Secrets at the Loch (Loch Lannick #5) - Hannah Ellis Page 0,34

Lexie said, sounding slightly hyper. “I’ve got too much energy to sit at home. I was bored. And I thought you might like to spend the evening with Alasdair.”

“You’re assuming I’d be able to lure him out of his lair,” Leana said with a small smile.

“What?” Lexie asked.

“He’s a bit obsessed with his recording studio.”

“Oh.”

“It’s fine,” Leana said. “Good that he enjoys his job so much.”

“Aye.” Lexie scanned the pub. “I presume it hasn’t been busy?”

“Not at all. It’s probably not going to do anything to relieve your boredom. Me and Mary were fighting over who got to serve the customers earlier.”

Lexie moved around the bar, noticing how clean and tidy the place was. Leana had obviously been cleaning to occupy herself again, which meant there really wasn’t going to be much for Lexie to do unless there was a sudden influx of customers. That seemed unlikely.

Leana went through to get her coat, then flashed a cheeky grin when she returned. “Are you sure you can manage without me?”

Lexie pretended to mull it over as she cast her eyes around the quiet room. “I think I’ll survive! Are my mum and dad around?”

“Your mum’s upstairs. Don’t know about your dad. Thanks a lot,” she said before she left.

Lexie smiled at the group of old guys playing dominoes at the other side of the room. As she finally found herself without any distractions, her thoughts fell to Nick and the look on his face when she’d told him to leave. The heaviness in her chest was almost overwhelming, and she took deep breaths while she forced the image from her head.

Somehow, she’d have to bury it in the corner of her mind where she’d banished all her other regrets.

Chapter Sixteen

Considering they only lived a few houses apart in a tiny village, Nick did a superb job of avoiding Lexie that week. She looked for him everywhere and felt as though she was on high alert any time she left her house.

It wasn’t a huge surprise that he was avoiding her, but she hadn’t even seen him coming and going. Every time she’d passed on the way to or from the activity centre she’d glance up to his house, but there was never any sign of him. He was supposed to be spending the school holidays doing work on the house so it was strange not to even catch a glimpse of him. His car was never parked in its usual spot either. Maybe he was parking it elsewhere to make it look like he wasn’t home. Or maybe he’d gone to stay with Elspeth until he got the heating fixed.

By Friday, not seeing him was starting to feel weird. When she arrived at the activity centre that morning, she happened to check the lists for the groups going out that day. Her heart rate increased when she saw Nick was signed up for a hike that morning. On further investigation, she found he was signed up for a kayaking trip on the Monday afternoon too. That meant she was sure to see him, if only in passing. He’d ignore her, no doubt, but after a while he’d get over it and they’d gradually get back to normal. Or so she hoped.

The first time they saw each other would be the worst, but she’d get that over and done with that morning. She could easily engineer her morning so she bumped into him.

While she was cleaning she kept a careful eye on the time. After half an hour she made her way back to the activity centre. The hiking group stood outside the front door, chatting in small groups. She couldn’t see Nick. The group was led by Marty, who looked all set to get the group moving.

“Hi,” Lexie said, sidling up to him. “Have you seen Nick? I thought he was signed up for the hike.”

“He was, but he’s not coming. Not sure why. Tim spoke to him on the phone.”

“Right,” she said. “See you later.”

When she walked into Tim’s office, she hesitated, wondering how to broach the subject. She wanted to know what Nick had said on the phone, but it would sound an odd question.

“Do you know what’s going on with Nick?” Tim asked, saving her the trouble of starting the conversation. “He was supposed to be on Marty’s hike this morning and he just didn’t turn up.”

“That’s not like him,” Lexie said, as casually as she could.

“No.” Tim’s gaze was on the computer and he clicked away with