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She took a few deep breaths in and out thinking, again, about James and how random life could be. Ross’s email had just confirmed that to her again. Meanwhile James was absolutely the last person she had expected to bump into here, never mind that he would now be a part of Emma’s big day. There would be no escaping him, which was actually quite a nice feeling and she had to admit to herself that seeing him had made her day.
It had been years since he’d gone completely off radar. Most people could be tracked down on social media or you could find out where they worked if you entered their name into Google. Not James, though. Over the past few years, she had tried looking him up a couple of times but there had been nothing, no trace of him at all which made her wonder if he’d not wanted to be found. Then he had drifted from her mind entirely as life happened, and she became settled with work and other boyfriends and then had left Scotland completely. As far as she knew, his family had moved away from Arran too so there was no connection linking him there anymore and the few friends she kept in touch with from school didn’t know where he was either. He always had been very unassuming as a teenager and hated any kind of attention. It didn’t particularly surprise her that he wanted to keep a low profile as an adult.
‘I’m ready,’ said Kirsty, appearing next to Amy.
‘Oh, hello. Sorry, I was miles away.’
Kirsty glanced at her, raising an eyebrow. ‘You look kind of dreamy. Can I guess who you were thinking about?’
‘Nice to see that you do actually use the mat that I got you. Nice leggings too,’ said Amy, trying to change the subject though secretly quite pleased to hear the fun tone that had crept back into her sister’s voice. ‘You look quite the pro.’ Kirsty’s hair was scooped into a topknot, and she wore leggings with a tiny daisy print and a navy-blue, loose-fitting vest. Amy always thought her big sister was extremely pretty but today she looked stunning. ‘You look like you could take the class,’ she said with a grin.
‘Hardly. Wait until I sit down, and you hear everything start to crack and creak. I’m as stiff as a board.’ She threw Amy a knowing look. ‘And I would just like to say that I know exactly what you’re doing . . . with your deflections.’
Amy ignored her and kept talking. ‘The garden looks fabulous by the way. I love the yellow flowers over there.’ She pointed at the flower beds, crammed with bold daisy-like flowers and proving popular with butterflies and bees who were creating a low drone of buzz.
‘I know, they’re lovely, aren’t they? Their technical name isInula hookeri.’
‘Ooohget you,’ said Amy, impressed, nonetheless.
‘I just listen to Dad telling me what he’s going to do when he goes into the garden. Apparently, you’ve got to be quite careful with them and make sure they have enough space otherwise they spread like wildfire. He’s forever splitting and dividing things in the autumn in preparation for summer.’
‘Is he putting them in the bouquets?’
‘I don’t think he has finally decided yet. I heard Tom asking him about it the other day and he said it would be better to wait until the morning of the wedding and go with what looks good that day. Hopefully there will be some yellow flowers in there though as they are so cheery and brighten things up.’
‘I have to say that Emma is being incredibly blasé about not being involved in the wedding preparations. I’m not quite sure I could be so hands-off if it were me.’
‘The focus for her is being with Max. It’s quite romantic if you think about it. She never wanted a big wedding with lots of fuss and attention.’
‘I guess so,’ agreed Amy. ‘That’s what it should be about. The person you are marrying rather than the stuff that goes with the day. Is that how you felt?’
‘It was a bit different then. I was younger and the first one to get married and I suppose Mum and Dad were keen that I had a big bash. Not sure if we were to do it again that we’d do the same. I admire Emma for keeping it low-key.’
Amy nodded thoughtfully. She glanced back over at the flowers. ‘I’ve missed gardening, you know. I used to love those times in the garden when I was a kid and Dad would tell me all of this.’
‘I’m guessing there wasn’t much time for gardening in Vancouver?’
‘Nope,’ she said. ‘Talking of which, I have also just had an email from Ross.’
‘Saying what?’ said Kirsty, her eyes widening.
‘Basically telling me that he is getting back with his wife and that I was right to finish things as she has always been the love of his life.’
‘Nice,’ said Kirsty sarcastically. ‘Are you okay?’
‘It’s fine,’ said Amy. ‘Itwasnice actually and he was being honest. He said I deserved to be happy.’ She couldn’t resist a cheeky laugh.
‘Well, I would agree with that,’ said Kirsty and winked. ‘I have a feeling things could get very interesting around here’.
Kirsty seemed a bit more relaxed now and Amy was glad. ‘Right, let’s get started,’ she said, trying her best not to sound flustered at what her sister was insinuating about James. ‘Let’s get you started in the Dandasana pose.’ Amy stretched her legs out in front of her and watched as Kirsty followed.
‘What’s this good for?’ she asked as she gracefully copied the pose.
‘It will help to stretch your hamstrings, strengthen your muscles in the lower back and is also good for your abdomen and your pelvis.’
Kirsty sniggered. ‘That may come in handy for you, then?’
Amy shook her head in mock disgust. ‘If you were in one of my proper yoga classes, I may have to ask you to leave for being such a disruptive student.’
