The Secrets of the Glen (Scottish Highlands #2)

Chapter 18

‘Are you alright?’

Robyn brushed her hair out of her eyes to see a Good Samaritan offering her a hand.

The stranger hauled her off the pavement.

‘Thank you,’ she said lamely, brushing her clothes and giving an embarrassed nod to the lanky young man towering above her.

‘You took quite a tumble,’ he said cheerfully.

‘I tripped.’ Robyn had been standing outside Mr Gillespie’s shop, admiring her window display. She’d worked hard all Saturday to get it just right, hoping that it did the trick and would entice customers to come who might want some haberdashery, or interior design work, once her outlet opened. She wouldn’t find that out for at least a couple of weeks. The shop wasn’t stocked – that would take a week or two if she was lucky with the suppliers – but she’d made a start by clearing out the ski, fishing and hiking gear. Mr Gillespie had sold it all to a nearby shop, and had surprised himself by making a reasonable profit into the bargain.

As his assistant was also spending time helping her, Robyn had suggested she should pay the assistant’s salary.

‘I’ll accept no charity,’ he’d said.

‘And I’m not dishing out any,’ Robyn had replied, knowing full well he wouldn’t. But she had twisted his arm to let her pay Alec’s wages. Mr Gillespie really didn’t need too much help on the shop floor, whereas Robyn realised that if she was out at a client’s home, she couldn’t be in two places at once – and that was where Alec came in. She’d anticipated that Alec would not be that happy, and would be extremely bored, at the prospect of working in her little outlet, but it had turned out to be quite the opposite. He hated skiing, hiking and fishing, so he was quite keen to see the back of all that stuff, along with the creepy mannequin. They’d had a private little joke about how the old mannequin had creeped Robyn out too, but had kept that to themselves when Mr Gillespie had heard their laughter and had asked them to share the joke.

It turned out that Alec defied stereotypes, and enjoyed joining his mother at her knitting group in the local library, so the thought of spending the majority of his time working for Robyn in her business, rather than stacking shelves, was right up his street. He’d told Robyn, while they were busy prepping the shop, that his mum, and all her friends, had to travel to another town, miles away, to a haberdashery shop that sold small items for their sewing and dressmaking.

Robyn knew exactly where they meant; it was where David had taken her to source the fabric for Rose’s curtains and cushions, about an hour’s journey from Aviemore. Whilst she’d enjoyed the trip, she’d noticed that in addition to the distance, the shops had seemed to sell what she needed at an inflated price. Robyn knew she could source the items and sell to locals cheaper.

Alec had said that he knew it was a bit of a cheek, but wondered if she’d consider setting aside a small part of her shop as a haberdashery supplying buttons, ribbons, knitting needles, thread – things for needlework, knitting and sewing.

Open to a new business opportunity, Robyn had readily agreed. It made sense to locate that counter over by the fabrics and materials in Robyn’s little shop. However, as it was Alec’s idea, Robyn made sure he would take the profits from the haberdasher.

Robyn had asked Alec to order some materials online – he knew what he was looking for – to display in the shop window. Now that the window displays were sorted, all she and Alec were waiting on was the delivery of the stock to fill the new outlet in Mr Gillespie’s store.

Robyn had handed back Mr Gillespie’s pen that day, aware that she’d shaken his hand and agreed to be business partners while forgetting that the cash she was intending to use might be fake. Luckily for her, it wasn’t. Otherwise she’d have had to make a trip to a bank, probably miles away, to try and access the funds in her savings account. Although she was nervous about using the cash, she didn’t have time to sort out a trip to a bank either.

David was leaving hospital the next day. It was a day later than anticipated, but it had turned out he’d been in a lot of pain, which meant less physio, and because of that he was unable to manage stairs; they’d decided he wasn’t leaving until Sunday, which had also given the clinicians more time to get the dosage for his pain meds correct.

She had been intending to ask Gayle if she’d take David in so that he could recuperate at Lark Lodge instead of going home to his mean old dad, but that had been before she’d got to know Mr Gillespie, who was now looking forward to collecting his son from hospital and having him home. It was all he’d talked about that day while they’d been busy in the shop.

She’d spoken to David over the phone that morning, and he hadn’t been at all happy with the idea of being stuck at home recuperating. Robyn had had that on her mind, standing outside the window display, when she’d taken a step back to get a better view, had forgotten about the kerb, and had taken a tumble. Luckily for her, there hadn’t been a car driving along as she fell into the road. Instead, a passerby had helped her up.

‘Are you sure you’re okay?’

‘Apart from a bruised ego.’ Robyn was feeling embarrassed.

The young man peered in the window. ‘What were you looking at?’

‘My window display.’

‘ Your window display?’

Robyn nodded.

He read the banner in the window, and then turned to her. ‘You’re Robyn Parker – Interior Designer?’

Robyn nodded proudly. ‘That’s me. Do you like it?’

‘Of course I like it.’ He turned to look at her. ‘What’s not to like?’

There followed an awkward moment when their eyes locked. Was he flirting with her? She thought, how old are you? He looked no more than seventeen, eighteen. That was the problem with being so small in stature. She looked younger than her years.

He seemed familiar. They didn’t know each other, did they? Robyn couldn’t imagine so. She wasn’t from the area. But that was the problem with her memory loss – it put her at a big disadvantage. What if someone from her past did recognise her? She would not recognise them.

‘You know, there’s no other place in town like it.’

Robyn wasn’t sure whether he was referring to Mr Gillespie’s general store, or her little outlet inside.

‘I’m Marty. Here, I think this is yours.’

He was holding a handbag.

‘It went flying out of your hand when you fell.’

‘Oh, right. Thanks.’ She was about to take her handbag when the shop door opened, and Mr Gillespie came rushing out. ‘What’s going on here? I saw you fall. Are you okay, Robyn?’

She was about to reply when Mr Gillespie spotted Marty. ‘Hey, give that back!’

Robyn immediately guessed what he was thinking. ‘Oh, Marty didn’t push me over. He helped me up. I’m so clumsy. I was so busy admiring my handiwork in the shop window, and I stepped back and forgot there was a kerb.’ She looked at her handbag. ‘He was just handing that back.’

‘Marty?’ Mr Gillespie stepped forward and eyed the young man closely. ‘Hey, I know you. Your father is a gardener at The Lake House.’

‘The Lake House?’ Robyn thought, that name rings a bell . She was just wracking her brain, trying to think why the name sounded familiar, when Marty said, ‘Surely, you’ve heard of the Rosses. The Lake House is their holiday home.’

‘One of Scotland’s richest families,’ Mr Gillespie clarified.

And Gayle’s neighbour. She remembered now; Gayle had mentioned that they were her neighbours, kind of – their property backed on to hers. They’d owned it for years, but it was their holiday home. They lived mainly in London when they weren’t abroad, by the sound of it. Then she recalled something else. After her car accident, when she’d watched the news on TV in her hospital room, she’d discovered there had been another accident on Christmas Day in the Cairngorms. The young woman in the other accident hadn’t been so fortunate.

Robyn said, ‘Didn’t someone from that family have an accident skiing on Christmas Day?’

Mr Gillespie shook his head. ‘Terrible business. They’re good people. So sad for a tragedy to befall a loved one on Christmas Day.’

Robyn thought how lucky she’d been to survive her accident on Christmas Day. She turned to Marty. ‘Did you know her?’

‘No. Hardly saw her when I was growing up. Sometimes I’d accompany my father when he was working there, but they came to use the house mostly in the winter for skiing, and my father didn’t work there during the Christmas break.’

‘How is the old boy? I haven’t seen your father around lately, Marty.’

Old? It sounded to Robyn as though Marty’s parents had had him later in life.

‘He’s okay,’ replied Marty. ‘He’s retired now. They’ve recently moved house, downsized. He didn’t want to retire, but he couldn’t keep it going any longer with his bad back. I’ve taken over his gardening work.’

‘I see. Is that what you want to do with your life? You don’t have to, you know. You can be anything you want to be.’

Robyn wasn’t surprised by Mr Gillespie’s remarks. He wouldn’t want his sons to take over his business.

Marty, on the other hand, did seem taken aback by the question. ‘Of course I want to. I wouldn’t be doing it otherwise, would I?’

Mr Gillespie nodded. He turned to Robyn. ‘I’m locking up now.’

Robyn had been on her way out.

‘Is there anything you need before I lock the shop up?’

‘That spare set of keys?’ The shop would be closed the next day. It was Sunday. Unlike the large supermarkets which appeared to be open seven days a week, from early morning until late at night, Mr Gillespie would not open all hours. That probably put a dent in his profit margin, but Robyn could understand. If he opened all hours, he’d have no life.

Besides, Mr Gillespie had said, ‘Call me old-fashioned, but if you desperately need something at stupid o’clock in the morning, or late at night, then you should take some lessons in time-management, and learn to be organised. Honestly, I don’t know where this notion came from that everything has to be open twenty-four seven. Shopkeepers need time off work too.’

Robyn agreed. However, it meant that Robyn’s little shop, located in his store, was only open during his opening hours. That wasn’t something she’d considered when she’d thought up the idea to set her business up in his store. But that didn’t mean she could only work when the shop was open. She could still arrange home visits for fittings, and decorating, during evenings and weekends.

She still wanted a key, though, in case she wanted to arrive early, or leave late, on the understanding that the shop’s opening and closing hours would remain the same. She also wanted to show David her new business premises, just the two of them, out of hours. She hoped he liked it.

She watched Mr Gillespie lock the door. He deposited the keys in her hand.

‘Oh, but these are your keys.’

‘I’m betting you’re going to be here before me, and leave after me. I see your dedication. I’ll get myself a key cut at some point.’

Robyn deposited the keys in her handbag.

He said, ‘Just don’t go tripping up on any more kerbs and losing your bag.’

Robyn smiled. ‘I’ll try not to.’

‘Now, before I go, do you need a lift?’ he asked.

‘No, thank you. Gayle is doing some shopping in Aviemore …’ she winced. She’d tried to encourage her to shop in Mr Gillespie’s, but she didn’t want to pay his prices. ‘I’m going home with her.’

‘Well, I’ll see you on Monday then.’

‘Yes, see you Monday.’ She watched him walk to his car. He was using that to make his deliveries while the van was in the garage being repaired after it had broken down the night David had been taken into hospital – another expense he could ill afford.

Robyn stared after Mr Gillespie. I might see you sooner than Monday , she thought. She wanted to see David the next day, when he was being discharged from hospital. She hadn’t seen him since Wednesday, the day he’d been admitted and had surgery, although she’d spoken to him on the phone every day since. It had only been two days, but it seemed like an age. She was used to his company. She missed him coming up with excuses when he turned up in the van, taking her wherever she wanted to go, like her own private chauffeur.

Robyn sighed. She’d relied on those lifts – relied on him. If only she had her own car, then she could visit David at home. She thought of all that cash. She could go out and buy one tomorrow, something second-hand, a reasonably priced runaround. She’d need one once she had more clients – she was thinking of Rose’s neighbours – and when her new business premises officially opened in a couple of weeks’ time. But there was a problem – after her car accident, she’d lost her confidence in getting behind the wheel of a car.

Marty fell in step with Robyn as she headed in the other direction. She looked at him. ‘Are you walking this way?’

He smiled at her. ‘I am now.’

Robyn felt awkward. Should she tell him about David? Perhaps she was just reading too much into things. She’d feel pretty stupid if she told him there was a guy, and he’d shrugged, and asked what she was telling him that for – did she think he fancied her? She kept her mouth shut. She did not want to embarrass herself further. She did have another thought. ‘How would you like to see what you could do with a really wild and overgrown garden?’ she asked him.

He stared at her intently.

‘Can you take on some extra gardening work?’

‘Oh, yes. Just point me in the right direction.’

‘Come with me.’ She grabbed his arm. ‘There’s somebody I’d like you to meet.’