Juliette spotted Caitlin walking towards her. She looked incredibly pretty in cropped blue jeans and a vivid green top that contrasted beautifully with her red hair, and a pair of gorgeous beaded sandals graced her feet. Juliette glanced down at her own skirt and top and suddenly felt rather dowdy in comparison.
Caitlin greeted Juliette with a friendly hug. ‘I don’t know about you, but I’m starving. I forgot to break for lunch,’ Caitlin told her.
‘How can you forget lunch when you’re surrounded by food all day?’ Juliette laughed, bewildered at the thought.
‘I know, crazy, eh? Anyway, you look fab. I love that skirt.’
Her words gave Juliette a much-needed boost. ‘Thank you, I was just about to go back and change.’
Caitlin gasped. ‘Don’t you dare! You look stunning. Anyway, you’ll love this place.’ She gestured to the building behind them. ‘The Coxswain is a great place to see live music too. Mostly Scottish, so you get fiddlers, accordionists, and folk bands, but the craic is great. They do a mean haggis, neeps and tatties too. It’s run by Joren and his wife, Stella. They’re a lovely couple. I’ll introduce you.’
Juliette followed as Caitlin pushed through the door. The moment they stepped inside, the place erupted with applause, and Juliette looked around for the reason behind the spontaneous outburst. When she saw that Caitlintoowas applauding and that it was directed ather, a hot flush raced from her chest to her cheeks and she self-consciously placed a hand on either side of her face. She fought a nervous giggle and wondered if Skye people regularly applauded new people to the village.
A tall, bearded man behind the bar shouted, ‘Three cheers for Jules Fairhurst!’ and the rest of the crowd followed with the requested threehip-hip-hoorays.
‘What on earth—?’ But before she could obtain answers, the whole place sang out a rendition of ‘For She’s a Jolly Good Fellow!’
Reid appeared before her with a huge bouquet of flowers and it dawned on her, rather late admittedly, that this was all because she had jumped into the water after Chewie. Wow, these people really did love their dogs. Anyone would think she’d donated an organ or something! He leaned forward and said directly into her ear, ‘I heard that Morag had convinced you to come tonight, so I wanted to bring you these to say thank you, again. Oh, and Evin made you a card from him and Chewie.’ He handed over the bouquet and an envelope addressed toSparkly Julesand tears prickled at her eyes.
The whole situation was a little overwhelming. The kindness of the strangers around her tugged on her heartstrings.
Reid paused as if he had more to say, but a flash of conflict seemed to pass over his face. He awkwardly leaned forward and placed a quick but gentle kiss on her cheek and her stomach fluttered as she inhaled the scent of his aftershave. The heat in her cheeks stayed in place a little longer than she would’ve liked.
When Reid pulled away, she couldn’t quite look him in the eyes. It was just as well as he seemed equally uncomfortable and dashed away, making an excuse about calling Evin to make sure he was behaving for his sitter at home.
Once the excitement had died down, Caitlin led her to a table, where she placed her flowers, and they made their way to the bar. As they walked, Juliette had her hand shaken by people she’d never met, who told her what a brave woman she was and how thankful they were that she had jumped in to save Chewie and, by extension, Evin.
Once they finally reached the bar, Caitlin leaned across it towards the bearded man. ‘Evening, Joren. We’ll have a bottle of Sauvignon Blanc and two glasses, please. Oh, and this is, of course, the woman of the moment, Jules.’ She gestured towards Juliette, who felt her face warming once again, and not only because of the number of bodies in the place.
The huge frame of a man leaned over the bar. ‘Welcome, Sparkly Jules the superhero. Good to meet you.’ He had a very intriguing accent and held out his shovel-sized hand, so Juliette shook it. He reminded her of one of the actors fromGame of Thronesand was quite handsome, in an older man kind of way. ‘Stella’s in the back cooking, but I’ll get her to come and say hello. Are you staying for the music? We have an old friend of Stella’s coming to play for us.’
Juliette beamed. ‘Yes, we’re eating and staying for the music. I can’t wait.’
‘Excellent. We have a local duo on first playing some Scottish folk tunes and then Greg. He’s a guitarist and singer. If you like contemporary music, you’ll love him.’ He leaned closer. ‘All the ladies love him. I can’t see it myself. Scruffy bearded oaf.’ He winked and then grinned as he scrubbed his fingers over his own beard, and Juliette couldn’t help but warm to him.
He passed the open bottle of wine and two glasses over to them. ‘On the house for our new friend,’ he informed her.
Caitlin jumped up onto the bar and planted a kiss on his cheek. ‘Joren, you’re a bloody top bloke. Do you know that?’
He feigned coyness and shrugged. ‘It’s been said, once or twice.’
Caitlin led the way back to their table that was just big enough for the two petite women to squeeze round. ‘You’re in for a treat. Greg is fantastic. Easy on the eyes, too.’
Juliette laughed.
‘Hey, there’s no harm in looking. He’s married anyway andtotallyhead over heels in love.’ She rolled her eyes. ‘Ugh. All the best ones are taken or gay. Anyway, he used to work for Stella at the pub she ran. Really nice guy, too. He plays stuff you’ll actually have heard of, like Hozier, Ed Sheeran, George Ezra, never mind all the Scottish stuff.’
It was the folk music Juliette was most excited about. ‘You don’t like the Scottish stuff?’
Caitlin took a big gulp of wine and swallowed before answering. ‘Oh, no, it’s good, don’t get me wrong, but as kids we’re all subjected to social dance, which means we get it shoved down our necks from an early age.Stripping the WillowandThe Dashing White Sergeantand all that. It’s fine on a fun night out, though. I might even get you up dancing. They usually clear the space in the middle.’
Juliette glanced around her and wondered how onearthsuch a feat could be achieved when so many people were already crammed into the room.
A smiling, middle-aged woman appeared before them and handed them each a menu. ‘So, I take it you’re the woman everyone is talking about? I’m Stella, Joren’s other half. How are you liking it here so far? Not too dramatic, I hope.’
Another friendly face, Juliette thought with a smile. ‘Hi. I wouldn’t call myself a hero, but, yes, I’m Jules. Great to meet you. And I’m loving it so far. I feel quite at home with the welcome I’ve had.’
‘Och, nonsense. You’re a star around here now. And you’re in for a treat tonight. Some fantastic performers. Great craic.’
