‘What are you doing tomorrow?’ she bravely asked as they reached the door of the cottage.
‘I don’t have any firm plans yet,’ he said, his eyes crinkling in amusement.
‘I haven’t had a chance to see Fergus yet. Do you fancy coming to Lamlash with me and taking out a couple of kayaks?’
‘That sounds a perfect plan,’ he said.
‘I’ll text you in the morning and come and pick you up. And thank you for a lovely evening and making me feel at ease. I really enjoyed it.’
‘Anytime,’ he said, leaning towards her and kissing her cheek.
‘Goodnight, Logan,’ she said, watching him as he sauntered back down the path. Part of her wanted to call him back, so she could kiss him properly. Yet the other part of her wanted to make the most of this delicious early stage of getting to know him. But there was a niggle in her stomach, reminding her that she would need to tell him about Ryan. She just didn’t quite know how to.
Chapter Thirty-Two
Olivia was pleased to hear that Kitty’s evening with Logan had gone well, and that they were spending the day together before he left for his next tour.
She felt so much better after yesterday’s horrid hangover. She decided to have a more productive day and go for a run. After waving off Kitty, Olivia switched her old phone on briefly to remind herself of her email password. Although it pinged incessantly with texts and voicemails, she managed to ignore them. After reminding herself of the information she needed, she quickly switched it off. She knew she would need to log into her emails just to make sure there were no urgent work-related messages. Otherwise, she may well find herself unemployable when she did return home. Although it suddenly dawned on her that she had no idea where that was, now that her possessions were in storage and she had moved out of Patrick’s place.
Thinking about next steps was too much right now and she couldn’t bring herself to go there. She would ask Kitty if she could borrow her iPad later and log in to check her messages. There was no point in worrying about anything else at the moment. Pulling on her trainers, she lightly jogged on the spot and did a quick few stretches, reaching down to touch her toes. When the doorbell rang, she jerked upright and felt her blood run cold. Who could that be? Creeping to the lounge, she stood to the side and peered out one of the windows at the front. She relaxed when she saw who it was.
‘Hi, Amy,’ she said, opening the door.
‘Sorry, Olivia, is this a bad time? You look like you’re on your way out?’
‘I’m just going for a run. But it’s okay, there’s no hurry, come in. What’s up?’
Amy stepped inside and followed Olivia through to the lounge.
‘Well,’ she said, looking around the room. ‘I wondered if you might be able to help with something.’
Olivia gestured to her to sit down on one of the chairs. She sat down on the sofa.
‘Am I right in thinking that you’re a dancer? Or that you teach dance?’
‘Yes,’ said Olivia hesitantly. ‘How do you know that?’
‘I’m not quite sure,’ she said honestly. ‘I think you perhaps mentioned it. Or it might have been Kitty, or it could have been my boyfriend, James. He’s friends with Logan. Did you tell him?’
Olivia nodded, still unsure where this was leading.
‘Sorry, I’m totally digressing, my memory is brutal. Anyway, you know the Highland Games that are coming up? In August?’
Olivia nodded, intrigued to hear what she was going to say.
‘There’s always a dance competition for the kids — any kind of dance, by the way, it doesn’t have to be Highland dancing. It can be anything — ballet, hip-hop, tap, jazz, anything really,’ she added quickly. ‘The teacher who normally coaches the kids has been called away to the mainland suddenly. Her father has taken ill.’
Okay, now she had a sense of what Amy was about to ask, and she felt a rush of adrenaline.
‘I know it’s a big ask.Huge.But the kids will be so disappointed if they can’t take part. I was just at the post office this morning and heard a couple of parents in the queue talking about it. Apparently one of the wee girls cried herself to sleep last night, she was so sad at the thought they could no longer perform.’
Olivia felt goosebumps form on her arms as she thought about getting back into teaching again and encouraging these kids. ‘I would love to help,’ she said immediately.
Amy’s shoulders slumped in relief. ‘Oh, I’msooooooohappy you said that, Olivia. You’ll make their day. They’ll be delighted.’
‘Just tell me what I need to do,’ she said. ‘Should I talk to their teacher just in case there’s anything that she wants me to pick up on?’
‘Oh, would you? That would be brilliant. I’ll get hold of her number and pass it to you. From what I gather, the kids practice a couple of times a week in the village hall.’
