There was silence for a second before Isobel answered. “You can do anything you put your mind to, Aggie. You’re the strongest and smartest of all of us. None of us would have made it this far if it hadn’t been for you. Don’t let a bad day get you down.”
That made her swallow hard. “I’m having second thoughts about being in the hotel business,” she confessed. “I don’t really like people.”
The phone erupted with laughter.
“We know,” Mairi said with a huge grin.
“But you’re good at organizing them,” Donna said.
“That’s why you’re a manager,” Isobel added.
“Look, it’s early days,” Donna said. “You’ve only been there a few weeks. Maybe once you get to know some people, it won’t seem so hard.”
“Don’t mind me,” Agnes said. “I’m feeling lonely today, that’s all this is.” Especially seeing as she’d tried to end things with Logan. Again. Why did the one man she’d been attracted to in years have to come with so much baggage? And why, oh why, did he live in the middle of bloody Scotland?
“You do know that you don’t have to stay in the hotel industry if you hate it, don’t you?” Isobel asked.
Agnes barked a mirthless laugh. “I spent ten years studying for this, and more years than that getting experience in hotels. It would be insane to walk away now, and a waste of all the support you guys gave me while I studied. You scrimped and saved to put me through college. I can’t throw that back in your faces by walking away.”
“Is that really what you think?” Mairi gaped. “I wish I was there right now to smack some sense into you. That’s the dumbest thing I’ve heard in ages. Why would you changing careers upset us? You have a degree. You worked hard for it. Lots of people have degrees and never work in the area they studied. Look at philosophy majors, most of them work in McDonald’s.”
Donna nodded. “We want you to be happy—we don’t care what job you do.”
“You could never disappoint us,” Isobel said. “Never. Don’t even think it.”
Agnes’ throat tightened. Things were getting far too soppy for her liking. “Anyway, forget that. Tell me how the baby bump is going,” she ordered Isobel, who promp
tly angled her phone camera so they could see her belly.
“Big as a house,” she said cheerfully.
“And happy,” Donna added.
“And happy,” Isobel confirmed.
“I’m so pleased for you,” Agnes said. “For all of you. I love seeing you all looking so content.”
“You’ll get there too,” Donna said.
“I know.” She took a deep breath and sat up straighter. “I’d better get back to it. Love you.” After they’d finished telling her the same, their images blinked out, leaving her alone again. And then a new call came in.
Her big sister.
“Are you okay?” Agnes said as soon as her sister’s image appeared on her screen.
“That’s what I’m calling to ask you. I know you’ll tell me things you won’t tell the other two, so I wanted to give you the chance in case there was something else you wanted to talk about. There is, isn’t there?”
Isobel was right. Although Agnes loved all her sisters equally, there was a special bond between her and Isobel. Probably because they’d spent those years alone together, trying to bring up Isobel’s son, Jack, with no help from anyone. They’d been tough years. There had been times when she’d thought they wouldn’t make it.
After a fortifying breath, she told her, “I met a man.”
“Is he a good one?”
“I think so.” She looked out over the loch before returning her attention to the screen. “You met him too when he went to the London office. Do you remember Logan McBride?”
“Oh.” Isobel nodded solemnly. “He is a good one.”
“I told him I’m going away when I’ve done a year with Dougal, that I plan to apply for jobs in other countries.”