LITMIR.BIZ

       CHAPTER ONE

      May

      THERE WAS NO way that this amount of vomiting could be normal. Maybe it was something she’d eaten on the flight between Los Angeles and London? The chicken had looked okay. But then she’d had that really huge brownie at Heathrow Airport before the departure to Glasgow.

      She groaned as her stomach lurched again and the roll of the waves threw her off balance. They weren’t even out at sea any more, they were in the middle of docking at the harbour in Brodick, Arran.

      ‘First-timer, eh?’ said a woman with a well-worn face as she walked towards the gangway.

      Kristie couldn’t even answer.

      Gerry gave her a nudge. ‘Come on, they’ve already made two announcements telling drivers to get back into their cars. Do you want me to drive instead?’

      She shook her head and took another glug of water from the bottle he’d bought her. Poor Gerry. He’d spent half of this ferry journey holding the hair from her face so she could be sick. He was more than double her age, but seemed to have weathered the journey much better than she had—even if he had twice tried to get into the car on the wrong side.

      She gave him a half-hearted smile. ‘Next time we get on a flight together I’ll have what you’re having.’ He’d popped some kind of tablet as soon as they’d boarded the flight in Los Angeles and had slept until the wheels had set down at Heathrow.

      He returned a smile. ‘What can I say? Years of experience.’

      She watched him shuffling down the stairs in front of her to the car deck. The boat’s bow was already opening, preparing for the cars to unload. Kristie ignored a few pointed glares as she made her way to their hire car and tried to squeeze back inside.

      The cars in front had already moved by the time she’d started the unfamiliar vehicle and tried to remember what to do with the pedals and the gearstick.

      She jumped as there was a loud blast of a horn behind her. She muttered an expletive under her breath as she started the car and promptly stalled it. The car juddered and heat rushed into her cheeks. ‘Why is everything on the wrong side?’

      Gerry chuckled. ‘Just watch out for the roundabouts.’

      She bit her bottom lip as she started the car again. The roundabout at Glasgow airport had been like an episode of the Wacky Races. The whole wrong-side-of-the-road aspect had totally frazzled her brain and she was sure at one point her life had flashed before her eyes.

      ‘Arran isn’t that big,’ she muttered. ‘Maybe they don’t need roundabouts. Crazy things anyway. Who invented them? What’s wrong with straight roads?’

      Gerry laughed as they finally rolled off the ferry and joined the queue of traffic heading towards a road junction.

      ‘Which way?’ she asked.

      ‘Left,’ he said quickly. ‘The doctor’s surgery and hospital are in a place called Lamlash. It’s only a few miles up the road.’

      Gerry settled back in his seat as they pulled out onto the main road. The sun was low in the sky and all around them they could see green on one side and sea on the other.

      ‘I think I’m going to like this place,’ he said with a smile, folding his hands in his lap.

      Kristie blinked. Although there were a number of people around the ferry terminal, as soon as they moved further away the crowds and traffic seemed to disperse quickly. There was a cluster of shops, pubs and a few hotels scattered along what appeared to be the main street of the Scottish town, but in a few moments the main street had disappeared, only to be replaced with a winding coastal country road.

      ‘I’ve never seen so much green,’ she said, trying to keep her eyes fixed on the road rather than the extensive scenery.

      Gerry laughed. ‘You don’t get out of Los Angeles often enough. Too much dry air.’

      A few splotches of rain landed on the windscreen. Kristie frowned and flicked a few of the levers at the side of the wheel, trying to locate the wipers. The blinkers on the hire car flicked on and off on either side. She let out a huff of exasperation as she tried the other side.

      ‘Road!’ Gerry’s voice pulled her attention back to the road as an approaching car honked loudly at her. She yanked the wheel back in an instant, her heart in her mouth. The car had drifted a little into the middle of the road as she’d tried to find the wipers. She cursed out loud as she pulled it back to the correct side of the road—which felt like the wrong side. ‘Darn it. Stupid road,’ she muttered.

      Gerry shook his head. ‘No multiple lanes here. Get with it, Kristie. Embrace the countryside.’

      She pressed her lips together. She hadn’t seen a single coffee shop she recognised, or any big department stores. What did people do around here? Her grip tightened on the wheel as the rain changed from a few splats to torrential within a few seconds. Her hand flicked the lever up and then down to quicken the windscreen-wiper speed. It was almost as if a black cloud had just drifted over the top of them. She leaned forward and tried to peer upwards. ‘What is this? Five minutes ago the sun was shining.’

      She knew she sounded cranky. But she was tired. She was jet-lagged. She wanted some decent coffee and some hotel room service. She didn’t even know what time zone she was in any more.

      A sign flashed past. ‘What did that say?’ she snapped.

      ‘Go left,’ said Gerry smoothly.

      She flicked the indicator and pulled into the busy parking lot in front of her. There was a white building to their right, set next to the sea.

      The rain battered off the windscreen and the trees edging the parking lot seemed to be lolling to one side in the strong winds.

      Gerry let out a low laugh at her horrified face. ‘Welcome to Scotland, Kristie.’

      * * *

      ‘Tell me you’re joking.’ He stared across the room at his colleague Magda, who had her feet up on a nearby stool and was rubbing her very pregnant belly. She sighed. ‘I signed the contract ten months ago. Before, you know, I knew about this.’

      ‘You signed a contract for filming in our practice without discussing it with me?’

      She shot him an apologetic look. ‘I did discuss it with you.’ She leaned forward to her laptop and scrolled. ‘There.’ She pointed to her screen. ‘Or maybe not quite discussed, but I sent you the email. I forwarded the details and the contracts. So much has happened since then.’ She let her voice slow for a second.

      He knew what she meant.

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