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‘This is not good,’ Lorna muttered. ‘Not good at all.’

At first Bex assumed Lorna was looking back at Katty, but following her gaze, she realised instead that she was staring towards the doorway, now blocked by a figure. A very attractive figure with sandy hair, green-blue eyes and a suspected aroma of pine that unfortunately she couldn’t sense from all the way over here, no matter how much she wanted to.

Bex’s pulse quickened as she tried to swallow the lump that had forced its way up her throat. She had an inkling that their quiet drink was going to become anything but.

20

‘Maybe they won’t see each other,’ Bex whispered, although from the knot of tension tightening in her stomach and the absolute silence that had fallen over the pub, she knew there was little chance of that. Everyone seemed to know exactly what was going on – except possibly Duncan, who was still standing in the doorway, his gaze sweeping across the room. The moment he spotted Katty, his cheeks tightened, jaw clenched, and tension visibly locked down his neck and shoulders. Bex found it hard to believe he and Lorna were only stepsiblings – they seemed to bristle in the same way.

She was still wondering who was going to be the first to speak when Lorna pushed herself up from her chair, legs stretched out as she rose to her full height. In five brisk strides, she was next to Duncan. ‘Please tell me this is a coincidence,’ Lorna said, her voice a low hiss, though still just loud enough for those close by to hear. Or maybe it was just that Bex was straining to catch every word, her heart hammering wildly in her chest.

‘Of course it’s a coincidence,’ Duncan replied, his tone light. ‘Can’t a guy just fancy getting out of the lodge for a bit?’

‘Well, then you can sit with us.’ Lorna hooked her arm in his and marched him over towards the table, at which point she grabbed a free chair and pushed it in between hers and Bex’s. ‘Roddy,’ she said, waving over to the bar. ‘We’ll need another glass.’

An uneasy silence settled around them. Bex was desperate to look at Duncan, to see if he was sneaking glances at Katty, but instead, she kept her eyes locked straight ahead. Eilidh and Niall focused on one another, while most people in the pub resumed their conversations – though Bex could feel several curious glances still lingering on them.

‘Just so you know, I’m not gatecrashing,’ Duncan said, directing his words to Bex. ‘Well, I guess I am, but I didn’t mean to. I didn’t think you guys would be at the White Hart. I assumed you’d be over at the Lion, given that Lorna works there and all.’

‘You work in a pub too?’ Bex asked her, grateful Duncan hadn’t mentioned anything about asking her out for a drink tonight. She wasn’t sure the room could cope with any more tension. Or the table, for that matter. Everyone looked as though they were having a hard time focusing as their eyes kept slipping across to where Katty was still perched at the end of the bar. ‘You work there as well as the café?’

‘And the village shop,’ Eilidh said. ‘Not to mention the shifts she takes at the hotel. What was it you were doing last time? Chambermaiding? Receptionist? Kitchen porter?’

‘A little bit of all of them,’ Lorna said as if it was nothing.

‘Exactly how many jobs do you have?’ Bex said, looking at Lorna with a new sense of awe.

‘Too many,’ Duncan answered with a playful glare at his sister. ‘I keep telling her she needs to slow down and live a little.’

Lorna shrugged. ‘But we can’t all get a house with a job, can we?’ she said, matching his glare with a withering look of her own, before turning back to Bex. ‘I’ve got a lot I want to do. Travel, buy my own place, start my own business. I figure I might as well earn money while I’m young and have got the energy.’

‘Really? What kind of business are you thinking of?’

Lorna took a sip of her drink. ‘To be honest, I don’t know. I just know I don’t want to work for other people forever. I want to be able to set my own hours, maybe travel. But that’s about all I’ve got.’

‘There must be something you could do,’ Bex said, mulling the thought over. Some people were just better at working independently rather than following other people’s rules. She had seen that with Daisy. Her best friend had struggled to hold down a job when she lived in London, given that she was always getting itchy feet and an urge to move on. But since she’d started her coffee shop on the canal, she’d never been happier. In fact, she was always talking about what it would be like running it when she and Theo were an old couple, so clearly there was no case of itchy feet there.

‘I thought about social media management,’ Lorna said. ‘But I can’t stand being on my phone all day, and I did personal training for a while, but everyone wants early-morning sessions, by which I mean really early. Like 5.30a.m. I don’t mind mornings, but that’s just ridiculous. Still, I’ve got plenty of time. When the right thing comes along, I’ll know.’

Bex loved the easy way Lorna spoke about her future. Not to mention the way she seemed so happy to try different things. Bex had known exactly what her career plan was by the time she’d started her A levels, at which point she began checking off milestones as quickly as possible, which started with getting the grades she needed to get her degree. By Lorna’s age – she had to be twenty-five or twenty-six – Bex was already managing a team of five, most of whom were older than her, and every career choice she had taken since then had been with the very specific aim of moving another rung higher on the ladder. And that included the bizarre situation she found herself in now.

‘So, Bex was just telling us about her new job,’ Eilidh said, glancing at Duncan. ‘I think we could use someone to sort out our books at the farm.’

‘You’re not the only one,’ Lorna added. While Lorna was still managing to maintain an active role in the conversation, Bex couldn’t help but notice the way her gaze continued to flicker back to Katty. ‘Irene’s bookkeeping at the café causes me to have kittens half the time, but I can’t do anything about it – and it’s still better than what I see at the Lion, anyway.’

‘So, Bex, how have you found your first day here?’ Duncan said, looking at her with the slightest smile on his lips. ‘Apart from the little mishap this morning, that is.’

‘Mishap?’ Eilidh said. ‘What happened?’

‘Nothing,’ Bex said hurriedly, feeling a blush creeping up her cheeks. Why the hell would he say something about that in front of everyone? Wasn’t he the one who had said he wanted to start over?

Lorna’s eyes narrowed suspiciously. ‘Oh, come on. You have to spill – it must be juicy, or you wouldn’t be trying so hard to keep it quiet.’

A lump had lodged in Bex’s throat. She looked at Duncan, hoping he’d say something to ease the speculation, but instead, he tossed his arm over her shoulder and let out a loud laugh. ‘Oh, you are just too funny, Bex,’ he said, his voice unnaturally cheerful. ‘I’ve really had such a laugh since you got here.’

Bex frowned, about to knock his arm off her shoulder as she tried to figure out what was going on. That was when she noticed Katty’s expression. She was watching them both intently, a deep scowl on her face as her eyes fixed on the way Duncan’s arm was draped over Bex. Bex looked back at Duncan, ready to say something, when he laughed again.

‘Oh, we’re going to have so much fun, aren’t we?’ he said. ‘I can just feel it. Can’t you?’