Total pages in book: 127
Estimated words: 121460 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 607(@200wpm)___ 486(@250wpm)___ 405(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 121460 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 607(@200wpm)___ 486(@250wpm)___ 405(@300wpm)
Fergus was not so lucky, but Brodan tried to protect him as best he could. That was who Brodan was and probably one of the many reasons I’d started to have feelings for my best friend.
Sometimes I wished we could just be kids again.
Life was way less complicated then.
So were feelings.
“Don’t let Arran hear you calling us that,” Brodan grumbled good-naturedly as Fergus caught up to us.
Fergus grinned at me, and I smiled. I didn’t mind the Roe and Bro nicknames Arran had given us. It made me feel like our connection was so strong, everyone else could see it too.
Arran peeled himself away from his friends, and he and Brodan unlocked their bikes from the rack. Ardnoch Estate was a good ten-, fifteen-minute drive from the village, so the boys had to bike it most of the time. There was snow on the ground last month, though, so their dad, Stuart, drove all the Adairs to school. Come November, Lachlan would turn seventeen, and he’d be old enough to drive them. When he graduated, that duty would fall to Thane.
The boys chattered about some football game they were arranging for the weekend, and I walked quietly at Brodan’s side. He always slowed his long stride so I could keep up.
We said goodbye to Fergus first, and then Arran got on his bike and rode slowly ahead of us. He looked back over his shoulder at his brother. “I’ll get you on the road.”
Brodan frowned. “Don’t go too far ahead.”
“Just go with him,” I said.
He shook his head, and I rolled my eyes, even though I loved it that he wanted to walk me to my house.
“How are things?” Brodan asked as we approached my narrow street of row cottages.
I tried not to tense at the question. With my dad gone, things were somehow just as awful. Mum didn’t raise her hands to me, but her cruel words hit with enough force to leave a mark. But I didn’t want my friend worrying about me. “They’re fine.”
He didn’t look convinced. “Sunset.”
“It is what it is.” I smiled brightly up at him. He’d given me the nickname Sunset when we were twelve, and when I asked him about it, he just grinned that boyish grin as he replied, “I think of your hair every time I see the sunset.” I didn’t think he realized how romantic that sounded to me now.
At my smile, Brodan’s gaze dipped to my mouth, and his frown deepened.
Sensing he wanted to push the subject, I changed it. “I was thinking we could jump on a bus and go to Inverness this Saturday. I phoned Ness Island Vinyl, and they have the US import in for The White Stripes album.” We couldn’t get the album any bloody where because it hadn’t been released in the UK yet. “They said they’d put it aside for me, if I can guarantee coming in for it this Saturday. I’ve been saving up.” My paternal grandmother sent me Christmas and birthday money every year, and I’d saved almost every penny. Now that Dad was gone, we were even more strapped for cash than before. Mum was a nurse at the hospital in Golspie, about twenty-five minutes north of here. Let’s just say she saved all of her bedside manner for her patients.
At Brodan’s silence, I looked up at him. He seemed preoccupied.
“Or not.” I shrugged, like it didn’t bother me if he didn’t want to spend Saturday with me. Of course, it bothered the heck out of me.
He glanced down. “No, aye, sure. Saturday.”
“We can go another time if you’re busy.”
He shook his head. “I can cancel the other thing.”
Jealousy scored through me as we came to a stop at my front door. I turned to my friend, forcing myself to meet his gaze as I smirked through the pain. “If you have plans with Michelle, we can go another time.”
Brodan searched my face for a few seconds and then the corner of his mouth tilted up as he bent his head toward me so our noses were too close for my comfort. “Roe, she’s not my girlfriend. I can cancel.” He straightened but tugged on a strand of hair that had fallen out of my ponytail. “I’d rather go to Inverness with you. I’d always rather spend time with you.”
He rubbed my hair between his fingers before he released it and settled his hand on the other handle of his bike, his smile boyish. “Inverness, Saturday?”
I nodded, my heart thumping so hard, I was sure the pulse in my neck must be visible. “Saturday.”
He handed me my backpack and I almost dropped it, it was that heavy.
Brodan chuckled under his breath and then abruptly muttered, “Oh, aye, before I forget.” He slid his backpack off and unzipped it. Rummaging through the books, he pulled out a small black brick.