You’re just always early.”
Laughing, he gently nudged her out the door. After making sure it was locked, he followed her outside to his car.
“Are we going to pick up Lexi and Owen?” she asked, referring to two of their closest friends.
“No, they’re already at the club.”
Once they were on their way, she turned and put her hand on his arm. “We’re all going in different directions tomorrow. I’m really going to miss you, Damon. You’ve been such a good friend. I don’t want you to forget me.”
He shook his head. “That’s not possible. You’re unforgettable, Isabel.”
She could feel the tears coming and didn’t want to become melancholy tonight, so she rushed to talk about something else. “Want to hear a secret?”
“Sure.”
“We’ve known each other for a long time, and I’ve never told you my real name. On my birth certificate I’m Grace Isabel MacKenna. I’m told my father won an argument. He wanted Grace, and Mother wanted Isabel. I was a baby when my father died, and that’s when Mother started calling me Isabel.”
“Grace is a beautiful name,” Damon said, “but I like Isabel better.”
“There’s something else I’ve never mentioned. On my next birthday, which is coming up soon, I’m going to inherit land in Scotland from my great-uncle, Compton. A lot of land, I’m told. It’s called Glen MacKenna, and I’m going to go see it next week.”
“Land in Scotland! That’s amazing. What are you going to do with land in Scotland?”
“I’m going to sell it.”
“Maybe after you see it, you’ll want to keep it.”
“No, I won’t. I’m going to sell it and use the money to do something good. I’ve already received several calls from a man who wants to buy the land. He’s really persistent. He told me he represents the Patterson Group, and they’ll pay a fair price. I’m not going to do anything until I see it, though. I will inherit it from my great-uncle on my birthday, and there are stipulations he would like me to follow.”
“What are they?” he asked.
“I don’t know. They’re in a sealed envelope in the solicitor’s office in Dunross, which is in the Highlands. I’m supposed to open the envelope in front of witnesses.”
“On your birthday.”
“Or after, but not before.”
“Your great-uncle sounds eccentric.”
“Not just eccentric. He was cruel and mean, and he’s the reason I’m selling it. I would never keep anything from a man who treated my family the way he did. I was still a baby when my father died, but my aunt Nora told me later what my great-uncle had done to him and my mother. My father had a large inheritance, but Compton blocked it. He was furious that my father defied him by marrying my mother, who Compton thought was beneath him. He had chosen another woman for my father to marry.
My parents didn’t care about the money, and, according to Aunt Nora, they were very happy. Then the accident happened. My father was critically injured, and the medical bills piled up before he died.
Compton refused to release any of the funds, which would have relieved the burden from my mother.
So that’s why I could never take anything from him now, unless I can do something good with it.”
“I don’t get it. If he hated your family, why did he leave you an inheritance?”
“It was in his will. He said he hadn’t expected us to turn out well, but that he was surprised to discover we were well educated and cultured despite our mother. He also noted that all three of us had gone to private schools and were hard workers. I think he attributed our successes to his bloodline. Even the inheritance was a sign of his vanity.”
“I’m surprised you’ve never mentioned this before. What other secrets do you have?”
She wondered how he would react if she told him her great-uncle had left a fortune worth well over a hundred million dollars to her sisters, Kate and Kiera, and that they gave it away to build a wing at the hospital where their mother spent her last days. The addition would have their mother’s name on it, not exactly what their great-uncle had in mind.
“Nothing I want to talk about.”
“You must have had it rough as a child.”
“Quite the opposite. I had a happy childhood. I always felt safe and loved. We were a normal family. We still are, even though it’s just my two older sisters, Kate and Kiera, my brother-in-law, Dylan, and me now.”
“I’m not so sure you’re normal,” he teased.
“Yes, I am, and I’m not the only one with secrets. You have secrets, too.”
“Yeah?” He glanced at her and said, “Name one.”
“Mia Davis.”
His hand tightened on the steering wheel. “What about her? We dated for a while, then it was over and we moved on. No big secret there.”
She shook her head. “Damon, I’m your friend. You can be honest with me.”
“I am being honest with you.”
“You know what I think? I think you’re still in love with her.”
“Maybe I was. I’m not anymore.”
“Yes, you are.” Before he could argue or get angry because she was pushing him to admit something he’d kept buried, she rushed on. “You could call her, take her out and apologize.”
“Why would I apologize?”
“Because you were wrong.”
“How do you know that?”
“A calculated guess.”
“Based on?”
Smiling, she said, “Based on the fact that you’re a man.”
The mood lightened with her outrageous remark. Damon laughed. “I love all women, Isabel.
Especially you.”
The drive to Finnegan’s took longer than usual. The streets were filled with students in a celebratory mood after the end of the term. Damon turned and took another route through the campus to avoid the crowd.
“It’s open mic night,” he suddenly remembered. “Finnegan’s is going to be packed.”
“I hope Crowley isn’t there. He’s very nice, but he gets up onstage and tells his lame jokes, and it’s almost impossible to get him to let someone else take a turn.”
“He wants to be a professional stand-up comic.”
“But he’s terrible. I hope he has something to fall back on.”
“The Trio’s playing, too. They start at ten . . . if they can get Crowley off the stage.”
Isabel had always thought the three graduate students’ naming themselves the Trio was rather unoriginal, but who was she to judge? It worked for them. The three musicians would occasionally play backup for anyone courageous enough to get up in front of a crowd and sing. One played guitar; another played the keyboard, and the third played drums. They were quite talented and could pick up a melody quickly and play just about anything.
Isabel and all of her friends had been going to Finnegan’s since freshman year. Isabel had used a fake ID at first. She didn’t feel she was doing anything illegal because she didn’t drink alcohol, and yet she knew in a court of law her reasoning wouldn’t stand up. Dylan, who just happened to be the chief of police in Silver Springs, wouldn’t approve, either, but then she wasn’t about to tell him.