Witches & Whisky by Wendy Hewlett

Author:Wendy Hewlett
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Wendy Hewlett

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

MAGGIE OPENED THE door to Sylvan dressed in running pants and a warm fleece. She wore a black knit beanie over her short blonde hair and matching gloves on her hands. ‘Ready?’ Sylvan asked with a glowing smile.

It had taken Maggie ages to get MacLeod and the others out of her flat, but now she had the rest of the afternoon free to take a run in the hills with Sylvan. She grinned back at Sylvan in those tight trousers. ‘Ready.’ She had to remind herself it was a run she was ready for and not another form of very satisfying exercise. She tucked her keys in her pocket and led the way through the building and out to Holyrood Park.

They stretched in the field before starting out a slow jog, crossing Queen’s Drive and into the hills. The sun continued to shine as dark clouds rolled in from the west behind Edinburgh Castle, sitting regally atop its extinct volcano. To the east, the Firth of Forth glimmered with the rolling green hills of the Kingdom of Fife as a backdrop.

Maggie admired Sylvan’s stamina as it was a good forty minutes of intense running before she began to show signs of struggling up the inclines. Maggie slowed to a walk at the top of a long climb near the summit of Arthur’s Seat.

‘Thank God,’ Sylvan wheezed as she reached the top of the climb.

Maggie couldn’t help a laugh. ‘I’m sorry. Did I push you too hard?’ Perhaps she should have kept a slower pace.

Sylvan waved her off. ‘No, but much more and I won’t be walking tomorrow.’

‘Hot bath in Epsom salts,’ Maggie suggested. ‘It works wonders.’

Sylvan didn’t have the heart to explain that the flat where she rented a room didn’t have a bath, just a tiny box of a shower stall. She threaded her arm through Maggie’s as they made their way down a slope and to the right with a view of the Pentland Hills and the dark, brooding clouds hovering just above their numerous peaks.

No one had ever held Maggie in that manner before. It made her feel as though Sylvan was relying on her for support and, for some reason, made her feel ten feet tall. As they strolled, Maggie wondered about Sylvan’s life. She’d asked Maggie all about hers, but had offered very little in return. ‘Did you grow up in Edinburgh?’ she asked, deciding that was a relatively easy place to start prodding into Sylvan’s background.

‘No, I moved here at sixteen when I started at the University of Edinburgh.’

Maggie glanced at Sylvan, expecting her to continue the story, but she didn’t elaborate. ‘Do you go back home to see your family?’

A small smile appeared on Sylvan’s face and her eyes sparkled as if she knew she was keeping Maggie in suspense. ‘No. All I ever wanted was to move here to the city and never look back. Edinburgh held so much potential in my mind back then.’ Her smile faded and her eyes lost some of their lustre.

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