Page 16 of The Boathouse by the Loch (The Scottish Highlands #4)

Jake parked in front of Gillespie’s General Store next to a battered green van with the faded words Gillespie Deliveries on the side.

He’d arrived just as the shop was opening.

As he approached the entrance, he was forced to do a quick sidestep out of the way of a young man leaving the store, his arms laden with three crates.

He looked familiar. Jake waited while the guy loaded the van, then accosted him as he approached.

‘David?’ said Jake, stepping in front of him and blocking his way into the store.

Jake noted the disconcerted look that flickered across his face.

‘We met yesterday at Gayle’s,’ Jake clarified.

‘At dinner. Well, you didn’t end up staying for dinner …

’ Jake looked at him expectantly, wondering if David would tell him whether the previous day he’d managed to book that hotel room for tonight, to surprise Robyn when she returned from London today.

Perhaps he was planning for them to stay more than one night.

‘Yes, I remember,’ he said slowly, a guarded look in his eyes.

Jake knew it was none of his business, but he wanted to meet Robyn before he left, hoping she wouldn’t be too busy catching up with her boyfriend in a posh suite in a hotel to visit Gayle at Lark Lodge.

That was assuming David had booked a room.

There was another reason for Jake’s interest – he wanted David’s room at Lark Lodge.

Jake appreciated that he’d been in luck when Gayle had told him that the seven-night booking for the attic room had been cancelled.

It meant he could stay on at Lark Lodge for six more nights, if he wished.

The problem was that Jake didn’t want to remain in the attic room – the one with the view of The Lake House.

Jake had an idea. If they got into conversation about something else, maybe he could drop in the question about whether David was staying on at Gayle’s. He’d asked Gayle that morning, but David had left early for work, and she hadn’t had a chance to speak to him.

Jake opted to show him the photograph of Martha’s son; it would be a way in. He was their generation. Perhaps her son had been adopted by a local couple, and he had gone to school with David. It was a long shot, but anything was possible.

‘I’ve got something to show you.’

He was about to explain how he came by the photo, and how he had met the boy’s mother, but when he got out his wallet, he couldn’t find the photo. He put his hand in his coat pocket and came up empty. He was momentarily thrown. He held up a finger. ‘Just one second.’ He checked the other pocket.

‘Look, some people have to work around here,’ said David as he pushed past him, the sarcasm in his voice unmistakable.

Jake was left standing outside the store, frantically searching all his pockets until he remembered: the previous evening, after his conversation with Faye, which he’d ended rather abruptly, he had taken the photo out of his wallet to try and focus on something else.

He must have left the photo on his bedside table and had forgotten to put it back in his wallet .

Jake sighed, his thoughts turning to Faye.

He should have phoned her straight back and apologised for being so rude, but he hadn’t.

That morning, when he’d woken, he’d known she’d be getting herself and Natty ready for the last day of term.

He’d decided he would either phone her later, when she’d returned from work, or on Saturday morning, and would have to hope she would answer her phone.

She wouldn’t have had time to listen to his lame apologies that morning, which was just as well, because Jake had wanted to leave early for Mr Gillespie’s store.

He’d had something pressing on his mind.

However, it wasn’t catching up with David.

David reappeared with another load of crates and gave Jake a black look on his way to the van. He deposited the crates on the pavement and loaded them into the van one at a time.

Jake sidled up to the van, conscious of the fact that this had not got off to a good start.

‘Look,’ he said, ‘I have something to show you that might be of interest.’ He was aware he was sounding like some dodgy salesman, or worse, a dealer offering David something illegal.

Jake wished Marcus hadn’t come to mind at that moment. He pressed on. ‘Can we talk?’

‘I’m busy.’ David loaded the last box into the back of the van.

‘OK.’ Jake hadn’t expected this to be easy. ‘It doesn’t have to be now.’ Jake would still rather have the photograph, something with which to open the lines of communication. ‘Later, perhaps, at Gayle’s …’ Jake was fishing. He waited to see what David would say to that.

David finished loading the van, passing Jake several times as he entered the shop, returning with more goods for the van, making him wait for an answer.

Finally, he slammed the back door shut, wiped his dusty hands down the front of his jeans, and came over to Jake.

‘I won’t be back till late – very late. ’

Jake pursed his lips. So he hadn’t booked a hotel room.

Damn! There went that room at Gayle’s that Jake wanted to move into.

On the other hand, perhaps it was good news.

He wondered if David was picking Robyn up from the train station.

Maybe they were having a meal together and then staying over together at Gayle’s.

That could be a possibility. Jake bit his lip.

He couldn’t very well ask him. He didn’t even know Robyn.

Their relationship was none of his business.

He guessed he’d just have to wait and see if she was there at breakfast on Saturday morning.

‘I see.’ Jake was not perturbed.

He watched David climb into the van. Jake turned towards the store.

‘I’ll be at The Winky.’

Jake turned back. David was sitting in the driver’s seat, his window wound down.

‘The Winky?’

‘You know, The Winking Owl.’

‘Sorry, I don’t know what that is.’

‘It’s a pub.’ David shot him a look. ‘I can tell you’re not a local, despite your accent.’

Jake shot him a look. Of course David knew he wasn’t a local – he was Jake Campbell-Ross.

But he hadn’t always been a part of the Ross family.

‘I used to live here once, years ago, when I was a boy.’ Jake could hear the sadness in his voice, the ache for what might have been.

He might have grown up in this small community in Aviemore if his parents hadn’t died.

Perhaps he’d have known David all his life, gone to school with him, and called The Winking Owl The Winky , like the locals obviously did.

Jake glanced at Mr Gillespie’s store. Perhaps his mother had shopped there.

He wouldn’t be surprised. The large chain supermarkets had only been in the town for around ten years.

Until then, this store had been the main grocery store unless you travelled further afield.

Jake could just imagine his mother taking him shopping there as a child.

Jake hadn’t been in the store since. It made him wonder if David’s father would remember him – the little kid whose father was in the RAF.

Although Jake and his mother could have travelled with his father, and lived abroad during his postings, his mother loved Scotland, and her home town of Aviemore, and The Lake House – their home. So they’d lived there, the two of them, while his father was away.

‘I don’t think I’ve ever been in that pub,’ Jake thought aloud. He hadn’t really ventured into Aviemore much over the years, even though he’d been there every winter for Christmas.

‘It’s up the road there, right in the centre of town.’ David pointed. ‘I’ll be drowning my sorrows,’ he said, ‘so don’t expect too much coherent conversation. But you’re welcome to join me for a drink and … well, whatever it is you want to show me.’ He offered Jake an unexpected grin.

David was out to get plastered tonight, and he’d invited Jake along for the ride, although Jake intended to stick to soft drinks.

‘I’ll be there,’ Jake said, surprised by the invitation.

Jake watched David start the engine.

David’s plans to book into a fancy hotel and patch things up with Robyn had presumably gone awry.

That morning, at breakfast, Jake had noticed that Gayle was unusually subdued.

She hadn’t said why. Now Jake guessed that Robyn had phoned her and told her as much.

Perhaps Robyn was staying in London for the weekend.

Or maybe she was coming home, but didn’t want to see David .

‘Lost my girl …’ said David.

Jake nodded knowingly.

‘And I haven’t even got a proper job.’

Jake looked back at the store, then back at the truck.

David read his mind. ‘I’m helping out the old man, just temporarily – I hope.’

Jake lost his chance to ask David about his plans for the future by the appearance of Mr Gillespie at the door, casting a disapproving glare in his son’s direction and shouting, ‘You still here?’

‘Speak of the devil,’ said David, starting the engine. He looked out of the window at Jake. ‘I’ll be in the pub ‘til closing time most probably. I’ll buy you a pint,’ he said. ‘It’s the strong stuff, mind, none of that wishy-washy English rubbish.’

‘I’ll be there, but I’m not drinking—’ Jake’s voice was drowned out over the rumble of the engine. There was a crunch as David put the truck into gear.

Jake stepped back and watched the van drive off, feeling sorry for David. It sounded as though things had been going great one minute – he and Robyn had got engaged, and had moved into his boathouse – and then something had suddenly happened, and everything had changed.

He swallowed hard at the thought of how life really could turn on a dime.

He’d heard that phrase when he was working in America, and he’d had to ask his American colleague, who had recently suffered an unexpected bereavement, what he’d meant by that.

He’d told him it was a figure of speech, meaning the course of a person’s life could change direction very quickly.

Jake could empathise. It had happened to him as a child. But he’d had no clue back then that it would happen to him again .

Eleanor.

Jake breathed a heavy sigh, remembering what he had gone there to do.

He turned around to find Mr Gillespie senior still standing outside his shop, arms folded over his chest, eyeing Jake suspiciously. ‘Can I help you?’

‘Yes, as a matter of fact, you can,’ said Jake, following him into the shop. ‘I need a sledgehammer.’