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Brodie shifts his weight from one foot to the other, his lips pursing. “Bit odd, isn’t it? Her being here. Didn’t even know she existed until yesterday.”

“Seems that was the case for the rest of the family too.”

“You met her da?”

My teeth clench, a flicker of anger simmering in my gut as I think about the man who let my own father down so badly once upon a time, willing my face to stay expressionless. “When I was a lad,” I say. “I don’t remember much of him.”

“Same,” Brodie says. “And same.” He frowns. “Just strange that she would show up out of nowhere all of a sudden.”

I try not to bristle; it would be all too easy to point out thathedid the exact same thing not but a couple of months ago, and hell, so did I not a few months before that. It’s none of my business if he’s unhappy with Keyanna’s presence here anyway. I don’t care if they don’t get on. There’s no reason to feel defensive on her behalf.

Silence stretches between us, and I can see the gears turning in his head, but what he wants to say, I have no idea.

“Well…I’d best be getting cleaned up,” I tell him finally.

He doesn’t move as I clod past him, only stepping farther into the barn when I’ve left it.

Odd one, he is.

I’m halfway to the little cottage I’m staying in on the grounds when I spot a flash of red in the distance, and if I squint, I can just make out Finlay standing on a hill some ways off with his granddaughter beside him. Her titian curls sway in the breeze, and even from so far away—I don’t miss the way she throws her head back in laughter at something Finlay must have said. I can almost imagine the way her cheeks might flush, making her freckles stand out more.

That’ll be enough of that, you arse.

I scoff at myself, turning away from the sight of them and continuing on toward the cottage. Freckles and red curls are the last things that should be on my mind. And they aren’t, really. On my mind. There’s no room for them. Not with everything else going on in my life currently. There isn’t even a smidge of room for Keyanna MacKay in my thoughts.

It’s something I have to remind myself more than once on the walk back to my place.

7

Keyanna

It takes me far longer than it should to realize that I’ve been had.

To be fair, the outside of Loch Land seems legitimate, and I suppose in a sense itislegitimate—but not in the way that Rory and Blair led me to believe. I don’t fully grasp the weight of my complete and utter foolishness until I’m stepping into the room just beyond the front desk where you purchase tickets, and once I do, it’s all too clear why the woman out front gave me an odd look when I told her I just needed one ticket.

Museum, my ass.

The walls are adorned with bright-colored childlike murals that depict a cartoon Loch Ness Monster sporting a wide humanlike grin that is objectively terrifying, and littered around the room are miniature interactive exhibits that barely come up to my waist. Because they aren’t intended for adults, obviously. Because this is a fucking children’s attraction.

I can’t decide what would be more embarrassing—wandering around the place by myself or turning around and leaving barely even a minute after buying my ticket, and after a beat, I come to the decision that leaving so soon will just give Rory and Blair more to laugh about.

And Lachlan, I think bitterly. Since he had every opportunity at the bar to tell me what was going on, and even again when I saw him during Finlay’s tour of the grounds yesterday, but apparently, he was having just as much of a laugh at my expense as the twins were. The thought makes my cheeks heat, and I tell myself that the next time I see him, I’ll be sure to let him knowexactlywhat I think about that.

There is a family here with their two young children—a little boy and girl who can’t be any older than ten giggling over the exhibits, the older boy teasing the smaller girl for seeming afraid of some of the more monstrous depictions. Their dad comes over to break up their tussle, and I feel my stomach clench as he bends to one knee to murmur something to his son. I wonder if my daddidever come here. It looks like it’s been around for quite some time, if the aging paint job is any indication, and I make a mental note to ask Finlay about it later.

For now, though, I urge my feet forward, forcing an air of interest about myself as I meander over to one of the exhibits. It’s a tiny paper theater of sorts with a wood handle protruding from the front that lets you move the Loch Ness Monster cutout back and forth through the paper waves, and below it there is a wide plaque with block letters that summarizes the legend of the beast itself.

The Loch Ness Monster:

A legendary creature of large size said to inhabit the depths of Loch Ness.

I pull the handle back and forth idly as I continue to consider the fact that my dad might have come here, maybe even as a child. That thought eases some of the irritation at having been duped. Maybe he stood here as a kid at some point, turning this same handle as I amand wondering about the monster that was said to be only a few miles from this very spot.

I shake off my melancholy before shuffling over to another exhibit, a wide, flat map of the entirety of Loch Ness laid into a table and resting under glass. I trace a finger over the top, letting it linger near the little marker that readsSkallangal Cove, frowning when I remember that I will have to make my way back there somehow. I didn’t love the sympathy that flashed in Lachlan’s eyes when he heard what I was doing onhis property—but the guilt that followed felt pretty good. Bastard could stand to be taken down a peg.

I frown. I don’t even know why I’m wondering about him. He’s just an asshole.

The next room has a wall-to-wall collage of what has to be every photo and news article that was ever printed on the monster, all carefully placed into a neat, tight display. I can see the famous “surgeon’s photo” from 1934 that started it all, the grainy print just as ambiguous up close as it’s always been on a screen. The caption even says that it was later proven that the photo was a hoax, but that doesn’t seem to have stopped anyone from pursuing the possibility of some massive beast lurking in the loch.