Page 19 of A Summer House on Arran (Scottish Romances #3)

Logan sat down at the small table in James’s kitchen and opened his laptop.

He frowned as he read the email he’d just received from Stravaig’s head office.

The walking tour was due to start the day after tomorrow, and Henry was letting him know that two of the group had pulled out as their flights from Europe had been cancelled.

He knew that it would be super frustrating for the guests, but it was a blow for the company.

It meant loss of revenue and they had already been hit hard since the pandemic.

Every single guest counted, and Logan knew Henry, who ran Stravaig — which was Gaelic for ‘wanderer’ — would be getting stressed as they had a slow start to the summer season this year.

Logan was quite laid-back about doing fewer tours, especially as he only had himself to think about.

But he felt sorry for the tour guides who had families to provide for too, and slightly guilty about the small lie to Tallulah about the tour being fully booked. He started to respond.

Thanks for letting me know, Henry.

Don’t worry too much. We still have a couple of days to go until the tour starts, so there’s still time for a couple of new recruits. I’ll see what I can do.

Cheers,

Logan

Taking a sip of coffee, he decided he would go and hand out flyers around Brodick and Lamlash in the hope that he could entice a few tourists to join them last-minute.

He had already left some at the bakery, and there was no harm in trying elsewhere.

Some of the walking companies offered a package that meant the tour guide would meet them in Glasgow and escort them over to the island.

However, Stravaig preferred to try and keep costs down as much as possible and to attract a wider reach of tourists.

Unless someone requested a private tour, of course, in which case it would be a completely different and much more expensive package.

Numbers for those had been down this year too, which was a worry.

But he knew sometimes a few corporate packages were all they needed to pull them out of the red.

When he had woken early that morning, the sky had been a vibrant blue.

It made him want to get up and head out for a run.

But now when he looked out the window, he could see a few dark clouds scudding along.

Hopefully they would keep moving and it would clear up.

He had thought about going out in a kayak at some point too, and although a spot of rain didn’t deter him from anything, he would have enjoyed being out in the sunshine.

His hand rested gently on his mug of coffee, and he used his other thumb to quickly check in on his Instagram account. It had been a few days since he’d updated it — that might help with marketing.

He was surprised to see there had been lots of activity and he had many, many notifications.

There were more than one thousands likes of the reel he had posted from Skye.

Strange , he thought, that’s a bit out of the norm.

Then when he glanced over the comments he could see why.

It would seem that Tallulah had been busy.

His stomach tightened as he wondered what on earth she may have said or done to gain him so many likes and so many extra followers in just days.

Clicking on Tallulah’s page, he wasn’t surprised to see her pouting profile picture.

He smiled wryly when he read her bio: A girl who is wild at heart and loves adventures of the outdoor kind.

Scanning through her posts, he recognised some of the photos from the trip to Skye.

He opened them, curious to find out what she had written.

Then he realised that she had included plenty of pictures featuring him.

He read on, feeling his cheeks redden. How mortifying.

Experiencing Scotland at its best. And the scenery isn’t too bad either. Stravaig Tours are the best and the Tartan Wanderer is even better. Looking for the trip of a lifetime? Go to Skye with Stravaig Tours, where you will leave wanting more ;)

Logan sighed. His sisters would have an absolute field day with this. He wouldn’t hear the end of it. In fact, he was surprised they hadn’t already been in touch to tease him, given they were constantly scrolling on their phones.

Laughing, he decided to focus on the positives.

Hopefully the higher profile on Instagram may mean more business for Henry and would keep the wolves from the door.

He would do anything to help his friend and boss.

Perhaps he needed to think about ramping things up himself and doing some pieces to camera.

He had watched other tour guides do it and, although they made him cringe a bit, with their weird Scottish transatlantic accents and love of seeing their own reflection in the camera, it would be a good way of showcasing the kind of tours they did.

Definitely one to think about. Finishing his coffee, he stood up and stretched.

A quick shower was in order and then he would go out and tout for business.

If he could replace the two cancelled guests with another two people, then he knew that would make Henry extremely happy.