Logan’s phone buzzed on the table next to him, making him jump. He held his breath as he picked it up and read the message.
‘Is it from her?’ asked James.
Logan nodded.
‘What did she say?’
He looked up and grinned. ‘She said yes. She said a drink tonight would be great.’
‘Thank the Lord,’ said James, holding his hand up to high-five Logan. ‘Now you just need to spend the next eight hours worrying about what to wear.’
Chapter Thirty-One
Kitty’s finger hovered over the send button.
I’m sorry but something has come up. I need to cancel. Kitty.
But she deleted the message, before typing out another.
Do you mind if we cancel? I can’t do this. Kitty x
‘Aargh,’ she wailed in frustration and deleted that one too. It was far too dramatic. It was the fourth time that afternoon she had written a message to cancel their date, if it even was that, but she couldn’t quite bring herself to press send and cancel her plans to see Logan.
The truth was that she was desperate to see him. Despite that, she had spent the last hour staring out the window in a complete tizz about what to do. She kept trying to reason with herself that it was no big deal, that they were only going for a drink. But her stomach was fizzing with nerves, especially when the other voice in her head kept asking if she really wanted to do this. But she felt as though there were invisible threads pulling her and Logan together despite her attempts to resist.
‘Everything okay?’ Olivia walked into the lounge, rubbing her eyes.
‘Mmm, yeah, sure. How are you feeling?’
‘Much better after a nap. And for talking it through with you. You’re a good listener.’
‘Thanks. If only I could listen to my own advice.’
Olivia plonked herself down on the chaise longue by the window, stretching her legs out along it. ‘How about you talk to me. What’s up?’
Kitty sighed while she considered Olivia’s offer. She had thought about calling Ellen back home, but she didn’t want to make this into some big drama. Ellen tended to embellish things and, before she knew it, half her village would think she’dhooked up with the first available man she’d bumped into once Cameron had flown the nest. Maybe she was being a bit unkind, but she wanted to keep this all as low-key as possible.
And sometimes it was easier to talk to people who didn’t know that much about your past. It did help that she’d told Olivia a bit about what had happened to Ryan, which may help her understand why she was reluctant yet also desperate to go on the date. ‘If you don’t mind, that may not be a bad idea. I’m driving myself mad with all my pros and cons as to what to do.’
‘Okay, shoot,’ Olivia said, crunching into an apple she had grabbed from the fruit bowl on the coffee table.
‘It’s Logan.’
She smiled and raised an eyebrow. ‘Uh-huh? What about him?’
‘He’s asked me out for a drink.’
Olivia slapped her hand on her thigh. ‘Iknewit!’
‘Knew what?’ said a confused Kitty. ‘I don’t think you were in much of a state to notice anything last night.’
Olivia squealed. ‘Not last night, though park that for a minute, we’ll come back to that. I mean, I knew something was going on.’
‘Olivia, nothing has beengoing on,’ insisted Kitty, her voice going up a pitch.
‘I think you’re protesting a bit much. I could tell that sparks were flying between you at the falls that day. Then yesterday — well, my friend, you could practically slice the sexual tension between you with a knife. It’s just a shame that Sara fell over and hurt her ankle. Otherwise you could have had your first kiss at the top of Goatfell.’ She beamed, clearly pleased that she had seen what Kitty had been desperately trying to ignore.
‘Hardly,’ said Kitty. ‘I’m not saying that there wasn’t perhaps a wee frisson ofsomethingthat first day. But I really tried to pull back.’
