Secrets at the Loch (Loch Lannick #5) - Hannah Ellis Page 0,87
spoke to Meghan, or whenever we mentioned him and Meghan … we only wanted to give you a nudge.”
“You tried to set me up with Craig,” Lexie said, confused.
“Not really. We just thought the more we steered you away from Nick, the more you’d realise how much you liked him. It sounds crazy now. But you always do the opposite of what anyone tells you.”
“Oh my God,” Lexie cried, standing abruptly. “You’re supposed to be my friends.”
“It worked, though, didn’t it?” Elspeth asked. “Now you can get together with him.”
“I was already together with him.” More tears spilled down her cheeks. “But I couldn’t face telling you because I thought you’d be annoyed and it would cause a load of tension. Now he’s furious with me.” She paused in the doorway. “And did you think about Meghan in your stupid plan? What if she’d liked Nick? You’re playing around with people’s lives.”
Elspeth pursed her lips. “I knew she didn’t like him like that. And they were already friends so it wasn’t really a big deal that they were hanging out together.”
With a quick shake of her head, Lexie hurried outside. She was halfway up the drive when Leana called out to her. It was tempting to ignore her, but Lexie stopped and let Leana catch her up.
“I’m so sorry,” Leana said, putting her arms around Lexie.
“What if he doesn’t want to be with me any more?” Lexie said.
“He will,” Elspeth insisted, joining them for a group hug. “I’m sorry. It was mostly my idea and everyone kept telling me it was stupid. I just thought you and Nick should be together.”
“Really?” Lexie asked.
“Yes! You’re perfect for each other.”
Lexie took a step back, then laughed as the three of them simultaneously wiped tears from their faces. “I have to go and talk to him,” she said.
“I can’t believe you were already together,” Leana said. “How did we miss that?”
“I don’t know. But I’m going to make it very obvious from now on!”
“Message me later?” Elspeth said. “Let me know everything’s okay.”
Lexie promised she would and continued up the drive.
“I’m happy for you,” Leana said as she strolled along beside her. She linked her arm through Lexie’s and gave her elbow a squeeze. “But I think we need a proper catch-up. When did you and Nick get together?”
“It’s a long story,” Lexie said. There was so much to say that she wasn’t sure where to start. “Can you walk with me?”
“Yes. Tell me everything.”
Chapter Thirty-Eight
As they walked back to the village together, Lexie began to tell Leana everything that had happened over the past few weeks. Walking slowly gave her more time to talk and also gave her time to mentally prepare for her conversation with Nick.
Chatting through everything that had happened felt wonderfully cathartic. Lexie told Leana about the night she’d first got together with Nick, and how horribly she’d treated him immediately after. That felt so long ago. Leana seemed surprised when Lexie explained how much she’d missed Nick when he went to Fort William and how worried she’d been about him. Enough that she’d followed him there and stayed for the week. She told her how good it had felt to open up to Nick and promised that she’d tell Leana all about Stephanie and her year in Inverness another time.
She smiled as the pub came into view on the road ahead of them. “I have more to tell you about my crazy family history too,” she said, thinking of her conversation with Mary the previous evening. “Turns out Mary and Angus are good at keeping secrets as well.”
“I definitely need to hear all about this,” Leana said.
“First I need to fix things with Nick.”
“I don’t think that will be difficult. He’s wanted to be with you for so long. There’s no way he’d let you go now.”
“You didn’t see how angry he was last night.”
“Yeah, but …” She slowed to a stop and grinned at Lexie.
“But what?”
She pointed towards the bunkhouse. Nick was standing on the doorstep, his fist raised and resting against the door as though he was about to knock. “That’s a good sign.”
“Maybe.” Lexie was hit with nerves. “Or maybe he’s come for his favourite hoodie.”
“I don’t think so.” Leana gave her a big hug. “I love you.”
“Love you too,” Lexie said. “Wish me luck.”
“You don’t need it. Call me later.” Leana set off back the way they’d come and Lexie headed slowly to the bunkhouse.