Summer at the Highland Coral Beach (The Port Willow Bay series Port Willow Bay) by Kiley Dunbar

Summer at the Highland Coral Beach (The Port Willow Bay series Port Willow Bay) by Kiley Dunbar

Author:Kiley Dunbar [Dunbar, Kiley]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781912973248
Publisher: Hera
Published: 2020-03-26T18:30:00+00:00


* * *

Beatrice gripped the seat and squinted at Atholl’s determined expression as the gears screeched.

‘Are we going to make it?’

The hill was the steepest she’d ever scaled in a car. A queue of tourist traffic was forming behind them. Beatrice glanced out the back window and winced to see increasingly dark exhaust fumes billowing behind them. ‘We’re losing speed, Atholl. Are we going to come to a stop? Will we roll backwards?’ She tried to quell the rising alarm in her chest by concentrating on Atholl’s features, which were set in firm concentration.

‘Rusty’s no failed me yet and he won’t today,’ he said, his jaw clenched around the words. ‘But if you know who the patron saint of old bangers is, it might be a good time to start praying to them.’

She noticed the crinkle at the corners of his eyes. He wasn’t afraid in the least, and so she told herself this probably meant she shouldn’t be either.

‘Come on, Rusty! You can do it!’ she cried out the window into the summer air, which was growing cooler with every second of their climb.

Atholl looked across at her, a grin forming. ‘That’s the spirit! Come on, Rusty, old pal! We believe in you.’

The cars behind beeped their horns and the pair burst into triumphant cheers as Rusty reached the brow of the hill and they picked up speed. ‘He’s no’ so good at the inclines but he can fly down the valleys like a rally car.’

But Beatrice was too distracted to reply. Spreading out ahead of her as far as she could see were enormous mountains, skies higher and wider than any she’d ever gazed up at, glinting sunlight hitting a thousand scintillating tarns and lochs as small and dazzling as sequins from this distance, and something utterly unexpected that took away her breath.

‘Is… is that snow?’ She pointed a finger to the highest peak ahead of them before realising that all the mountains were capped with sparkling white where they soared into cloudless blue.

Atholl gazed out the windscreen with a look of pride and awe. ‘You’re in the heavens up here, Beatrice. With the very angels themselves.’

‘You have a way of making everything sound like poetry,’ she said. Beatrice curled her feet beneath her on the seat and turned to lean her elbows on the window ledge, the fresh air blowing her hair back over her shoulders as she scanned the mountaintops for a glimpse of her own angel. Were such things possible up here on this curious island? For a second, she had believed so. ‘It’s beautiful here,’ she said quietly. Deep down, she knew these weren’t really the words queueing up behind her lips. What she’d really wanted to do was tell him about her baby, but she swallowed down the impulse, wondering where it had come from. She’d have to be extra careful on this strange island if its unfamiliarity and magic were going to provoke feelings like that. She tightened her fists as a reminder not to say too much and risk spoiling everything about their sunny daytrip.



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