LOCH MORAR, SCOTLAND
The Past
Gavin leaned forward and rested his face in his hands. He still was not feeling his best and the room, as dim as it was, seemed to grow darker along with his mood.
Not sure what was wrong, he pushed away from the table and stretched his legs by pacing back and forth. This action seemed familiar, like he had done it in the past quite often, but even taking the smallest of steps was difficult.
Leaning down, he rubbed his aching muscles in his thighs. He assumed this was because he had been immobile for so long. If that was the only thing plaguing him, he would have thought it wasn’t so bad, but he also couldn’t quite get his mind to stay on any thought in particular for more than a minute before it took him off in another direction entirely.
As he paced, he tried to remember the lass, and things that happened before he was sick, but for the life of him, he couldn’t quite remember any of it, with the exception of the other lass that kept popping into his mind. She was quite toothsome to be sure and he felt that he knew her intimately at one time. What he didn’t know, was where she was now, or how he had even known her to begin with.
Irritated with his lack of memory, he slammed his palms down on the table, and then sat heavily down onto the chair.
♦
Walking back out into the hall, Paige balanced the plates in each hand and suddenly stopped when she saw Gavin was looking at her with the strangest look.
“What?” she asked, taking a tentative step closer.
Gavin shook his head and leaned back in the chair. “It is strange that I do no remember being in love with ye, do ye no think?”
“I’m sure you will remember soon enough.” She placed the plates down on the table and took the chair at his side.
“Here.” She shoved his plate of food in front of him.
Gavin leaned back and looked at his fare. It was odd looking to be sure, but then again, he wasn’t sure what he expected. She was odd, so why would the food she prepared be any different?
♦
Paige finally talked Gavin into trying the PB&J. His face screwed up like a child’s when he took a bite, but as he began to chew, she could tell that he liked it.
Neither of them said much to the other as they ate and when they were finished, which was much too soon for her since she was still hungry, she moved her plate aside.
Gavin finished off the last bite of his sandwich and leaned back in the chair. He placed his hand on his flat belly and rubbed it a few times. “Is there any more, lass?” he asked hopefully.
“No.” Paige shook her head. “Sorry. That was the last of it.” Well, it was almost the last of it. There were a few good scrapes left on the side of the jiffy jar that she was planning on licking clean when she got a chance.
Gavin frowned and looked down the length of the table towards the fire.
Paige wasn’t paying too much attention to what he was doing. Instead, she was in the midst of envisioning those last few dregs of peanut butter and how good it would taste if she had a piece of chocolate to go with it.
“Are ye sure?”
Her chocolate-coated fantasy came to a squelching halt. “Yes, I am sure.”
Gavin let out a lengthy sigh. “I am still hungry.”
“Well so am I,” she snapped, not meaning to.
“Are ye hangry?” he questioned suddenly.
“What did you say?”
“I asked if ye were hangry.”
“Why did you say hangry, instead of hungry?”
Gavin shrugged. “It seemed like the thing ta say.”
“Oh.”
As the minutes of silence ticked by, Paige worried with a string on her gown, twisting and rolling it up repeatedly until she had a little ball of thread hanging down.
“Would ye like ta go for a walk?”
“It’s still raining.”
“Aye, I suppose it is.”
He let out another lengthy sigh, and the silence ensued between them once more.
Gavin got to his feet and walked down the length of the table until he was almost at the fireplace. Stopping, he leaned down and picked up the book she had been reading earlier.
He stared at the cover, a frown pulling between his brows. “What is this?”
“It’s a book.”
“Aye, I know it is a book,” he said. “What is it doing here?”
“I was reading it.”
“What’s it about?” He stared at the cover with a cross between curiosity and downright confusion.
“It’s love story.” That was true enough, but what she left out was that it was more of a bodice ripping romance. The kind she used to read back home on rainy days. Or when she was sad, or bored…
“Can ye read it ta me?”
“Uh… sure.”
He walked back with the book in his hand and she noticed his movements were slow and he grimaced quite often as he made one-foot move in front of the other.
Settling back in his chair, Gavin placed the book on the table and slid it over in front of her.
Paige lifted the book.
Gavin stretched his long legs out in front of him, leaning back in the chair and closed his eyes.
Clearing her throat, Paige began to read.