Page 27 of A Scottish Country Escape

‘Well at least you’re being honest,’ he answered wryly. ‘So, where do we start?’

‘I’ll talk to Gran and take it from there.’

‘So you do have a lead? What is it?’

‘My grandmother said she would have a chat with me now about something specific. I’ll call you back later, once we’ve talked.’

The sooner this ridiculous situation was resolved, the better. Then I might actually be able to concentrate on Paper Roses and fighting this awful nature reserve business.

I shoved my phone back into my bag ‘Thank you, lovey. You have no idea how much I appreciate what you’re doing.’

I pushed out a smile, despite my reservations. ‘Don’t worry, I’ll remind you often about how selfless I am.’

She indicated the two chairs behind the counter and we settled ourselves.

The shop was still empty, so Gran wasted no time in talking to me about Mrs Carlucci. ‘I didn’t want to rake over all this again, but it looks like I have no other choice.’

Her words vanished as the background music in the shop morphed into melodic panpipes.

‘Gran, you’re scaring me now.’

She shook her head. ‘There’s no need to worry. It’s my embarrassment, not yours.’

I leant forward and placed my mug beside me on the counter. ‘Whatever it is, just tell me. Please.’

Her beige-slicked eyelids flicked up to the ceiling, which was now dotted with circular white-gold spotlights. ‘You should speak to Adam Fraser,’ she managed after a few moments of contemplation.

‘Who is that?’

She swallowed and tilted up her chin. ‘Adam Fraser,’ she replied, her dusky voice cracking, ‘was… was someone from my past.’

Chapter Seventeen

I leant forward. ‘When was this? Is he connected to Linda Carlucci too?’

Grandma’s cheeks developed two strips of colour. ‘It’s all tied up in our younger years,’ she confessed. ‘It isn’t an era that I or a lot of my contemporaries in this town are very proud of, though.’

She hesitated and was about to carry on when two more of her book club friends bustled in. ‘Isabel! Dora!’

I watched her rise out of her chair and give me an apologetic smile, before embracing them both.

What did she mean by it all being connected to her youth in Fir Haven? Frustration niggled at me. Looked like I would have to quiz her about this former mystery man a little later.

* * *

The remainder of the day saw a visit from a reporter from our local newspaper, The Fir Haven Herald, who wanted to do a human interest write-up about Cassidy’s transforming into Paper Roses, the loss of my parents, me starting over the business, that kind of thing.

The photographer who accompanied the reporter took a few inside shots of Gran and me, before photographing the outside of the shop in all its new sugar-pink and white glory.

Mid-afternoon saw a flurry of schoolchildren, who must have heard about the novelty stationery sets I’d decided to stock and had decided to purchase them prior to the school summer holidays which were just about to begin.

I had spotted the novelty stationery while I was trawling ideas online and saw they consisted of fruit-scented pencils, pens, erasers, and rulers. The strawberry and watermelon designs were the most popular.

I snatched up my block of notepaper from the counter and scribbled a reminder to myself to order more.

My curiosity was firing on all cylinders and I was about to ask my grandmother again about this Adam Fraser character, seeing as there was another lull in customers, when she emerged from the kitchen.

It was almost five o’clock and the mid-June sunshine was becoming lazy, pushing its weary, dappled fingers through our bottle-glass windows. She already had her straw bag slung over one shoulder as she shrugged on her linen jacket.