Page 142 of A Smile in a Whisper

Smiling, Evie parked her forest green Ford Fiesta outside a two-story house with a sunny yellow door. “In a way we are, but snogging will have to wait.” She shut off the engine and unfastened her seatbelt. “First, we dine.”

“Eat? Here?” Freeing himself from his seatbelt, Nick peered beyond the mini orca dangling from the rear-view mirror. “Is this a dinner party?”

Evie swung open her door with nary a word.

Walking past a sign on the ground announcing HONESTY BOX, she led Nick through an opening in a waist-high dry stone dyke and into a small, grassy yard where an unattended yellow cupboard with a gray, peaked roof waited.

“Ahh! I’ve heard about these,” said Nick, spying the black heart hanging above the hut’s double doors with ‘open’ written in chalk. “Never visited one, though.”

“Get your wallet ready! Prepare to have your mind blown.” Evie promptly tugged the handles, revealing a multitude of homemade jam, chutney, and baked goods inside.

Nick leaned in with a gobsmacked grin. “Look at all this!” He perused the chalkboards affixed on the inside of both doors listing the day’s fresh offerings and their prices.

The premise was simple: treat yourself to rhubarb jam or brownie stars and leave money in the tin provided. The honesty boxes dotted around Orkney offered everything from eggs and home-grown produce to flowers and even handknit toy pigs. Most donated a portion of their proceeds to island charities.

Nick skipped over packages of tiffin as well as fatty cutties, both Orcadian home bakes that contained raisins or currants. Instead, he helped himself to a large loaf of lemon drizzle cake. He dug inside his jacket pocket and deposited the requested £7 in the tin.

“All these years…” She glanced up from his cake. “You’ve been missing out.”

“Too right. Time to make amends and apologize for being such an absent twat.”

Her eyes left his in haste, roaming over the jars and baked goods.

Oh shit. Does she think I’m being flippant about US?

Honesty might have been the day’s best policy, but Nick wasn’t ready to unpack everything just yet, not after the arduous twelve hours they’d both endured. This excursion was supposed to be a fun, stress-free breather. He cleared his throat, keen to lighten the mood again. “I should buy up the entire cupboard! So, whatcha fancy, then? Cake lollipops, maybe a scone? Pick a few things, Tigs. My treat.”

A smile warmed Evie’s face and a murmured “Thank you” flew from her lips. She selected a packet of vanilla tablet. Similar to fudge, the coarse, sugary confection came sliced into bite-sized cubes. Nick left an additional £5 note as payment and closed the cupboard’s doors. However, the sweet exchange didn’t temper their short walk back to the car, which fell silent with awkward unease.

Nick pulled his seatbelt across his chest as Evie clicked hers closed. “Where to next?” she asked, turning on the engine.

Yeah, where do we go from here? Whether Nick liked it or not, his glib remark had pried open the Pandora’s box of their relationship. He owed it to Evie and himself to salvage their evening. Snapping his seatbelt in place, he rescued his cake from the dash. “I meant it, you know.”

Fingers curling around the steering wheel, Evie stared ahead.

“I want to be honest and make amends for everything.”

Her chin dipped in a tentative nod. “Me too.”