Viktor seemed pleased. “I thought you would like it.”
They started exploring and were so enthralled with searching every corner and crevice that they lost track of time. It was 2:25 P.M. by the time they realized how much time had passed and that was only because they began to feel hungry.
“Shoot,” Amanda said as she looked at her phone. “I wonder if she’s been trying to get hold of me.”
“Here, I’ll set up a hotspot,” Viktor offered.
“Thank you,” she said appreciatively. “I’m really sorry to keep using your data. I hadn’t planned on us being separated.”
“It’s no problem,” he said.
A message came in from Sheila letting her know they were running late and wouldn’t get there until closer to 3:00.
“Great news!” Amanda said.
“They’re not coming?”
“Not that great,” she laughed. “We have another half hour before they arrive.”
“Should we eat now or wait for them?”
“We should eat now. Trust me, you don’t want to sit across from them.” She gave him a look that made him laugh.
They headed to the cafeteria and ordered some sandwiches and drinks. They sat at one of the tables to enjoy their meal before having to put up with the obnoxiousness that would be Sheila and Gavin.
“So how old are you?” Amanda blurted, hoping to fill the silence and have answers to questions her mother would inevitably have for her later.
“31,” he replied. “You?”
“26.”
“You seem mature for your age,” he remarked.
“That’s because you don’t know me well,” she joked.
He laughed. “I think I’m getting a clear picture.”
“Well, my life hasn’t always been easy,” she admitted. “It tends to age you.”
“That it does,” he agreed.
“What time is our boat tour?” she asked.
“The last one before sunset. Part of the ride will be during sunset.”
“Maybe you do know me,” Amanda teased.
He grinned. “You’re not too difficult to read.”
“I hope that’s a good thing.”
“It is,” he agreed.
“How come you don’t have a girlfriend?” Amanda asked suddenly.
Viktor leaned back in his chair. “I could ask you the same thing.”
“I like men,” she cleverly replied.
He laughed and then clarified, “I could ask you why you don’t have a boyfriend.”
“I asked first.”
He sat grinning from ear to ear trying to decide how to answer that. He decided deflection was the best course. “What makes you think I don’t have a girlfriend?”
“Wouldn’t she be here with you?”
“I’m traveling on work.”
“Yeah, this looks like work,” she said before her brain caught up with her.
He looked uncomfortable which then made her feel bad.
“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to make you uncomfortable. I’m just saying, there’s no way I would have let you come here alone, work or no work … Let’s talk about something else.”
“You never mention your father.” Viktor decided it was his turn to make her a little uncomfortable. He had wanted to ask but didn’t know when would be the right time. Now felt right.
“Oh boy. You brought that up.” She took a deep breath and gave him a look like she knew she deserved that.
“Yes, I did.” He leaned forward on the table with a sly smirk and awaited her response.
“My father died when I was 15. Heart attack."
His smile faded. “I’m sorry.”
“It’s okay. He was never really much of a father so I guess I don’t really feel like I’m missing much.”
“But there’s always ‘what might have been’.”
“Yes,” she agreed. “That is probably the hardest thing to accept. Never knowing if he would have ever changed and been the father that I needed … and deserved.”
He reached forward and squeezed her hand. “I’m sorry.”
She gave him a warm smile and squeezed his hand back. “Thank you.”
“There you are!” Sheila’s voice bellowed from behind Amanda.
Amanda turned to see Gavin and Sheila smiling warmly. She pulled her hand from Viktor and greeted them.
“And who’s your friend?” Sheila asked with a big grin.
“Viktor,” he answered and then stood to shake their hands.
“Are you joining us?” Gavin asked.
“I am,” he affirmed.
“Wow, a double date,” Sheila remarked. “Who knew?”
“Oh, it’s not a date,” Amanda corrected her.
“Uh, huh.” Sheila seemed unconvinced but let it go. “Well, do you want to walk around for a bit?”
“We’ve seen most of the castle,” Viktor said. “We were going to walk down to the shore next.”
“I see. Well …” She mischievously glanced back at Gavin. “We haven’t seen the castle yet so how about you do that and we’ll catch up.”
“Okay,” Amanda quickly agreed. “That sounds great.”
As Gavin and Sheila sauntered off to tour the castle, Amanda gave Viktor a look of relief.
“That outta buy us an hour or so,” she said.
“Good.” He smiled and stood as he took her trash to throw it away for her.
She thanked him and they went out to walk down to the shore outside the castle. There wasn’t much to see. The view wasn’t quite as spectacular as Glen Coe with beautiful mountains in the background but they were free of Sheila and Gavin so Amanda was happy just being there, enjoying the peace and quiet with Viktor.
“They probably want to have dinner with us,” Amanda stated, dreading the experience to come.
Viktor nodded. “We have two options. We can go early and get it over with. Or we can go late and hope they are too tired to drag it out.”
She chuckled at his assessment and thought about her choices. “How about I get food poisoning from lunch and we have to go to the hospital?”
He laughed. “Would this be real or imagined food poisoning?”
“I think it would have to be real,” she said dramatically for maximum comic effect.
He chuckled and shook his head. “Let’s not do that.”
“You’re no fun,” she pouted.
He put his arm around her and guided her down along the shore further away from the other tourists.
“Is it only because he’s wealthy that you do not like him?” Viktor asked, worried more for himself than for Gavin.
She sighed and stared down at the ground as they walked. “No. I actually had a decent time with them the first day,” she admitted. “But he knew
