Page 19 of Sailing Free at Loch Tunnagan (Loch Tunnagan #1)

Turning to Jess he said, “Could you nip into the barn. There should be a box on the workbench at the left-hand side when you go in. We can put him in that when he’s travelling in the car with us.”

Jess tried to slide the barn door open but it wouldn’t budge, “Is it locked?” she asked.

“Shit,” apologised Cal, whilst still trying to balance the little hedgehog in his hands.

The keys are in my back pocket, just grab them out.

Jess slid her hand awkwardly into Cal’s back pocket.

She was acutely aware that her hand was pressed against the contour of his bum.

The space was tight and it took her a minute of manipulating and rummaging before she successfully pulled his keys out.

“Sorry,” she whispered, trying not to frighten their spikey little friend.

Cal just smiled, shaking his head at the absurdity of the situation.

Jess brought the box to Cal and he gently placed the creature inside.

“Right let's get going.”

Jess sat in the truck with the box on her lap for the short ride to Lorna’s. MacTavish had shown some interest in the creature when they first climbed in but Cal had ordered him back and he had obeyed as if sensing that it wasn’t time for games.

As they drove up the winding single track road the landscape changed; neat fields whose perimeters were marked by fences and hedgerows made way to barren rugged land that was tinged purple with heather.

This land was not contained by fences, instead the hills met the road and the sheep wandered unperturbed across the path of the truck.

Cal drove slowly which allowed Jess the chance to take in her surroundings.

A white stonewashed cottage nestled in the hills came into view ahead.

Is that Lorna’s asked Jess pointing over to it? ”

“No, Lorna’s is the one just beyond that. The white cottage is actually Nancy’s house. He glanced over at Jess, “Remember Nancy? The lady who told us about the boat race when we were walking MacTavish along the loch?”

“Yeah, I’ve been hanging out with Nancy at the cafe. She actually brought me some photos of the boat race. She’s been a great help.”

She glanced behind her and noted the tiny dots of houses in the village, clustered around the shimmering loch. “It’s really remote here, do you think it’s hard for her to live so far out?” She thought of how frail Nancy appeared when she walked.

Cal pondered, “Nancy’s made of strong stuff but her health has been deteriorating recently.”

He paused for a moment as a sheep ambled out in front of the car followed by twin lambs.

She stopped in the middle of the road in order to let her lambs feed, paying no attention to the delay she was causing Cal and Jess.

The lambs ducked their heads under her abdomen so that their rear ends protruded out.

Their tails wiggled with joy and the sheep stood for a few minutes before her patience wore thin and she continued her journey across the road causing the lambs to stumble from under her and then fall back into their position at her heels.

Cal continued, “Nancy’s husband died years ago and I wondered back then if she would move down to the village but she stayed put. She chops and stacks her own logs, mows the grass and does her own groceries despite having loads of offers of help.”

He thought for a moment and shook his head sadly, “I was kind of taken aback when I saw her at the loch the other day. I hadn’t seen her in a while and she looked so much weaker than before. I hope she’s doing ok out here.”

They drove past Nancy’s cottage and Jess peered out at the idyllic house.

Chickens were roaming around the garden, scratching and pecking at the grass in search of grubs.

The garden led down to a little stream that flowed underneath a canopy of cherry blossom trees.

The delicate pink and white flowers looked like puffs of candyfloss against the blue sky.

“I would love to live somewhere like that, “sighed Jess.

Lorna’s bungalow was only two minutes further up the road. Lorna waved a greeting to them as they approached the entrance to her driveway. Jess turned to Cal, “When you said you were calling ‘The hedgehog lady’ I pictured someone in her fifties or sixties. She looks about the same age as us.”

“Yeah, Lorna’s thirty. She was in the same year as me at school. We were actually in a pretty serious relationship for a while.”

“Were you?” asked Jess, surprised at Cal’s openness. He was usually quite reserved when talking about his private life.

“Yeah, Lorna and I were married for two years.”

“Really!” exclaimed Jess.

“Hmhm, we had a beautiful wedding behind the bike sheds in Primary Four. Mr Brown, the school Janitor performed the ceremony for us; we decided to go down the unorthodox route of exchanging Pokémon cards instead of rings.”

Jess smiled, “If you’ve still got those Pokémon cards stored somewhere they might be worth more than wedding rings. Collectors pay a fortune for the originals.”

She turned to look at him, “What made you and Lorna part ways.”

“Do you remember the pop band Busted?”

Jess nodded, “Yeah.”

“Lorna became a huge fan of them. I told her I didn’t like one of their songs and apparently, she couldn’t stay in a relationship with someone who didn’t appreciate the magnitude of their music.”

Jess watched as Lorna jogged over to open the large wooden gates; well jog was perhaps the wrong word, her movements were graceful and elegant, the spring in her step caused her blonde hair to bounce in its high ponytail.

“It’s a shame you broke up, she’s really pretty, she looks like a cheerleader.”

“She’s a dance teacher,” replied Cal, before muttering under his breath, “probably has all the poor kids dancing to Busted.”

Jess laughed as he rolled the truck into the driveway. Cal jumped out first and moved around the truck to open the door for Jess so she could hand him the hedgehog box.

Lorna led them into a shed, “Let’s have a look at who you’ve got in here,” she said as Cal handed her the box.

Lorna placed the box under a heat lamp and removed the little creature. She knelt down low so she was level with it.

“They come out of hibernation at this time of year.” She placed the hedgehog on a set of scales.

“They lose around a third of their body weight during hibernation. I’m guessing this one got stuck in the balloon and hasn’t eaten enough.

I’ll keep him here for a few days until he’s put some weight on. ”

“It’s a boy?” asked Jess.

“He certainly is,” smiled Lorna. “Would you like to name him?”

Jess looked up at Cal, “Have you any ideas?”

“You should have the honours,” said Cal. “You found him.”

“What about Maurice?” suggested Jess.

The corner of Cal’s mouth pulled up in a smile, “Where did you get Maurice from?”

Jess shrugged, “I don’t know, it just popped into my head.”

Cal laughed softly, “It suits him.”

“Maurice it is,” grinned Lorna, writing the name on a white board that was attached to the door of a pen.

She placed Maurice down on the clean straw that filled the floor of the pen.

There was a hot water bottle in one corner and two silver dishes in the other; one filled with food and one filled with water.

“Thank you for helping him,” said Jess.

“My pleasure,” replied Lorna. “My husband and I run the rescue centre together. I need to nip out to teach a class soon but James will be getting back from a job in about half an hour so he’ll check in on Maurice when he gets in.”

Jess reluctantly waved goodbye to Maurice.

Lorna must have sensed her reluctance to leave, “You can come back anytime you want and visit him while he’s here.”

“Really!” Jess was delighted. “Is there anything we can bring to help you? It can’t be easy keeping up with the supply of food and medicine for all these wee guys,” she gestured around at the other hedgehogs in the pens.

“Donations are always appreciated,” smiled Lorna. “Here’s a leaflet about all the ways you can help the hedgehogs. Thank you!”

“We’ll definitely be back with stuff for you,” said Jess enthusiastically.

“Awesome,” smiled Lorna. She turned to face Cal, “Actually Cal, if I give you some wood do you think you could put together some hedgehog houses? We’re doing another school talk soon and the kids always love it if we leave the classes with houses to put out around the playground and in the kid’s gardens. ”

Without waiting for Cal to answer Lorna walked off to get the wood.

“That’s it,” remarked Cal quietly, “I’m not taking you anywhere again.”

“Why not?” asked Jess.

“Because wherever we go I end up being signed up for free labour. You already have me babysitting on Monday and now I'm making a bloody village for hedgehogs.”

Jess stifled a laugh, “Stop your moaning, Lorna’s coming back, you don’t want to be uncharitable.”

Cal gave her a sidelong glance but kept quiet.

With the wood loaded into the back of the truck they jumped in and headed back down the road. Jess read through the leaflet as Cal drove, “Could you drop me off in the village? I need to buy lots of cat food for Maurice and his little friends.”

“Yeah, sure,” agreed Cal.

“Thanks.” Jess had now taken her phone out to browse the internet for hedgehog products. “I’ll get him a new blanket too, ooh and look at this you can buy a little bath and grooming kit for his quills!”

“Maurice is going to be a very spoiled little hedgehog, you’d better watch out or you’ll make the other hedgehogs jealous,” quipped Cal.

He pulled the truck up outside the Village Shop and Jess jumped out, “Thanks, see you back at the hotel,” she called to him through the open window.

He lifted his hand in a wave and drove off.

Jess entered the shop and recognised a familiar voice. The distinct sound of Amelie pleading with her mum drifted from the other side of the aisle, “Can I get this one Mummy, pleeeease!”

After placing some tins of cat food in her basket, Jess headed down the next aisle to where Amelie was standing on her tiptoes and thrusting a magazine up at Olivia.

“It’s the Octonauts Mummy. Look, it’s got a photo of a real Oarfish on it and it's got a toy!”

Olivia let out a resigned sigh, “Oh on you go, pop it in the basket.”

“Hi,” said Olivia when she spotted Jess. “What’s with all the cat food?” she asked with a mixture of amusement and curiosity.

“It’s for a hedgehog that Cal and I found,” replied Jess.

“What’s your hedgehog called?” piped in Amelie.

“He’s called Maurice,” smiled Jess.

“You should take Maurice to Auntie Lorna’s. She has loads of hedgehogs!” Amelie stretched out her arms to emphasise how many hedgehogs were at Auntie Lorna’s.

“Maurice is staying at Lorna’s house. Well, I’m presuming it’s the same Lorna. Is she your sister?” Jess asked Olivia.

Olivia shook her head. She’s one of my best friends; we just call her Auntie Lorna.”

“Can I visit Maurice?” asked Amelie looking up at Jess.

“I’m sure Maurice would love to meet you. You’ll need to ask your mum if it's okay though,” Jess replied.

Olivia nodded, “We’ll go tomorrow after school. Do you want to come up with us Jess?”

“Yeah, that would be great,” smiled Jess.

“I’ll text Auntie Lorna and let her know we’re coming,”Olivia wrapped her arm around Amelie.

Jess paid for her cat food and called bye to Amelie and Olivia before heading outside and back up to the hotel.

The rest of the afternoon was spent in front of the laptop trawling the council website and filling out various application forms that were required to hold the boat race and lantern parade.

She must have fallen asleep during the form filling process because she woke up with a start when her phone beeped.

Groggily she fumbled for her phone and squinted to read the text. It was from Paul,

Steph’s acting strange

Jess typed back,

Strange in what way?

Something just feels off. She seems quieter. She came in late this morning and looked flustered.

Jess sighed, Paul had a tendency to find gossip in everything and normally she would roll her eyes in good nature at him but he had been right about Steph before. Should she be worried that there was something else brewing?

She typed a message back to him,

Thanks for the heads up, Paul. Hopefully nothing to be worried about. How are things going with Alan?

She smiled at the three little dots that were flashing on her screen indicating that Paul was typing a long message. Finally, the message appeared; providing a minute-by-minute account of his relationship with Alan so far, leaving no details to the imagination.

Jess grinned, it was good to see Paul so happy. They blethered away to each other via text before tiredness claimed her again and she signed off to go to sleep.