After twenty minutes, Juliette left the shop with a foldaway coat in a cheery red and a pair of wellington boots complete with a ladybird print. They were the kind of things she wouldn’t look twice at back home, but their sense of fun appealed to her, so she thought, why not? Even if she did now have the look of a five-foot-six toddler. And she wasn’t at work now so she could afford to wear something a little moreout there.
From there, she bypassed the bakery, for once, and headed into the café a little way along the road.Tea for Twowas a pretty-looking establishment with gingham tablecloths and local artwork for sale displayed on the walls. She took a seat at a table by the window and picked up a menu.
‘Oh, hello,’ came a disinterested, almost annoyed female voice from beside her. ‘What do you want?’
Juliette resisted the urge to comment on the charming greeting. After everyone had been so outwardly warm and friendly, it seemedthiswoman was one of thesourapplesCaitlin had mentioned.
In spite of it all, she gave a warm smile, deciding that the waitress may be having a particularly bad day. ‘Hi there, could I have an Earl Grey and a fruit scone please?’
The woman, a tall, slim blonde with a pretty face – or so Juliette imagined it would be when not crumpled as if a bad smell had taken up residence under its nose – simply turned and walked away without further comment.
When the woman brought the pot of tea and scone and placed it before her, Juliette tried again. ‘This is a lovely little place you have here.’
The waitress folded her arms defensively across her chest and cocked her hip. ‘It is, yes. I manage it for the owner, Reid.’
‘Reid MacKinnon? Oh, I didn’t realise he owned it.’
‘Well, he does.’ The reply was unnecessarily terse. ‘ButIrun it on a day-to-day basis. You could say I’m thedrivingforce behind things.’ She gave a sickly-sweet, disingenuous smile and turned to leave once again.
When the worddrivingwas mentioned with such emphasis, a shiver traversed Juliette’s spine and she was assaulted by the memory of her experience earlier that week. She eyed the woman with unfounded suspicion. Could this have been the person who had sped past her on the road, almost catapulting her into the hedgerow?
No, that’s ridiculous, you’re being so paranoid! She had no reason to do such a thing!Did she?
Juliette watched the woman and couldn’t help but wonder; after all, she was very offhand. Perhaps she was somehow marking her territory where Mr MacKinnon was concerned? Well, she needn’t bother. Reid MacKinnon was firmly on her shit list and she would be avoiding him at all costs.
Despite the frosty welcome, Juliette sat there, leisurely eating her scone – which she presumed was baked by Caitlin anyway – and enjoyed the fact that the rain outside was now bouncing inches up off the pavement where it landed, and thunder rumbled overhead, andshewasn’t out there in it.
She glanced around at the beautiful artwork adorning the walls. The scenery, all local views that she recognised from her walks, was incredibly lifelike, and she initially thought the pictures were photographs. She spotted one of the tumble-down croft she had visited and was shocked by how well the artist had captured the place. She was considering taking one home as a gift, either for her parents or perhaps even for herself, so she stood to take a closer look and see if she could identify the artist.
As she stepped away from her table, she caught sight of a bright streak of blue outside, in her peripheral vision. Evin was playing in the rain with Chewie. The wind had whipped up now and the water was crashing up the walls in the small harbour. The smile on his face was one of such delight as the boy jumped in puddles and the soggy dog barked and bounded, shaking his whole body intermittently to try and rid himself of the rain soaking his fur.
She wondered if Evin’s dad knew he was playing in this weather without a coat. She grabbed her brolly and dashed round the inlet to speak to him. ‘Evin, where’s your coat? You must be frozen!’ she shouted.
The boy shook his head. ‘Nah, I’m fine, honest! Chewie loves the rain. Won’t go near the sea and hates baths too, so this is a good way of getting him clean!’
Juliette laughed. ‘You’re just missing some shampoo then.’
The boy tapped his hand against his forehead and rolled his eyes. ‘Och, I knew there was something.’ Chewie was clearly getting fed up with waiting, he barked in a high-pitched voice as if to say ‘Come on Evin! Play with me!’
‘Just be careful, okay? I bet your dad doesn’t know you’re out without a jacket, does he?’
He didn’t answer and anyway, she knew it was none of her business. She guessed Reid MacKinnon wouldn’t thank her for interfering, so she left the friends to it and headed back into the warmth of the café.
She sat and poured another cup of tea from the pot on her table and turned her attention once again to the stunning artwork on the walls.
Suddenly the café door burst open, almost crashing into the window. Startled, Juliette looked up to see Evin standing before her. He was more than rain-soaked now and had a wide-eyed, panicked stare and a red claw mark on his cheek.
‘Help me!Pleasehelp me! He’ll drown. He’s so scared and I can’t get him out! I tried, but I had to get out of there,’ Evin screamed at her, eyes wide and skin as pale as parchment, apart from several bloody red scratches to his face. He was shaking violently and was drenched, his dark hair plastered to his scalp and his lips almost blue. ‘Jules!Please! He’s in the water!’ he yelled again, pointing towards the inlet and she sprang into action.
Without grabbing her coat, she ran for the inlet where she could see the old wooden fencing had given way. Evin was close behind her. The rain was hammering down even harder now, and the sky had darkened significantly.
She grabbed the boy’s arms. ‘What happened, Evin?’
‘We were playing in the puddles and I… I must have had my back to the barrier. Ch-Chewie jumped up at me and I fell backwards, the barrier broke, and I fell in the water. Next thing I knew, Chewie had jumped in after me. Please help him. He’s getting tired. I’m so scared. I tried, I really tried, but I couldn’t get him out. He was panicking and he scratched my face. I ran to you because you were closest. Please!’ he sobbed.
‘Okay, run to Archie’s shop, tell him to ring your dad. Then go and get Kenneth, okay? Go!’ She let go of his arms, but he didn’t move.
‘But he’ll drown. I’ll have to jump back in.’ He turned to face the water and lurched forward as a crack of thunder sounded overhead and the sky lit up like midday. Juliette grabbed him once more. ‘No! Don’t you dare! I’m going in, butpleasego and get Archie and Kenneth, okay?’ she shouted.
