Page 114 of Scotch on the Rocks

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“Shakespeare!”

“Shakespeare!”

Juniper’s shouts had turned to panicked cries long ago, tearing through the trees and hedge growth surrounding our properties with a singular focus. I’d taken a moremethodicalapproach, leaving no stone unturned, searching every nook and cranny a terrified cat may think to hide.

Through every moment, logic screamed at me, the words I’d tell any pet owner as a veterinarian: cats have a canny ability of finding their way back home, days or weeks, sometimes months after going missing. But Juniper wasn’tanypet owner and Shakespeare wasn’tanycat. She was nervous and slow to trust. Would she even think of this place as home yet? I didn’t have the heart to raise the question aloud.

“Anything?” The light of Juniper’s torch bounced as she jogged to meet me.

I shook my head. “Sorry, sweetheart.” Her crushed expression killed me. Her teeth were chattering, and I pulled her against my chest, chafing her arms. “We’re not giving up. I promise you, she’ll be back by morning, the same wee pain in the arse she’s always been.”

“What if she isn’t, Callum? She literally ran away at the first opportunity presented to her. And I was so distracted I didn’t even notice. It was cruel to bring her home in the first place when she clearly hates me. I should have left her with Kelly … or a shelter, at least she’d be safe right now.” Her tears soaked my neck, and I rocked her, pressing my lips to her hat, kissing her even if she couldn’t feel it. “She hates me,” she repeated, sounding so young and lost all of a sudden tears unexpectedly burned my own eyes. “I don’t even blame her.”

They just didn’t love me enough.

This was about so much more than a cat. If Shakespeare never returned would she see it as just another being she loved abandoning her? Understanding came a long time before acceptance. Deep down she might understand another person’s love didn’t equal the value of your self-worth, but how long would it take her to accept it? To not blame and hate herself for every small rejection?

“Impossible,” I said fiercely. Wishing I could imprint the sentiment onto her soul. “It would quite literally be easier to tear my own heart from my chest than hate you.”

“Look at how quickly she bonded with you. I’ve tried everything I can think of … for months and—” Tears glistened on her pale cheeks. “I wouldn’t come back to me either.”

Fuck.

Clasping her cheeks, I glanced between those eyes that had always consumed me. World eaters, I’d once called them, when I should have said:my entire world.

“We’re getting her back. Do you trust me?” I’d search every inch of this damn island if that’s what it took. She nodded weakly and the tightness in my chest eased marginally. “We need to stay calm and form a plan, coming at this half-baked won’t get us anywhere. First thing, I assume she’s chipped?” Juniper nodded. “That’s good, if anyone picks her up, they’ll likely bring her straight to the practice anyway. I have a humane trap stored in my office. I’ll drive into the village—” The crunch of tyres cut me off and we both turned as headlights shone down the lane, too bright to make out the driver. It was almost two in the morning, who the hell would be visiting at this hour?

Shielding my eyes, I shifted, blocking Juniper from sight.

We didn’t have to wait long. The window lowered and Mal’s voice cut through the quiet. “Thought we’d find you here. I’ve been phoning you for the past thirty minutes.”

I patted down my chest, pulling my phone from my jacket pocket. Five missed calls flashed on the screen. “I must have switched it to silent,” I said. Ducking my head, I glanced inside the car, finding Mal still dressed in his traditional garb, April beside him, looking more than a little rumpled in her dark green dress. “What’s going on?”

He grimaced. “It’s Dad, he’s had a fall—” The rest of the sentence faded to white noise, my brain fighting to compute what I was hearing. That Alistair had found Dad lying by the side of the road almost a mile away from our parents’ house on his way back from the party, a gaping gash to his forehead. That Dad had snuck out of the house while Mum slept. I barely even felt Juniper’s hands urging me toward the car until she spoke my name, her voice the ring of a bell I’d always respond to.

She kissed my chilled fingers. “Callum, you have to go.”

My throat felt too tight to form words. “But … Shakespeare—”

Juniper’s tear-streaked face softened, even as her lower lip wobbled. “Don’t worry about that for now.”

“What happened to Shakespeare?” April bent over the centre console.

“She slipped out earlier this evening, we can’t find her,” I said.

“Shit, June, I’m sorry. I’ll stay and help look.” April started to unbuckle her seatbelt, but Juniper shook her head.

“You guys need to get to the surgery, Iris and Jim need you. I can keep looking.”

“Alone?Fuck no.” I needed to go, logically I knew that. Mum would be beside herself, so would Heather and the twins. The weight of responsibility slumped heavily around my neck, the sweet perfection I’d found in Juniper’s bed only an hour ago already feeling like a distant memory.

My family needed me, but Juniper had become my family too, mine to take care of, she deserved to be someone’s first priority. Torn in two, I pulled her aside, staring down into her resigned face. “I’ll stay.”

“Don’t be stupid, this isn’t important—”

“Of course it is.” My hands tightened around hers. “You aren’t doing this alone. I won’t let you.” Just the thought of her searching through the night by herself, feeling alone and unloved, made me want to break something.Fuck, the first time she needed me and I was failing at the first hurdle.

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