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

‘I was in the hall cupboard before you came in. Sorting some stuff out,’ said Bella, watching her mum’s face for a reaction or realisation about what was stored beneath the camping equipment. But there was nothing.

‘Did you find the gear? It should all be there,’ said Isobel.

‘Yes,’ replied Bella. Her mum had clearly forgotten that her box of stuff was also there.

Her forgetfulness seemed to be a constant theme these days.

Bella shuddered. She did not want to get old.

Not that her mum was that old. But she was now fifty-one and that was old enough.

To be fair, though, with her chin-length, wavy, dark hair and petite figure she looked way younger.

At least a decade younger. Bella just hoped she had inherited her mum’s youthful genes.

Although she kept telling Bella that once you were past forty everything seemed to go downhill.

Though, thinking about her gran, who was now well into her seventies, she seemed to be doing okay even as a senior lady.

She was even talking about getting a tattoo.

‘What do you want for tea tonight?’ asked Isobel, looking at the clock.

‘I don’t need anything, Mum. I’m out meeting the girls. Remember I told you?’

Her mum stood up and dumped her mug in the kitchen sink and looked out the window for a moment. ‘Yes, sorry. Brain fog. Again. I guess I’ll make something later after I’ve been to Zumba,’ she said.

Bella’s phone rang. She could see her gran’s number come up on the caller ID. ‘Hi, Gran, how are you?’

‘Hello, duckie. I’m fine although I can’t get hold of your mother. She must have switched off her phone again. Honestly, what’s the point of having a mobile if you don’t answer it? Sometimes I think she does it on purpose to avoid me.’

Bella chuckled and put her on speaker phone. ‘She’s right here. And remember Gran that you are on the speaker phone, so Mum can hear everything that you say. Absolutely everything. ’

Isobel smiled at Bella and rolled her eyes. ‘Hi, Mum. How are you? What’s up?’

‘Och, I’ve been trying to track you down as I need to check something with you. I just wondered if you would mind popping round later. I’ve just got some papers for you to sign.’

Isobel sighed. ‘Yes, of course. I was going to go to my keep fit class though . . .’

‘That’s fine. Do your class and then come over. You’ll be in a better mood after that. You’re sounding on edge.’

Bella winced as she watched her mum bristle at that comment.

‘But don’t worry, I’ll even make you some dinner if you want.’

‘That’s a deal,’ said Isobel, seemingly placated by the offer of a meal. ‘Bella’s out tonight anyway. I’ll be over after seven and be as happy as Larry as I’ll have more endorphins than I’ll know what to do with . . .’

‘Righty-ho. See you then. Bye. Bye Bella. Come and see me soon.’

‘I will, Gran. Don’t you worry. I haven’t forgotten I’m your favourite gran’daughter . . .’

Margaret chuckled. ‘You’re my only gran’daughter. See you later alligator.’

‘Bye,’ chorused Bella and Isobel.

Bella ended the call and then looked at her mum who had turned to stare out the window.

Bella wondered what she was looking at and went to stand beside her.

All she could see were a few cars driving past on the street below and the woman in the flat opposite standing on her phone frowning. ‘Mum, are you okay?’

‘Yes, just thinking that I can’t be bothered with the exercise class but I should really go as it will make me feel better.’ She reached over and hugged Bella.

‘Mum . . . you know how I’m thinking of going travelling?’

Isobel looked at her. ‘Uh-huh.’

Bella looked at her mum’s face intently as she spoke.

‘What do you think I should do? I was wondering about changing my plans to go to South-East Asia and just head straight to Australia and New Zealand. Lily’s just back from there and she has been raving about it.

’ Lily was one of her friends from college and she was already talking about going back.

Did she detect a glimmer of something pass over her mum’s face?

‘Well, they’re both big countries. I’m sure you will have a great time.’

‘But how did you and Rosie decide where you were going to go when you went off travelling?’

Isobel turned to look out the window again.

‘Gosh, it was such a long time ago. Almost a lifetime . . .’ Her voice trailed away.

‘We had always wanted to go to Australia and had been saving for years. Then when we started looking at flights the options were to stop off in Bangkok or Singapore. We chose Bangkok which was amazing. Then we flew to Brisbane and down the Gold Coast and onto Sydney.’

‘Sounds amazing, Mum. You’ll have some top tips then?’

She nodded. ‘I guess so. Though it was a long time ago now. It will have changed a lot.’

Bella thought her mum looked a bit wistful. ‘Do you wish you had travelled more?’

Isobel frowned. ‘Not really.’

‘Didn’t you plan to go for longer? You don’t really say much about it.’

Isobel’s face flushed and she fanned her face. ‘I suppose it was a long time ago, love. But I think I was quite open to it all and went with the flow. Why, what makes you ask?’

‘I just wondered,’ said Bella. ‘I suppose I just wondered what made you want to come home. Weren’t you and Rosie and Ash having the time of your lives?’

‘Yes, we were having an absolute ball. But Ash wasn’t with us for that long before heading to Brisbane and Rosie was keen to explore more. I missed home and your gran,’ she said half-jokingly.

Bella really loved her mum but couldn’t imagine missing her so much that she would curtail her travel plans. And leave a hot country where so much fun stuff was happening to come back to Scotland. But then that was her. She had to keep reminding herself everyone had different perspectives in life.

‘Seriously, I had seen enough and my life had changed a bit in the time I was away from home. I realised that I didn’t need to go abroad to find what I was searching for.

I had everything I needed.’ Isobel looked at her watch.

‘I’ll need to keep an eye on the time for my class.

Um, Rosie stayed on. Maybe you should chat to her?

’ Isobel frowned. ‘Mind you, maybe now she wishes she had come home with me and then she wouldn’t have met that big eejit Dermot after I left her in Australia. ’

Bella knew that the window of conversation was starting to close by the way her mum was now frantically fanning her face.

‘I better go and get ready and wash my face to cool it down. Feels like you could fry eggs on it.’ She kissed Bella on the top of her head as she walked past. ‘Enjoy your night with the girls.’

Bella stood for a moment, silent with her thoughts.

Why couldn’t her mum just open up and tell her the truth about things?

She had always told Bella that honesty was the best policy, yet she knew her mum was lying to her.

She was starting to think her mum was quite the hypocrite.

Even though Bella would be turning twenty-five this summer, her mum seemed to insist on always treating her like a child.

Especially as she had written most of what happened down in that travel journal.

It hadn’t taken Bella long to piece things together.

Even though she had been completely blindsided by it.

She still couldn’t believe it. What she couldn’t understand was why her mum insisted on it all being such a huge secret?

And it made her wonder what other secrets her mum had.