Olivia pulled out a seat at the table and sat down. ‘Thank you. I just take it black, and you can leave the teabag in.’
Kitty chuckled. ‘I take it black too, though I need the bag out pronto before it looks like tar. Aren’t we funny with our little routines and ways of making things? And I have to admit, when I offer to make tea at work, I don’t get a great take-up, so I hope it’s okay.’
Olivia laughed.
‘So,’ said Kitty, ‘when you say you go on tour . . . what is it that you do?’
‘I’m a dancer.’
‘Oh wow,’ said Kitty, her interest piqued. ‘How interesting. What kind of dancing is it that you do?’
Olivia laughed. ‘To be honest, a bit of everything, though mostly commercial stuff now. I started dancing when I was three when my mom enrolled me in ballet. Then I did tap and contemporary and even a bit of ballroom.’
Kitty’s eyes widened. ‘How interesting. When did you decide to make it your career?’
‘I don’t know if I decided as such. I just didn’t know how to do anything else. I needed to do it. I loved being on stage. I practised all the time, copied the dance routines from MTV and then started getting lucky with auditions.’
Kitty was transfixed as she listened to Olivia talk. It was clearly still her passion, which made it even more surprising and random that she’d ended up on Arran. ‘Do you mind if I ask what brought you here?’ Kitty said curiously. She watched as Olivia finished her tea in a gulp.
‘I needed to have some time out. I just finished a dance tour and before that a stint at Disneyland. I didn’t have any teaching commitments over the summer, so it seemed as good a time as ever.’
Kitty tilted her head, still bemused as to what brought her to Scotland when she could have gone anywhere in the world.
Olivia must have read her thoughts as she continued. ‘My aunt and uncle were here last summer, and they stayed at Meadowbank Cottage and raved about it. I decided to see what all the fuss was about. I was on a trip to Italy and decided at the last minute to extend my travels. The Meadowbank place was full, but it was the owners there who said this place might be available.’ She shrugged. ‘It all kind of happened from that. I wasn’t planning on coming, it just happened that way.’ She pushed a strand of hair back from her face. ‘How about you? What brought you here?’
Kitty cleared her throat. ‘My son is away for the summer, as you know. It’s always been just the two of us, and it’s the first time he’s been away for such a length of time. Which is why I’m prone to being quite teary.’ She smiled ruefully. ‘I also had some time off over the summer. I work in a nursery and have six weeks off. I was planning on painting our home and doing some DIY projects, which if I’m honest I wasn’t entirely over the moon about. My cousin Fergus works at the outdoor centre here and he knows the owners of this place . . .’
‘Well,’ Olivia smiled brightly, ‘perhaps it’s fate that our paths have crossed?’
‘Indeed. I just wonder what on earth we’re going to get up to,’ said Kitty softly, as the reality of the next few weeks finally hit her.
Olivia gave her another bright smile. ‘I’m game for adventures if you are.’
Kitty nodded. ‘I definitely am.’
Chapter Fifteen
Logan sat down at the small table in James’s kitchen and opened his laptop. He frowned as he read the email he’d just received from Stravaig’s head office. The walking tour was due to start the day after tomorrow, and Henry was letting him know that two of the group had pulled out as their flights from Europe had been cancelled. He knew that it would be super frustrating for the guests, but it was a blow for the company. It meant loss of revenue and they had already been hit hard since the pandemic. Every single guest counted, and Logan knew Henry, who ran Stravaig — which was Gaelic for ‘wanderer’ — would be getting stressed as they had a slow start to the summer season this year. Logan was quite laid-back about doing fewer tours, especially as he only had himself to think about. But he felt sorry for the tour guides who had families to provide for too, and slightly guilty about the small lie to Tallulah about the tour being fully booked. He started to respond.
Thanks for letting me know, Henry.
Don’t worry too much. We still have a couple of days to go until the tour starts, so there’s still time for a couple of new recruits. I’ll see what I can do.
Cheers,
Logan
Taking a sip of coffee, he decided he would go and hand out flyers around Brodick and Lamlash in the hope that he could entice a few tourists to join them last-minute. He had already left some at the bakery, and there was no harm in trying elsewhere. Some of the walking companies offered a package that meant the tour guide would meet them in Glasgow and escort them over to the island. However, Stravaig preferred totry and keep costs down as much as possible and to attract a wider reach of tourists. Unless someone requested a private tour, of course, in which case it would be a completely different and much more expensive package. Numbers for those had been down this year too, which was a worry. But he knew sometimes a few corporate packages were all they needed to pull them out of the red.
When he had woken early that morning, the sky had been a vibrant blue. It made him want to get up and head out for a run. But now when he looked out the window, he could see a few dark clouds scudding along. Hopefully they would keep moving and it would clear up. He had thought about going out in a kayak at some point too, and although a spot of rain didn’t deter him from anything, he would have enjoyed being out in the sunshine.
His hand rested gently on his mug of coffee, and he used his other thumb to quickly check in on his Instagram account. It had been a few days since he’d updated it — that might help with marketing.
He was surprised to see there had beenlotsof activity and he had many, many notifications. There were more than one thousands likes of the reel he had posted from Skye.Strange, he thought,that’s a bit out of the norm.Then when he glanced over the comments he could see why. It would seem that Tallulah had been busy. His stomach tightened as he wondered what on earth she may have said or done to gain him so many likes and so many extra followers in just days.
Clicking on Tallulah’s page, he wasn’t surprised to see her pouting profile picture. He smiled wryly when he read her bio:A girl who is wild at heart and loves adventures of the outdoor kind.Scanning through her posts, he recognised some of the photos from the trip to Skye. He opened them, curious to find out what she had written. Then he realised that she had includedplenty of pictures featuring him. He read on, feeling his cheeks redden. How mortifying.
Experiencing Scotland at its best. And the scenery isn’t too bad either. Stravaig Tours are the best and the Tartan Wanderer is even better. Looking for the trip of a lifetime? Go to Skye with Stravaig Tours, where you will leave wanting more ;)
