“I’m really excited, especially since we haven’t been able to see much of Scotland.” She leans in, gives me a hug, and then takes off out the door, computer tucked under her arm. “Bye.”
“Are you all right?” Rowan asks as the door swings shut.
“Huh? Oh yeah, fine.” I clear my throat and act like I’m studying the pictures, when in reality, I feel . . . sad. We were supposed to explore Inverness together. We joked about finding the rental car guy again and trying to see if we could understand him better now that we’ve been in Scotland for a while. We also wanted to visit Inverness Castle, and there were a few restaurants we wanted to try. Is she going to do those things without me?
“You don’t seem fine.” Rowan takes my shoulders and gently turns me toward him. “You seem really upset, actually.”
“It’s nothing,” I say, looking out toward the front window, where I see Isla meet up with Dakota. They exchange a quick kiss on the lips before linking their hands together and heading toward the cottage.
“Hey.” Rowan moves my head so I meet his eyes. “If it was nothing, you wouldn’t look like you’re about to cry.”
“I’m not about to cry, I just . . . I thought Dakota and I were going to explore Inverness together, that’s all.”
“Och.” He nods. “I see.” He looks back. “Go with them, then. We can bake another day.”
I shake my head. “No, clearly they have some romantic trip planned. I’m not about to be the third wheel.”
“Isla’s pretty understanding. If you were honest with them, I’m sure she’d welcome you along.”
I shake my head and lean into his embrace as his strong arms wrap me up. “No, that’s okay. Dakota was most likely looking forward to this trip. I’ll get over it.”
He kisses the top of my head and gives me a squeeze. “I know it won’t be the same as going with your best friend, but I can take you some time, if you’d like.”
Smiling, I look up at him and kiss his jaw. “I’d like that.”
“Okay, once the butter is spread—wait, no, just two-thirds, stick to this side,” Rowan says, his voice patient and calm despite my anxiously trying to predict what we do next. And it’s not on purpose either. For some reason I feel flustered, like I need to impress him or something.
Before we started baking, Rowan took me over to the bakeshop, where Elsbeth, Isla’s assistant, was filling in for her. We ordered some chicken curry pies, grabbed some fruit and drinks from the Mill Market, and had a quaint lunch in front of the loch, where Rowan regaled me with story after story of him and the Murdach twins getting into trouble. And funnily enough, as Rowan was telling those stories, they ran by us, shirtless, wearing their kilts and hoisting logs, with their “cameraman,” a local boy named Dennis, following closely behind.
Once we packed up, we headed into the “wee” kitchen in the back of the coffee shop. It might be small, but there are multiple ovens, which is exactly what we need for our three types of baked goods.
While he spread out the groceries, I whipped open an apron and then reached for the hem of my shirt. As promised, I was ready to bake in the nude, but he quickly held my hands down and said he loved the idea of me naked, but not when anyone could walk in, especially with the way Fergus comes in and out of his own accord. Rowan claimed that being caught naked in front of a historically significant goat would read a little weird. I had to agree with him. Fergus feels like a brother at this point, and I’d never want my brother to catch me in the buff. So, the clothes stayed on.
“You don’t spread it all over the dough?” I ask now, staring down at the butter combination gracing my latest attempt at butteries.
“No. Just this section. Then we’ll fold the dough three times, roll it back out to the original starting size, and let it cool for forty minutes.”
“You let it cool?” A light bulb goes on in my head. “Oh, I wasn’t doing that when I tried to make them. I would just go into folding and rolling again. That’s why it was melting, huh?”
He nods. “Aye, you have to let the butter cool before you start working it again.”
“So then, these take forever to make.”
“But they’re worth it, and if you time it right, you can have multiple batches going at the same time, along with other items like the tattie scones. You could also make the dough the day before and bake them in the morning. That’s what my da would do. When things started to get slow toward the end of the workday, he’d always get the dough ready.”