‘I know. I was just kidding. How’s the job going?’
‘Good, thanks. Busy.’ She nodded. There was an uncomfortable silence. ‘So. Walk?’
‘I was thinking that we could go inside and have coffee,’ he suggested, gesturing to the grey sky.
‘Let’s get a coffee to go and walk around the loch. I think it’s going to stop in a minute,’ Deb replied. She had no desire to sit in the Loch Cameron Inn so that all the locals could observe her love life falling apart. Or, whatever this was. Plus, she needed a good walk. She’d been working at her laptop all morning.
‘Right you are. Just a bit of freshness in the air anyway, right?’ Dan gave her a cheeky smile that she hadn’t seen for a long time.
‘Exactly,’ she chuckled. ‘Shall we?’
As Deb led the way into the Inn, she was struck by how cosy it was. Inside the front door, a coat rack and a pot of umbrellas made it seem as if they’d just walked into someone’s house and not a pub. There was also a bowl of water on the floor and ashelf above it with a jar of dog biscuits; a hand-lettered sign said DOGGY FILL UP STATION.
In the main bar, there were a variety of seating areas – some wooden tables and chairs and some comfy-looking upholstered chairs in flower patterned fabrics and tartans. A log fire crackled in a large fireplace, outside which sat a number of polished copper pots, containing fire tongs and various other tools that Deb would have been hard pressed to name. The walls boasted paintings of rural scenes: cows in lush-looking pastures, stags with majestic horns, and fields of purple heather. The feel was comfortable and relaxed: a few stacks of newspapers and magazines sat here and there on tables and on the bar, not looking as though they had been artfully arranged, but more that they had just been put down after being read.
There was another room that led off the main bar, in which a couple of elderly men were sitting at the bar, watching a snooker match on an ancient looking TV that was mounted to the wall.
Deb hadn’t managed to visit before, mostly because she didn’t like the idea of coming into a pub on her own. Worse, she really didn’t like the idea of walking into one which was likely full of locals that would stare at her, as a lone woman and a stranger.
‘Hello, dear,’ a smartly-dressed woman, perhaps in her early seventies, called out as they walked in. ‘Welcome.’ She wore a cream blouse with a lace collar and a red cardigan draped around her shoulders. Her hair was arranged in a neat, platinum blonde bob and she exuded an air of efficiency and friendliness that Deb liked immediately.
‘Hi,’ Deb replied, noticing the woman’s smartly manicured hands, with pearlized white nails, as she approached the long wooden bar. ‘Can we get some coffees to go?’
‘Of course, dear. What kind? We have the machine, so, all the usuals.’ The woman pointed behind her to a gleaming silverespresso machine. Deb was pleasantly surprised: she’d assumed that, in a country inn in a remote Scottish village, the only coffee options would be instant, or instant with a slug of whisky.
‘Cappuccino please.’ Deb looked at Dan.
‘Yes, same, please. Thanks,’ he said, coming to stand next to Deb at the bar. ‘This is cosy, isn’t it?’ he said, mirroring her thoughts. ‘Wouldn’t mind a local like this.’
‘It’s nice,’ she agreed. ‘This is the first time I’ve been inside, actually.’
‘Won’t be a mo.’ The woman was busying herself with the coffee machine. ‘Havenae seen ye before, lassie.’
‘Ah, no. I’m just up here helping the laird with the May Day party,’ Deb explained.
‘Ah! Deb, is it?’ The woman turned around with a big smile on her face. ‘He told me ye might be in. In which case, these’re on the hoose.’
‘Did he?’ Deb was surprised, but then she remembered that Hal had said something to this effect in an email.
‘Aye. Hal’s pickin’ up yer bill, whilst yer here.’ The landlady nodded. ‘I’m Dotty, by the way. I run this place wi’ my husband Eric.’ She held out her hand, and Deb shook it.
‘It’s lovely to meet you, Dotty.’ Deb grinned. ‘This is my… friend, Dan.’ She didn’t know how to introduce him, but Dan didn’t seem offended.
‘Hi.’ He shook Dotty’s hand in turn.
‘Lovely tae meet ye both,’ Dotty said, turning back to the coffee machine to finish the drinks. ‘How’re ye settlin’ intae Loch Cameron, dear?’ she said, over her shoulder.
‘Fine thanks. It’s really nice here,’ Deb said, sincerely.
‘Aye. We do alright,’ she agreed. ‘Yer stayin’ up at the Ross cottage, is that right?’
‘Yes, that’s right.’
‘Ah, lovely. We’ve had a few lassies stay up there in the past years. Funny, really – just the girls. Must be somethin’ about Gretchen’s auld place, eh.’ Dotty chuckled.
‘Well, it does have very cute décor,’ Deb agreed. ‘Maybe that’s it.’
‘Maybe.’ Dotty handed them two cappuccinos in takeaway cups. ‘There y’are, darlin’.’
