‘Look, I’ll leave you to have a look around. Take as long as you like. I’ll pop back later to lock up,’ he said with a crumpled brow and then made a hasty retreat.
Why did people do that when they found out she was widowed? It was as if they had nothing else to say to her; as if all other conversation topics were now off limits. These were the exact situations she’d been hoping to avoid on this trip. Maybe she should’ve just kept her mouth shut? Let him believe she was divorced? She heaved a deep sigh and carried on strolling around the museum.
There were displays giving information about the businesses that had been established in the village since the eighteen hundreds: a candle maker, a saddler, a blacksmith, regular fishing expeditions, all long since gone. There was a display about the church and the reverends who had taken the pastoral role since the same century; photographs showed very dour, serious expressions, each man clutching what she presumed to be copies of the Bible.
After over an hour of reading every snippet of information she encountered, devouring it all with relish, Juliette reached a display about crofting and immediately recognised the little white house she’d visited only days before. Standing in front of the building in the photograph, dated 1952, were three people: a man wearing baggy trousers and a jacket; both of which were decidedly dirty from working the land, a kind of flat cap topped off his ensemble. Beside him stood a woman, presumably his wife, in an A-line dress and white apron and, between them, holding one hand of each adult, stood a little, fair-haired girl with a huge grin on her face. There was no information accompanying the photo, other than the wordsCrofter’s Family, but as Juliette leaned closer, she realised the face smiling back at her was oh-so familiar.
‘Well, hello there, Mum,’ she said as her eyes filled with tears. For some reason, it filled her heart with joy to be in the place where her mother grew up. She immediately took out her phone and snapped a shot of the image to send on later.
One of the biggest displays was almost a memorial to the lives lost in a fishing boat disaster off the coast of the island in the early 1900s. The lifeboat had been instrumental in saving the lives of those who were able to cling on to the wreckage of their boat, but tears stung Juliette’s eyes as she read about the men who had perished; the families who had lost fathers, husbands and sons. There was a beautiful sculpture in the case dedicated to the lifeboat men depicting the boat at sea and women standing on the shore. She gasped when she read the inscription:Created by Reid MacKinnon and donated to the museum in 2009.
‘Wow,’ she whispered.
‘Oh, yes, I should’ve warned you there was a self-indulgent section.’ The voice made her jump and she spun round. She’d been so engrossed in what she was reading she hadn’t heard Reid return.
‘Oh gosh, no, not self-indulgent at all. Just beautiful. Are there no end to your talents?’ she asked, but as she turned, she realised he was bent looking into the case too and when she faced him, she could feel his breath on her cheek. Her stomach leapt.
He immediately stepped back with wide eyes and held up his hands. ‘Whoops, sorry. I didn’t mean to crowd you. I… I don’t often look at the sculpture myself. I think I’d forgotten what it looked like.’
‘No, no, it’s fine,’ she replied, smoothing down her hair and trying to hide the fact that her cheeks were almost at the point of spontaneous combustion. ‘As I said before, you’re very talented.’
He scratched his head, clearly uncomfortable at the compliment. ‘So, what do you think? Could you stand to work here for the summer?’
‘Absolutely. I can’t wait to start. Oh, and I found a photo of my mum and my grandparents. I never really knew Granny and Grandpa and probably wouldn’t have recognised them without Mum being there. I couldn’t believe it. I was hoping to find something, but I think deep down I didn’texpectto,’ she said as she walked towards the photo to show Reid.
He bent to view the image. ‘Oh wow. So that’s your mum. Is she still a cutie?’ he asked, and then his cheeks flared as bright as hers had moments earlier. ‘God, that sounded so creepy.’
Juliette couldn’t help letting a laugh escape. He was quite sweet really. His ability to put his foot in his mouth was kind of endearing. ‘It’s fine, and yes, she still has that cheeky grin even now she’s in her seventies.’
‘Lovely,’ he replied. ‘Right, well, let me show you the cash register, eh?’ He was a master of changing the subject and she followed him to the reception desk. He went over the souvenirs for sale and the list of codes for each item, where the change was kept, where the figures were completed at the end of the day and what to do if the till stopped working – she laughed but hoped he was kidding about that part. ‘When customers come in, just chat to them as you would back at your library and when it’s quiet, you can read if you have something with you. If not, Morag has a selection of books at the B and B that you can have a look through. I… I hope you won’t be bored.’ He cringed.
‘Not at all. I have my laptop too, so I can have a look at the local area and familiarise myself with places I can visit, perhaps. It’ll be good for me to gain a little more local knowledge to share with visitors.’
‘Excellent. For sure. And you’ll get all ages and all nationalities visiting. It’s surprising really. But I’m sure you’ll settle right in.’
‘I’m sure I will too. I’m looking forward to opening it up.’
‘Yes, and the next three days until then will no doubt fly by.’
She smiled. ‘They invariably do.’
He nodded and settled a somewhat wistful gaze on her before shaking his head as if coming out of a trance. ‘Okay, well, I’ll get locked up if you’ve seen enough for today. I’ve been and checked and the cleaner is almost done next door. You can move your stuff in tomorrow. You should have everything you need, but, if not, just let me or Morag know, and we’ll see what we can do. Obviously, the house is rent-free with you working here, but you’ll need some provisions. Anyway, I’ll pop the keys around later tonight. I’ll drop them with Morag, so I don’t disturb you again.’
‘Thank you. I’m looking forward to seeing the place.’
‘It’s nothing fancy, but I’m told it’s comfortable enough.’
Juliette walked to the door with Reid and said her goodbyes as he locked up the building and then she made her way back to the bed and breakfast.
Once back in her room, she called Millie, Dexter and her parents to fill them in on the news of the museum and the photograph she had discovered. Of course, her mum cried when she saw the photo that Juliette sent via message, meaning Juliette quickly followed suit. The pair of them laughed through their tears at how soft they both were.
‘Like mother, like daughter!’ her dad shouted down the line.
* * *
At breakfast the following morning, Morag hurried over, jangling a set of keys from her fingertips. ‘Look what I’ve got for you!’ she said giddily.
‘Oooh, fab!’ Juliette clapped her hands before taking the proffered keyring. ‘I can’t wait to see the place.’
