Page 58 of Knots About You
‘Just trying to help,’ Marty said.
‘What the hell areyoudoing here? You can’t be here.’ I wasn’t ready to face him.
‘I couldn’t reach you. You disappeared. I had to see you.’ He put on that earnest face I’d fallen for a hundred times before.
Eilidh stepped back to the counter with a look that saidIf you need me to towel whip him, I will. Lola and Emma exchanged a look before sitting back down.
‘I was an idiot,’ Marty went on. ‘I shouldn’t have dumped the PR disaster on you. I understand that I didn’t always treat you well. I see that now. I want to fix what I broke.’
‘And you think you can just show up here, and I’ll drop everything to live like your dirty little secret scapegoat again?’Seeing him there was like an electric shock to my insides. Forcing me to remember the years we’d spent together. It was like he had shown up in Otterleigh and yanked my head out of the sand.
Scruff sneezed as if on cue. I tightened my grip on his lead just to ground myself.
‘I’m happy here,’ I said, and the truth to the words surprised me. ‘You don’t get to arrive with your suit and your apologies and ruin my peace.’
‘I’ll get you your job back,’ he said, too quick, too slick. ‘A better job. We can even go public with the relationship and date properly. Hell, we could get married. It’s about time I looked at having a son anyway?—’
‘No.’. The room seemed to squeeze around me, stealing my breath. ‘I don’t want this, Marty. I spent far too many years on you. Youusedme.’
He stared, calculation clicking behind his eyes. ‘No?’
‘I’m seeing someone,’ I said. My stomach churned. ‘And he’s not ashamed of me.’
Eilidh inhaled sharply behind me, and Lola’s pencil stopped moving. Emma grinned.
Marty’s mouth opened, closed. For once, he didn’t have a prepared line. ‘Claire…’
‘Go home, Marty. It’s over.’
‘No. I’m going to stay here until I convince you to come back.’ He straightened, his sharp suit so out of place in Otterleigh Bay. ‘You’ll see I’mserious.’
Scruff tugged, and I let him. I looped the lead properly, grabbed my bag, and nodded to Eilidh with an apology I didn’t have words for.
‘Put this on my tab?’ I asked.
‘Don’t worry about it.’
I walked out with Scruff, the bell over the door giving a single indignant ding. Footsteps followed. The first time Marty had ever been the one chasing. I bit back the emotional overwhelm, determined not to let Marty see how he’d rattled me. I didn’t speed up, and at the end of the little run of windows, I stopped and turned.
Marty had halted on the threshold, deep in conversation with a woman I didn’t recognise. Pretty, polished, and stealing a glance at me. She passed him a piece of paper, which he took with a grin.
Something in my chest did a sour twist, old feelings scratching at the door. I looked back once more, felt the damp air kiss my face, and walked away. Scruff trotted at my side as if he hadn’t just tipped me over in front of my ex.
‘Come on, pal,’ I said. ‘Let’s get you home.’
twenty-two
OWEN
The stillhouse wasours after dark. Copper gleamed like a row of metal giants, and the air held the gentle scent of malt and oak. I killed the main lights, leaving only the ones directly above the cask I’d set up remaining.
A little pool of gold in a sea of shadow.
‘All right, bartender,’ Claire said, wrapping her sweater dress tighter around herself. ‘Impress me.’
‘That’s the plan, city girl,’ I said. ‘Isla says we need a cocktail menu that shows off our whisky for the Autumn fair, and seeing as the closest thing to a cocktail at the Tipsy Otter is a vodka and Coke, we need your expertise. If we can get them right, Kenny will let us supplement the evening ceilidh too. Something that looks delicious and tastes even better. Much like you.’
She laughed, the sound bouncing off the vast walls.
