Bridge of Hope by Lisa J. Hobman Read Free Book Online Page A

cleaned the streaks of black from her face and was back to be fucking beautiful again.
    Still smiling, I plucked up my courage. “So you’re a Yorkshire lass, eh?”
    She scowled at me. “That’s what I said.”
    Okay… she wasn’t going to make it easy for me. “I have friends in York,” I told her, fuck knows why. She smiled… my heart melted and I smiled back. I pushed myself off the wall and stood in front of her. “Look, I’m sorry for being an arsehole earlier.” Watch the fucking language, you stupid shit . “I’ve been having a shitty time of it lately but I had no place being like that.” Fuck… language! I cringed.
    She pursed her lips. “Don’t worry about it. We’re not friends. You don’t have to explain yourself.” She stood there, arms folded, glaring at me. Still looking fucking hot. I gulped.
    “Oh, okay. Yes, I get it. That’s fine, then, I’ll be getting back to the bar.” I felt like crap. She’d actually hurt me. I’d tried but she’d shot me down in flames. This gorgeous, engaged-to-be-married Yorkshire lass had really hurt me. How did I come back from that? I didn’t think I had a chance.
    She watched me expectantly, but when I didn’t say anything further, she stormed off through the bar and out the door into the rainy night. As I watched her retreating form, I was overcome with regret. If I hadn’t been such a bastard, she and I could’ve maybe been friends. Well, I’d ruined that now.
     

Chapter Eight
    The next day I was out with Angus, and I saw Colin and Christine standing outside the shop chatting to Ron. I thought about going over, but it looked like they were having some sort of witches’ coven meeting and so I decided to bypass them and get on my way. I was trying to calculate what I would say when I went over to see the Yorkshire lass and her bloke. I owed them an apology.
    “Greg!” Christine shouted. I glanced over and she motioned to me to join them. Taking a much-needed deep breath, I plastered a smile on my face and made my way over.
    “Mornin’ all,” I said as breezily as I could manage.
    “Have you heard the terrible, terrible news?” Christine asked, wiping at her eyes. Fuck. What had happened?
    I shook my head. “What terrible news? What’s happened?”
    “That poor wee girl. The one who’s moved into James’s…” Ron paused and lifted his hand to rub at the wrinkled skin around his eyes.
    “Aye, what about her?” Shit, had news spread about my ill treatment of her already? Had she packed up and left?
    “Her man… her fiancé… won’t be joining her.”
    My eyebrows shot up. “Really? Shit, has he dumped her?”
    “No, Gregory… he’s… he’s dead .”
    As if I were on a roller coaster, my stomach plummeted.
    “ Fuck , no. What happened?” I ran my hands over my head as I was sure the colour was draining from my face. The churning sensation in my stomach increased and flashbacks of hearing about Mairi’s death tortured me and mingled in with the words I was hearing from my friends. This can’t be happening. It can’t . Not to her too.
    “He was on his way up here and there was an accident. He was hit by another vehicle on the road by Loch Lomond.”
    I huffed the air through my puffed cheeks as the news sunk in. That poor girl. Shit, and I was such an arse to her.
    “Oh God, that poor woman.” I glanced at Ron, expecting him to be giving me the evil eye, but instead he wore a sad expression.
    “Poor girl indeed,” he agreed. “Anyway, I’ll be on my way. I might just pop over there and see if I can do anything to help. I saw she had a little dog. Maybe I could take it for a walk. I don’t know… I just want to do something useful.”
    I completely understood his sentiment but figured I’d be the last person she’d be likely to accept help from, so there was no point offering.
    Christine wiped her eyes. “I was speaking to Aileen from down the road. She thinks there are some friends and family coming to