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“I hope you brought an extra memory card,” Duncan said dryly.
“I did. If I take more than four thousand photos, I’ll need another one.”
He laughed, but something about the low sound didn’t warm me up this time. “If you take four thousand pictures on your vacation, you’re not doing it right.”
I wilted under his teasing assessment. I had never been on a big vacation before, and now I wasn’t doing it right? He didn’t know the effort it had taken me just to get here. I wouldn’t admit just how far inside my comfort zone I’d been, or for how long.
“There’s nothing wrong with wanting to remember all of this.”
“No there isn’t, but will you remember what you did, or your photos?”
I splayed my hands. “Remembering what I did is the whole point of taking the photos.”
Photo books, prints, wrapped canvases—I already envisioned all the mementos I would create when I got back home. I had a whole shrine to Scotland in the works in my mind.
He lifted one gargantuan shoulder. “At some point, chronicling it is no longer experiencing it.”
I scowled at his casual judgment call. “Okay, Scottish Zen Master.”
“Collum MacZen, thank you.”
I trudged the rest of the trail walk, my spirits defeated as I tried to sort out the difference between chronicling and experiencing. I reminded myself that I didn’t know this guy, and his opinion on my photography habits didn’t matter. He probably lumped photos in with souvenirs, and I knew already he didn’t have a high opinion of those.
Still, I hated to admit it, but he kind of had a point. The whole purpose of this vacation was to get away so I could unplug and reboot, not spend every minute looking through a lens. I tucked the camera into my backpack and zipped the pocket shut with a stout nod. I could experiment with simply enjoying the moment.
My goal disintegrated five minutes later when a new view of Loch Morlich proved too good to pass up. I took eight pictures of it.
six
Highland cows are massive,in case anyone wondered.
Lewis had driven us to the McFarland Estate, an old manor with grounds that sprawled for miles. Kilometers. Whatever. He’d parked near the entrance gate so we could walk up the lane, and as soon as we left the tree line by the fence, I realized why.
Great, shaggy Highland cows roamed the pasture along the road, and a few lay in the shade beneath an old oak. They were so big and fluffy, I might have squealed a little.
Duncan side-eyed me, his mouth tipping up at my ridiculous response.
I pointed at my face. “Tourist, remember?”
He exhaled laughter, gesturing me toward the cows. “Tour away.”
I did, taking endless photos of the hairy red animals, and managing to almost totally ignore the amused looks he kept shining my way.
Two baby cows trotted out from the cluster beneath the trees, and our group’s collectiveoohsrose up like a soft sigh. Even Spencer seemed enamored with them, but by the time his face fully turned my way, whatever spark of joy he’d held had already been snuffed out.
Lewis and Arnav herded us toward our ultimate destination, which fortunately wouldn’t be anywhere near the sweet brutes in the pastures. I wouldn’t want to risk hurting them—or them hurtingus.
Walking up the lane toward the great house was like being transported onto the grounds of Pemberley. Fingers crossed we would find Darcy stepping out of a lake. Despite the cows roaming out front, the lawns close to the house had been meticulously manicured, with hedges trimmed at neat ninety-degree angles and rose bushes carefully pruned to get the largest blooms. But as the road curved around the side of the manor, the golf-course-perfect lawn relaxed back into meadows, free-growing shrubs, and rambling roses.
I laughed to myself and turned to Spencer, who was nearest. “Can you imagine living here?”
He looked at the manor as though I’d pointed out a grave. “The last owners probably died from consumption.”
“Wow. That’s grim.” Although, given the age of the house, he might have been right.
“How do you think they’d feel about their family home being turned into a tourist trap?”
Pretty comfortable with it, given the income it must have brought in.
