“Of course.” I find the picture and put it into a new message, then hand him the phone so he can put in his phone number.
“You have to come see this!” Luna yells from the open doorway.
I lift my hand and give her a thumbs up. “On our way!”
Gavin hands back my phone and we start toward the castle, our feet getting lost in the snow as we walk across the field.
I inhale the cold, sharp air. “Thanks for that.”
He looks at me, his blue eyes saying something I can’t quite read. If I wasreallyreaching, I’d imagine they were telling me he has feelings for me and doesn’t want me to leave Scotland, that he wants to see where things could go and also we should make out. But I’m probably layering in my own desires there.
He just says, “Of course, Callie. This is what mates are for.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
GAVIN
Spoiler alert:I don’t want to be just mates with Callie. I want to be more. I want to take her behind the stone doorway into what’s left of the shadowed tower and kiss her senseless. The overwhelming look of gratitude on her face when I taught her a simple Gaelic phrase was almost too much right there.
But I’m glad I contained myself, or her sister would have had a front row seat to my lack of self control.
“How do you get anything done living here?” Tom asks, looking over the valley to Glenbruar below.
“I don’t come up here very often,” I tell him. What do Americans think we do all day, roam the moors in our kilts while herding our Highland coos and admiring the views?
Luna nods. I wonder how many of these questions she had to field when she first took her parents to the Cotswolds, where she now lives with Rhys. “Can we see your house from here?”
I locate the house and barn, Patty’s ahead and Donald’s beyond. There are too many trees to really see them, but I point out the general area. “It’s on the far side there. If you look closer, my Granny and Grandad live on this side of town in thewhite house there, and they have a good view of the castle most of the year. When the skies are clear.”
“So not most of the year?” Tom jokes.
“They don’t live very far,” Callie says. “We can drop in and see if they’d like to come decorate those gingerbread houses tonight.”
“They’d love to meet you,” I tell Mr. and Mrs. Winter.
“We can invite your parents, too,” Mrs. Winter says.
“Oh, they’re staying with us,” Luna says. “I think they were sleeping late this morning.”
“They might have gone out for coffee.” Callie tucks her hair behind her ear. “They like going out for it more than the homemade stuff.”
It’s sweet of her to come up with reasonable excuses, but I know my mum is probably anxious about meeting more new people and making herself scarce. Again, why she’s chosen to stay with me is a complete and utter mystery. It doesn’t make sense.
We climb down the hill again, and I take a few pictures of the Winter family with the castle in the background. “I wish Rhys and Oliver were here,” Mrs. Winter says. “These aren’t complete without them.”
“We could coordinate better and come back.” Luna looks as though her mind is turning. “Get a good family photo.”
“Yes. Let’s plan it,” Callie agrees.
Granny won’t mind the drop-in visit, so we leave the castle and head straight to her house. I pull up the lane and park behind her blue car, then kill the engine. The whitewashed stone house looks the same as it always does, a green wreath hanging on the door, but something is off.
I scan the lane and mossy stone wall lining the property between Granny’s house and the neighbor’s, but can’t put my finger on it.
We climb out of the car and start toward the house when thedoor swings open. Granny stands there, a smile spreading over her lips. Her white hair falls just past her shoulders and she’s wearing reading glasses on a chain around her neck. “This is a pleasant surprise.”
“Hiya, Granny. We’ve brought Mr. and Mrs. Winter to meet you.”
“Come in.” She gestures us all in, her chunky jumper swallowing her thin frame.
