Page 45 of A Scottish Country Escape

Gran looked appalled. ‘Goodness me, no! Lorenzo was part of my past. I didn’t see any reason to mention it or drag it all up again. What would that have achieved?’

I studied her. ‘Why did you want me to hear it from Adam Fraser?’

My grandmother’s smoky-grey eyes now glittered with resentment. ‘I wanted him to admit to his behaviour, although I wasn’t at all surprised when you told me it was his neighbour who revealed everything in the end.’ She sniffed. ‘Even now, after all these years, he still can’t face up to playing his part in the Carluccis leaving Fir Haven.’ She eyed me with unease. ‘It was a terrible thing. It wasn’t just Lorenzo who upped and left. His sisters, Marina and Lena, ended up leaving too, along with their parents.’

I frowned at her. ‘Lena?’

‘That’s Linda’s real name. Lorenzo once commented that she was never keen on Lena. Apparently it had been her grandmother’s suggestion when she was born, but she never liked it.’ She took a longer sip of her hot chocolate. ‘This might be a small and picturesque little town, but it has more than its fair share of skeletons, I can tell you.’

I paused, letting everything she had just told me settle between us. All these romances, intertwined like fine ribbon. ‘It wasn’t just you who fell in love with one of the Carluccis, Gran.’

She blinked across the breakfast bar at me. ‘What do you mean?’

‘Robert Masters told Dexter and me that he was in love with Marina.’

Her clear grey eyes popped. ‘As in the former provost, Robert Masters?’

‘Yes. It sounds like very few people knew about him and Marina either,’ I confided.

Grandma’s mug paused half way to her lips. ‘Well, I never! Robert Masters is a surprise. I didn’t think the likes of him lost his heart to anyone. He always came across as a bit buttoned-up. If Lorenzo knew about it, he never said anything.’

Her manicured brows climbed upwards.

Gran folded her freckled arms and leant on the edge of the breakfast bar. We both glanced around, still expecting my mum and dad to stroll in at any moment.

Dad would have peered over my shoulder at the pastel-coloured marshmallows in my hot chocolate and pinched one, while Mum would have tutted at him and bundled me into her arms. She always smelt of Coco Mademoiselle.

I arranged my lips into a forced smile and pushed my memories back into the corners of my mind.

I climbed off my stool and padded over the laminated flooring in my bare feet to tug down the beige hessian blinds. The spotlights under the kitchen cupboards, which Dad had fitted, shone out, highlighting his and Mum’s favourite mugs, still swinging from the mug tree. Resentment burrowed in my chest. Tonight was not a good one. I was in danger of wailing in grief.

I rubbed at my gritty eyes and sank back down onto my stool.

‘Are you all right, darling?’

I nodded at my concerned grandmother. ‘I’m fine, thanks. I’m just a bit washed-out after today.’

I drained the dregs of my hot chocolate and moved around to collect her empty mug. She rubbed at my arms and I planted an affectionate kiss on the top of her head. ‘More importantly, how are you?’

‘I’m OK if you are.’

We were both doing our best to be strong and stoical for each other.

‘If you don’t mind, Gran, I think I’ll go to bed now.’

‘You and I both.’

I rinsed out the cups, losing myself for a moment in the warm sensation of the tap water sliding over my hands.

‘And what about Dexter?’

Her unexpected question made me whirl round, splashing the front of my pyjamas. ‘Bugger! Sorry. What about him?’

‘He’s very handsome. Quite the bon viveur, if the papers are to be believed.’

I turned away so she couldn’t see the guilty colour blooming in my face and loaded the mugs into the top rung of the dishwasher. ‘I suppose he is, but there’s no need to worry on that score, Gran. After what happened with Lloyd, I’m done with relationships. They never live up to expectations anyway.’

She propped one arm by the sink and reached out for the cluster of germini flowers in hot pinks that were thrusting out of a vase on the window sill. She stroked the soft daisy-like petals. ‘Your parents’ relationship did. You said yourself what a wonderful marriage they had.’