Page 20 of Snowy Surprises in the Highlands

She smiled briefly. ‘Well, I’m afraid I’d need to check my diary. Lots of work coming in just now.’

He pouted. ‘Awww, that’s a shame. Great for you, obviously, but a shame for me. I’m considering offering on a property I’ve visited in Portree, you see. It’s such a quaint little place, don’t you think?’ He didn’t wait for her to answer. ‘I was hoping you’d come and decorate once they accept my offer.’

She continued walking around the room, looking for things that needed to be added to her list. ‘You’ll need to check with me once you’ve found a place,’ she said as dismissively as she could without verging on disrespectful – he was her boss, after all, for now at least.

‘I’ll be sure to do that. Are you gonna be working on the rest of the bedrooms next? I’m presuming you can now that the drywall is installed.’

She nodded. ‘Yes, that’s the plan.’

His smile widened. ‘Okay, great. I’ll need to meet with you to go over the plans again. It’s a while since I saw them and I want to make sure the bedrooms are especially good,’ he said with a small smile and a distinct twinkle in his eye. ‘I’ll call you later in the week and we can synchronise diaries.’ And with that he turned and left the room.

Bella breathed a sigh of relief. What was it about her that made her attract self-centred, egotistical arseholes? She was so glad that Harris was nothing at all like Carlton or the Kerr MacBain of old. At least Olivia’s brother had somewhat turned his life around and realised the error of his ways. Yes, she decided, Harris was the best man for her in every possible way, and she was lucky to have him.

* * *

Later that day, when she arrived home, Bella was greeted by Bertie, his tail wagging like an aeroplane propeller and his funny high-pitched yips that had only deepened slightly as he got older. She half expected him to take off, he was so excited to see her. He ran away and brought her his tatty rabbit soft toy, something he had started to do when he was having big feelings. It was so cute.

‘Hey, boy, have you missed me?’ she asked as she crouched before the bundle of fluff. He continued to wag his whole body as she stroked his fur.

‘Hey, sweetheart, had a good day?’ Harris asked as he walked through to the hallway to join the welcome party. He was drying his hands on a towel which he flung onto his shoulder once he was done.

She thought back to Carlton and his persistence but said nothing about it to Harris and instead nodded and smiled. ‘Yes, busy but the place is looking wonderful.’

He leaned close and kissed her. ‘I can’t wait to see it when it’s all done. And the owner’s son, is he happy with it all?’

Again, she nodded and forced a smile. ‘He seems to be, yes.’

‘Good, good. We’ve had some more RSVPs in the post, which is great. It’s all coming together.’ When Bella didn’t reply, Harris narrowed his eyes. ‘Is everything okay? You seem a little off.’

She brightened her smile. ‘Oh, sorry, yes, I’m just a bit wiped out, that’s all. Maybe I’m coming down with something.’

He slipped his arms around her and pulled her close. ‘Let’s hope not, you’re heading over to Drumblair tomorrow.’

Bella had almost forgotten about her planned trip to see Olivia and to try on her wedding dress for the first time. Being reminded of this lifted her spirits. ‘I’m sure I’ll be fine after a good night’s rest.’

‘Well, come and sit down. Dinner’s ready. I’ve made my lasagne for you because I know how much you love it.’

He was so incredibly wonderful, and she loved coming home when he’d been off work. He always cooked for her and made sure she knew how proud he was of her.

‘Oh, lovely, thank you. I’ll just nip upstairs and get changed.’

Harris pulled the towel from his shoulder and said, ‘Don’t be long, I’ll get the food served up.’

Bella made her way upstairs and changed into yoga pants and a long-sleeved T-shirt. She stared at herself in the full-length mirror in the bedroom and almost didn’t recognise the body she saw there. She really had changed physically since moving to Skye and was losing weight, not intentionally – she had always accepted her curves as part of herself – but simply due to the rushing around she was doing for the several jobs she insisted on working on concurrently; at first she couldn’t see it even though her granny pointed it out frequently and with concern. The conversations were tattooed onto Bella’s brain…

* * *

‘In spite of what you read on the interwebs, men don’t like skeletons, Arabella. They like a girl with shape. If you’re not careful, you’ll end up looking like one of those girls with anaphylaxis.’

Bella frowned. ‘I think you mean anorexia.’

Isla curled her lip. ‘Anna who?’ She waved a hand in annoyance. ‘Ugh, never mind, I have no idea who she is or how thin she is, but you don’t want to be trying to look like her, take my word for it, hen. In fact, I heard a song the other day on a tick tack toe video about big butts. They’re all the rage now, you know. People are getting those Brazilian butt lifts, so their bums are bigger, and here you are losing yours. I mean, look at that Jenny from the block woman. And that Nicki Minger. Men love them and they’ve both got vera ample posteriors.’

‘Minaj, Granny, it’s Nicki Minaj.’

‘Aye, that’s what a said. You’ll be needing one of those bum transplants if you’re not careful.’ Images of surgeons harvesting people’s bottoms from one person to implant in another sprang to Bella’s mind and she scrunched her face at the unpleasant thought. When Bella said nothing, Isla sighed. ‘You look better with some meat on your bones, that’s all I’m saying, hen.’

Bella forwent the explanation of her grandmother’s multi-faceted error this time. ‘Granny, I can assure you, with all confidence, that I won’t be having buttock implants… any time soon. Or ever, in fact! And I’m not losing weight on purpose. It’s just that I’m so busy,’ she insisted.