Page 30 of A Scottish Country Escape

Cate wrapped it in a sheet of silver paper and topped it off with a froth of black bow. I smiled in admiration as her fingers danced over the paper, arranging and folding. ‘You can tell you’re an artist,’ I said, once the couple had offered their thanks and disappeared up the street.

‘Hopefully not a con artist or even a piss artist.’

I laughed while she leant on the counter, her uninhibited curls bouncing against her black, clear skin, and cream V-neck top.

Cate rested her jewelled hand against her chin. ‘Do you know, I could be sitting at home right now, finishing a jade pendant from eye pins.’

I made a snorting noise. ‘I’ve got no idea what that means, but I’m sorry.’

She dismissed my apology. ‘No, don’t be. Look what I would have missed out on otherwise. And it’s good to get a break from copper wire and seed beads anyway.’ She surveyed me with her chocolate eyes. ‘You’re not here, Elle. I don’t know where you are, but you sure ain’t here.’

I blushed and examined my glittery trainers.

‘Well, that’s not exactly true,’ she carried on. ‘I think I do know where you are.’

Cate rubbed at her nose. ‘Your thoughts right now are scattered between your parents, Clara, Linda Carlucci, this place, and that crime writer.’

At the mention of Dexter, I felt my cheeks flare and hoped Cate hadn’t noticed.

‘Not to mention the nature reserve,’ said Cate, squinting from under her plucked brows. She observed my jaw clenching.

‘I can’t let the reserve go under. I just can’t.’

Cate’s eyes softened further. ‘Look, Elle, I’m not trying to tell you how to feel or what to do. You and Clara have been through so much recently.’

‘But?’

She reached across and took my hand in hers. ‘But you can’t take on everybody else’s problems. I get that you want to be busy and I get that you want to make Paper Roses successful, but I should point out that you don’t wear your knickers over your trousers.’

‘Only at weekends.’

A smile flashed across her face. ‘I’m being serious. I don’t want you taking on too much.’

I reached up to a stray hair and secured it back. ‘I understand what you’re saying, Cate, but the Dexter thing and now this Adam Fraser’s reaction when I told him who I was…’ I shrugged. ‘You should have seen Gran this morning. She wasn’t herself.’

‘Well, that’s understandable. Plus, she will be trying to look out for you.’

Frustration reared up inside of me. Of course my gran was distraught. She was doing all she could to get on with things, just like I was.

But every time we approached Pebble Brook, when just the two of us were rolling around inside that big, old converted mill with its achy smiling beams and rustic aura, the enormity of losing both my parents so suddenly and so tragically would descend like a heavy black cloak that I couldn’t remove.

Gran’s shoulders would drop, her mouth would turn down, and she would wear her grief like a mask.

Cate’s words pulled me back. ‘And you don’t know what connection this Adam Fraser has to your gran?’

‘None. He wasn’t prepared to say and neither was she. At least, not yet.’

I listened while Cate advised me to leave things be. ‘Let Dexter sort things out on his own.’

I didn’t say anything. How could I? I had promised Gran.

She folded her arms. ‘For a moment there you had me worried. I was starting to wonder if you actually believed all that crap about a curse!’ She delivered a bright-white smile and I arranged my features into an as if! face.

Since Dexter Grayling had arrived, it was like a giant box of secrets had burst open and people around here were frantically scrabbling around, trying to stuff the contents back in again.

Right now, I wasn’t sure of very much at all.

But what I did know was that I was even more determined to speak to Adam Fraser again – this time, face to face. I had to know what was going on – and what my gran wasn’t telling me.