AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“We’ve talked about this, dear,” she said in a firm voice. “No cream.”
“Quite right, Bea, quite right.” He licked his lips to get the last crumbs and dusted off his fingers. “Are you all set for the hill walk, my love?”
“I’ll just have a bit of tea first.” She kept her eyes on him as she inched nearer the tea cart, apparently expecting him to cram the last of the scone in his mouth the moment she turned away. “Molly, dear, would you check on Harlow? I tried to knock her up but got no answer.”
Bea turned away to serve herself tea, leaving me baffled by her request.
“You tried to…?”
Duncan’s mouth ticked up. “She tried to wake her.”
See, these were the kinds of things my travel books should have mentioned. Slang and common phrases would have been way more helpful than lessons on which hand should hold your knife and fork.
“Right. Got it.”
Upstairs in our room, Harlow slept on. I debated leaving her to sleep, but I wouldn’t like to be left out of anything if it were me. I gently shook her shoulder until she stirred. Her eyes fluttered open, but she looked at me with a blank expression.
“Did you want to do the hill walk, or would you rather sleep?”
“Sleep.” She snuggled deeper into the pillow and winked out again a second later.
Lewis and Arnav waited at the bottom of the stairs.
“Is she coming?” Lewis asked.
I shook my head. “She’s choosing sleep.”
“How are you holding up? It’s understandable if you’d rather rest, too. It’s just going to be a light walk to break us in.”
“Oh, I’m up for the hill walk.” I had my hiking boots on and my camera in my backpack, ready and waiting to take photos of quintessential Scottish scenery.
Arnav rounded up the others while Lewis and I waited by the bus outside. I pulled out my phone and snapped a few quick shots of the lodge to send to Jill.
Molly: What’s this? Oh, nothing, just the country house where I’m staying for a few days. NBD.
four
Now that theadventurepart of the tour had started, my confidence faltered just a touch. I walked Green Lake every day, but I didn’t always walk the whole three miles around my neighborhood lake. This excursion wasn’t classed as one of Hold Onto Your Kilts’ most strenuous outings, so I hadn’t thought I’d needed to do anything but show up.
Man, I hoped that’s all it would take.
We walked through pinewoods until we reached a lake surrounded by low hills. The crystal-clear water reflected a mirror image of the cloudy sky above. Our path hugged the lake’s edge next to green reeds and knotty, multi-trunked trees growing out of the shallows.
“Everyone, Loch an Eilein.” Lewis swept his arm out toward the lake.
I repeated it under my breath as I walked, stamping it on my brain.Loch an Eilein, Loch an Eilein. I practiced making the Gaelic “ch” sound that stopped in the back of the throat and drew out the vowel sounds, trying to mimic Lewis.
Still muttering to myself, I realized Duncan had fallen in step with me, his eyebrows hitching higher the longer he watched me.
“I’m just practicing.” As though there could be another reason I would endlessly repeat the name of the lake.
“You’re doing well.”
“You’re being generous.” On the credibility scale, my Scottish accent fell right beneath Groundskeeper Willie’s onThe Simpsons. “I’m not used to making the Gaelic sounds.”
“Most Americans aren’t.”
We kept on, his pace matching mine. “Where do you live, Duncan?”
