Page 8 of A Summer of Secrets on Arran (Scottish Romances #5)

Rosie laughed. ‘We can do that. That’s what holidays are for.’ Just then the owner, Cano, arrived at the table.

‘Here you go,’ he said, placing down the tray and taking the cakes and drinks off and putting them next to the women.

‘Thank you so much, Cano,’ said Rosie, smiling at him.

‘You are welcome. It is nice to see you. It’s been a while.’

Rosie shrugged. ‘I know. But now it’s the holidays I am sure you will see a lot more of me.’

‘I hope so. Enjoy,’ he said with another smile and then moved to the next table to clear it.

‘This is bliss,’ said Isobel, stirring her coffee with a teaspoon and gazing at the still water ahead. ‘It’s so nice to sit down and not have to rush about anywhere. And eat cake.’

Rosie then watched Isobel as she took her knife and cut up the cakes before handing Rosie a napkin.

‘Dig in,’ said Isobel.

Rosie smiled fondly at her friend who still had her youthful looks and figure even though she was now in her fifties. Rosie was convinced Isobel had hollow legs as she had the appetite of a teenage boy yet never seemed to gain an ounce.

‘I should have brought my suntan lotion with me,’ said Isobel, shielding her eyes from the sun. ‘Though, do you think putting on the suntan lotion is wishful thinking? You know as soon as I do, it will probably cloud over and start pishing down.’

Rosie laughed and dug her fork into the cake.

‘So,’ said Isobel, eyeing her friend critically. ‘Penny for them?’

‘What do you mean?’ asked Rosie, trying to be flippant.

‘How are you doing? I mean, how are you doing really ?’

Rosie thought she had done an okay job of putting on a brave face these past months, but now she was with her old friend, she could feel her face crumple.

‘Erm, just, you know, trying to get on with things . . .’ She felt her bottom lip wobble slightly and shook her head.

‘Don’t be nice to me as you’ll just make me cry.

I am okay, it’s just because you’re here and you’re asking that I’m starting to get upset. ’

Isobel regarded her carefully. ‘Okay. Well, if you want my opinion, you’re well shot of him. I always thought he was punching well above his weight . . . Rosie, you are a goddess.’

Rosie felt her cheeks redden. ‘Away you go,’ she said, embarrassed.

‘You are beautiful inside and out, Rosie. Don’t you forget it. And you’ve always been really rubbish at accepting compliments.’

‘The cake’s nice, isn’t it?’ said Rosie, desperate to change the subject.

‘Delish. But the traybake is even nicer. And stop trying to change the subject. I know you, Rosie. What you need is a steamy fling with some island hunk.’ Isobel glanced around the café. ‘I don’t see any here right now but worry not, my friend, I will be on the lookout for you while I’m here.’

Rosie groaned. ‘Tell me about you. What’s going on in your world, Isobel? For all I know you’ve got a man back in Glasgow?’

Isobel stared at her open-mouthed. ‘As if. I may be single, Rosie, but I am definitely not keen to mingle.’

Rosie laughed. ‘And how is Bella?’ She watched as Isobel frowned. ‘She’ll be enjoying having an empty house while you’re away. And having the car to herself too?’

Isobel pursed her lips and nodded. ‘Yes, she’s okay, though a bit worried about work.

Things at the salon seem a bit up and down at the moment.

Anyway, I’m sure she will be enjoying a bit of space from me but she’s actually away too — camping this weekend at Loch Lomond. I’m sure that give her a wee boost.’

Rosie shuddered. ‘Don’t. Even the thought of it makes my back sore. Remember that trip in Queensland?’

Isobel nodded, remembering when they slept outside under the stars.

‘That was the first and last time I went camping,’ said Rosie. ‘Never again. I like my home comforts far too much.’

They sat in companionable silence for a while.

‘But the thing is, Bella’s starting to ask questions . . .’

‘Questions are good,’ said Rosie, who had always been naturally inquisitive and interested in people. Isobel always told her she should have been a journalist. Or a politician as she was good at asking questions and very skilled at not answering them.

‘Mm,’ said Isobel.

‘What kind of questions?’

‘Um,’ said Isobel. ‘Travelling and if we enjoyed it and . . .’

Rosie raised an eyebrow. ‘And?’

‘Well, I just get the feeling that she is about to start asking about her dad again.’

Rosie scuffed her foot against the ground and reached into her handbag for her bottle of water.

She opened the lid and took a drink. ‘Okay, I see. But she has asked before and you told her that he was a one-night stand who you met on a night out in Glasgow when you came back from Australia, right? So, what’s the problem now?

Why do you think she would start to ask again? ’

‘I don’t know. It’s just on my mind, there is just something about the way she’s been looking at me lately.

Call it my maternal instinct. Or maybe it’s just me overthinking it,’ she said, attempting to make light of it.

‘I must be hitting that age, Rosie. I’m all over the place overthinking stuff and overly worrying at the moment. ’

Rosie nodded in concern. ‘I know there is a very valid reason why you don’t want to get into the details with Bella and I totally understand that. But . . .’

Isobel drained the last of her coffee and put the mug down on the table.

‘I was on Instagram the other day and I seem to get bombarded with motivational quotes and sayings . . . there was something from a French writer who had said that when truth was buried, it grew and gathered such an explosive force that on the day it bursts out, it blows up everything with it. Which I guess is very dramatic. But you know me.’

‘O-k-a-y,’ said Rosie slowly. ‘To be honest, that kind of rings a bell. Sounds like my life of late.’

Isobel clapped her hand over her mouth. ‘I’m so sorry, Rosie. You must think I’m a complete idiot. That was so insensitive for me to say. Ignore me.’

Rosie reached over and patted her hand. ‘Don’t be silly. It’s okay. But I suppose a lot of the time we could all find meaning in lots of these Instagram posts, depending on how we are feeling day-to-day. It’s like horoscopes, isn’t it?’

Isobel nodded. ‘You’re right. Thank you. And I’m sorry. I still haven’t lost that knack of managing to put my foot right in it.’

‘That’s why I love you so much,’ said Rosie, chuckling. ‘But for the record you haven’t put your foot in anything.’

‘Enough of me, tell me about Ben,’ said Isobel. ‘How is he getting on?’

Just then Rosie looked up and spotted Fergus, from the outdoor centre, coming out of the café with a takeaway coffee.

Ben had worked there the previous summer and she’d got to know Fergus quite well.

She waved at him and was about to call him over but, although he had smiled back at her, he had quickened his pace and kept going.

How strange. Fergus always stopped to talk to her, and she hoped that everything with him was okay.

‘He’s a handsome chap,’ said Isobel, who was watching.

Rosie laughed. ‘Ben used to work for him.’ She pulled out her phone and showed her the latest beach shots from Ben’s trip.

‘Oh, my goodness, I can’t believe how grown up he is now. And so handsome. Obviously takes after you with his good looks. Where has the time gone?’ said Isobel, shaking her head. ‘It seems like no time ago they were wee tots. And now they are proper adults.’

There was less than a year between Bella and Ben and they had always been great friends when they were small. But then they’d got absorbed in their own lives and own friends, especially during the awkward teenager phase, and their friendship had drifted.

‘I know,’ said Rosie wistfully. ‘They’re both all grown up.’

Isobel bit her lip. ‘I just don’t know if I did the right thing by her,’ she said pensively.

Privately, Rosie had always been a bit worried that this might happen, and that Isobel would wonder if she had made the right choice all those years ago.

Especially now that Bella had started to probe.

It was a secret that they had carried all these years and Rosie wondered if things were now starting to catch up with them.

Rosie had a feeling that there was every chance that things could get complicated, despite her earlier attempts to reassure Isobel.

Then she reminded herself that she had already dealt with one life explosion.

You couldn’t plan for when curveballs might be chucked in your path.

Rosie had learned that you just had to be ready to catch them.

She smiled brightly at Isobel. ‘Try not to worry too much about it. You’re here for a holiday so put it to the back of your mind.

You can think about it again when you get home.

And I’m sure when Bella gets back from camping with her friends, she will have forgotten all about it. ’