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After a couple of hours, Mull loomed into view and Calum followed the coast towards Tobermory. Rhona opened the door from the deck and threw herself onto the sofa bench with a low groan. Calum glanced over. Her face was pinched and drawn.
‘Is everything ok?’
‘We’ve got reception again.’ She grimaced at her phone. ‘About a hundred messages have come in from my mum and dad. They’re furious with you and want to know if I’m still alive.’
Calum huffed out a sigh. ‘No surprise then.’
‘What should I tell them?’ Rhona’s eyes pleaded with him.
What indeed? If they knew the truth, they’d be more than furious. They’d wrestle him from the boat, beat him with heavy objects, tie a weight to his leg and fling him off the harbour. Melodramatic maybe, but accurate as hell. ‘Say I took you to see an archaeological site or something. That’s what I told the coastguard.’ He stared forward. He’d known this couldn’t last but the truth plunged into his stomach like a shard of ice. They could never be anything without rupturing their families.
Rhona typed a message. ‘Ok, I’ll tell them that and say we’re almost back, so they can stop freaking out.’
Just over half an hour later, Calum steered the boat into the marina towards its berth. His blood ran cold. ‘Oh no.’ Standing quayside were Alister and Judy Lamond, arms folded, faces red. ‘Did you ask your parents to pick you up?’
‘No.’
‘Well, they’re here.’
‘What?’ Rhona jumped to her feet. ‘Oh my god, Calum. I’m sorry. I better get my stuff ready. They’ll want me to go with them straightaway.’ She ran from the cabin and thumped onto the deck. Calum navigated the boat in, doing his best not to make eye contact with the two people marching along the wooden jetty.
‘Fuck.’ He had to get out to secure the ropes. ‘This is just great.’ If only the sea would part and let him slip away.
As he left the cabin, he scanned down and caught Alister’s glower. Fury was etched into his brow. Judy was so like her daughter in looks, it was as if an older version of Rhona was frowning up at him, pursing her lips and giving him the evils. He bowed his head and went straight for the rope.
‘Where’s Rhona?’ Alister shouted.
Calum gripped the rope tightly; the fibres burned into his skin.Stay calm. For Christ’s sake, stay calm. For Rhona’s sake, keep calm.He leapt onto the jetty.Do not overreact or say anything stupid.Taking the rope’s coiled end, he wound it around the bollard. ‘She’s just coming.’ He didn’t look at them.
‘Why the hell did you think it was ok to take her to another island when a storm was forecast?’
Calum wound the rope carefully and slowly. ‘That’s not what happened.’ Blood rushed to his head.
‘Clearly it is. Either that or you didn’t check the forecast. Either way, it was a dreadful error of judgement. She could have died.’
‘There was no chance of that.’ The words snapped before Calum could stop them.
‘I don’t know what you did to her to make her go with you but if anything has happened to her, I will not rest until you’re rotting in a jail cell.’
‘Where you should have been for the last sixteen years,’ Judy said.
Calum kept his eyes low, beating down the boiling rage threatening to erupt.
‘Here she is.’ Judy pushed onto tiptoes. ‘Good god, are you all right?’
‘Of course I am.’ Rhona’s sweet voice placated the anger in Calum for a split second.
‘Thank god,’ muttered Alister. ‘And as for you.’ He waggled his finger.
Calum straightened up and met his glare.
‘Stay away from her if you know what’s good for you.’ He stalked off.
Judy thrust her arm around Rhona’s shoulder and dragged her away. Neither looked back. Calum jumped on the boat and descended below deck, sinking onto the bed. No surprise at the outcome.How could I have thought things would be different?With a huge effort he stood, bracing himself on the worktop. His lungs spasmed like they were filling with water. After such a wonderful twenty-four hours, now all he wanted to do was tie the anchor to his foot and jump overboard.
Chapter 17
Rhona
