She couldn’t understand why he didn’t want to engage. ‘We worked together. AtThe Review?’
He shook his head. ‘I think you’re maybe mixing me up with someone else.’
It was only then, as she heard his Northern Irish lilt, that she remembered Nathan (that was his name!) having a different kind of accent. In fact she was sure that he was from Manchester.
‘Oh God, I am so sorry.’ She felt her cheeks flush.
He shrugged and flashed a smile, which turned her insides into mush. He really was extremely good-looking. ‘No worries.’ He turned and walked briskly away.
Moments later, the penny dropped and she realised just who it was. The actor Jamie Dornan. She was absolutely mortified.
Now, as she stood in the supermarket on this Scottish island, she knew that the woman coming towards her definitely wasn’t a celebrity. For a moment she turned away to examine the laundry detergent in great detail, desperately trying to work it out. Then the penny dropped. Behind her was a blast from her long-ago and forgotten past, and she didn’t quite know what to do or say.
‘Excuse me please,’ said the woman behind her. ‘Can I just get in there for a moment?’
Beth had no choice but to turn round and step aside. ‘Of course.’ She tried to make soft eye contact with her.
The woman looked at her curiously and then also did a double take. ‘Thank you.’ A little frown played on her lips as she evidently also tried to place who Beth was. She reached for a huge box of laundry tablets. ‘Living the dream, eh?’
After putting them in her trolley, she started to manoeuvre it down the aisle but then stopped to glance over her shoulder again. Then she wheeled it back and pushed it back towards Beth. ‘I know this is going to sound really weird . . . but do I know you from somewhere? You look really familiar. And I just can’t place you.’
Beth nodded. ‘I was thinking the exact same thing. Except I usually mistake celebrities for people I know.’
The woman’s eyes were bright as she laughed. ‘I’m definitely not famous. I’m awful with names, so you may need to help me. I’ve got a brain like a sieve.’
‘I’ve just moved here.’ Her voice was artificially cheerful. She had been so naïve to think that, after twenty-five years, she wouldn’t know anyone here. Or that they wouldn’t know her.
‘Ah, I see. Well maybe you’ve just got one of those familiar faces,’ she said. ‘Maybe I’ve just seen you around.’
Beth was aware of other shoppers passing them who probably thought they were having an in-depth chat about the weather. She was glad they had met here, which was quieter compared to say the fresh produce aisle.
‘No, you’re right.’ Beth nodded. ‘I’ve just worked it out. We do know each other. Though it was from a very long time ago. In fact it was a lifetime ago. You’re Kirsty?’
There was a moment of stunned silence as Kirsty looked back at her in surprise. ‘Yes and . . .’ Her voice trailed away as the penny started to drop. ‘Elizabeth?’ She reached out to touch Beth’s arm. ‘From the summers at the hotel. The Brodie? Way back when we were just kids?’
To Beth’s surprise, Kirsty’s face lit up in a warm smile. ‘Yes. A blast from the past, eh?’
‘Oh wow. It is so strange but so nice to see you. After all this time. As you say, that was a lifetime ago.’
For a moment, Beth allowed her mind to go back to the last summer they worked together. It was 1999 and the soundtrack for that happy time had beenBring It All Backby S Club 7. The group she’d made friends with were all young and full of excitement and heady enthusiasm for the next chapter of their lives. All they cared about was being in the moment and enjoying themselves. “Let the world see what you have got, bring it all back to you,” was a line she and Kirsty frequently chanted as they cleaned the rooms of the hotel, knowing they wouldn’t bethere forever. It was funny how many of the lines of the song had resonated with her in the coming weeks after she had left Arran. “Hold your head high and reach the top,” had become her mantra.
‘I can’t believe you’re here.’ Kirsty drew her back to the present moment. ‘Gosh, I always wondered what had happened and where you’d gone. I know you went to London, and I moved down not long after but I had no way of getting in touch . . . you just seemed to vanish.’
‘I know. I’m sorry we lost touch.’ Beth felt her cheeks flush.
‘And what are you doing herenow?You said you’d just moved here?’ Kirsty looked completely puzzled.
‘That’s right. I arrived just last week. I’ve come to work on the newspaper.’
Kirsty looked baffled as she processed what Beth had just said. ‘So you’re the new reporter? Well, what a surprise. I had no idea.’
Beth felt slightly sick and overwhelmed with regret. She and Kirsty had always promised they would keep in touch. But then Beth had gone to London to start her career and things had just drifted. The longer they weren’t in touch, the harder it was to make the effort. It all felt very surreal — standing there with their trollies with no idea about what had happened to each of them in the past couple of decades. Beth was grateful that Kirsty did look genuinely pleased to see her and wasn’t nervously backing away or abandoning her trolley and hotfooting it out the shop.
‘It was a bit of an unexpected move.’ Beth smiled uncertainly.
‘Look,’ Kirsty glanced at her watch, ‘I need to get back home, but I wouldloveto see you and catch up properly.’ She reached into her handbag and found a pen. Scribbling her number on the back of an old receipt, she then ripped it off and handed itto Beth. ‘Please do drop me a message and we can catch up and share what we’ve been doing with our lives.’
‘Where do you live now?’
