Page 4 of Hiding Nessie
Lachlan paused, toast held midway to his mouth. ‘A walk?’ He seemed to be assessing the idea, for some reason unsure of it.
They didn’t usually have much free time to spend with each other, doing normal ‘couple’ things. The Lucky Teapot wasalwaysopen during the daytime, and their nights were fraught with loud sex and quiet embraces.
Cam longed to take Lachlan away from the loch. To set him on the back of his motorcycle and whisk him away to a part of Scotland he’d never seen. Even if only for a few hours. He’d brought it up before, but Lachlan was reticent about any mention of leaving the area around Loch Ness. He was terrified of being caught out by his curse.
If something happened—if a storm closed the roads or they became trapped in a distant location, so he couldn’t make it back within twenty-four hours—the magic would drag Lachlan back over jagged hillsides and through thorny brambles in a straight line until he was dumped back into the confines of Loch Ness: a sore and sorrowful plesiosaur left to lick his wounds in the watery depths.
But Cam suspected he secretly yearned for it, too. To see somewhere completely new. Three hundred years was a long time to stay in the same place.
Cam had thought hard about where to take him. He wanted to show Lachlan his home, the Walker family cottage he’d inherited in Glencoe and the area around it. He’d show him the steep, green valleys and their waterfalls, the imposing rocky peaks known as the Three Sisters, and the saltwater expanse of Loch Leven, where the scent of the ocean sometimes carried along with the tide.
It was only a two-hour trip to Glencoe. Then they’d have most of the day to walk or ride or simply sit, enjoying the view. They could head back to Loch Ness in the middle of the afternoon, well within time for Lachlan’s curse to leave him alone.
Cam had intended to suggest this exact plan on this visit—but that was before he’d crashed his bike. A lack of fast transport threw the whole romantic idea out the window. But he’d happily settle for anything that involved enjoying Lachlan’s company for a while.
‘Maybe we could even hire a boat,’ he said aloud. ‘Travel down the whole length of the loch. Moor at Fort Augustus for the afternoon.’
‘I’ve seen the loch plenty of times,’ Lachlan replied, bashfully stroking Cam’s hand. ‘We don’t need to do anything like that.’
‘Then how about you take me up that hill?’ Cam pointed out the window to a curved peak adjacent to The Lucky Teapot’s own hillside. ‘I’ve seen hikers up there. I bet it’s a good view.’
Lachlan hesitated a moment longer. Then a small, shy smile slipped onto his face. ‘Okay.’
* * *
They departed from The Lucky Teapot bundled in thick layers of hats, coats and scarves, and admittedly sooner than Cam would have liked. He was reluctant to reveal how exhausted he was, and had to keep from rubbing his eyes repeatedly as they made their way first down one hill and then up the other. But he perked up as they walked, investing all his attention on Lachlan’s animated chatter about their surroundings and the wildlife.
Lachlan knew virtually every species of bird that passed through Loch Ness, and he delighted in pointing out the long-tailed tits flitting between branches, buzzards circling lazily in the sky overhead, and a black and white woodpecker he yanked Cam to a halt to see.
‘It’s called a Great Spotted Woodpecker,’ he explained excitedly. ‘You can tell this one’s young because it still has the red crown on its head. Oh, and look! There’s a pair of treecreepers over there!’
Cam followed his gaze, buoyed on a wave of love for the enthusiasm in Lachlan’s voice. ‘Oh, wow. I can barely tell them apart from the tree.’
They emerged onto an exposed knoll peppered pink with winter heather. Lachlan leaned into Cam’s side. ‘Thank you,’ he said quietly, ‘for getting me up here. I don’t remember the last time I climbed this hill. Even though it’s so close.’
Cam flushed with pleasure. ‘We should do more like this. I like spending time with you.’
‘I like that you remind me to enjoy the small things.’ Lachlan chuckled into his scarf. ‘Today was probably the first sunrise I’ve watched in a century. Properly watched, I mean. Rather than being vaguely aware of it happening while I drag myself out of the loch after a night’s sleep.’ He sighed, nuzzling into Cam’s coat. ‘I suppose I’ve come to take a lot of things for granted, after living for so long.’
Cam wrapped his arm around Lachlan’s shoulders, hugging him even closer. ‘I couldn’t imagine you taking anything for granted. You notice everything. And you care so much about every person who comes into the Teapot.’
‘Hmm.’ Lachlan closed his eyes, soaking up the pale sun before it moved behind a bank of thick cloud. ‘But there are many people, and they are simply passing through. I can depend on that, you see. No one ever really stays.’
‘What about your regulars?’ Cam asked with surprise. He’d gotten to know a few of them over his visits. ‘Like Donald and Helen. Don’t they live nearby?’
‘Yes. But what’s twenty years or so? They’ll move on eventually.’
Cam raised an eyebrow. ‘Don’t they notice how you never age?’ He spotted Lachlan fidgeting with his coat cuffs, like he suspected Cam wasn’t going to like the answer very much.
‘I’ll disappear occasionally,’ Lachlan said, diverting his gaze. ‘Shut up the café. Go and hide in the loch for a decade or two. When I come back, I’ll rename it, and start again. That’s usually long enough for people to forget me, if they’re even still around. Who really pays attention to the guy who runs a tearoom in the middle of nowhere, anyway?’
He said the last part teasingly, but Cam pulled him to a stop. ‘Lachy, that’s awful,’ Cam said sincerely. ‘I can’t imagine how lonely that is.’
Lachlan shrugged, disguising his discomfort. ‘It’s just how it is. I’m used to living this way.’
The wind picked up a little around them. The sun was hidden now, and the clouds looked heavy with impending snowfall. Cam looked across to where The Lucky Teapot sat all alone on its secluded hillside, a picture-perfect haven full of sunshine, even when the skies were turning gloomy.
‘People need you, you know,’ Cam said softly.I need you.‘Not everyone’s just passing through. I don’t think you’d be forgotten as easily as you seem to think.’
