Like how much of a coward I was.
I still couldn’t bring myself to broach the subject of me disappearing on Robyn. At least now she was talking to me. What if she really hated me after I explained what had been going on in my head? She might think it was as pathetic an excuse as I did.
She’d see once and for all how codependent I was.
How not brave I was.
It wasn’t easy being a coward and even more difficult when your big sister was fearless.
Except she seemed to tiptoe around the elephant in the room as much as I did. That realization made me even more nervous. But at least it was all a giant distraction from the bastard who’d plagued my life for eight months.
The thought juddered through me, and I immediately threw it out.
The sound of an engine at my back helped with the disposal of bad thoughts, and I glanced over my shoulder to see a green Defender moving slowly toward me. Wondering who it could be, I stepped into the grass at the side of the road and leaned as far back as I could to allow the vehicle to pass. Instead, it slowed, a blond woman at the wheel.
She rolled to a stop and I heard, “Regan!” from the back seat.
Eilidh pushed her face between the blond woman’s seat and the empty passenger seat. Lewis’s head hovered above hers.
“Hey, guys.” I grinned. “How’s it going?”
“I got Best Drawing today!” Eilidh beamed.
I leaned against the passenger door. “Great job! I’m not surprised. Superstars tend to win a lot.” She giggled at my wink, and I turned to Lewis. “Hey, buddy. How are you?”
He shrugged but gave me a small smile before he gestured to the woman at the wheel. “This is Aunt Arrochar.”
The sole Adair sister. I’d been curious to meet her after hearing Robyn speak so fondly of her.
“Hey, I’m Robbie’s sister, Regan.”
Arrochar leaned over and popped open the door. “Get in.”
“Thanks.” I hopped in and noted her gaze on my feet. “Wrong shoe choice. I walked from the village.”
She raised light blond eyebrows above striking, pale-blue eyes. “If you intend to stay here, we’ll need to get you proper walking boots.” She stuck out a slim hand. “Like Lewis said, I’m Arrochar. Lachlan and Thane’s sister. It’s nice to meet you, Regan.”
I shook her hand and felt a tap on my shoulder. Eilidh grinned cheekily at me.
“I told my friends about the fairy dust in your cheeks. Anna says her big sister Rosie has the same ones in her cheeks, but no one told her about the fairy dust. She can’t wait to tell Rosie.”
I chuckled. “I’m sure it will come as a surprise to her.”
“Eilidh, sit back, sweetie, we’re not home yet,” Arrochar ordered quietly. Her niece did as she was told.
“Where’s Thane?” I asked the aunt. From first impressions, we couldn’t be more unalike. Her platinum-blond hair was so much lighter than the sandy color of her siblings that I’d guess it was dyed. It was the only thing about her that suggested appearance was important. I’d dressed in an impractical short dress in the mod silhouette I favored, my makeup and hair done. Arrochar had her long hair pulled back into a messy ponytail. As far as I could see, she wore only mascara, and her clothes were definitely utilitarian. Jeans, lightweight blue-plaid shirt with a white T-shirt beneath, and Converse.
And yet the ordinary clothes did nothing to distract from her striking features. She wasn’t classically pretty; she was something more. I wasn’t sure if it was her eye color or the way she held herself or what … but Arrochar Adair was an unusual kind of beautiful.
If she sensed my perusal, she ignored it as she responded to my question about Thane. “Inverness at his new job. He can’t find a nanny, so I offered to take a few days off work to look after the kids so he can find someone. Pronto.”
I frowned. He’d made his sister take time off work when he had a perfectly responsible adult with a lot of time on her hands around to help? Not wanting to utter my irritation in front of the kids, I pressed my lips tight.
Arrochar spoke as we pulled into Thane’s driveway. “You’re not at all what I expected.”
“Because I’m not Lara Croft’s younger replica?”
She snorted and threw me an appreciative grin. “Pretty much.”
I rolled my eyes but chuckled as I eased out of the Defender, grateful Thane’s driveway was paved and not gravel.
“Can Regan come play with me, Aunt Arro?” Eilidh asked around the other side of the vehicle as they got out.
“I’m sure Regan has plans.”
“I really don’t.” I walked around the SUV to join the threesome. “If I’m not intruding, that is.”
“Not at all,” Arrochar assured. “But”—she gave Lewis a pointed look—“you will do your homework first.” She turned to me. “Eilidh doesn’t get homework. They’ve introduced a new style of teaching since I was a bairn and primary one is a lot like nursery now. I don’t get it. I could handle homework when I was five.”
I didn’t have time to offer an opinion about how not all kids were at the same stage developmentally at five because Eilidh rushed to me and grabbed my hand.
“Come on, Regan.” She tugged me forward, overjoyed to have me there.
A tender ache echoed in my chest as I let her lead me toward the house. Catching Arrochar’s curious look, I saw a hint of bemusement in her expression.
Lewis waited for us at the house, and as Arrochar let us in, he said, “I told Connor we should stop saying Mrs. Welsh smells when it isn’t true.”
I tried not to raise an eyebrow. “And what did Connor say?”
He wrinkled his nose. “He called me the teacher’s pet.”
Oh, shit.
“But then Mrs. Welsh was mean to him for no reason. She made him read out a chapter of the book we’re reading, and he isn’t so fast and she kept being mean and telling him to read faster. And I told her she was being mean to him. So me and Connor are okay now.”
I met Arrochar’s gaze, and she said, “Tell her what happened next, Lewis.”
Frustration crossed his face. “We both got sent to Mrs. Cooley’s office.”
At my questioning look, Arrochar supplied, “The head teacher.”
“What? What for?”
“For being disrespectful,” she replied as she guided the kids to the kitchen. “You can grab a snack before you start your homework.”
“Surely that’s not fair if the boys weren’t in the wrong,” I said quietly as Lewis and Eilidh hurried ahead into the kitchen.
Their aunt turned to me. “It isn’t fair. Mrs. Welsh spoke to both me and Connor’s mum first without explaining the situation. The kids told us exactly what happened once we came out of the classroom, and Connor’s mum lost her shit,” she whispered, her eyes sparking with anger. “She’s filing a complaint with the head teacher. But in the heat of the argument, Lewis called Mrs. Welsh names, and that’s not on, so Thane will need to have a chat with him.”
It didn’t sit right with me that he should be vilified in this scenario, but he also shouldn’t call his teacher names. “Rock, meet hard place,” I muttered under my breath.