Page 56 of Kilts and Kisses at Highland Hall (Kilts and Kisses #1)
When they got back to Lorna’s, she reached down the side of the sofa and pulled on a small handle. Immediately, the entire front section pulled out and converted the piece of furniture into a full-size bed.
‘Why the hell didn’t we do that last night?’ Bex said, still feeling the bruise down her arm from where she’d rolled off the sofa just a few hours before.
‘Well, I’m sure I told you about it at some point, but we were probably too drunk to remember,’ Lorna said, laughing. ‘But I got you a blanket and pillow, didn’t I? Considering the state I was in, I think that was pretty good going.’
Bex dropped onto the sofa bed, her muscles sinking into the soft springs. Yes, coming for a nap was definitely the right choice to make. She grabbed the pillow and blanket Lorna had fetched for her, kicked off her shoes and lay back.
‘Thanks,’ Bex said, navigating the alarm app on her phone. ‘I’ll just set this for an hour – that should be enough for a decent nap before I head home.’
‘Sounds good. I’m going to head out to meet Eilidh for a bit. You don’t mind being on your own, do you?’
The fact that Lorna was still able to walk and talk coherently was all the evidence Bex needed that she wasn’t suffering nearly as much, but then she was three or four years younger.
Maybe it made all the difference. Or maybe she was just more used to whatever the hell they’d been drinking than she was.
‘No, of course not,’ Bex replied. ‘If you’re not back by the time I go…
well, thank you for everything. You’ve really made my time here enjoyable.
And you know I’ll be back soon, but maybe if you fancy a trip down south you can come and visit me in London?
I’ll take you to Wildflower Lock. I think you’d really like it there. ’
‘That sounds great,’ Lorna said. ‘I’d like that.
A big road trip and everything.’ She hovered for a moment as if there was more she wanted to say.
And there probably was. Something about Duncan and how sorry she was at how it had all ended up.
That was what Bex wanted to say, anyway. But she didn’t.
No more words were spoken. Instead, they exchanged a warm hug, after which Bex offered Lorna a last wave as she disappeared out of the door. As she let out a heavy sigh, Bex collapsed back onto the sofa bed. Her eyes barely closed before she was fast asleep.
* * *
The alarm blasted through her skull, jerking her awake. Bex felt as if she had barely closed her eyes, and yet the hour had passed.
‘Lorna?’ she called into the flat. No response.
Bex wasn’t surprised; she didn’t know her new friend well, but she could tell Lorna wasn’t the type for a quick catch-up.
No doubt she was probably out with Eilidh gossiping about last night.
A memory stirred in the back of Bex’s mind.
She might have got it wrong, but she had a vague recollection of Niall confessing his love to Eilidh, or maybe the others had just been egging him on to do it.
She wasn’t sure. Either way, she was relieved Lorna wasn’t there; she’d already done her goodbyes and didn’t want to have to go through it again.
Ready to finally say goodbye to LochDarroch – at least for a little while – she headed out the front door and closed it behind her.
Just as she’d hoped, the sheep were gone.
She could still hear a faint bleating in the distance, but at least her car was where she’d parked it, by the side of the road, with no animals in sight. It looked like she could finally leave.
But as she approached her vehicle, something caught her attention.
Her trusty coupé was at an odd angle, as though it were sloped.
Had she parked it like that, with one of the front wheels up?
She couldn’t remember – it felt like ages ago now and to be fair, she had been so upset, she could have parked it in the flooded ford and barely noticed.
Though as she got closer, her heart sank.
It wasn’t that the ground was sloped, or the front wheel that was raised at all. No, the reason for the peculiar angle of her car was very obvious: her back tyre was flat.
Bex’s jaw clicked as her back molars ground together.
‘You have got to be kidding me.’