Where Have All the Boys Gone?(44)

“I don’t think that at all,” said Katie.

“You do a bit.”

“I don’t! I wouldn’t mind a decent cup of coffee now and again, but apart from that . . .” She swept her arm around, to where the little pastel houses jostled against the headland, as if keeping out of the wind. Above them, sheep were dotted about on the grass, bent at a slight angle in the wind. A little red post Land-Rover was making its way along the cliff. “You know, this had all the makings of being more than just another stupid job for me. And I’ve never had that feeling before.”

“Well, I’ve been thinking, and you know, the paper could go really big on this. Launch a campaign. Go national even.” He fidgeted slightly. “. . . if it would help save the town, I mean. But if we were working together . . . you’ve got lots of contacts, haven’t you? We could really do it. Well, I think so.”

Katie looked into her tea. “What about Harry?”

“I know, it’ll be great!”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, it’ll piss him off like nothing on earth, don’t you think?”

“What do you mean?”

“If I launch the anti-golf course campaign with you. I mean, what the hell did he think he was doing, keeping quiet about it?”

Katie had a brief flashback to Harry standing alone in the forest glade, completely mesmerised by his surroundings, but said nothing.

“Well, it’s a great idea,” said Katie, finishing up her now cold tea. “But I’m afraid I’m out of a job.”

“Oh,” said Iain.

Katie watched an oil tanker move slowly across the horizon.

“Why do you two hate each other so much anyway?” she asked, on a whim.

Iain drew back a little. “Of course we don’t hate each other.”

“Really?” said Katie. “Well, your imitation of two men hating each other is certainly pretty impressive.”

Iain sniffed, but clearly didn’t want to say any more. “Och, it’s fine.”

Katie found she was suddenly shivering in the breeze. She swallowed hard. She’d been ridiculous to get carried away by this place, and a man she’d just met. There was no point in prolonging the agony.

“You know . . . I think I should probably call it a day. Go pack, you know?”

Iain looked at her with his big green eyes. “You’re really going to go?”

“I think so, yes.”

They looked at each other for a bit.

“I’ll miss you.”

Katie felt a wrench. “I’ll miss you too. But I don’t think I can stay here . . . you know, eating grass and sleeping in a barn.”

He nodded.

“Maybe you could come see me in London some time.”

“Isn’t everyone a crook and they charge you a hundred pounds for a pint of heavy and all the cars run you over?”

Katie nodded.

“And all the women are mental for blokes and wear silver bikinis and that?”

“Sure, why not?”

She turned to head back up the quayside, her heart heavy.

“Are there lots of girls like you in London?” came the soft Highland brogue, no longer jokey.

“Millions,” she yelled, from further away.

“Send us a few more, would you?” he shouted over the wind.

She smiled, and waved, then turned and walked away.

LOUISE WAS NOWHERE to be seen back at the lodgings. Katie perched on the side of the bed, slowly folding up her clothes. Outside it was now throwing a gale, launching handfuls of rain against the window like rice. She certainly wasn’t going to be driving home this evening.

It had been such a long, dour day. Katie sat on the bed, terrified of going downstairs in case she was confronted by Mrs. McClockerty and driven out for humiliating her nephew. She hadn’t called Olivia yet—couldn’t face it. She would give it until tomorrow for her to have worked through the majority of Harry’s rage first.

How could she have let him down like that? Every time she felt sorry for herself, she remembered that it was all her own fault, but that only made it worse somehow. Still, a stubborn little voice in her head insisted that it should have come out; would have come out. But it shouldn’t have been her to have made it happen.

AFTER THREE HUNDRED and ninety-two hours of hell—or, at about 11:30—lying awake under the blankets, failing miserably to fall asleep, she heard the door creak open and Louise sneak in.

“Where have you been?” Katie whispered. “I was worried.”

“Trying to get pregnant,” said Louise, grimly.

Katie sat up in bed, and held out her arms, and Louise collapsed into them, crying her eyes out.

“Shh,” said Katie. “You’ll wake the dragon.”

Spluttering and heaving, the story of where Louise had been for the past few hours came out. Louise wasn’t even aware, hardly, of Katie’s terrible faux pas about the golf course. All she had heard was of the final, horrible extent of Max’s infidelities, and that had blotted everything else out of her head. She had gone for a long walk, which Katie thought might be healthy, until she discovered that she’d walked for as long as it took to get a mobile signal, then had insisted on the whole grim story from Olivia.