Page 68 of The Scottish Island Inn

‘Because he spends literally every time he sees you looking at you like a lovesick puppy?’ Briony said, exasperated. ‘Or how about the fact that he dropped all his other jobs to go and work on your parents’ inn, despite not knowing for sure that they’d be able to pay him? He did it because he’s so bloody loyal to the idea of you. Even now, your family are still a priority to him. Or the fact that he’s missed you for every single day of the ten years you were away and never contacted him once?’ Briony fixed Sorrel with a stern gaze. ‘I swear, Sorrel Balhennie. I don’t know how you managed to get that house renovation business to be so successful, because god knows, you’re dense as a brick.’

‘Wow. Harsh.’ Sorrel chuckled. ‘But, yeah, I know… I just feel like I’ve spent my life getting the wrong end of the stick. It’s a talent by now, I guess.’

‘Ha. Yeah, maybe. Listen. He can’t not love you. It’s just part of who he is.’ Briony stopped in the street and put both of her hands on Sorrel’s shoulders. ‘So, you see, even if anyone else did fall for Tam Blackwood, it’s pointless. Because there’s only ever going to be one woman in his heart. And it’s you.’

‘He never… I mean, he did tell me that he was intending to ask me to marry him when I left the island. But he never got the chance.’

‘Uh-huh.’ Briony nodded. ‘He was devastated. He had the ring and everything. He was too nervous that night. He thought he’d work up to it. And then you disappeared.’

‘But I didn’t know!’ Sorrel protested. ‘And that was ten years ago!’

‘It doesn’t matter how long ago it was, hen. The heart wants what it wants.’ Her friend sighed. ‘The nights I’ve listened to him talk about you. And since you’ve been back, he’s talked about nothing else.’

‘What? Why didn’t you tell me?’ Sorrel was aghast.

‘He asked me not to,’ Briony replied, simply. ‘He didn’t know whether to tell you how he felt or not. He didn’t know if you were just going to leave again. He said if you left again he didn’t think he could bear it. I get that. Although I have no clue what he finds so irresistible about you.’ Briony smiled, winking at Sorrel.

‘I get it too.’ Sorrel felt awful. She had broken Tam Blackwood’s heart, and her own. She’d spent years believing that there was nothing left for her except a stone heart and a life she didn’t really want. ‘What can I do?’

‘Talk to him, if he’s still here.’ Briony sighed. ‘It’s not hard, hen. You both love each other. For god’s sake, allow yourselves to be happy at last.’

THIRTY-SEVEN

‘Tam! Tam! If you’re there, please, open up!’ Sorrel banged on the door of a small terraced house with a red door. Nothing happened. ‘Tam!’ she banged again and rang the bell.

An upstairs window in the house next door opened, and a woman who looked to be in her sixties stuck her head out.

‘Help ye, hen? A little late tae be yellin’,’ she said, frowning.

‘Oh. Yes. I’m so sorry.’ Sorrel stopped banging on the door. ‘I’m looking for Tam Blackwood.’

‘He’s gone out. Saw him head off ten minutes ago.’ The woman shook her head. ‘If you run, you’ll catch him, I shouldnae wonder.’ Her tone suggested that she thought Sorrel was crazy.

Perhaps I am, she thought.

‘Thank you! Where was he headed?’ Sorrel shouted up to the window.

‘Do I look like I’m his social secretary?’ The woman leaned back indoors. ‘Made a noise wi’ carryin’ some bags. That’s why I looked out. Not too much tae ask for a quiet night in. You young people’ll be the death o’ me. He went that way,’ she grumbled, pointing, and closed the window.

‘Come on. Let’s run. It sounds like he’s catching the bus if he’s headed that way with bags.’ Briony tugged at Sorrel’s hand. ‘Come on, Sorrel!’

They ran.

The absurdity of the situation struck Sorrel as she ran to the end of the street and then followed the way they’d come. She was a thirty-five-year-old successful businesswoman with an accountant and a solicitor, who was currently running down a rain-splotched street in Portree, hoping against hope that she’d find her childhood sweetheart at the bus stop and persuade him not to run away like she had.

She had no idea what she was going to say to him. She also hadn’t run very far for a long time, and she was out of breath by the time she got to the second street.

Still, she ran. A line from one of her favourite movies spooled through her mind – it was something like: When you find your forever person, you want forever to start as soon as possible. That was it. That was how she felt. It was as if a curtain had been lifted, and finally, Sorrel could see the future. Now she realised how simple it all was.

She wanted Tam Blackwood. She’d always wanted him. She wanted their forever dream home together. Maybe children. She wanted to stop holding on to the stone heart he’d given her that night, ten years ago, and be able to hold on to him instead. She wanted her life to finally start: the life that she’d always thought she was going to have.

She turned onto the high street, and then turned right. Before, when they’d come out of the wine bar, they’d turned left, away from where the bus stop was. But now, Sorrel ran towards it.

She could see the silhouette of a couple of people standing at the stop. She couldn’t see if one of them was Tam.

Please be there. Please, she willed it under her breath.

And as she got closer to the stop, she saw the bus coming around the corner.