‘Tea and sandwiches,’ Ally said, quick as a flash. ‘And some of Senga Gifford’s drop scones.’
This piqued his interest. ‘Senga fi the repair shop café?’
‘That’s right.’ So the woman’s baking really was famed the whole park over? Wait until she tells the old crow about this; her head will swell even bigger.
Ally was already untying the drawstrings on Jamie’s backpack and pulling out the plastic tub Senga had forced upon her this morning, saying Jamie would need sustenance if he was hillwalking. She’d been positively starstruck at the thought that the local hero might be saved from starvation and exposure by her baking.
Finlay looked at the pack with furtive interest, like a squirrel sniffing out nuts.
‘Would you like one?’ Ally shoved the tub closer.
‘I couldnae…’ Finlay began, but as Ally stripped the plastic lid off, revealing the golden discs, he weakened.
He reached for one. Immediately biting into it, taking a moment to look at it in his hand as he chewed.
‘Nice, right?’ said Ally.
This was enough to draw him back to his job.
‘Get that back in his backpack,’ he snapped, gesturing to the box of drop scones. ‘If you stumble, you need your hands free to catch yourself. Ever had a broken wrist on a mountainside? Nae fun.’
‘Oh! Right.’ She quickly obeyed and packed their provisions away.
Jamie hoofed the bag higher onto his shoulders and clipped the support straps across his chest. ‘Well, it was nice to meet you. I think we’re ready for our wee daunder now, up to the picnic stop.’
‘A daunder?’ echoed Finlay. ‘A daunder!’ He shook his head at the audacity. ‘Be sure to keep an eye on the weather closing in. I’ll give it an hour before the cloud cover sinks doon upon us.’
‘Got it,’ said Jamie, chastened.
Finlay knew his warning hadn’t landed. ‘If I end up having to leave ma dinner and come oot to find yous pair after dark with one of yur legs snapped in twain, you’ll be mair feared o’ me than any doctor wi’ a stookie!’
‘Um?’ Jamie looked to Ally in confusion.
‘Thanks for the advice,’ Ally told the exasperated ranger. ‘I promise we’ll be safe.’
Yet the man still wasn’t convinced. ‘You’ve your phones charged fully?’
‘Yes,’ Ally and Jamie answered as one.
‘Well, turn one off for now. Nae point draining twa at the same time. There’s no telling when you’ll need to ring rescue services.’
‘Good point.’ Ally dived into her trouser pocket and swiped her phone off.
Observing them with world-weary derision, Finlay tapped at his temple before turning the same finger on the walkers. ‘Stay alert.’
‘Wow,’ Ally whispered as the ranger went on his way. ‘Didn’t know we’d meet the man who owned the actual mountains!’
Jamie laughed as they moved up the path once more and it felt good and conspiratorial, but that deep seed of sympathy planted in him as a kid was still present.
‘I’ll bet he’s seen some awful things out here. He’s probably scared to bits every time he sees a bunch of people messing about on the hills like it’s a day at a theme park.’
They were so close to accessing the mountain pass, Ally felt the air change. She didn’t know if it was the altitude, or the draw of the granite, or this guy always thinking with his heart that was doing it.
‘That’s fair. So many people have got on the mountain and never made it down again.’ She shivered like she always did when she thought of the stories, impressed in her all her life, about tragic school and scout groups, lone hikers and lost children. They’d put the fear of the mountains into her and it had never left. ‘But does he have to be quite so dramatic?’
This raised another gentle laugh.
‘Did you grow up scrambling these paths?’ Jamie was growing a little breathless. Ally was glad to know it wasn’t just her finding it harder going the higher they ascended.
