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‘Dunno. You have that vibe about you. Or it’s wishful thinking. I always liked nurses.’ He gave her a sudden, wicked grin.
‘Hmm. No, not a nurse. Though it’s strange you should say that,’ she said, licking her spoon. ‘That’s what I always wanted to be when I was a kid.’
‘Was it? See. I could tell.’ He smiled. ‘I’ve met a lot of nurses over the years. You’ve got that same thing about you. Kind and unflappable.’
Carrie snorted. ‘Of all the words I could choose to describe myself, I think “unflappable” is the last one I’d think of.’ She thought of the weeks gone by when she’d all but hidden in the cottage. Unflappable in the face of Claire’s death was something she definitely wasn’t.
‘Nah. You took to this job like a duck to water. Didn’t mind me coming in and out, disturbing you. Just got on with everything. And, I can tell that you’re kind,’ he observed. ‘But you’re sad about something.’ He gave her a keen look, and then stood up and took his bowl to the sink and washed it up.
‘How come you’ve met so many nurses over the years?’ She ignored his remark and took her bowl to the sink to wash too. Wordlessly, rather than step aside and let her do her own, he held out a hand for the bowl instead and washed it for her.
‘I was in the navy, remember. I saw active service,’ he said, shortly. ‘I was injured a few times. And there are always nurses around, anyway. Nurses and military sort of go together.’
‘Oh, I see.’ She stepped back and watched him as he dried the bowls with the tea cloth and put them back in the cupboard. His chef’s whites were still pristine, and even though they were reasonably loose-fitting, she could see the movement of his muscular back and shoulders as he moved around. She imagined Rory in a sailor’s uniform for a moment, and a sudden heat lit up her belly. ‘That was why you moved around a lot.’
‘Yeah. Cyprus, Iraq, Germany for a while. I trained commandos in Belize and Brunei too. Jungle training,’ he added.
‘Do you miss it?’ she asked.
He turned around, meeting her eyes. ‘Sometimes. I miss some of the people. But, generally, no.’ He looked away. ‘I’m done with that. I retrained as a chef. This is my life now.’
‘A very different kind of life, though,’ she observed. ‘Loch Cameron’s a tiny place to call home after you’ve seen so much of the world.’
‘I know. But that’s why I like it.’ He shrugged. ‘It’s a good place to get away from everything. Nothing ever happens here, and I’m fine with that. I saw enough action to last me several lifetimes when I was in the navy.’
‘It must be boring, though. Sometimes?’ Carrie didn’t understand how anyone could go from one extreme to the other. ‘I mean… I like the quiet, just now. But—’ She broke off, not wanting to explain why. ‘Well, it suits me, at the moment, anyway,’ she finished.
He gave her a curious look, but nodded. ‘Yeah. It’s boring, in a way. But it’s also calm and beautiful and I’ve got a job I love. I’ve just had enough drama, that’s all. If nothing dramatic ever happened to me again I’d be delighted. Just get up, work, go to bed. That’ll do me.’
‘It sounds lonely,’ Carrie said, before she could stop and think.
Oh, it does,Claire’s voice said sarcastically in her head.Don’t you want someone to warm your bed at night, Mr Handsome Navy Man?
She cleared her throat. ‘I mean… just working… Look, it’s none of my business. Sorry.’
‘It is lonely. It can be, anyway,’ Rory replied, carefully. ‘But that’s what I want.’
‘Can I ask why?’ Carrie crossed her arms over her chest. She wasn’t sure why she was being so inquisitive, especially given the fact that she wasn’t keen to talk about her life in any way.
‘I’d rather not talk about it, if that’s okay with you.’ Rory leaned against the worktop, facing her. ‘I think you’ve got some stuff going on you probably don’t want to talk about, and so do I. Fair?’
‘That’s fair.’ Carrie nodded. ‘Okay. Well, thanks for second dinner. I should be heading home.’
‘All right. You’ll be okay getting back to the cottage?’ Whatever more intimate energy had been between them, Rory was back to business now. ‘I’ll lock up.’
‘I’ll be fine. It’s a lovely walk, and it’s quiet as anything up there.’ Carrie nodded.
‘All right, then. I’ll see you tomorrow, Carrie.’ Rory stepped forward and, unexpectedly, planted a kiss on her cheek. ‘Sleep well,’ he murmured in her ear, before turning away.
Instinctively, she put a hand to her cheek where he’d kissed it. ‘See you tomorrow,’ she replied, but his back stayed turned to her.
What?she thought, and this time it was her voice, and not Claire’s.What the hell was that?
TWELVE
Carrie was reading a book at a table at the Loch Cameron Inn while she ate her dinner.
She liked to walk down to the inn at around five on a Sunday and Monday evening, when the street lights were just starting to come on. At this time of year, there was a cosy feel to the end of the day, before it got dark in Loch Cameron. Leaves drifted down from the trees alongside the loch and were blown into high banks at the edge of the pathway, making red-and-orange piles that children jumped into with glee.
