Secrets at the Loch (Loch Lannick #5) - Hannah Ellis Page 0,29
said as she helped herself to a coffee.
“It’s not the same, reading it online,” Mary said. “And we don’t want to put the delivery boy out of a job.”
Angus glanced up. “And I can’t do Sudoku online, or the crossword.”
“You can actually,” Lexie said with a smile. “But never mind. You stick to your old-school ways. I’m not sure I’d like to come in and find you staring at tablets.”
“I don’t think you need worry there,” Angus said. “So why are you here so early?”
“It’s not that early.” She glanced at the large ticking clock on the wall. “I’ve got to go to work soon. I just thought I’d come and say hello. You’re making me feel as though I never come over.”
“We weren’t expecting you this morning, that’s all,” Mary said, folding the paper and setting it aside.
Angus continued faintly writing numbers around the edge of the Sudoku box. “It’s a nice surprise.”
“Do you think I only come over when I’m paid to be here?”
“Or when you’re hungry,” Angus said flatly.
“You’re just not usually out of bed in a morning unless you have to be,” Mary said.
“Well, I am today!”
“So you’re not hungry?” Angus pushed his reading glasses up his nose. “If I mention bacon sandwiches your mouth won’t start watering?”
“I don’t have to be hungry for my mouth to water at the mention of bacon sandwiches.” She thought back to the previous evening and how she’d missed dinner and eaten biscuits with Nick in the night. The smile came automatically at the same time as her stomach rumbled. “I’m starving,” she admitted.
Angus got up without a word, pulling the frying pan from the cupboard before turning the hob on.
“I’ll have one too, love,” Mary said, then turned to Lexie. “Everything okay with you?”
“Aye. Why wouldn’t it be?”
“You’ve been a bit quiet recently. I worry about you, you know?”
“I’m fine. It’s just the time of year. Work’s slowing down and the evenings are getting dark earlier. It’s always a bit depressing.”
“I’ll be glad of the quiet months,” Angus said. “I used to love it when the pub was full to bursting. Now, I much prefer it when it’s just the regulars in of an evening.”
“It’s boring when it’s quiet,” Lexie said. It was a conversation they had often but they still managed to spend most of breakfast discussing the merits of a busy pub versus a quiet pub. Her dad was trying to get Lexie’s help with his crossword puzzle when she excused herself to go to work.
Thankfully, she had no time to be bored at the activity centre that day. She was running around like crazy – first cleaning the cabins and then helping out at the abseiling wall, then out on the kayaks.
In the evening she went and hung out at the pub. Leana was working alongside Mary, and Lexie spent a couple of hours sitting at the bar chatting to them. She’d half expected Nick to call in, but there was no sign of him. When she left the pub shortly before ten o’clock, she checked her phone. After the previous evening she’d thought he would have checked up on her, but she’d heard nothing from him.
This time when she thought back to everything she’d said to him, it came with a familiar feeling of dread. Lexie had told him things no one else knew. Not even Leana knew about her pregnancy. Her parents had been left in the dark about it too. She’d presumed Nick had understood that he shouldn’t tell anyone, but she hadn’t specifically said that. What if he mentioned it to Elspeth or Leana? Surely he wouldn’t.
The fear niggled her enough that she walked straight past the bunkhouse and down to his place. She stamped her feet against the cold while she waited for him to answer the door. The lights were on so she assumed he wasn’t in bed yet.
His eyebrows shot up when he saw her. Quickly, he checked his watch. “Sorry. I meant to message you. Time got away from me.”
“I wasn’t expecting a message,” she said. “Can I come in for a minute?”
“Sure.” He stood aside. “I’d intended to message to see if you were okay.”
“I’m fine. You don’t need to check in with me. I’m not a charity case.”
His brows knitted together and he closed the door behind her. “I don’t think you’re a charity case. But you’re a friend and you were upset. I’d normally check in.”