Page 5

“Ha, no, just a bit of a blast from the past.” Lottie raised her head from the hands that had been propping it up.

“Oh yes, chick?” Anya’s face was quizzical. The hotel chef’s curiosity was piqued.

“Oh, just a guest.” Lottie waved her hand. “We were at uni together.”

“Well, as they say, it’s a small world, Lotts.” Anya was already in her chef’s whites. Her short, dark, grey-streaked hair covered by a backwards baseball cap. “So, how many covers do we have today for dinner?”

Lottie clicked through several screens on her computer. “Seventeen, I think. One of the perks of the weather being so foul, I very much doubt anyone will be venturing out of the castle for dinner.”

“They’d be fool hardy to do so.” Anya wrote some notes on a pad and returned it to her top pocket. “Besides, I’ve tasted the food at The Stuck Pig,” she added, with a chuckle.

“Not everyone can get a Michelin star,” said Lottie. “And the fish and chips down there isn’t that bad.” She gave a grin.

“You mean you’ve been cheating on me with that reprobate, Rory?” Anya clutched her heart in faux horror.

“Rory’s a nice guy,” laughed Lottie. The landlord at The Stuck Pig did all his own cooking. “And if I let you cook for me every day, I’d be the size of a house.”

“And still gorgeous,” said Anya with a wink.

“Don’t let Sunitra hear you say that,” Lottie replied.

Anya grinned and fiddled with her wedding ring. Lottie had organised the wedding of Anya and Sunitra at the castle a few years earlier, and it had been one of the most raucous parties ever held in the hotel.

“Ah, she’s fine,” said Anya, tucking a couple of her greying curls under her cap. “She knows I only have eyes for her.”

Lottie wondered if there was something special about love that came later in life. Anya and Sunitra had met in their late forties, and she’d never met a couple more devoted to one another. It gave her hope for herself as a single woman in her forties. Perhaps one day she would find someone who was right for her.

“Now, where’s Danny?” asked Anya, back to business. “I have some stuff for him to sort out in the kitchen.”

Lottie rolled her eyes. “Couldn’t get his van off the drive.”

“Wimp,” said Anya, and then breezed out of the office towards the kitchen.

Chapter Five

HANNAH

Hannah’s room was generously sized. It was traditionally furnished with dark wood, with a real Christmas tree on a side table. It was tiny and came complete with baubles. Despite herself, she gave a small smile. It was quite tasteful, after all.

She sat down on the super king-sized bed. Lottie Duvall. Who’d have thought Hannah would ever see her again? And what the hell was she doing working behind the reception desk in a hotel in the Highlands?

Lottie had been that girl at uni. Friends buzzing round her, girls wanting to be her, boys clamouring to date her, and she seemed to pass all her exams effortlessly. Hannah never used to attend the law school’s glamorous balls, but she remembered one evening just before the summer extravaganza. She was in jogging bottoms and a hoody, getting herself a cup of tea from the communal kitchen. She had a new book by Kate Adie she wanted to read. She heard voices in the hallway, and Lottie burst in. She looked immaculate. She wore a pale blue and silver ball gown, with flowers entwined in her hair. She exuded the kind of effortless beauty that Hannah knew she could never achieve.

“Hey, Hannah.” Lottie’s voice was breezy. She looked Hannah up and down. “You’re not coming to the ball, then?”

Hannah shuffled her feet. “Er, no, reading to do tonight.”

“Term’s over, come and have a dance,” laughed Lottie.

“Thanks, but no.” Hannah picked up her mug and squeezed past Lottie, back to her room and to safety. She couldn’t identify what it was about Lottie that always made her skin tingle. It was confusing.

Sat in a Scottish castle twenty years later, Hannah wondered what had happened to Lottie after graduating, with all the honours and all the friends. She knew she should have admitted to knowing who Lottie was. But the truth was, Hannah hadn’t recognised her to start with, and by the time she’d realised who she was, she had no idea how to respond. She needed time to process. At some point she’d need to say something, but for now, just like all those years ago, she was safe in her room.

She stood up again and walked to the window. The view across the loch was extraordinary. The fog still sat low on the surface of the water, and the colours of the landscape were captivating. The dark greens of the conifers appeared almost black, with the light grey of rocks peeping out here and there. As the clouds moved overhead, the loch itself changed, its surface darkening and lightening as the wind blew. The hills on the other side of the loch undulated for miles into the distance.

Hannah was glad the heating in her room seemed to be effective, given the temperature outside was brutal. She loved the sense of being in such a remote place and, for a few minutes, she enjoyed the view, forgetting all about the Lottie conundrum.

Her phone buzzed in her pocket, fracturing the peaceful reverie she’d found herself in. She frowned. It was a news flash, and she swiped it away without reading it. She could do without that for the moment. She replaced the phone in her pocket. She’d turned it onto silent, but couldn’t bring herself to turn it off.