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Chapter 30
Hayley squeezed her arm. “I didn’t mean to hog the limelight. Of course it’s your turn.”
Willow had gained some much-needed weight. I didn’t know how else to explain her demeanor except to say she seemed at peace. It was a subtle change, though an important one.
I lifted my voice in order to be heard in the noisy café. “Introduce him, Willow. Please.”
She took a breath. “This is Bryce, Laird McBrae. He lives in a castle. I love him.”
Bryce grinned, smoothing Willow’s hair behind her ear. “What she’s trying to say is that our relationship got off to a rocky start, but I won her over with an aging family legacy that’s a millstone around my neck.”
I lifted an eyebrow. “So two weddings on the way?”
Willow shook her head. “No big rush. Bryce has offered to fly my mother and any of you who want to come back over here to Scotland for a destination wedding.”
I stared at her in bemusement. Willow, the cynical, hard-working woman with the chip on her shoulder had met a Scottish laird and was going to get married and live in his castle. Maybe Outlander wasn’t so far-fetched after all.
And Hayley, bookish, earnest Hayley, who barely knew the difference between a pop fly and a home run, was going to marry an elite athlete and teach young children how to play soccer. Maybe I was dreaming.
The two couples began to discuss wedding details, unintentionally sidelining me for the moment. I excused myself and walked up to the counter to add something to my lunch order. It was a flimsy pretext. I needed a moment to breathe.
I was thrilled for my friends, truly I was, absolutely over the moon that this bucket list trip had turned out so well for them. Still, my wounded heart ached so badly, I rubbed my chest.
Had I made a mistake? Should I have stuck around and tried to convince Finley that my love for him was the real thing? That nothing in his past mattered if he and I could be together?
I felt my eyes get hot again. Blinking back the tears, I bit down hard on my bottom lip. There was no way in hell I was going to ruin this moment for my two friends. I had to suck it up and be a mature, rational woman. So what if I was hurting badly? I’d get over it. I always had before…
The clerk handed me my change.
“Since when do you take two sugars in your tea?”
The voice behind me sounded familiar.
I whirled around. “Finley?” I wanted to put a hand on his arm to make sure he was real. I didn’t dare. “What are you doing in Inverness?”
He jerked his head toward our table in the back. “Are those your friends?”
I nodded. “Now is not a good time, Finley.”
His expression softened. “Don’t worry. I won’t make a scene. Wait here.”
Before I could stop him, he wound his way in between the tightly packed tables and said something to my friends and their significant others.
In unison, all four turned and stared at me.
Finley returned. “We’re good,” he said. “Let’s go outside.”
“What did you tell them?”
He steered me out the door and around the edge of the building into a narrow alleyway. Unlike such locations back home, this corridor between streets was decorated with pots of geraniums all along the way. At the moment, Finley and I were the only people present.
“I told them not to go anywhere…that we would be back soon.”
“Oh.” I stared at my feet.
He bent his head and looked at me. “Aren’t you going to ask why I didn’t come after you?”
“I know why. You don’t love me. You don’t want a rich blonde woman in your life.” A little of my pique echoed in the words, even though I had tried to speak with dispassion.
