Page 41 of The Cottage in the Highlands

“And I don’t want my personal business being spread around Silver Ness, thank you very much. I’ve told you in confidence. Well, you literally forced it out of me,”

I tried not to smile. “You have my word that I won’t tell anyone.”

“Good.”

I glanced around, admiring a vase of pretty white lilies on her kitchen windowsill. “How do you manage here on your own?”

“Perfectly well, thank you,” she clipped. “They’ll have to carry me out of here feet first. I’m not going anywhere.” A softer look settled across her face for a few seconds. “This is my home. I belong right here. I always have done.” Then she whipped her attention back to me, her tone more officious again.

“Right, young lady, I’ve confided in you about my minor health issue, so what about you?”

Minor? I thought. I was going to debate the point with her, but decided not to. I probably wouldn’t win anyway. I sighed. “Where do you want me to start?”

“At the beginning is always best.”

And so, before I could make a decision about what to tell her – or indeed how much to tell her – my concerns poured out of me in a torrent and I couldn’t find the barrier. “The newspaper I’ve been working on for the past two years is being amalgamated and I’ve been made redundant. I’ve got another job in journalism, but it’s on this intimidating magazine and I’ve been made the beauty writer, which is not what I wanted to do.”

I paused, drawing a ragged breath, while Lily poured a stream of tea into two mugs and listened. “It turns out that the investigative reporter post – that’s the one I applied for – has gone to the editor’s niece.”

Lily still didn’t make any comment. She flicked me an unreadable expression.

“And I’ve just seen a photo of my ex-boyfriend in a media magazine and he’s just got engaged to this gorgeous TV reporter.” I let my hands flail about in frustration. “He’s head of news at a TV station in England.” A dry laugh escaped out of my throat. “Whenever I used to hint about us getting engaged, he would come out with a stream of excuses. He was happy enough for us to live together a lot of the time, but didn’t want to commit himself. We only broke up earlier this year, so he hasn’t wasted any time moving on.”

I threw my head back, examining her painted ceiling. The pattern reminded me of whipped cream. “What with losing a job that I love, taking another one I’m not sure about, and then discovering my ex is getting married, life is pretty grotty at the moment.”

She got up and fetched a saucer of water for Harley. She eased herself back into the wooden chair opposite. “I can’t comment much on your job situation, but regarding your ex-boyfriend… sounds to me like you dodged a bullet there. I bet he’s a right dick.”

It was like hearing your grandmother reciting gangsta rap. I almost spluttered my mouthful of tea across the kitchen. I swallowed and set my mug back down. “Er, yes. It turns out he was.”

“Well then,” shrugged Lily. “He’s someone else’s problem now. Good luck to her. Sounds like she’ll need it.”

For something to do, I picked up my mug of tea again. I realised I was smiling against the rim. I took another mouthful.

“And the job problem?” she asked. “What’s the issue there? Didn’t you just say you’ve got employment elsewhere now?”

I drummed my fingers against the side of my mug. “Yes, but I was getting desperate. I applied for a few other jobs and was getting nowhere. Then I read about this investigative reporter vacancy at Goddess magazine. I applied for the job, but got offered the beauty writer post instead.”

Lily’s thin brows flexed, encouraging me to elaborate.

I let out a resigned sigh. “I’ve been landed with this difficult feature. I have to come up with this amazing beauty piece, featuring three of the UK’s most successful models, for Avanti cosmetics.” I rolled my eyes as I bent down to stroke Harley’s dozing head. “Every suggestion I’ve made so far has been treated with disdain by my new boss.”

“Like what?”

“Staging it in a train station, a hotel lobby, or on Silver Ness beach.”

Lily’s deep-set eyes bored into my crestfallen face. “She sounds like a right madam.”

I almost spluttered my tea again with the irony. I wanted to say, “It takes one to know one,” but seeing as I’d been caught in the garden at Merry Wood and Harley had damaged part of the fence, I didn’t think I was in a position to take the high ground on anything.

Looking at Lily now, however, and listening to her no-nonsense approach, I was sure she would give Athena a run for her money in the assertiveness department.

“Do you know what I think?” she asked at length.

“What?”

She pushed her back deeper against her chair. “Give it time with this niece of hers. She’s bound to trip over her own feet at some point and make a right cock-up of things.”

I nodded and cradled the warm mug between my grateful fingers. My attention shifted out of Lily’s kitchen window towards Merry Wood, where its roof was swallowing the sun and becoming a dark silhouette against the trees.