He said to her, dryly, ‘There are other places to eat in Eyemouth. I could take her to the Ship …’
But Sheena only grinned and told him, ‘Never. Did you want a pint of Deuchars?’
‘If you think that you can manage it. And one more glass of wine, please.’
As I listened to their easy-going banter, I was trying to imagine how incredible it must feel to be living in a place where everybody knew – and from the sound of it, accepted – that you saw things that they couldn’t see. Small wonder Rob McMorran was so well adjusted.
And he was dressed nicely, now I noticed it. His fine-knitted jumper of deep navy blue looked like cashmere, and followed the breadth of his shoulders and chest in a way that looked tailored without being tight. He kept his head bent as he studied the menu, but from the quick glance that he gave me I halfway suspected he’d noticed me noticing, so I looked down myself, reading the menu without really seeing it, trying to summon up small talk.
I could start by asking why everyone here called him Keenan, I thought.
‘It’s no Keenan,’ he answered my unspoken question without looking up. ‘It’s “Keen-Een” – keen eyes – from my having the Sight, ye ken.’
‘Oh. So it’s a nickname.’
‘My byname, aye. Sort of tradition in Eyemouth, it helps sort us out. In a small place like this with so many old families it’s nothing to find a few men with the same name – a few David Dougals, say – so we use bynames to tell them apart.’
‘And how many Rob McMorrans are there here in Eyemouth?’
‘Only me.’ He looked up then. ‘But I got my byname from some of my dad’s friends the summer I went to the fishing with them, when I turned twelve, and it’s stuck.’ His blue eyes smiled the way that I remembered. ‘Go ahead.’
I hadn’t noticed that the waitress had returned, but now I turned to her and ordered. ‘Can I have the chicken curry, please, with rice?’
‘No problem. Keen-Een?’
‘Make it two. With chips for mine.’ He thanked her as she took the menus from us, then he raised the pint of dark ale that she’d brought him as he settled back and faced me as before. ‘So.’
Breathing deep, I echoed, ‘So. It’s good to see you, Rob.’
‘It’s good to see you, too.’
‘I’m really sorry—’
‘There’s no need,’ he cut me off, and took a drink before continuing. ‘I told you at the time I understood your reasons. I still do.’
He very likely understood them better than I did myself, I thought. I cleared my throat and said, ‘I’ve been to Edinburgh this afternoon.’
Whatever else he knew, it was apparent that he hadn’t known that, because he lifted his one eyebrow in the way he always had when I’d surprised him. ‘Oh, aye?’
‘Yes. I went to visit Dr Fulton-Wallace.’
When I hesitated, not quite sure how to proceed from there, he sent me a lopsided smile. ‘Is this a twelve-step programme that you’re on, then? Making peace with all the people from your past?’
His tone was teasing, but I shook my head with an unnecessary force. ‘No, it isn’t. I …’ I faltered, not sure how to ask this question.
Rob said, ‘Of course I will.’
‘Will what?’
‘Come with you to Dundee.’
There was no need for him to ask if that was what I’d wanted; I had always been an open book for him to read. Too bad it didn’t work the other way around, I thought. I tried to read him now, and met a stubborn wall of static as his blue gaze levelled calmly on my own.
I took a long drink of my wine. ‘I suppose that you already know all the details.’
‘No,’ he said, ‘but you’ve had a long day, it’ll keep. I’ve the day off tomorrow; we’ll drive to Dundee in the morning, and on the way up you can tell me the whole story. Suit you?’
It suited me fine, and I said so. ‘Rob?’
‘Aye?’
‘I am sorry.’
The warmth of reassurance wrapped around me like a hug, so nearly physical I couldn’t quite believe he hadn’t moved. He looked away. ‘I ken fine how you feel,’ he said, and moved his pint of ale aside to make room for the plates as Sheena brought our meals.
CHAPTER FIVE
When Sheena brought the final bill she set it on the table so it was beyond my reach and said, ‘You see that Keen-Een pays that now, when you’ve come all this way to visit. Where’s he disappeared to?’
‘He thinks he left his mobile at the lifeboat station,’ I explained. ‘He’s gone across to look.’
She smiled. ‘I’m that surprised he disnae keep a room there. He was all about the lifeboat from the time we were at school. If they’d not let him join the crew we’d all have raised a protest, for there would have been no living with him.’
I didn’t know too much about the running of the lifeboats. ‘It’s a volunteer thing, isn’t it?’
‘The lifeboat? Aye, they do it for the love of it, or from the wish to help. It isnae everyone could wear that beeper, let themselves be dragged away from anything and everything, and wakened at all hours. Myself, I’d never last a week.’
I doubted I would, either. I didn’t know how Rob could find the energy to serve as a policeman and be at the lifeboat’s beck and call as well, but Sheena, when I said as much to her, advised me, ‘Never let him fool you into thinking that he’s calm; it’s all an act.’ Her tone was certain. ‘I’ve kent Keen-Een all my life, and I can tell you that it isnae in his nature to sit still, he’s only taught himself the trick of it.’