Chapter Nine
Rory
We stood on the top of the world, the view spectacular from every angle. This was what I lived for. I was thrilled to share it with my closest friend. A mock insult, which naturally had to be retaliated against with a mock punch. And then his eyes grew wide with terror, his arms pinwheeling uselessly—
“— Rory. Did you hear me? I’m all right, man. Rory!”
Fingers dug hard into my upper arms. I blinked, and Tommy’s face came into focus. He hadn’t… He wasn’t…
“You can let go now, Rory. I’m okay,” he said quietly. I was clutching his shoulders, and we were locked in some kind of weird embrace at the top of Sgùrr a’Mhadaidh Ruaidh. What the—?
And then I remembered.
“Are you fucking daft? What were you thinking, horsing around like that up here? You could have gone over the goddamn edge!”
My fingers ached, and I realized that they had tightened on his shoulders and I was shaking him. He didn’t try to break my grip, didn’t say a word. He just stood there calmly as anger, fear, and guilt poured out of me in a crazy tirade.
Then his eyes flicked to my right, and he shook his head once. Who was he looking at?
The Skye Trail. We were guiding a group on the Skye Trail. And the entire group had just witnessed my meltdown, had just watched me tear into another guide like he was a foolish child. Because of my carelessness.
My face burning with mortification and shame, my stomach roiling, I let go of Tommy and turned away, sinking to the ground a few feet from the edge.
Voices faded away behind me. A shadow fell over the grass and Tommy dropped down to sit beside me.
“Tommy, I—”
He bumped me with his shoulder, cutting me off. “Don’t even say it, man.”
Taking a deep breath, I turned to face him. His eyes met mine, and there wasn’t even the slightest hint of anger or judgment in them. “I just…I saw—”
“I know. I know what you saw. Just sit here for a minute.” He held out a water bottle. “Have some water.”
Wishing it was whisky instead, I took a sip, then capped the bottle and held it to my forehead. “The group?”
“They’re taking a ten-minute break at the top of the path.”
“Fuck, Tommy. How can I face them?”
“Honestly, none of them said a word. And why would they? They saw me do something stupid and saw you rightfully yell at me for it. Let me finish,” he said when I started to interrupt. “They may wonder why you reacted as strongly as you did, but they’re not judging you for it.”
I shook my head. “I didn’t rightfully yell at you, Tommy. I’m so sorry.”
“If you say that one more time, I’m going to short-sheet your bed the next time you have one.”
“How can you joke about this?”
He clapped his hand on my shoulder. “Rory, you seem to be forgetting that I’m your best mate. We’ve been through a lot together. And I will never—could never—be angry with you for reacting the way you did.” He grinned. “But I bet you’ll be super-nice to me for the rest of the day, right? And maybe even buy me a beer when we’re in Portree?”
“I—” He narrowed his eyes at me, and I knew I had to agree with him, at least to his face. “Fine. Your next beer is on me.”
“And?”
I sighed. “And I’ll be really nice to you for the rest of the day.”
“Good. Now let’s get off this godforsaken peak.”
He got up and held out his hand. I clasped his forearm, and he pulled me to my feet and then into a hard hug. I held on for a moment, grateful beyond words for his understanding, and then thumped him once on the back and let go. “Time to face the music.”
“Go easy on yourself, Ror. They’re fine.”
Swallowing hard, I rejoined the group. They all looked at me with concern. No judgment, just concern. Exactly as Tommy had said.
“I’m…sorry. I…Tommy got a bit too close to the edge, and I overreacted. I shouldn’t have yelled like that. I’ll understand if you’d rather I step aside as your guide after today.”
Tommy whipped around to stare at me, his eyes wide with surprise. But I had to make the offer. As he’d put it yesterday, the people in the group were here to have fun, not to worry that their guide was going to lose his shit. They’d be within their rights to complain to Scarlet.
“I don’t know about the rest of you,” said Gordon, “but I’d rather have a guide who’s overly concerned for everyone’s safety than one who isn’t. We all chose to do this trek with a guide, which means we all wanted to be led by someone who knows what he’s doing and will make sure we get to the end in one piece. Even if that means yelling at us for putting ourselves at risk.”
“I appreciate you saying so, Gordon, but—”
He held up his hand. “Son, I’ve owned a travel company back in the States for twenty years. One thing we do for our clients is book tours. I’ve spent many hours looking at what makes a good tour company, and one key thing is having guides that prioritize safety. You—both of you—” he said, gesturing to include Tommy, “impress the hell out of me, and I’d hire you in a second. So no, I don’t want another guide.”
The others all nodded or murmured their agreement. Amelia even smiled at me. And my heart felt a little bit lighter.
“Thanks, guys. I really appreciate it.”
Tommy cleared his throat noisily. “Well, if we’re done talking about our feelings, perhaps we can continue the trek?” I opened my mouth to retort, but he shook his finger at me. “Uh-uh, Sutherland. You promised to be nice to me for the rest of the day, remember?”
Everyone laughed. I managed a small smile, hoping it was enough to fool everyone into thinking I was okay. Even though I was anything but.