Page 45 of A Summer of Secrets on Arran (Scottish Romances #5)

Bella had woken in the middle of the night, which was unusual for her as she was normally a good sleeper and had adjusted surprisingly quickly to her new accommodation.

Her colleagues all worked different shifts in the hotel covering housekeeping and the bar and restaurant so they were rarely, if ever, all in the shared block at the same time.

It was the perfect solution for her right now.

For a nominal amount of rent, which also covered bills, Wi-Fi and two meals a day, she could easily save the rest of her salary which was higher than it had been at her previous job.

She was also grateful that she didn’t have to work two jobs and she didn’t miss the bar work she’d been doing in Glasgow at all.

Ash had been right: things did have a way of working out.

She made a mental note to send something to her gran to say thanks.

If it hadn’t been for her then she wouldn’t have heard about the job or even considered it as a possibility.

She reached for her phone and saw that Ben had messaged her.

Hey, hope you’re okay? Fancy catching up tomorrow? I’ve got the day off.

A flicker of guilt had been gnawing at her since the night he had texted her asking for some advice.

She hadn’t had a chance to talk to him about whatever was on his mind.

That was because she was worried he might want girlfriend advice and that was something she didn’t really want to help him with.

She quickly composed a message and pressed send. Yes. Definitely x

As she lay there trying to get back to sleep, her thoughts drifted to the plan to visit Ash in Australia next year.

She hadn’t yet told her friends from Glasgow the truth about Ash.

She wasn’t quite sure why but she wanted to keep it to herself for a bit longer.

She couldn’t face the barrage of questions and judgements and the gossip which would then most likely do the rounds.

Then she frowned as she realised that there hadn’t been much communication with her friend group at all since she started working on Arran.

She had been a bit disappointed with Lily’s response when she told her about the new job in Brodick.

Lily had pulled a face and asked her why on earth she would want to move to the back of beyond for a job.

She had been quite dismissive which had hurt Bella more than she cared to admit.

The other girls in the group, she now realised, tended to follow Lily’s opinion on things and despite promises to visit, Bella now realised that it was a case of out of sight and out of mind.

However, she wasn’t going to feel sorry for herself.

People had far bigger troubles to bear and perhaps it was time for her to let go and move on.

Her mum always told her that people sometimes came into your life for a reason or a season, and that was okay.

Which then made her think about Ben and the reason that they had reconnected again after years apart.

She was glad she had taken Ash’s advice and let the worry about Mabel go.

The main thing was that she and Ben were friends.

If that was all they could be then that was better than nothing.

She also reminded herself that it was easy to romanticise a person who had been living on the opposite side of the world.

The reality of him being here on the island and geographically available didn’t then mean he was guaranteed to fall for her in the same way she had fallen for him.

She had to remind herself not to read into anything anymore.

She should have learned that lesson with the whole Luke fiasco.