was a stretch of time after the wedding when I’ll admit I didn’t like you very much.I could never hate you, though.”He swivels his chair to face me once more, pinning me with those cerulean eyes.“I’ve never loved anyone as much as I love you, Abby.”
My heart lodges in my windpipe, making it hard to breathe.I wonder if he meant to use the present tense.As much as I love you.Something like panic stirs in my belly, clawing its way up my throat.“I should go.”I spin around and make it just outside the door when Graeme calls my name.A second later, he gently grips my upper arm, pulling me to a stop.
“Don’t go.”His tone is earnest with an underlying current of pleading.“We don’t have to talk about the past.We can get to know each other as the people we are now.Brodie and Drew mention you often, but sort of in passing.I assume they think we’re still in regular contact and know what’s going on in each other’s lives.I’dliketo know if you’d like to tell me.”
The last few years without regular contact with Graeme have been torture.Knowing I was the cause of the rift made it a million times worse.When I met and fell in love with Rodger, it soothed some of the ache, but it never completely went away.I missed my friend as much as I missed what we became during those two weeks after the others left Scotland.
Graeme’s hand slips down my arm to grasp my fingers.“Please?”
With that one word, any thoughts I had of saying no flutter away.Graeme keeps hold of my hand as he leads me toward the chairs, as if he’s afraid I’ll change my mind and run.
I can’t blame him.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN ~ GRAEME ~ NOW
After what happenedat Brodie and Drew’s wedding, I told myself I’d never beg Abby for anything again.I’d presented my heart to her on a silver platter and she’d pulverized it...albeit kindly, and with her own heart clearly shattering at the same time.
And yet, here I am, four years later, unable to keep the note of beseeching from my voice as I ask her to stay.After letting it slip that I still love her, what difference does a wee bit more vulnerability make?
I pour us each a glass of whisky from the bar cart tucked between the bookcase and the window.A little liquid courage couldn’t hurt either of us right now.Having her here—in my flat, where I can hear her humming softly early in the morning and imagine her getting ready for bed at night, all while catching lingering whiffs of her familiar floral perfume—is both agony and ecstasy.Keeping a secret from her, especially one that involves our closest friends, makes it infinitely more difficult.
Despite genuinely wanting to bring Abby back to the place she loved so much, Brodie and Drew had other motives for this trip: they’re thinking seriously about moving to Scotland.They’ve been considering it since they got married, and they think they’re almost ready to take the leap.They’d like to have children soon, and they want to raise them here, where they’ll have the kind of close-knit, loving family Drew never had growing up.
While I should be thrilled by this development and Iam, I’m also riddled with guilt over the fact I’m privy to this huge, life-altering plan of theirs, and Abby isn’t.They keep saying nothing has been decided and they’ll tell Abby soon, but it still twists me up inside.The irony isn’t lost on me that Abby and I have hidden our own secret from them for all these years, and now they’re trustingmeto keeptheirsecret until they’ve made a decision.
“Work is keeping you busy?”Abby asks, jerking her chin in the direction of my desk, which is covered in stacks of papers, folders full of glossy real estate photos and flyers, and empty coffee mugs.
“Aye, I’ve been working nearly non-stop since I moved back to the city,” I tell her.“I’m still trying to adjust to the pace of it after living in Skye for the last few years.”
“Do you like it?The work and being back in the city, I mean?”
“Yes to both.The city itself never really changes, but real estate is ever evolving.There’s an element of frustration to it that wasn’t as much of a factor when I first started working in the family business.So many people from outside of Scotland are buying up real estate, and a good chunk of them are turning the places into high-end rental properties.It’s driving up the cost of homes and making it hard for regular people to buy.
