‘Why do you ask? Does it bother you?’ asked Nick.
And I felt bad then, because it shouldn’t, should it? I should find it endearing, like his accent. He wanted to please his mum, how sweet was that? And yet …
‘Course not. I was just surprised, that’s all,’ I lied. ‘Shall we go?’
Nick nodded. ‘We have to go out through the shop if I remember correctly,’ he said, taking my hand. ‘Come on, I’ll buy you a memento.’
Letting him lead me towards the exit, I took one last look at beautifulDavid. And crossed my fingers that Aidan wasn’t in the gift shop.
Loch Lomond
Two Years Earlier
Lou and I were down on the beach at 1.45 sharp. I liked to be super organised on shoot days and there was nothing worse than rocking up flustered, late and under-prepared (not that it seemed to stop Tim). I looked out at the water, jotting down a provisional shot list and some generic pieces to camera that might work for Ruthie, because I was pretty sure that Tim hadn’t done any of this. When we’d walked past him and Ruthie on the way out of the lodge, he’d been propping up the bar with a glass of red wine in his hand. At this rate, he’d barely be coherent, let alone on top of producing the segment.
‘Shall I set up down by the water?’ asked Lou, unzipping her camera bag.
‘Yep. We’ll start with some footage of the kayaks on the shore and then once everyone’s in them, you can do some travelling shots as we row out. Is it called row, in a kayak?’
Lou shrugged. ‘Don’t ask me. The closest I’ve come to doing water sports is when you and me went out on that banana boat in Faliraki.’
My body shuddered in response. ‘Don’t remind me.’
I’d been flung into the water so many times that at one point I’d wondered whether I’d have been better off just swimming back to the shore. Trying to stay on a yellowinflatable while being dragged across the Mediterranean at about a hundred miles an hour had looked much more entertaining from the safety of a beach towel on the sand.
‘Your phone’s ringing,’ said Lou.
‘Ooops, meant to put that on silent,’ I said, feeling around for it in my pockets.
Mind you, it was probably Tim making some excuse about being late. I glanced up towards the hotel: no sign of him or Ruthie. When I looked back, I saw Finlay unlocking the doors of his ‘shack’, as Tim had called it. I waved at him and simultaneously answered my call.
‘Maddie? Where are you?’
‘Hi, Dad. Scotland. Everything all right?’
He hesitated. ‘How’s it going?’
I was immediately suspicious. He never usually asked how my job was going, mainly because he didn’t fully understand what I did. He was always making jokes about how I got paid to go on holiday, and when I tried to explain that it was actually very hard work and that I was sitting at a desk in an office in London most of the time, he didn’t seem able to grasp the concept.
‘It’s fine,’ I said, wishing he’d get to the point. ‘It’s beautiful here. You should bring Sharon.’
Sharon was my step-mum and even as I said it, I knew she would have no desire to go to Loch Lomond. Her idea of a dream holiday was lying prone on a sun lounger by a pool somewhere in Spain and not moving for at least twelve hours, except to turn every now and again so that she kept her tan even.
‘About Sharon …’
I frowned. ‘What about her?’
‘She’s gone and booked me a weekend away for mybirthday, hasn’t she? We’re all off to Amsterdam, apparently. Getting one of those ferries across.’
The other kayakers were heading slowly down to the beach now, including, I noticed, Aidan. He was no longer in a wetsuit, and was wearing jeans and a chunky jumper that made him look like a sexy fisherman. Seriously, I needed to get over myself and focus on my job and also find out what exactly my dad was trying to say so that I could get this phone call over with as quickly as possible. I took a few steps towards the water, hoping I’d be out of earshot. It was hardly professional of me to be on the phone.
‘Right. And when’s that?’
‘Well. On my birthday. This weekend,’ said Dad sheepishly.
‘But I’m coming to visit this weekend.’
‘I know. I told her that. She said she forgot.’