My Summer In The Valley

03

It was getting really hot over the course of the afternoon. It being June, the sun was merciless, I had never realized it would get this hot in the Northern regions but just as it gets super cold in winter it gets sweltering hot in summer.

We spent about two hours getting all the grocery shopping done and picking up wood and tools for building a new shed in the back fields.

It had been 2pm when I arrived on the plane here and now it was close to 6pm. Amy and Serena were currently bickering about whose toy in their surprise-kinder-egg was the best while I helped Lilly load the groceries on the back of the truck. There was so much food in there they could feed a hole horde of hungry savages. So just enough for all of us.

"All right, liquor store, last stop." Lilly smirked as she hopped from the truck. "You girls behave in there! I don't want any dead bodies when I come back!" They did not even seem to hear her as we started walking across the parking lot to the liquor store.

"Still thinking about having kids?" She asked me while wiping sweat from her brow and fanning air across her face. "I stopped thinking about that the last time I was here." I laughed. "And yet you came back. What is up with that?" She grinned at me sideways. "Just needed confirmation I had made the right choice about never being a mum." "And have you?"

Lilly opened the door to the store for me and got a small cart, the cool air from conditioning a welcome relief. "Depends. If the guys in the Valley totally want families, will it get you off my back to say I won't?" Lilly shrugged as she picked up several bottles of wine.

"No matter what, if you do meet someone here, you will get forced to have kids whether you want them or not. And you will not be able to object once we kidnap you for the wedding."

"Jeez, thanks. You are so considerate."

I opened the fridge to get some soda for the girls for the trip back. "But you do know that you will have the whole clans from the Highlands on your back if I don't marry the right guy, right? I am destined to marry a Mackintosh or a MacKay if it is up to my grandparents." I said.

"But your mother married a Duncan. What sense does that make?"

"Well, you know where that lead to. My granny blames the whole divorce on that fact. Said it was usual for a Duncan to be unfaithful." Lilly eyed me sideways.

"Wow. You Scots really are a weird little people."

"Don't say that to one of them. Or we will stop shipping this amazing Whiskey over here that I have in my backpack. I wanted to give it to you and your husband. But now you have insulted my honour, I will probably force you to buy an Irish one and have you watch me drinking the good stuff." I sneered evilly.

"You are the devil." We both laughed.

About fifteen minutes later we had enough booze to last for 4 weeks back on the truck and made our way to the petrol-station. It had started to cool down a bit as the sun started to extend towards the horizon. But it would still be light for several hours.

I watched the busy road through the window while Lilly filled up the truck. The girls were playing with their toys now, thankfully not arguing about anything for the moment and I smiled to myself when I saw an elder man walking by, his hat bobbing up and down as he stomped his way across the bridge that spanned the lake. A bald eagle was sailing through the air and then landed gracefully on a tree. I just loved these birds. They were so beautiful and majestic. I stifled a yawn as Lilly opened her door and climbed back into the truck.

"Tired?" She asked while buckling herself in and starting the engine which roared back to life.

"Jet-leg incoming." I smiled. "But I will try to stay awake til we get there. If I can get a full night's sleep, I should be good in a couple of days." I told her.