“Do you know where she is or not?” It was dark out, and if she wasn’t here, that probably meant she’d gone into town – on foot, since there were few taxi services around these parts. She could easily get lost, especially if she returned in the dark.
“Not,” Cam confirmed. “But Eiley has been trying to get hold of you today. She said you have dinner plans.”
He pinched the bridge of his nose. He’d forgotten about those. In an effort to cheer Eiley up and give her some time away from the kids, he’d promised to take her for a pint and a decent meal at the tavern. She was still getting back on her feet after the break-up, and he wanted to make sure she knew she wasn’t alone.
But she would be if he didn’t bloody meet her soon.
“Do you want to come with?” he asked, already pulling out his phone to text Eiley he’d be there ASAP.
Cam shook her head. “I’m knackered. Sorcha promised a takeaway in our pyjamas. Let me know how she is, though. I’ve been rubbish at asking, mostly because I don’t want to upset her.”
“She’s going to be fine. But I’ll let you know.”
“Cheers.”
Fraser made to leave with Bernard, but Cam called him when he reached the door.
“Oh, and Frase?”
He turned around, already knowing what was coming.
It still pissed him off, though, when Cam said in that teasing, singsong voice: “Hope you find Harper.”
A din of clinking glasses and conversation welcomed Fraser as he stepped into Turloch Corner Tavern, hands in his pockets and hair mussed with stress. After he dropped Bernard off at home, he still hadn’t been able to find Harper, and the phone number she’d given him when they’d made their little deal was of no use. She was probably ignoring him, but he’d still at least like to know if she could make it back to the cabin safely.
He was ready to apologise to Eiley, who he soon found sitting on her own in the corner booth, far quieter than most of Graeme’s patrons at this hour. She was the complete opposite of Cam – her hunched posture always made her look as though she was trying to shrink into the furniture, trying not to take up even an atom of space, and Fraser hated it.
He threw her a wave, and then froze when something gold caught his eye. On the other side of the pub, a familiar blonde was just visible behind a gilded hardback.
Harper.
She had come to the pub… to read?
Not just to read. She lowered her book to take a healthy swig of something red. Cider, or vodka cranberry if he’d had to guess, though he clearly didn’t know enough about her to make that sort of assumption, considering he hadn’t even thought to look for her here. He’d tried the bookshop, which was about to close, and had even knocked on Andy’s door to make sure Harper hadn’t been angry enough at him to move out and find emergency accommodation elsewhere.
But here she was. Lost in a book, with no idea he was currently standing like a fool in a stale puddle of beer, watching her.
He signalled a finger to his sister and mouthed, “One minute.” She nodded patiently, her curious gaze following his journey to Harper’s table.
“I’ve been looking everywhere for you. You can’t just disappear like that!” Relief sank through him as he sat on the chair opposite.
She lowered her book, revealing a cool glower. “What?”
“I didn’t know if you even knew the way to town on foot,” he explained, doing his best to keep his composure despite his thrumming heart, “and you certainly shouldn’t be walking back to the cabin in the dark!”
She went back to reading as though he had nothing of interest to say, gaze slipping over the pages nonchalantly. “You told me to ‘feck off’, so I did.”
“Harper…” He shouldn’t have been so short before. He’d just thought she understood his need for peace, or at least would be respectful enough not to interrupt him when he was busy. That had been the deal, after all. He’d more than kept up his end.
“I only meant that I was tied up, not that you should get yourself lost in the woods to prove some kind of point.”
She sighed, closing her book and putting it on the table. It was forest green and titledEmily Wilde’s Encyclopaedia of Faeries. “I’m not lost in the woods. I’m in a pub, enjoying my holiday. Contrary to popular belief, Iamactually able to get myself from one place to another. It’s signposted from the loch.”
He opened his mouth to say that, although he knew that, she was still new to the area – but she lifted a finger to stop him.
“And I wasn’t trying to prove anything. I’m minding my own business, as I was told to. Maybe you should do the same.”
God, she was infuriating. He gritted his teeth, scraping a hand through his beard. “I know I was rude earlier. I didn’t mean to be. That shed is just…” He would sound ridiculous if he completed that sentence. “I was distracted. That’s all. I didn’t mean to make you feel… however that glare means you’re feeling.”
