She felt a little guilty for pushing him again. ‘Only if you want to tell me. We still don’t know each other from Adam.’
‘Aye, well, I know your stuff so I guess it’s only fair.’ He inhaled deeply. ‘What are your burning questions?’
She thought about it for a moment. ‘Look, it’s up to you how much you do or don’t say. I know that you lost someone. Maybe you can just leave it there if you prefer?’
He closed his eyes for a moment. ‘She was my girlfriend.’
Mallory glanced at him as he subconsciously rubbed his wedding ring indentation.
‘She was the love of my life, if the truth be known,’ he went on. ‘I’d been separated from my wife for a few years after she cheated on me with my best mate and I hadn’t been bothered about finding love at all. Didn’t think I could trust anyone again. Until I met Mairi up near The Buachaille, or as you might know it the Buckle, by Glen Etiv whilst I was travelling around, camping.’ Things were beginning to fall into place. His surly manner, the wedding ring indentation. He’d been hurt badly. But his affection for Mairi was clear as he continued, ‘She was absolutelymadabout climbing.’ He smiled and closed his eyes. ‘She’d started as a wee bairn with her dad, travelling all over the place just to climb. That’s what she was doing when I met her. She called it Munro bagging… Oh, err, that means that she—’
Mallory interrupted him, ‘Greg, my name isMallory, I was named after a mountaineer. My dad was a mountaineer. I know what Munro bagging is.’ She nudged him.
‘Oh, of course. I forgot.’ He rolled his eyes and carried on. ‘Anyway, to cut a long story short, she’d done all the big climbs in the UK and most of the European ones. She was one of the youngest female climbers ever to achieve Scottish Grade 3 and she’d been dreaming of something even bigger. She’d been saving up to go to Pakistan since she was a teenager. It was all she could go on about. Her face just lit up when she talked about it.’ He paused as if finding it difficult to continue.
He cleared his throat. ‘She was so beautiful. But when she talked about climbing…’ He shook his head as he trailed off. ‘I’ve always been quite outdoorsy myself. She managed to convince me to go with her a couple of times, but I just didn’tget itlike she did. In fact, if I’m honest, it scared the willies out of me being so high up.’ He laughed. ‘Last year she met up with a team of professional climbers who she contacted through one of the big climbing websites she was always going on. They’d arranged a trip out to Pakistan and invited her along. She had the money and asked me if I minded. How could I mind? I wasn’t going to stand between her and her dreams, was I? Anyway, they set off in June to climb K2. She was in touch until they started the main ascent and then… nothing.’
Mallory didn’t quite understand. ‘What do you mean nothing?’
Greg huffed the air out of his lungs. ‘The news stations over there reported a freak storm.’ His eyes welled up with tears. The memories clearly still very vivid and equally as painful. ‘None of the team made it down. The bodies were never recovered. I never saw her again. I never got to say goodbye and my sweet, sweet girl was gone.’ His voice trailed off. A shiver travelled down Mallory’s spine. ‘I went out to Pakistan to see what else I could find out, but they gave up searching pretty damn quickly. She was declared dead on August twentieth along with the rest of her team.’ He spoke through clenched teeth as he pinched the bridge of his nose with his finger and thumb. His anger was evident. ‘This morning at your house, I had a call to say they had found what they thought was part of her kit. Turns out it wasn’t hers.’
‘The tattoo… is that for Mairi?’ Mallory asked carefully, not really knowing if she should.
‘Aye. K2, the wretched place. The barbed wire represents the pain that place caused me. It’s there as a reminder that you have to be careful what you wish for.’
She understood. Completely. ‘I’m so sorry, Greg. I’m sorry for being so hard on you. I do understand.’ She smiled at her unlikely kindred spirit. There was a long pause before she went on, ‘I dreamt about Sam last night. It was so real. He spoke to me about my fears around staying here. I told him I wanted to go back to Yorkshire, but in my dream, he said I shouldstay.’ Her own eyes began to blur with tears again as she recalled how lifelike the vision of Sam had been.
Greg’s eyes widened. ‘Really? Wow. I bet it was hard to wake up from that dream, eh?’
‘So, so hard. I keep expecting to see him standing on the bridge; or for him to come through the door and apologise for being late.’
‘Aye, I know what you mean. Every time I see a girl with long red hair I want to rush up and grab her to see if it’s Mairi… then I realise it can’t be.’ He thought for a moment, ‘So you’ve seriously been thinking about leaving, eh?’ He seemed surprised.
‘To be honest I just don’t know what to do. I have friends back in Yorkshire. I have my shop… butthisis where Sam wanted us to be. This is where we wanted to be together. I think I feel closer to him here than I would in Yorkshire; even though I met him there.’
‘I get that. Every so often I take off up to The Buckle, the mountain where I met Mairi. There’s a turn off the main road that leads to Glen Etiv. I usually park in the little lay-by just past the bridge. A bit further up there’s this little rock where I like to sit. There’s an amazing view of the Buckle from there. I like to wait for the sunrise. I just sit there looking at the changing colours of the dawn. I take my sleeping bag and sleep under the bridge for a couple of nights. I feel her there, you know?’
Mallory nodded as everything about him seemed to click into place. After all she was the same when she stood on the little stone bridge near her new home.
Greg fiddled with his hat, looking lost in his thoughts. ‘You don’t need to feel lonely here, you know,’ Greg informed her after a few minutes of a more comfortable silence. ‘People around here are great. They’re warm, friendly people. From what I’ve heard, folks have nice things to say about you. It’s funny, you know; some people can move here and be here for years and never fit in. Not you, though. People love you already.’ He sat upright, turning to look at her. There was a glint in his eyes that she hadn’t witnessed before. ‘Hey, you know what you should do?’
Mallory was sceptical about what was coming next. ‘Hmm, you seem rather excited and that worries me.’ She squinted at him suspiciously.
‘A way to meet people. Stella is looking for an extra bartender for the evenings. I could put a word in for you,’ he suggested.
Mallory thought about it for a moment. She didn’t really need the money but it’d give her something to focus on; eveningsweregoing to be difficult. But panic started to take over when she realised she was actually considering this. ‘But I have no clue how to pull a pint and I can’t add up in my head.’
‘Aye, well I can train you to pull pints and we have an electronic cash register, you know. We don’t live in the dark ages up here.’
‘Okay, well, have a word with her then. I could come in for a trial to see if I like it and if Stella likes me.’ Her words fell so easily from her lips that they took her by surprise. She had once again unexpectedly stepped out of her comfort zone and like all the other times she wondered if she might live to regret it.
‘Aye, well Stella employsmedon’t forget, so being likeable can’t be one of the requirements.’ Greg laughed and Mallory joined in, thinking his self-deprecation was kind of sweet.
