‘Was I supposed to just stay here my whole life?’
‘It wasn’t a dig,’ he tried desperately. Again, her thumb clawed over the side of her knuckle, and his jaw clenched as he resisted stopping her a second time. ‘I’m just saying that your dad probably feels that way, that’s all. I know I did when Martha went. It’s not to say I blamed her. If anything, your dad should be thrilled you’re getting out, living your life the way you are.’
She scowled down at her fidgeting hands. They crested over the river onto Bridge Walk, the nearing shops offering him an apt way of changing the subject. ‘So, where will our strawberry invasion begin?’
‘I’ll start at the tearoom. And it’s notourinvasion. It’s mine. You can go. Do whatever you came here to do.’
He tutted, parking the car on the narrow side street between the post office and tavern. ‘I said I’d help you, Little Rae. Besides, you’ve already proven you need a second pair of hands.’
She unfastened her seatbelt and finally looked at him. She was still stormy, but curious, too. ‘You didn’t actually have errands to run, did you?’
He was unable to contain his lopsided grin. ‘Please. Like I’d make up an excuse to hang out with you. What do you take me for, some lonely dweeb?’
‘Well, actually…’
‘All this fame and success really have gone to your head, I see. I’m going to have to start calling you Big-headed Rae instead.’
The corner of her mouth tugged playfully. ‘If you’re jealous, you can just say so.’
‘Me, jealous? Of you, with your fancy job that lets you travel across the globe and appear on TV?’ He pretended to think about it. ‘No, thanks. Sounds absolutely terrible.’
The laugh she let out was worth the jabs, nose scrunching as she nudged him. ‘Shut up and help me with the strawberries, Nevis.’
‘Yes, chef,’ he drawled, and did just that.
8
‘Ohhhhh no,’ Rae breathed as she caught sight of the dark-haired bloke behind the tearoom counter, sporting what could only be described as aPeaky Blindershaircut. She hadn’t considered that Colin might still work for his mum, though she should have. She backed behind Struan’s tall frame, which would have been an excellent hiding spot if he hadn’t turned around in confusion.
‘Rae?’
‘Hm?’ Rae tried to act nonchalant, scanning the array of fresh sandwiches in the mini refrigerator.
‘What are you doing?’
She ducked lower, though it was pointless. At least half of the customers seated around the round tables could see her perfectly. She was being silly, anyway. She hadn’t seen Colin in a decade. He probably didn’t even remember her…orthe vomit she’d left all over his bedsheets the night of prom.
‘Nothing. Just perusing.’
‘Well, you might have toperusequicker if you want to get around all of the shops today.’
In hindsight, she wasn’t sure why she’d been so attracted to Colin. In fact, she wasn’t sure she had been. Everybody else had a prom date,and he’d been pleasant enough for her to pretend that she was experiencing the same life-altering fuzzy feelings as Martha had for her first girlfriend, Cam, who had been Rae’s friend first. She’d hated to feel left out, especially when Gran had started labelling her a late bloomer, so she’d glugged Martha’s contraband rosé in the girl’s toilets and let Colin take her home, determined to lose her virginity before she went off to uni.
Only, she couldn’t hold her liquor, so it didn’t work out quite like that.
She trailed towards the counter behind Struan, tucking an errant strand of hair behind her ear. ‘Maybe we should rehearse a sales pitch or something. And I should probably fix my hair first.’
‘Your hair’s fine. Between your natural beauty and my dazzling wit, we’ve got this in the bag,’ Struan assured.
Rae flushed. She didn’tfeellike a natural beauty, especially not after the underwear incident this morning. If Struan hadn’t thought of her as Martha’s dopey tag-along before, he surely did now.
She didn’t have time to formulate a reply. They’d reached the front of the queue, and Struan was already setting down the small pot of jam. ‘What you see here, Colin, is the closest thing us mere mortals can get to the genuinefood of the gods. We come here today to share this sweet, sweet ambrosia with the world.’
‘Good morning to you, too, Gibbs,’ said Colin with raised brows, wiping his hands down on a cloth. Rae’d forgotten that Struan had pushed for a non-height-related nickname, insisting a shortened version of his surname was far cooler than his ‘old man’ name. ‘Have you been out on the pish?’
‘I can see why you would think that, but no.’
It shouldn’t have been attractive, that playful way of his, but his commitment to the cause was certainly a pleasant change from working among people who had no time to laugh, never mind put on an elaborate pantomime, all to sell a few jars of jam. Had he always been funny? Maybe. She remembered Martha complaining about his shite jokes, and Rae trying to hold in her amusement in solidarity, but he’d been all sarcasm and dryness then. Now, it was like he struggled to take anything seriously at all. Everything was a game to him, but he invited them all in as players.
