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“It needs be somewhere desolate and quiet, without so many storms.”
Zach said, “Look, I’m sorry, don’t worry about it. We’ll figure something out. I’ll call Hayley, we’ll brainstorm again. I’ve got this.”
“We’ll try to get back in one week — with Quentin.”
“In time for Christmas, sounds great.”
Zach hung up.
I looked over at Magnus.
“Zach is upset about having to move.”
“I daena blame him.”
“Yeah, me neither.”
None of this was optimal, but though we had been planning, ready to go, aware that it was coming, it was still shocking that here we were — found. Suddenly we had to go. Right now.
An hour into the ride, Magnus asleep, an Ed Sheeran song came on the radio. I cranked it up, because I was bored and sang, loudly. Magnus opened one eye. I turned and sang dramatically, directly to him, emoting, wailing. He smiled and watched me for a moment.
“What is this then?”
“This is one of the songs Emma snuck onto the playlist last night, I danced to it with Hayley, sing with me. Listen to the words. It’s talking about weddings and love and how beautiful she is...” I tapped on the dashboard during the music, then pointed at him when the chorus started. I sang and Magnus sang some of the words, watching me for cues to them. The song wound down. I tapped Spotify and Bluetooth on my phone and pulled it up again. “Again!”
We both started singing, I was belting out, Magnus a beat behind for the words. “Okay, chorus again, do this with your hands.” I reached out and pulled the air and clutched it to my chest while I got all emotional to the song and then looked over as Magnus grinned watching me.
I smiled, “You sing it to me.” He sang the chorus, deep baritone and vibrating sexy yum.
“Whoa, that was... awesome. I really like your singing voice. You can do that anytime.”
“Thank ye, I like singin’ on how beautiful ye were on our wedding day.”
I blushed. “That seems like a long time ago.”
“Twas only yesterday when I watched ye walk down the aisle, tis still fresh in my eye and my heart.” Then he joked, “The song was almost as good as the songs back home.” He began to sing. “I heard the liltin’, at the yowe-milking, the lassies a-lilting afore the dawn o' day; but now they are moaning on ilka green loanin’, the Flowers of the Forest are a' wede away.”
“What is that one about?”
“The battle of Flodden, a verra long time ago, and the men haena returned from the war.”
“A tragedy, we have to be dramatic for it, sing more.”
Magnus sang, “We'll hae nae mair liltin’ at the ewe-milkin’, the women and bairns are dowie and wae. Sighin’ and moaning, on ilka green loanin’, the Flowers of the forest are all wede away.”
“That’s beautiful.”
“Aye. But do yours once again, m’fair lassie, I have a need for the loud music of the time tae keep my mind off the comin’ storms.”
I picked up my phone to push play again. “That’s actually a great way to describe rock and roll.” And we sang.
22 - KAITLYN
Ipulled the Mustang down a dirt road that wasn’t marked. It had a decrepit mailbox and a broken-down rusted gate. The gate didn’t do anything but pretend to be a gate, sort of, just by looking like one. Magnus jumped out of the car, swung it open. I drove through, and he closed the gate across the road behind me.
The dirt road was super muddy because of the storms yesterday. I drove around the deeper puddles spraying mud behind the wheels, unsure if the Mustang would get stuck. Our car would need a really good washing when we got back. The tires slid a bit on a wet patch. “Come on come on come on.” I did not want to deal with a car stuck in mud while wearing all of these layers of woolen clothes. Plus it was growing dark out here on this dirt road in the woods near sunset.
We finally made it to the small grassy slope near the small dock at the edge of the freshwater spring. We parked our car to the side of the clearing under some trees.
