“Any pictures?” He pulled at his beanie like he was starting to overheat. “Missing Derek was a real let-down. I think we had some major chemistry.”
Great, now I was overheating too. I scrolled through my camera roll.
“I don’t actually have any on my phone.” I shrugged. “Don’t like to mix work and pleasure.” What was I talking about?!
“Are they on Instagram?” Ru said, genuinely interested.
“No account,” I snapped. “My parents are weird about privacy.” Could not be further from the truth. “Reindeer privacy.”
“Well, I’m with them. I don’t have any accounts either.” But did this mean he was safe from seeing the post about me being Elf Girl? Finally, some good news!
“But you can see this fearsome creature.” I showed him a photo I’d taken a few days ago of Sosig.
Ru zoomed in. “Pomsky, right?” Wow, no one usually knew what Sosig was. And bigger wow – I’d dodged the imaginary-reindeer bullet. “I used to have one really similar. Ziggy. Before my parents went all ‘no pets’ and ‘no ties’ and we never stayed anywhere long enough to even get a cactus.” He fiddled with his saucer. “And they’re not the kind of people I can bribe to change their mind … not even with cute cookies.”
“Well, their loss.” He’d never told me properly what they did, but they sounded intense. “Are they here with you in Scotland?”
He cricked his neck. “Kind of. But last night they had some kind of crisis meeting… And they jumped straight back into it this morning. When Mom started on her third coffee, I figured it would be a good time to head out.”
“Sounds stressful.” Last night for me had been trying to stop my dad making Maeve show him every single filter ever invented.
“Everything with my mom and dad is stressful. And I don’t even have a Jess or a Tilly to share it with.” Cringe. Ru was never going to meet my sisters, but I still felt awkward that I’d made up their names.
“You can borrow J—” No, I couldn’t say it again. “My sisters anytime. Anyway, what did you get up to last night?” He’d already told me he was really looking forward to looking round the city. “Was ice skating good?”
“Didn’t do it in the end. Pizza for one in the hotel sounded more tempting.” I felt a tiny twinge of guilt. Should I have at least invited him out?
“Did Elijah get you a good hotel? Ours has a Christmas tree that goes right up the stairs.” He raised an eyebrow. I quickly corrected myself. “Not that I like Christmas trees.”
“No.” He tried not to grin. “Who does? Especially somewhere as picture-perfect holiday-season as Edinburgh.” I loved how he said it. Ed-in-broooo. He took his first sip of his drink. “Oh, hold up…” He took another. “You weren’t kidding when you said you were on to something with this?!”
“You can take it back “home” and pretend it was all your idea.” Not that I even knew where “home” was, other than somewhere in America. “Wherever that is…”
“San Diego. Did I not say?” Nope, I was starting to realize the closest I’d got to a fact was the pickle hunt. “Well, it was Toronto for a bit, but now I’m back in Cali. If you’re into beaches, I would recommend. But if you want some of this…” He nodded to the big window.
“Bin lorries?”
“No,” he snorted. “Snow. These trad Christmas vibes. Then I’d give it a miss.”
Was he honestly implying California was dull? He clearly had never been to Bromster.
“Well, I’m sure it beats where I live…” I tried to picture him wandering around my village high street – its one newsagent, one post office and one blue plaque that looks impressive but on close inspection is a joke one that says “Martin Jenkins, number one husband and Inventor of the Egg Toaster, lives here”. Ru, with his American accent, and stories about travelling the world, and… Nope. I genuinely felt those two worlds might explode if they tried to co-exist. “On TripAdvisor, it says best thing to do in my village is visit a duck pond. We don’t even have any ducks. Oh, and visit a bit of old wall that used to be a castle but now isn’t, it’s just twelve bricks.”
“Sounds quaint.”
“Come and visit and then say that again!”
But he just smiled. “I’d love to.”
Erm. Was this weird? Why did I feel weird?
I gulped some hot chocolate.
“Well, if on the way to San Diego or Lapland or wherever you happen to go through Bromster, let me know.”
Ru grinned. How was it possible to look so cute in a woolly hat? And how much sugar was in this hot chocolate?! I suddenly felt very hot and weird.
“Oh, I meant to say… Guess who Grace met last night? And when I say ‘met’, think fireworks. And long awkward looks…” Like the one we just had? No, brain! That was not an OK thought to have?!
“Erm…” Ru sipped his drink. “Maeve?”
“Yes, but no… Guess again.”
“Stormoo?”
“No. And I’m still not over that name.”
“I blame Elijah. He told her it was ‘inspired’.” Ru laughed, but I was starting to see a different side to Elijah.
“He’s not all bad, y’know.” Mostly, but not all. “He came through with some pretty epic raffle prizes.”
Ru’s eyebrows rose. “Is that so?”
“I know, I was surprised too. Oh, and it was Harry, by the way.”
“Ohhh.” Ru’s eyes lit up. “That IS good gossip.” He checked himself. “Not that I do gossip. How much did she freak when she found out about his mom?”
Oh man. How had I forgotten to mention that Harry’s mum was the director! How had Ru thought of this before me?! Immediate two best mate points deduction.
