‘No chance! I’ve got a provisional booking from Glasgow University marine-biology department for next June.’ The excitement was written on his face. ‘My friend Sian
Cowley is head lecturer there, and they’re really keen to get over here and have a base for their studies. They want to see the behaviour of the common seals when they haul in to pup, and
come back again this time next year to look at the grey seals.’
Kate rubbed her shoulder, absent-mindedly. ‘Well, now I’m in one piece, perhaps it’s time I started doing the work I’m supposed to do?’
‘That’s a great idea. Now let’s collect that puppy of yours from Susan’s and get you home.’
Kate found Roderick in the library, tapping a pen against his forehead in irritation.
‘You okay?’ He spun round to face her in the big leather chair. He rubbed his unshaven chin thoughtfully, not waiting for an answer. ‘These grant applications will be the death
of me.’
‘We’ve had a report from some walkers of some sort of plastic netting washed up down on the shore. Can you take a look?’
‘If it gets me out of this, definitely.’ Roderick picked up his coat from the back of the battered leather sofa where he’d thrown it earlier. His dogs, eager for something to
do, leapt to attention. ‘Come, if you like?’ His voice was casual. ‘This time of year you might see the first of the Canada geese arriving. It’s pretty
impressive.’
The fire-regulation documents that she was reading on the computer were pretty poor competition, and she’d done enough for today in any case.
‘Give me a second to grab my coat. I’ll meet you outside.’
She shut down the laptop, waking Willow from her sleep with a jingling shake of her lead. By the time she made it outside, Roderick had already loaded the dogs into the back of the car. He held
the door open for Kate, motioning for her to climb in. His manners were impeccable.
‘I could do with checking how Billy’s doing, on the floors in the cottages – could we stop in on the way back?’ she asked.
‘Of course.’ He turned the key in the ignition.
Driving up towards the south of the island, they stopped the car to spy on a magnificent grey seal, which sat motionless, perched on a rock.
‘She’s on the equivalent of a coffee break,’ Roderick explained. ‘I’d say she’s left her pup on the shore there and has nipped out for something to eat and a
bit of a relax. They do it quite often.’
‘And what happens to the pups?’
Roderick passed Kate the binoculars, sliding his seat back so that she could look past him. She leaned across for a closer look.
‘Well, left to their own devices, they just snooze. The trouble comes, of course, if people spot a pup on the shore and assume it’s been abandoned. As soon as they touch it,
there’s trouble.’
‘Because the mother attacks?’ Catching a scent of his aftershave, Kate had a sudden sense of just how closely she was leaning across him. She sat up with a start, passing back the
binoculars, feeling awkward.
He looked at her with an amused expression. ‘No, because she abandons the pup, and then you’re in danger of it starving to death. The trouble is it’s hard to explain to people
that, once you touch that cute fluffy seal pup, you mark it with your scent and the mother won’t go near it.’
‘So rule number one is: never go near a seal pup?’
‘You’ve got it.’ He leaned over to put the binoculars into the glove compartment, just grazing her knee with his hand as he did so. Kate felt her heart thump slightly out of
time as they drove in silence towards the furthest beach on the island.
Nethervannan was completely deserted, the walkers who had reported the trouble having long gone. One hand on his binoculars, Roderick scanned the water line. The tide was
low.
‘There it is. It’s a bit of a walk – are you up for it?’ He turned to Kate, who was fastening her coat against the biting wind.
‘Of course.’ She turned to summon Willow, but she was already a black speck, hurtling away to chase the waves with one of Roderick’s Labradors in pursuit.
‘Willow! Heel!’ Kate yelled into the wind, hopelessly.
‘Boris, leave it.’ Hearing his master, Boris galloped back immediately. Willow, less impressively, carried on towards the water’s edge.
‘She’s a model of disobedience.’ Roderick laughed as Kate rummaged in her pocket for a treat, hoping to bribe the puppy back. Training was going well, but, faced with the
excitement of a long stretch of beach, and a tide line scattered with the flotsam of an early winter storm, there was no competition.
Roderick tossed a stick towards the water, watching as his two black dogs pelted after it. With neither of them in a hurry to get back to work, he and Kate walked down to the shore in
companionable silence.
It had been a month since Roderick had first shown Kate the buildings, and in that time workmen had gutted the two cottages, filling skips with ancient furniture and knocking
out partition walls. Billy, the kind-eyed joker Kate had met on the ferry, was screwing down floorboards, having stripped off the ugly linoleum. The floor underneath was mainly sound, and Billy had
tidied it up with reclaimed oak boards.
‘He’s no working you too hard, is he then?’ asked Billy sideways, through a mouthful of nails.
‘Not at all.’ Kate looked over at Roderick, who was smoothing the fresh plaster with his hand, admiring Billy’s handiwork.
‘Lady Muck here doesn’t lift a finger,’ he teased. ‘I’ll tell you what, if I’d known she was going to spend all her time reading
House Beautiful
,
I’d have given the job to someone else.’
After more than a month of working with Roderick, Kate still wasn’t certain if he was serious, or if it was his strange sense of humour at play. He was impossible to read.
‘Did ye no tell me there was only one applicant for the job?’
Always up for a bit of sport, Billy looked at Kate and winked.
‘Yes. Well,’ Roderick said, deadpan. ‘She didn’t know that.’
‘
I’ve
already managed to secure two months of bookings for next summer, I’ll have you know.’
‘You have. In fact you’ve been doing far too much: the deal was three days of work a week, and the cottage in exchange.’
Kate didn’t mind. Her plan for discovering herself and learning to paint had fallen by the wayside. Susan had brought her an easel and some acrylics, suggesting that she start with a
landscape of the view from the rock-strewn beach below the cottage. She had tried to be encouraging. ‘Look, it’s just a case of
feeling
what you can see, and translating it
onto canvas.’
Kate had looked at her painting with a snort of laughter. ‘I can see – through the eyes of a seven-year-old. Seriously, Susan, this looks like something Jamie would do at pre-school.
I don’t think I’ve got the art gene.’
‘It’s not that bad . . . ’
Picking up the brush, Kate had daubed a childish boat onto the seascape.
‘Okay, you’re right. Love you, but it’s dreadful. Forget it! Your talents lie elsewhere. Let’s go and get a coffee.’
And so art was forgotten. As for self-discovery – well, it was more fun spending time getting to know the islanders, with their dry sense of humour and quiet manner. The self-help books
she’d ordered online lay neglected on the bookshelf.
‘Don’t worry, Billy. I’m having fun. I love it here.’
‘You’re no working her hard enough then.’ Billy straightened, stretching his back with an audible crack and reaching in his pockets for a packet of cigarettes.
‘I’ll be done with this by the morn, Roddy.’
‘We’ll leave you to it then, Billy. I’ll get this one home before it starts getting dark.’
Roderick reached out to guide Kate’s elbow as they clambered out through the low cottage door into the yard. The cold hit instantly. Kate pulled her hands inside her sleeves, trying to
hide them from the biting wind. At this time of year the winds from the Atlantic whipped in, sneaking through layers of clothing. The temperature on the uninhabited west side of the island could be
lower than the east by a few degrees in winter. Kate felt sorry for the students who would be stuck out here for a week at a time. Even watching seals wasn’t so much fun when your whole body
was numb with cold.
Willow, on the other hand, had no such qualms. Released from the back of the car, she was dashing back and forth, nose questing the air. She paused for a moment, then scampered across the
farmyard.
‘Look at her searching. She’d have made a good hunting dog.’
‘She’s lovely. I still can’t believe how far she can go without getting tired. Her energy is never-ending.’ Kate whistled, bringing Willow hurtling back to heel.
‘What a clever girl.’ The puppy squirmed with pleasure as Roderick leaned down to stroke her soft coat. She looked moth-eaten with her baby fluff half-gone and her adult coat still
growing. ‘Good exercise for you, though, all this dog-walking.’ He raised an enquiring eyebrow.
‘Are you saying I need it?’ Kate bristled slightly.
‘No, but it’ll not do your townie legs any harm to do a bit of walking.’ Roderick cast a glance at Kate, wrapped up in her thick coat, jeans and walking boots.
‘Sod off, you!’ She pulled a face at him. When he was in this mood, with no sign of the aloof manner that could set her teeth on edge, it was easy to forget he was her boss.
‘That’s no way to talk to your employer.’ He pulled the car keys out of his pocket and together they walked down to the coast road where the Land Rover was parked.
It was only half-past three, but already the sun blazed low in the sky – deep orange reflected onto an indigo sea. Kate looked down at the beach, unaware that Roderick was watching her as
she stood enraptured by the beauty of the island sunset. She waited in silence, watching as the sun slipped below the sea after a final, dazzling burst of light.
‘How could anyone want to live anywhere but here?’ Eyes shining, she turned to Roderick, who was looking at her with a curious expression on his face.
‘Are you looking forward to the bonfire tonight?’
‘Can’t wait,’ Kate shivered. ‘Though I’m worried I’ll freeze. I’ve asked Emma to bring me up some jumpers when she comes next month.’
‘You’ll be acclimatised by then,’ said Roderick. ‘Let’s get back to the house. I don’t know about you, but I think my toes are frozen solid.’
Kate lifted Willow into the back seat and climbed into the front.
‘There’s one more thing we have to do. And I need you as backup,’ Roderick told her, as he started the car. His mood had changed suddenly, and his silence was forbidding. His
jaw was set hard, the amiable atmosphere between them lost. He frowned as he drove, thumbs drumming at the steering wheel. Shooting him the occasional covert glance, Kate sat in awkward silence.
Were she to speak, she’d be shut down with monosyllabic answers – she’d learned that much. Perhaps she’d gone too far with the teasing comments, and he felt it
inappropriate. It was two steps forward, one step back, getting to know Roderick. She’d seen him laughing and joking with Susan and Tom – in fact, with them he was always relaxed and
comfortable. It must have been something she’d said. She swallowed uncomfortably. It was a long five-mile drive across the top of the island and down towards Kilmannan. They drove through the
dusk in silence.
‘Right. We’re here.’ He turned off the ignition and sat in the darkened car for a moment, eyes closed. ‘And . . . ’ said Roderick, tapping out a count of three on
the steering wheel.
‘Roddy! Where have you been hiding yourself?’
The car door was wrenched open. Pink lips were kissing him on the cheek, and he was being propelled up the stairs and through the half-glazed doors of the Bayview Hotel. He turned back and
looked at Kate, eyes wide in mock-horror. Ah. Maybe it wasn’t something she’d said, after all.
Clipping on Willow’s lead, she trailed in behind, feeling like a spare part.
‘So you’re the lassie that’s been taking our Roddy away from us?’ The Glaswegian accent was shrill; the cerise lips set in a disapproving line. The woman had clearly been
a real beauty in her youth, and was clinging onto the style she’d known and loved in the 1980s. She patted her expensive-looking blonde highlights.
That’s not been done on the island. Kate found herself thinking of Sophisticutz, the salon on the High Street.
‘Will you come inside?’ Pausing with a proprietorial hand on the interior door, the woman eyed Kate coolly, the words belying her invitation.
‘Now, Sandra, they can’t hang about. Roderick’s got an estate to look after,’ said a gentle voice. Turning around gratefully, Kate caught the eye of a short, balding man
in a golf sweater. He climbed up the stone steps of the hotel and gave her the ghost of a wink. He held out his hand.
‘You’ll be Kate?’ he smiled. ‘Murdo Gilfillan. Owner of the Bayview, husband of the lovely Sandra.’
The lovely Sandra collected herself visibly, exhaling through disapproving nostrils.
‘Very nice to meet you,’ she said in clipped tones, which implied the opposite. She flicked an invisible speck of dust from her cream satin blouse. Her nails, Kate noticed, matched
her lipstick.
‘I just wanted to have a quick word about the fireworks tonight,’ said Roderick.
‘Everything’s under control,’ replied Murdo. ‘We’ve got the cake, and Finn’s going to bring his bagpipes, so all you have to do is make sure she’s here
on time.’
Kate turned to Roderick, wondering what was going on. Her head was spinning. For every moment that she felt she was getting a handle on island life, another came along when she realized she
hadn’t a clue what was going on and she was lost again. It was a never-ending game of catch-up, like trying to keep up with
EastEnders
now that she didn’t have Sky Plus –
only there were no summaries in the weekend edition of the local paper. More’s the pity, thought Kate.
‘It’s Jean’s birthday tomorrow – she’s sixty. I thought as we’d all be gathered for Bonfire Night, we’d have a little celebration,’ Roderick
explained.
‘Her birthday? You’re joking!’ Kate screwed up her face in impatience, throwing her hands in the air. ‘It’s four o’clock on an island with about three shops,
and you didn’t think to mention it?’ She blurted out the words before she could stop herself.