Total pages in book: 119
Estimated words: 112762 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 564(@200wpm)___ 451(@250wpm)___ 376(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 112762 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 564(@200wpm)___ 451(@250wpm)___ 376(@300wpm)
“Your mother’s still here?” I knew Mrs. Chiara Howard vacationed at Ardnoch every summer, but I’d thought she’d have gone home by now. She’d insisted on meeting with me at the beginning of the summer. She was an intimidating woman compared to her easy-going husband, but I owed this family, even if they didn’t think so. I’d meet with them any time, any place, whenever they asked.
Aria nodded, studying me. “She leaves in a few days.”
“I’m sure you’ll miss her.”
She smirked like she knew I knew better. “I’m sure I will.”
“I should have brought more madeleines for Mrs. Howard too.”
“No, you shouldn’t have.” Aria tapped the top of the box of mini cakes. “I’m hiding them from my mother so she doesn’t give me another lecture on how to maintain my Italian curves.” She mimicked the Italian accent as she said, “They should be sleek like a Ferrari, Aria, not jiggly like a panna cotta.”
I winced. “Sorry.”
Aria waved off my sympathy. “I’m used to it. And she’ll be gone soon and I can return to eating without wondering if she’s watching and judging.”
An awkward silence fell between us, so I cleared my throat. “How is she?”
She knew I didn’t mean Chiara. Aria’s expression softened. “She’s doing really great. You haven’t heard from her?”
I nodded. “She texts. I just … sometimes people tell you they’re okay because they don’t want you to worry.”
“She’s more than okay,” Aria assured me.
“Are you okay? Here, I mean?” The question had been bubbling in my mind for months and burst forth without thought. Though I didn’t know Aria well, I was beyond grateful to her. She treated the staff fairly, and despite her reserve, there was kindness in her.
If she was surprised by my question, she didn’t show it. “You’re either someone who thrives in a place like LA or it drowns you. My mother thrives there. I’m thriving here. Are you?”
I smiled. “I really am.”
“Good.” Aria nodded and then glanced at her phone. “I have a meeting. Thank you again for the madeleines.”
Dismissed, I let myself out of her office and almost ran straight into Walker. Before I could remember my annoyance, his familiar cologne wafted over me, making me weak at the knees. Okay, so maybe it wasn’t that delicious combination of citrus and sandalwood that made me weak at the knees. It was the man wearing it.
I cursed Walker Ironside for making me so hyperaware of him. It would have been really nice to feel this physically attracted to someone who actually noticed me back and didn’t go around telling people I was poor.
“Sloane.” He blocked my way, scowling down at me. “About earlier—”
I pasted on a big fake smile and pushed open Aria’s door so she could see and hear us. “Going in?”
“Ah, Walker, there you are. Come in,” Aria called.
He narrowed his eyes at me as I moved out of his way. “We’ll talk.”
It sounded like a threat.
“Yeah, I’d like to know when I can get my car back,” I said over my shoulder as I strutted away.
When Callie and I first arrived in the Highlands, Aria had gone above and beyond by having a car pick up Callie from school and bring her to the estate. She’d wait for me in the staff room, doing her homework, until my shift was over and then we’d walk to our lodge on Loch Ardnoch. There was a high turnover of staff on the estate, but only because they hired seasonally. For instance, students could work for the entire summer and stay in the staff accommodation on the loch before returning to school. The lodges were great for them, but they were a temporary solution for us.
When Brodan’s sister, Arrochar, and her husband, Mackennon Galbraith, offered their rental cottage in the village, I’d jumped on it.
Being a single mom was the hardest and greatest thing I’d ever done. But I don’t know how I would have juggled parenting and being a mother if it hadn’t been for the kindness of other people. For her safety, I’d never been able to tell Juanita where Callie and I disappeared to. But I’d let her know we were okay. I was grateful for what she’d done for us and for what Monroe and the Adair family were doing for us. Gratitude didn’t scare me. The opposite, in fact. I felt nothing but sad for ungrateful people. Gratitude was its own kind of joy, and I pitied those who couldn’t see that.
I was thinking about this, about why I was so mad at Walker when he was only trying to help. Where was my gratitude? Maybe it was because I was attracted to him? Or maybe it was because I finally felt like I was doing right by Callie. That I wasn’t failing her. Walker knowing that the classes were a strain for me, knowing that I couldn’t afford the repairs on my crappy car, felt like a slide backward.