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That familiar voice, always happy to see me, always looking out for me, always there for me, warms my tired mind. I turn to smile at my friend.
“Yes, thanks. Just a bit of a trying journey.” I nod towards the spot where my father’s car has just disappeared into the woods. “You know what it is like.”
Corran gives me a lop-sided grimace. “Indeed I do. What crazy early time do you need to be back here?”
I roll my eyes. “Midnight.”
“Well then, let’s not waste any time. We can do plenty of partying before then.” He wraps his arm round my shoulder and guides me towards the farmhouse. “The rest are meeting us down at the loch. Er, Vic, there’s something I need to tell you…”
My brain has, however, checked out of the conversation. My eyes are locked in horror on the mud-spattered quad sitting in front of the farmhouse. “Corran, I’m not getting on that thing…”
Corran stops talking. He looks at the quad. “The quad? Don’t be daft. How else are we going to get down there before sundown? Don’t be such a…wuss…” He jumps on the quad and twists the handlebar grip. The machine roars to life. He shuffles backwards, emphasizing the space he has left for me. “Come on,” he says, laughing. “Get on the quad.”
I bristle. “No. Corran, I’ve just spent two hours getting ready. I’m wearing a skirt. I’ll walk down. I’ll see you there.”
I start walking along the tractor road down the hill. I wait for him to fly past me, to head down to the party at the beach and leave me to my obvious grouch.
But the blur of dirty quad bike and hulking rider doesn’t come.
I reach the first bend in the road. Nothing. As I reach the second, I wonder whether he has given up and gone down the main road. That would make no sense though. It takes much longer to get to the beach that way.
I hedge a surreptitious look over my shoulder as I round the second corner, but I’ve come too far now to see him. I settle into a rhythm, my sandals pit-patting against the sun-warmed dirt. The birds are singing in the towering oaks that frame the loch. The sky is an endless ceiling of cerulean comfort to my busy mind.
I can’t believe we are leaving this beautiful place.
I can’t go. I have unfinished business.
My stomach drops as think about him. Ben. The reliable one. My parents’ choice. The one who made me his girlfriend in a fanfare of affection then got off with another girl at a party a week later.
I know they think a move will help ease the pain. But I don’t want to go. I can’t go.
I need to fix this.
For better or worse, I want him back.
I jump, startled as the quad’s engine rumbles behind me. In seconds, Corran is driving beside me, a look of intense amusement on his face.
“Get on the quad, Vic.”
“No.”
“I got you a helmet. Look.” He holds the helmet aloft, guiding the quad with one hand and his knee.
I wince.
“See, perfectly safe. Come on, get on.”
“No.”
“Vic, get on the quad now.”
“No.”
“Victoria Canmore, get on this quad right now, or I’ll…”
“You’ll what, Corran? Make me?” I stop, glowering at him, hands on my hips, my feet planted on the road.
“In the interests of us making it to the party tonight, yes, I will.”
