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“That’s the worst bow I’ve ever seen in my life,” I said, looking at the chair William had just tied a bow on. “It’s not a shoelace, William.”
He picked up the chair and looked at it. “What’s wrong with it? It’s a bow.”
“It’s all floppy!” I picked up the ribbon and dropped it again to illustrate my point. “What did you do to it?”
“Tied it.” He put the chair back down and took a step back. “All right, yes, it’s a bit sad looking compared to the others.”
“A bit sad looking? It looks like you’ve just double knotted your trainers.” I dropped to my knees and frowned the bow. “I’ve shown you this three times, how have you not gotten it yet? You can’t tie these!”
“Look, Cinderella, you’re going to have to accept that I’m just not a bow kind of guy.”
“Cinderella? Why are you Cinderella?”
I grinned and looked towards the door. “Because I have an evil stepmother.”
Granny grinned right back in a way I knew mirrored mine. “That’s one way to describe her.”
Morag smiled from next to her. “Look who I found skulking around the gates.”
“I wasn’t skulking. I don’t skulk. I was told my granddaughter was here and wanted to know what she’s doing galivanting at a castle in Scotland when she should be at home watering my plants.”
“I gave Amber your key. She’swatering your plants,” I replied, fighting a laugh. “I should be asking you what you’re doing here.”
“Attending a wedding, same as everyone else. Including you,” Granny retorted, walking in. “Goodness, that’s a sad bow. Can’t you do better than that, Gracie?”
I pointed at William. “Blame Lord Shoelaces over here.”
Morag laughed. “Took him a while to manage those, too, if I remember correctly.”
“All right,” William muttered. “There’s no need for that.”
I grinned at him. “William, this is my grandmother, Olive.”
Granny narrowed her eyes at him. “You’re Morag’s grandson. I’ve seen your pictures. I think I have some pictures of you naked in my daughter’s back garden, actually.”
I pressed my lips together and closed my eyes, trying desperately not to laugh.
“That’s one way to break the ice,” William replied, and I turned in time to see him take her hand and kiss it. “Forgive me, but I don’t remember you, so it’s lovely to meet you again.”
“Of course you’ve forgotten. I do blend in with the crowd.”
“You’re wearing yellow trousers with lime green wellies,” I pointed out.
“I’ll see if someone can take your bags up to your room, Olive,” Morag said. “Pass me your coat, dear, I’ll hang it up while you catch up with Grace.” She winked at me, taking the coat, and walked out of the room.
“Right,” Granny said, pulling up one of the chairs that was yet to be tied. “What are you doing here? And don’t tell me you were invited. I know your dad said you wouldn’t be coming.”
“How do you know that?” I asked, re-tying William’s bow. “There. I’ll do this, you’re crap at it.”
He mock-saluted me and took the chair.
“I called him when I found out you were here, wondering if he was bringing his demon wife and their spawn,” Granny replied. “He didn’t know you were here either. So, what are you doing here? I didn’t think you’d spoken to the Glenrochs in years. Morag certainly never mentioned it to me.”
“I haven’t. It’s his fault.” I pointed at William, sliding over to another chair to tie the bow on that one, too. “We walked into each other outside a coffee shop, he replaced my coffee and conned me into giving him my number—”
“Conned is a bit strong of a word,” William interjected. “I saw my chance and I took it.”
Granny nodded sagely. “Very wise.”
