The Secrets of the Glen (Scottish Highlands #2)

Chapter 32

‘So, do you want to tell me what’s going on?’

Marty rolled up his sleeping bag, avoiding eye contact. ‘You weren’t meant to come in this room.’

She put her hands on her hips, watching him.

When he’d finished, he slumped down heavily on the sofa. He picked up the cushion and held it over his chest.

Robyn stood watching him pluck at the corner of the sleeping bag, where there appeared to be a worn hole, and dislodge one of the tiny white feathers. It came free and floated to the floor. They both watched this in silence.

Robyn frowned. ‘Gayle asked you to stay at the guesthouse because it appeared that you didn’t want to go home. We thought you were living at your parents’ house, and that you got on well with them.’

‘I did. I do.’ He stared at the floor.

She sat down next to him, and said softly, ‘Do you want to tell me what’s going on?’

‘Both my parents are retired.’

Robyn knew that. She didn’t see what that had to do with Marty leaving home and squatting at The Lake House.

‘I needed to leave home, but I had nowhere else to go, not immediately. It’s not like I could walk into an estate agent and rent a place on my salary at the moment, and all the B&Bs and hotels are fully booked with tourists.’

Robyn nodded. She recalled the trouble Nick had had in trying to find a place when he’d had to leave the B&B where he was staying before he came to Lark Lodge.

She glanced at the sleeping bag. ‘Couldn’t you have waited until something came up to move into before you left home?’

He shook his head adamantly. ‘No. They sold their house and moved out of Aviemore.’

‘Couldn’t you move with them until you found a place?’

‘No. My mum always wanted to move back to Edinburgh, to live near her sister. They’ve bought a flat. Moved in a couple of weeks ago. It’s too far from Aviemore where my work is.’

‘But didn’t you tell them you had nowhere to live?’

‘I had a friend who was going to let me sofa-surf for a bit, but his new girlfriend put her foot down at the last minute and said no. By that time, my parents had exchanged contracts, and the sale was going through. But even if that wasn’t the case, I wouldn’t have told them and stood in the way of something they were looking forward to.’

Marty turned to look at her, smiling. ‘You should have seen them, so excited about moving back to the city. It’s where they met, and had their first home together in a little flat in the old quarter, apparently. I couldn’t ask them to back out of their sale and give up their dream.’

‘What – even if you were made homeless?’

Marty sighed and shook his head.

‘Why didn’t you tell us what was going on?’

Marty studied his fingernails and shook his head. ‘I couldn’t tell you or Gayle. I was afraid you’d look at me differently and that Gayle would ask me to leave Lark Lodge if she found out I’d broken into someone else’s house and started squatting.’

‘But you didn’t break in. You used a key.’

Marty rolled his eyes at Robyn. ‘That’s not the point, is it?’

Robyn sat back on the sofa. ‘You don’t have to lie to me – or Gayle, like you’ve been doing with your parents.’

Marty started to cry. ‘I really didn’t know what I was going to do before Gayle invited me to stay. I was scared every night that they might come back, even though I knew it was unlikely.’

‘Why didn’t you ask if there was a room available at Lark Lodge? You know how big the house is. Only Nick and I are staying there.’

‘But the guesthouse hasn’t opened officially yet, and you and Nick are Gayle’s friends.’

Robyn smiled. ‘Well, you are Gayle’s friend too – and mine, and Nick’s. Oh, and of course, Olive’s too.’

Marty laughed, wiping the tears from his cheeks with the sleeve of his jumper.

Poor Marty , thought Robyn. It sounded as though he was such a good son, letting his parents think that he was okay so they could enjoy their new life in Edinburgh with no clue their son had been left homeless.

‘Nobody is going to tell you to leave Lark Lodge, I can assure you.’ She squeezed his hand, and stood up. ‘Come on, let’s finish the tour of the house.’ Robyn wasn’t sure she needed to see the rest of the house. She didn’t tell Marty, but as soon as she’d walked into the house, she’d had a strong feeling she’d been there before. But she had no idea how that could be.

‘Then what are we going to do?’ Marty asked.

‘After breakfast, you can take your van and come back and collect your things.’

‘What are you going to tell Gayle?’

‘Nothing. When you’re ready, you can tell Gayle yourself.’

‘Do you suffer from vertigo?’

‘Vertigo?’ Marty paused in the hall.

Robyn had answered the door when he’d returned from The Lake House with his belongings after breakfast. She’d suggested he leave his sleeping bag in the car unless he wanted to explain to Gayle straight away where he’d been sleeping for the past few nights. He did not.

‘Heights.’ Robyn said. ‘Are you afraid of heights?’

‘I know what vertigo means,’ he said, slipping the rucksack off his shoulder in the hallway. ‘This thing is heavy.’

Robyn shut the door and followed him down the hall. ‘Well, are you?’

He paused at the foot of the stairs, and looked at her. ‘I wouldn’t really be much use as a gardener if I couldn’t get up a ladder and trim hedges and creepers, now would I?’

Robyn realised he had a point. She watched Marty pick up the rucksack again and haul it over his shoulder. ‘I tried to pack all my belongings in here. Perhaps it’s just as well I let my parents look after some of my things, because I wouldn’t have been able to fit all my stuff in.’

Robyn could empathise. She’d obviously done the same, packing her old suitcase and her overnight bag full of her stuff, before leaving university to head to Aviemore.

‘Are you any good with a paintbrush?’

‘Maybe … I guess.’ He asked, ‘Why all the questions? What’s this about?’

Robyn cast her gaze around the hallway. ‘How would you like to work with me on a little project?’

‘What have you got in mind?’

Having established he could be trusted up a ladder, she said, ‘Have you done any painting before?’

‘Landscape painting?’

For a moment, Robyn didn’t understand. ‘Oh, you mean a painting on a canvas.’ She shook her head. ‘Not that kind of painting. I’m redecorating Gayle’s house, but I could do with a hand. Want to earn some extra money?’

‘Absolutely. Just point me in the direction of the paint pot!’

‘Perfect.’ Robyn left Marty to take his bag upstairs. She walked into the kitchen to find David making a cup of tea, waiting for her. ‘I can help redecorate too.’

Robyn realised he must have overheard their conversation. She looked at him, and thought there’s no way you’re climbing up a ladder . It had taken three months of rehabilitation on his knee to get to where he was. The walking stick had gone. He hadn’t thrown it away yet – he had said it might be bad karma – but it hadn’t seen the light of day for some weeks. Robyn knew she couldn’t wrap him up in cotton wool, as much as she’d like to, but he was certainly not climbing ladders. Not on her watch.

However she wasn’t about to refuse his offer to help. The more people pitched in, the quicker the place would get done. Now all she had to do was twist Nick’s arm too. And she knew just the person who could do that – Marty.

She looked at David. ‘You could paint below the dado rails.’

‘Of course. I’m guessing you don’t want me climbing up ladders.’

‘Nope.’ It was bad enough that he’d returned to ice hockey. David was now a volunteer coach for a local youth sports programme that organised the team he’d been playing with when he’d had his accident on the ice. He was also working towards a certification and further training, which hopefully would lead to a paid coaching position. David was also applying to do a part-time history degree at the university locally, just as an interest – a hobby, he’d said. Robyn had wondered if perhaps history would become his new career, and coaching ice hockey would become his hobby. Who knew what the future held?

David’s life was really coming together. The only fly in the ointment, as far as he was concerned, was his father.

Robyn had asked both of them, separately, to just sit down and talk, but they were both just as proud and stubborn as each other.

David wouldn’t move back home until his old man had left – that’s what he’d said. The problem was that poor Duncan had nowhere to go.

Robyn heard the creak of the floorboards as Marty made his way up to his room. She suddenly had a thought. Duncan might not be able to buy a house unless he sold his shop – but he wouldn’t hear of it. But he could afford to take a room there, at Lark Lodge.

She looked at David. There was a problem with that idea – it meant David would leave Lark Lodge. Robyn didn’t want that.

‘You’ve gone quiet. What are you thinking?’

Robyn was thinking that if he left, he’d want her to go with him, to live at his place. But she didn’t want to leave Lark Lodge. She decided she’d rather things stayed as they were.