Page 140 of One for the Road
“It will be the first plaque I put on my office wall.” His office wall. At Kinleith Surgery. Because he was staying.
The words I’d said on the stage stretched between us, thick and glistening.
He was really staying.
My insides felt golden. I was so unbelievably happy, terrified and overwhelmed. A tear snuck its way down my cheek.
He caught it with his thumb and dried it away as he said, “I really, really want to talk to you. Say all the words we need to say. I also really want to go eat greasy fairground food and make out on the Ferris wheel like a normal couple.”
I gasped, aghast. “In front of the entire village? People will talk.”
His smile unzipped, small and slow. “Gotta keep the charade going.”
“How much longer do you think?”
He didn’t even pause. “The rest of our lives, maybe?”
The rest of our lives. I’d never heard anything more perfect. “I need to take care of one more thing first, and then we’re talking.”
“If you’ve signed us up for the Highland Games too, you should know, I’m really good at the hammer throw.”
“Of course you are.” I pulled an envelope from my pocket and tapped it against his chest. “But unfortunately, I need to talk to Cameron.”
He glanced at it in question. “We have to talk to him now?”
“It won’t take long, I promise. But I need to get this over with.” Draw a line in the sand before Alistair and I properly started this thing. It had been a long time coming anyway. “You’ll come with me?”
His hand dragged down my arm, then his fingers laced with mine. “Always. Come on.”
Crossing the green, I spied Teddy in line for the Ferris wheel with Ava and Emily.Good, she wouldn’t be around to see this.
It didn’t take us long to locate Cameron and Annabelle in line at the pizza van. Annabelle still looked annoyed, while Cameron scrolled on his phone.
I cleared my throat as we approached. They both straightened, Cameron’s jaw flexing as his eyes caught on our hands. Alistair tightened his grip, offering me silent support as we came to a stop, and I looked between Cameron and Annabelle. Realised for the first time just how miserable they looked.
It didn’t matter. It wasn’t my business.
I extended my hand – ignoring Annabelle’s half-hearted congratulations – holding out the envelope to Cameron before I chickened out. He took it with a frown. “What’s this?”
“I’m taking action over the missing child support payments for Teddy.” A few weeks ago, I would have hated the way my voice trembled. Now I just straightened my spine.
Annabelle gasped. I didn’t look at her as Cameron tore into the envelope, eyes darting as he quickly read. He seemed shocked, bewildered, as he said, “You contacted Child Maintenance Service behind my back? Isla, we couldn’t just talk about this?”
Heather had put me in touch with her family solicitor, helped me fill out all the necessary forms. What I should have done from the very beginning.
There was no changing that now.
So I steeled my spine. “I have been talking . . . for almostsix months now. Talking didn’t help with school supplies, or summer camp, or even her school trip—”
“Thatheswooped in and paid for before I got the chance.” He pointed a finger at Alistair, who stood tall and steady by my side. From the tense set of his jaw, I could tell it was killing Alistair to keep his mouth shut, but he did. Letting me handle it as I saw fit. I gave his hand a quick squeeze before letting go.
“You had weeks to tell me, Cameron. Weeks to put it right. Alistair shouldn’t have gone behind my back, but the fact that you were happy to let him pay foryourdaughter until the most self-serving moment to reveal it arose makes you more selfish than I ever realised.”
“It’s not my fault; it’s the bloody house renovation. The costs just got out of hand so quickly, and our savings only got us so far.”
Was that supposed to sway me? “Listen to yourself, Cameron. You just admitted that you put a new bathroom before your daughter’s welfare, and you actually expect me to feel sorry for you.”
“Isla—” He reached for me, but I stepped back just as Alistair’s “Don’t you fucking dare” hissed between us.
