Luna doesn’t seem to notice, though. She wouldn’t, since she doesn’t know the history here. “If you think Mom would like it, I mean. I think she would.”
“Mom would love it,” I agree. “We could go on the way home from the airport.”
Luna’s nodding, like this was her thought all along. “Besides, it’ll help them stay awake while they adjust to the time zone. So we’re decided?”
I nod while my sister takes her empty plate to the sink.
“I’ll go tell everyone. We should probably leave in fifteen minutes.”
“Great,” I call after her, my mouth full of food. She leaves me behind with Jean and Don and a silence that stretches awkwardly. My toast is nearly gone, so I scoop another bite of yogurt and try to eat fast.
Don leans closer to Jean and says something quietly. She responds, equally quietly, and they carry on a conversation I am clearly not part of. I have no idea what they’re saying, and that’s obviously the intention. I would like to be anywhere in this house but here right now, including the room upstairs wherePoppy is screaming at her parents, probably because she hates getting dressed.
Jean clears her throat. “We won’t be going to Inverness.”
“Oh, of course not. It’s such a drive.” I’m kind of wondering if she thinks our entire group will drive all the way out there to pick up my parents, but she can’t really think we’d waste so much gas, right? It would be better for Luna and me to pick up Mom and Dad and everyone else can meet us at the market.
“So we’ll catch up later,” Jean says, rising from the table.
“If you choose to go to that Christmas market with us, Gavin can let you know when we?—”
“I don’t think it’ll work out today,” Jean says. “But thank you.”
It takes all my patience to nod and say nothing more. This isn’t my fight. It’s not my place to step in and point out how I think they should be giving their son more attention, and it’sdefinitelynot my place to ask why they can disappear for so long, then show up and not even spend quality time here.
There must be more to the story than I know. It’s better to believe that than to accept they’re terrible parents.
I push away from the table and carry my plate to the sink to wash. “Well, have a good day. I better finish getting ready.”
“Bye, Callie,” Don says.
I’m entirely ready, but I can’t stay in this room any longer. When I leave the kitchen, Gavin is coming down the stairs with Rhys.
“Has Luna shared the plans?” I ask.
Rhys types into his phone, then slides it into his pocket. “You’re going to pick up Mum and Dad, and we’ll all meet you at the market.”
Gavin glances at his phone before sliding it into his pocket. “Would you like me to drive you?”
“You don’t need to do that, mate,” Rhys says. “Luna plans to take our car.”
“Won’t you need it to fit the bairns?”
Rhys rubs a hand over his jaw. He glances outside through the window, where the blue sky peeks through between white clouds. Snow covers every surface, melting from the trees and dripping in puddles on the ground. “If they could borrow a car, that would be grand.”
“Aye, they can.” Gavin looks at me. “Take your pick.”
Can I have the tall one with blue eyes and a killer smile? I pass the men to go for my thick sweater and pull it on, then fluff out my hair. That would make me sound crazy, so I smile and say, “Whichever one you won’t be using.”
Luna drivesGavin’s green sedan through small, winding roads toward the Inverness airport. The ride passes fairly quickly while we catch up on everything that has been going on in Snowshill and the recent developments with Rhys’s new chef at the pub—a cousin of their friend Flo, apparently, who moved to town and needed a job.
“It’s nice having him home in the evening more often, especially now that we have Oliver,” Luna says.
“That’s romantic. When do you film for your channel?”
“When I find time. It’s been easier to have a routine since we moved into that cottage next to the pub.” She shrugs. “But we still spend a lot of time in The Wild Hare. Handing over any control has been harder for Rhys than he let on. He loves Nikki, but the pub is his baby.”
“I know how much you both love that place.” I take another sip of water.
