Return to McCall by Patricia Evans

Author:Patricia Evans [Evans, Patricia]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Bold Strokes Books
Published: 2023-03-02T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Eleven

Lily stepped onto the patio of the Other Place to find Alex sitting at one of the tables with two whiskeys already waiting on leather coasters and a brown suede duffel bag at her feet.

“Well, that’s a relief.” Lily sank into the chair across from Alex and held her whiskey up to the fading evening sun, letting the light shift through it like molten amber. “I was worried when you said to pack for the weekend that it was just a ruse to get me the hell out of your cabin.”

Alex laughed and picked her hand to kiss, squeezing it before she let it go. The late June heat was dry and intense but lightened by the first of the evening breezes shifting through the trees, loosening a scatter of pine needles to float through the air and down to the patio. Alex’s black T-shirt and faded Levi’s made her look like she’d just walked out of a 1950s ad for Cuban tourism. The sleeves clung to the definition in her arms, and the swirling smoke gray tats underscored the mysterious vibe Lily had yet to be able to wrap words around.

“Well.” Alex lifted her glass and took a leisurely sip. “As much as I loved coming home with you to find random women in our cabin, I thought it was about time to take you on a real date.”

“Ah! My little plan worked.” Lily laughed, picking up her glass. “So where are we going?”

She didn’t wait for an answer before she closed her eyes, taking the first sip of the intensely peated scotch Alex had chosen. The smoke of it rose through the roof of her mouth as if it weren’t there and filled her nose, softening quickly to ash and smoothing the edges of the caramel bite of the scotch itself. She drew in the last of the vapors with the cooling mountain air and opened her eyes to find Alex watching. She was biting her lip.

“This was a dangerous choice.” Lily raised her glass and clinked it to Alex’s, then sat back in her chair. “You’re lucky I love Lagavulin Islay.”

“Jesus.” Alex shook her head, then raked her hand through the dark layers of her hair. “I chose that because I thought it was the one remote scotch you wouldn’t be able to identify. How do you do it?”

“Well, the official answer is that I’m not telling.” Lily laughed when Alex rolled her eyes. “But the real answer is they use peat to dry the malted barley for the whiskey. Every peat bog has slightly different organic components, but each distillery also throws a few secret herbs into the fires. Not that they’d tell anyone this, especially an American.”

“So how do you know?”

“When I spent a month in Scotland last summer, I visited Islay and the Isle of Skye, and everyone loves to tell a writer their secrets.”

“Ah…the Queen of Scotch and Secrets.” Alex’s eyes sparkled over the edge of her glass as she drew in the scent.

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