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He glowered, though it was no match for mine. Plus, the laughter lines around his eyes betrayed him.“I heard the rumours, I just didn’t believe them.”
“Well… believe it. And enjoy it while it lasts, I doubt she’ll be here for long.” The words made something in my chest tighten, thumbs passing over the tips of my fingers until it eased.
“Because you scared her off.”
“If only that were possible,” I sniped, the sentiment feeling a little less true than it had days before.
“What’s she doing here?”
“I don’t know—” I threw my hands out. Why was he so bloody interested?“Lording over her newly acquired land? What’s it to you, anyway? You’re like a damn housewife when it comes to gossip.”
He laughed, flashing all of his teeth.“Any man is going to be curious when a woman like that moves in down the road.” Something sharp settled in my gut.“So…” he pushed.“What’s the story?”
My gaze snagged on the puzzle I’d spent countless hours on the night before. My first emotion when she’d spotted it was acute humiliation. Not many single men in their thirties spent their evenings building puzzles with their dog. I knew Callum certainly didn’t. And then, with that sunshine way of hers, she’d flipped the feeling on its head and a vision of the two of us on a lazy Sunday came to the forefront. The fireplace crackling, April in my lap, dressed in nothing but one of my T-shirts as we slotted puzzle pieces into place.
Never gonna happen.
“There isn’t one. She’s here to cash in on her inheritance, so bored she’s making social media pages for the distillery and threatening to host tasting events.” The “can you believe the nerve” behind my words was heavily implied.
“I think it’s a good idea.”
I scrubbed a hand down my face.“Of course you do.” I was starting to get a headache.
“Exposure is vital for the success of any business.”
My head shot up.“How long were you listening at the door? That’s almost word for word what she said.”
“Because we’re right.”
Annoyed with her as I was, I didn’t like the way Callum established them as a team.“I hate pomp and posing, it feels cheap.”
With an expression I read as you poor, naive fool, he retrieved his phone from his pocket.“Perhaps if you got an actual phone instead of that piece-of-shit brick I’m certain you found in a time capsule, you might already know this.”
“It’s an iPhone.”
“And at least ten years old.” He swiped across his screen.
“It does everything I need it to do,” I said.
“Here, take a look through this.” He handed me the phone where the first account he’d opened was that of a whisky distillery on the isle of Islay. Arty images of whisky casks and raw ingredients. The black-and-white shots were beautiful and tasteful, and didn’t just showcase their product but also felt like a love letter to the land.
Then a few more taps and all I could see was April. My hand trembled around the device.“This is her account?”
He nodded.“Look through the posts.”
I needed no instruction.“You follow her?”
“Yes. So do twelve million other people.” Twelve million. That was over double the population of Scotland.
There were so many pictures, I didn’t know where to look. Every one of them her, but not as I’d expected. Images of her and Dudley, laughing into the camera. At a charity event, so unbelievably beautiful as she smiled with some man’s arm around her. I didn’t even look at him.
I paused on a short video of her doing her makeup, holding the product up to the camera so I could see it. It didn’t feel cheap. She was selling, of course, yet it felt genuine. My hand tightened around the phone. I’d made it sound like she was selling herself.
“She has a platform,” Callum spoke over the video playing on a loop.“Like it or not, when she talks, people listen. You’d be an idiot not to take what she’s offering.”
No. I’m an idiot if I don’t apologise.
“And the tastings?” I voiced my final concern.
