Page 7 of A Summer House on Arran (Scottish Romances #3)

Maybe she would go out later and pop a note through the door to let the sisters know she was there and to say thanks for the thoughtful groceries. That way she wouldn’t need to speak to anyone, but at least they would know she was there and was grateful for the gifts.

Olivia reached for a glass from the cupboard by the sink and filled it.

She took a gulp of the water, which was refreshing, and also surprisingly tasty for water straight out of a tap.

It certainly didn’t taste like that in New York, where she tended to buy it in bottles.

Then she drank the rest of it and refilled her glass again and drained it.

Wow, she was thirsty. Usually she kept a large bottle of water with her all the time — it was easy to get dehydrated when dancing — but that was another thing she had let lapse these past couple of weeks.

Stifling another yawn — she was so tired — she went to the bedroom to unpack her clothes.

She’d better do something practical and at least get herself settled in before she did anything else.

Glancing at her watch, she realised it was gone four in the afternoon.

It had been a very long day as her flight from Naples had been at five in the morning.

The bedroom was as stylishly decorated as the rest of the house, and she knew she would quickly settle in.

All the walls were painted in a pale grey and the bedding was white, but bright yellow throws and cushions gave it a splash of colour.

The curtains were heavy and made of grey material adorned with tiny yellow flowers.

Looking through to the en suite she couldn’t wait to have a bath in the decadent tub.

What a treat. She had to pinch herself. It seemed too good to be true.

But perhaps life was evidently looking up for her, and who was she to look a gift horse in the mouth?

It was going to be wonderful to have this space all to herself.

She’d even just checked with her aunt if she was funding it, as she wouldn’t have put it past her.

But no, she’d assured her that the owners were simply looking for someone to house-sit; they were thinking of possibly selling or keeping it only for family use.

Olivia emptied her bag. Looking at her crumpled heap of clothes on the floor, she began to think she may need to buy a few more essentials.

When she’d thrown some things in her bag for the trip to Italy, she hadn’t overthought it.

She certainly hadn’t expected that she’d be landing in a country where you could have torrential rain and cold, gale-force winds one minute, then bright-blue skies and warm sunshine a couple of hours later.

The temperature was also quite a bit cooler than it had been in Italy.

Fortunately she had spotted an outdoor shop in Brodick. She would go there at some point and see what she could find. In the meantime she scooped up her laundry, took it into the kitchen and loaded the washing machine, which seemed tiny compared to the huge ones in the basement of her building.

Once the machine was on, she curled up in one of the seats by the window, appreciating the soothing noise of the laundry tumbling around the machine.

Had it really only been four weeks since she left home?

It felt so much longer, and she couldn’t quite believe how different her life was just a month ago.

Things couldn’t have been more different to where she was now. But at least she felt safe.

She had taken her old mobile out of her bag and placed it on the table next to her.

It had been switched off completely since she left New York — she was still resistant to turning it on, as she knew what would happen when she did.

Shuddering, she thought of the missed calls and the voicemails and the emails flooding her inbox.

The guilt appeared again. Aside from Trudy, nobody else knew where she was.

She had messaged her friends before she left and let them know she was fine and taking some time out.

Patrick was out of town when she left. She had moved her possessions into storage and then written him a note to say that things were over. Then she ran.

If she was really honest with herself, she couldn’t quite believe what had happened and was still in shock.

Her behaviour was so out of character, and she wasn’t quite sure what had come over her.

But she was so glad that it had. Otherwise, who knows what would have happened.

She had been trapped for such a long time and had only recently started to realise it.

Reaching for the phone, that small rectangle that was so significant in her life, she toyed with turning it on.

Her thumb rubbed back and forth over the button, and she was tempted.

Then she placed it back down on the table.

She wasn’t ready. She needed some time to rest and recuperate and think about what to do next.

All of a sudden, exhaustion washed over her and she lay back on the seat, closing her eyes just to rest them for five minutes. Within seconds she was fast asleep.