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“David and Johnny are away for the night,” I say. “We can’t go to theirs.”

“I know.” Aidan keeps going anyway, passing their home and continuing past four others that back onto the river until he reaches the cottage at the end of the cul-de-sac. “Here we are.”

A warm glow radiates from the property’s windows, cosy and inviting on this rainy night. The door is painted a bright blue, the colour standing out prettily against the grey stone walls.

“You . . . live here?”

“Aye. Let’s get you inside.”

He opens up and beckons me in. Just like at Johnny’s, the main living area is open plan. Embers smoulder in a wood-burning stove, around which a plush brown couch, two matching armchairs, and a small wooden coffee table are arranged.

Aidan hangs my wet coat up then helps me out of his jacket and hangs that up too. He heads over to the stove, opens the door, and tosses in a couple of logs. A comforting, smoky scent fills the room.

“Grab a seat and get warm. I’ll fetch you a towel, plus some joggers and a hoodie of mine for you to change into.”

I don’t move from the entrance—I’m too stunned. “I . . . don’t understand. This place . . . is yours?”

“Aye, do you like it?”

“Of course I like it. It’s beautiful! But how . . . ?”

“I’m happy to fill you in, but not until you’re out of those damp clothes.” He gestures to an armchair. “Sit!”

I shake my head and cross my arms. “Nope. I want the tour.”

“Grace, I really think—”

I silence him with a stare. “I’ll be fine for a few more minutes—I’m already warming up. Before I do anything else, I need to explore this place, and I strongly recommend you don’t refuse a request from a woman who’s seven months pregnant.”

He hesitates for a moment then grins. “I suppose I can quickly show you around, but then you’re sitting your bum down by the stove, okay?”

“Deal.”

He leads me to the main bedroom and then to the bathroom. Everything is in really good nick, which is a surprise. That house he showed me on Boxing Day needed a lot of modernisation, but this place is pleasant and charming. The worst thing I can say about it is it’s maybe a little bland—it could do with some touches of personality here and there—but that’s easily fixed.

“What’s the story?” I want to know. “How did you end up moving here?”

“An old friend of my maw’s has been renting it out as a holiday home for years. A while ago, she mentioned to Maw she was thinking of selling up—she’s getting older and could do without the hassle. I had a chat with her, and . . . well, we were able to arrange a private deal, which meant no estate-agent fees. That saved us both a bit of money.

“As for the mortgage, Da agreed to be my guarantor, which helped. Don’t get me wrong, I’ll be making the monthly payments myself, but since Bannock Adventures is still new, the bank insisted on a fallback, just in case.”

“Wow. And the furniture?”

“It was pretty much all already here. As it was a holiday home, it’s not like she needed any of it—she’d have sold it or given it away—so we made it a part of the deal. The only room I’ve really worked on so far is this one.”

He guides me to what, in David and Johnny’s cottage, would be the spare room. “It’s still a work in progress. If I’d known you were coming up today, I’d have tried harder to get it finished.”

“Just hurry up and show me!”

He smirks and pushes open the door, and I can’t help but gasp.

It’s . . . a nursery. The walls have a fresh coat of pale-yellow paint. A mobile dangles above an oak cot, while a nursing chair sits in one corner beside a bookcase. There are a few books on display already, including the Paddington title I gifted Aidan at Christmas. On the floor is a toolbox next to some partially constructed flat-pack furniture—it looks like it’s going to be a changing unit. That’s what Aidan must have been working on when I tried calling him.

I can hardly believe what I’m seeing. “This is amazing!”

“You like it?” A relieved smile tugs at his lips. “Good. A lot of the stuff is second-hand, but it’s all in great condition. Folk around town had things they didn’t need anymore, which helped because, after buying this place, my funds were a wee bit . . . limited. I hope that’s okay. If there’s anything you want to change, just let me know, and—”

“It’s perfect. I absolutely love it.”