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

Jake opened the drawers in the sideboard and unzipped his bag.

He was going to unpack this time. He deposited his clothes neatly in the deep drawers and folded his jacket over the easy chair by the window, by which time Gayle had reappeared.

It had turned out that there was no ice.

Jake closed the bedroom door and sat down on the end of the bed.

He put the small pack of frozen peas wrapped in a cloth to the side of his face and winced.

A few moments later, he put the peas down and picked up his mobile phone.

He was not looking forward to this conversation.

She answered straight away.

‘Faye.’ Jake sighed; it was good to hear her voice, even though he’d only spoken to her an hour earlier on his way back there from the airport.

She hadn’t been answering his calls, so Marcus had said he’d sort it out.

Jake hadn’t expected that Marcus would be able to get her to phone him.

But he had. He’d told Faye that Jake was returning to the Ross Corporation.

She’d been straight on the phone to him, shocked.

Marcus hadn’t told her that it was only for one or two weeks, the summer at most, while Marcus checked into the rehab clinic.

Jake had reassured her he’d be back to school for the start of the new academic year in September .

What he’d failed to tell her was that he probably wasn’t going to be flying home the next day.

He’d promised he was only staying another night, but after his conversation with Marcus, Jake had a feeling he’d need more time.

He’d also told her something else he shouldn’t have – at least not over the phone.

It was concerning what he and Marcus intended to do as soon as Marcus got out of rehab.

They were going to go and see Eleanor. It had just slipped out in conversation.

He could tell Faye thought he’d lost his mind when he’d told her Eleanor had survived the skiing accident.

All along, she had been under the misapprehension that he was a widower.

He’d also told her he didn’t want to go into specifics over the phone.

Fortunately, Natty had been in the background, haranguing her mum to let her speak to him, so he hadn’t had to.

The last thing Faye had said to him earlier was that she missed him terribly and that he had better be coming back very soon.

Jake sighed heavily down the phone.

Unfortunately, Faye heard him. ‘Is everything all right? Don’t tell me that your flight tomorrow has been cancelled.’

‘Look, about that—’

‘You’re not coming back, are you?’ Faye said flatly.

Jake took a deep breath. ‘Not tomorrow, no. Look I need more time.’

‘It’s about Eleanor, isn’t it?’

‘Yes,’ Jake said in a small voice. ‘You know I said I didn’t want to go into specifics about the accident over the phone.

But the fact is, Marcus and I … well, we had a huge falling-out over what happened up on that mountain at the time.

He was convinced someone else was up there with us when we were skiing off-piste. I didn’t believe him. ’

‘Why was that fact so important?’ Faye asked gently.

‘There was an avalanche. There was no warning of one when we went skiing up there, no hint that anything of that nature would occur, otherwise we would not have skied on Christmas Day. Then it happened, and we got buried in the snow – well, Eleanor and I did. But Marcus dug me out first. That’s what I’d assumed.

How could I not? If only he’d dug her out first, then she wouldn’t be—’

Jake halted. ‘All along, he said there was someone else up there with them, must have been, because he said it wasn’t him who dug me out and then Eleanor.’

‘And you didn’t believe him.’

‘Of course not. He was just lying. At least that’s what I thought all along, until …

’ Jake picked up the peas and held them to his sore eye again.

‘Well, until Marcus made me see sense. Eleanor was … is … his sister, after all. Although he and I, we’re best friends, like brothers, Eleanor is his family, his sister.

He’d have dug her out first, I just know it.

’ Jake sighed. ‘I think I just needed someone to blame, when I really should blame myself for not stopping her going skiing.’

There was an uncomfortable silence.

Faye said, ‘Take as much time as you need. I’ll tell Natty something came up, and you won’t be back as soon as we hoped.’

‘Oh, god! I forgot about Natty.’

‘She’ll be fine. As long as you’re coming back …’ She let the sentence hang.

‘Of course I’m coming back. I just need a few days. I’ve booked in here for six nights, but I’ll be back sooner, if I can.’

‘Is there anything I can do?’

Jake smiled. The fact that she’d answered her phone to him was more than enough, and she’d been understanding that he’d reneged on his promise to return to London when he said he would.

‘You’ve done more than enough.’

Faye disagreed. ‘But I haven’t done anything.’

‘You’ve been understanding. Especially after I blurted what I did about Eleanor.’

‘It’s okay, Jake. We all deal with grief in different ways. Someone doesn’t have to die to mourn the life that was taken away from you.’

Jake nodded. Of course she understood. He imagined she was talking from experience.

She’d been in love with Natty’s father, Yousaf, and although they’d never married, she’d thought she’d have a life with him, there in England.

He’d been a foreign student from a wealthy family in Oman, but Faye hadn’t wanted to return with him to live in his country.

She’d had a life, a career, and wanted to bring up their toddler daughter in England.

Unfortunately, the pressure to return home to his family abroad had clearly been too much for Yousaf, so he had returned, but not before attempting to take Natty with him, ostensibly just to visit his family.

Jake had been so angry when Faye had told him she’d discovered Yousaf had bought one-way tickets for himself and Natty.

He hadn’t been intending to bring her back.

The trip with his daughter had not gone ahead, and he had returned to Oman alone.

Inevitably, the relationship between them had broken down completely.

Correspondence followed in which Yousaf apologised profusely for what his family had forced him to do.

Although Faye had forgiven him, Yousaf had not seen his daughter since she was three – six years earlier.

Jake thought that it was for the best. What if it happened again?

Yousaf had promised it wouldn’t, but that hadn’t stopped Faye moving around, in the beginning, so he wouldn’t find them if he returned to England.

All that was now behind them, though, and they were settled in their house.

Natty was settled in her school, and Faye in her job.

Thinking of school, and missing the last few days of term, Jake asked Faye how things were going at work.

‘I’m suffocating under a mountain of paperwork,’ she said sullenly, ‘and it’s not even mine!’

Jake pursed his lips. He knew what she was referring to. He remembered the state of his in-tray. As his mentor while he was training, she was responsible for his work. ‘Well, I wanted to make sure you were too busy to miss me while I’m away.’

‘Don’t worry – I’ll make sure I return the favour,’ said Faye, ‘with knobs on.’

Jake kicked off his shoes and threw his legs onto the bed, enjoying the banter. God, I miss her , he thought. He smiled, then plumped a cushion and leaned back into it. ‘Is Natty okay?’

‘She’s fine. It’s the last day of term tomorrow, so I expect she’s going to enjoy the fact that there won’t be much schoolwork going on, just fun and games, and a movie in the hall for the whole primary school in the afternoon.’

‘Sounds fun,’ Jake said, smiling.

There was an awkward silence. ‘Look I’ve got a lot to do at work, so …’ she trailed off.

Jake noticed that the easy familiar banter had disappeared at the mention of Natty.

She was obviously still a sore point. So, he’d bought her too many toys, and had been thinking of getting her a puppy, although he’d kept that thought to himself.

Although Jake knew he had been spoiling her, he couldn’t help thinking it really was no big deal.

It was definitely a big deal for Faye, though.

She had never had to share her daughter’s affections until now, and Jake was wondering what the consequences of that would be.

They hadn’t properly cleared the air regarding that debacle. It wasn’t something Jake wanted to bring up over the phone. But he did want to talk about that elephant in the room, because he was still afraid of losing Faye and Natty.

He did want to be completely honest with Faye from that point on. No more hiding things. ‘Look, there’s another reason I need to stay here for a bit.’

‘Jake, it’s fine. You don’t have to tell me what—’

‘I want to. I need to,’ Jake blurted. He frowned, thinking, do I sound desperate? Desperate to remain in her good books, for fear of losing her again? Damn right he did – and he knew it.

He said, ‘This guy phoned me out of the blue asking me to help him. Martha had some letters. Turns out she needed help finding her son. That’s how I ended up deciding to come back here in the first place.’

‘Who?’

Jake didn’t want to get into the fact that this guy had been impersonating Martha’s husband. Instead, he said, ‘It turns out that Martha is Aubrey’s sister.’

‘Aubrey. He’s a bit of an enigma, isn’t he?’

Jake raised his eyebrows. That was certainly one way of putting it.

Faye had only met him once, but she’d cottoned on to that too.

With Aubrey, you never really got to the truth of who he was – his background.

All Jake had known about him was that he’d worked for the Rosses for decades, and it had turned out his name, Aubrey Jones, was fictitious. Jake told Faye that.

‘Now, why does that not surprise me in the least?’