What Becomes of the Broken Hearted: The most heartwarming and feelgood novel you'll read this year

by Lisa Hobman

  Mac shrugged. ‘Only in a neighbourly way. Nothing more. I mean she lives in your house so I guess we’re kind of neighbours.’

  Rab chuckled and continued with his chopping. ‘Aye. She seems fine. Maybe you should call on her sometime? You know just to be neighbourly and all.’

  Mac thought back to the responses he’d had from Cassandra since she arrived. ‘Erm… nah… I think I’ll leave her be. She seemed a wee bit disgruntled when I first met her. How did she seem when you went round? In hersel’ I mean?’

  Rab stopped chopping again and eyed Mac with suspicion. ‘Why would you want to know? You didn’t go upsetting the lassie, did you?’ He raised his eyebrows.

  Mac scrunched his brow. ‘Why would you even ask that, Uncle Rab?’

  Rab rolled his eyes. ‘Well, Tadhg Mackenzie, you’re not known for your tact. What you think of as funny others find downright offensive.’

  Mac huffed and shook his head. ‘Aye well, like I said I was just asking to be neighbourly. Nothing more.’

  Rab pursed his lips. ‘She seems… I don’t know… like she’s got the weight of the world on her shoulders. And… kind of insular. But she’s happy enough with that wee dug. She doesn’t like to make small talk so don’t be getting any ideas about trying to be her friend if you’ve already upset her once. I get the feeling she’ll make friends when she’s good and ready.’

  Mac snorted and gave Rab a mock salute. ‘Okay, boss. Jeez, you don’t know her any better than I do and you’re making all those assumptions. I mean, she must be lonely. I don’t think she’s met anyone else around here yet.’

  Rab glared momentarily. ‘Well don’t say I didnae warn you. And think on, I haven’t had a good long-term tenant in a while so don’t you go scaring her off, lad.’

  Mac sighed at his uncle’s warning but chose not to fuel the fire by responding. He supped the rest of his beer and decided to take himself off for a wee walk along the beach. And regardless of what Rab had said, he wasn’t about to ignore the woman completely. How would it look if he did?

  After all, people inherently need people. Don’t they?

  Chapter Eighteen

  Cassie

  Thankfully it appeared that Tiger, Mac or whatever the heck he was called had got the message as Cassie hadn’t seen him for a while. His uncle had popped in to see how she was settling in and to meet Cliff but there had been no mention of the floppy-haired surfer dude. She had almost got to the point where she had forgotten about her several unpleasant encounters with the younger of the Misters Mackenzie. Although that all changed on what had been a peaceful Sunday evening stroll when she was at beach with Cliff.

  The sun was descending and this was fast becoming her favourite part of the day. The pastel colours of the sky cast an ethereal glow over the picturesque little cove and she always made a point of coming to the beach to see it happen. The air was a little chilled but she wrapped her fleece jacket tighter around herself and watched Cliff as he skipped along the edge of the water trying to catch the thin stream of bubbles created as the tide met the sand. It was peaceful. Serene. Something she had almost forgotten the feeling of.

  There was a group of locals sitting outside one of the beach huts along to the left and they had strung fairy lights outside. They were cooking on a small barbecue and the smell of sausages wafted through the air along with the sound of acoustic guitar as one of the group sang ‘God Only Knows’ by the Beach Boys. She smiled as she hummed along to one of her favourite love songs, thankful that it held no memories of her ex to taunt her with.

  Cliff stopped as he caught the tantalising aroma and stuck his nose in the air, followed by his tongue as though he thought he’d be able to taste the smell too. Cassie laughed and bent to scratch him behind the ear as she listened right to the end of the song.

  Once the song ended she set off again and in between observing the ever-changing palette of the sky Cassie threw the little red rubber ring that Cliff had become quite fond of. He dashed off to collect it, bring it back and wag his tail as he waited for the whole exercise to begin again.

  ‘Ah, so you went for a dog. That’s novel.’ The male voice startled her and she turned to see the younger Mr Mackenzie walking towards her on the beach. He had his board tucked under his arm and his wet hair was glistening in the evening light as a few strands fell on to his face.

  She stood and folded her arms across her chest. ‘And what’s that supposed to mean?’

  He chuckled and pushed the stray strands back from his forehead as he arrived a few feet away. ‘Oh, you know, I thought crazy cat lady was going to be your MO,’ he teased.

  There was a cheeky glint in his eye and she smiled in spite of herself. ‘You know there’s a saying… if you can’t find anything nice to say, keep your trap shut. Or words to that effect.’

  He shrugged and grinned. ‘Aye, but where’s the fun in that?’ He stuck the board into the sand. ‘So are you going to introduce me to your wee pal?’ He crouched and Cliff came barrelling up to him for a fuss.

  Cassie fidgeted on the spot realising she was going to have to admit to the dog’s name—an exercise that would do little to quell his thoughts of her craziness.

  She straightened her back. ‘Erm… sure… this is… erm… Cliff, actually.’

  Mac gazed up at her for a moment, his head tilted and his lip curled in disbelief as if she had just told him the dog was an Iguana. ‘Cliff? You do know he’s a dog, right? Dogs are usually Patch or Rover or Deefer.’ He laughed.

  She scoffed. ‘Well I didn’t name him! He had the name when I collected him and I thought it’d be a bit mean to change it when he’s so used to it.’

  Cliff rolled on to his back to encourage Mac to scratch his belly. ‘Aye fair point. Well, he’s a widdle cutie pie aren’t you Cliffy-wiffy. Yes you are… yes you are.’ The dog evidently loved his silly tone of voice and wagged his tail frantically.

  Cassie cleared her throat and shrugged with a shake of her head. ‘Erm… it’s just Cliff. Not Cliffy-wiffy. Not Cliffy-boy. J-just Cliff. His name’s daft enough as it is, don’t you think?’

  Mac peered up at her and rolled his eyes. ‘All right, aye all right. Anyway, it’s kind of fitting if you think about it.’

  Cassie scrunched her brow. ‘Fitting how?’

  He gestured around them. ‘Well look where you’re living. By the sea. Cliff… sea… get it?’

  She giggled. ‘Oh yeah. I hadn’t thought of that.’

  He paused and smiled up at her now. ‘So how are you doing, Cassie? You know… with whatever it was you were running away from.’

  And just like that he overstepped the mark again and her smile disappeared. ‘Oh… erm… I’m fine. Thanks for asking. Anyway, better be getting back. Come on, Cliff. Come on boy.’

  She turned and began to walk away, closely followed by her obedient dog but before she was out of earshot she heard Mac mutter, ‘Poor lass. He must’ve really done a total fucking number on you.’

  She chose to behave as though she hadn’t heard—after all his voice had been low when he spoke so she wasn’t sure she was supposed to have caught what he said.

  As she walked she heard footsteps pounding the sand and he arrived beside her once again. ‘Hey, look, I can introduce you to some folks if you like? Make it less… you know lonely?’

  She stopped in her tracks and turned to face Mac. ‘That’s sweet of you, but I’m okay. Really.’

  ‘I’m not buying it. Something big happened to you in Glasgow. But you’re out of it now. Make some friends. Plant some roots.’ He shrugged.

  She sighed heavily. ‘Look, having friends isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. So I think I’d rather be by myself, thank you.’ Her tone was terse, even though she knew he meant well.

  She started walking again but he was persistent. ‘But you can’t just live like a hermit. Even if you’re a hermit with a wee dog. People need people, Cassie. You’ve been here three weeks and you’ve only met me. And I know you’re not i
mpressed on that front. So, I could introduce you to some females. What do you say?’

  She stopped once again and turned to him with a huff. ‘I don’t want friends, Mac. Friends betray you. You think they care about you. You care about them after all.’ She lifted her arms and let them drop with a loud slap to her sides. ‘And you think you know them and that you can trust them and then you come home early from a training course and find one of them in bed with your fucking fiancé between their thighs. So, like I said, I’m fine!’ Her words came out as an angry tirade and when she stopped she was suddenly out of breath.

  ‘Aw fuck. Really? The bastard. That’s a totally shitty thing to do to someone. And I’m genuinely sorry you went through it, Cassie. Really I am. But like I said, people need people. And you can’t tar everyone with the same brush.’ His voice softened. ‘I’m sure you know that deep down. I get that you wanted to escape. Truly I do. But staying by yoursel’ the whole time… it’s not good for you.’ His kindness took her off guard and the fact that it made her warm to him angered her. She didn’t need some irritating surfer to look out for her. She was done letting people look out for her. It hadn’t done her any good before. And it didn’t exactly help that he was so good looking. It made her dislike him even more. How dare he be so nice and attractive? It just wasn’t fair!

  Her defences flew up and her nostrils flared. ‘How the hell can you stand there and tell me what’s good for me? You’ve known me two minutes in the great scheme of things. And in that time you’ve insulted me, made jokes about me and generally made a nuisance of yourself. I don’t need you. Nor do I need you to match make for me with your girlfriends. So please just leave me the hell alone!’ Her voice cracked as her anger and sorrow erupted again. But she wasn’t angry at the man before her. She was angry at the one who broke her heart.

  Mac clenched his jaw and nodded. ‘Aye… message received loud and clear Miss Montgomery. I’ll not be bothering you again.’ There was a pained look in his eyes as he lowered his head and turned away.

  Guilt knotted her stomach and she almost shouted him back. But she knew it was too late for that. She’d made it clear she neither liked him nor wanted his help.

  How to burn bridges in one easy step, a self-help guide by Cassandra Montgomery. She called to Cliff and headed for home.

  Chapter Nineteen

  Monday was one of those days when Cassie just couldn’t focus. The words on the screen before her all melded into one big black blob on a white background. She kept on reading the same paragraph over and over as if her eyes were stuck in some kind of magnetic field. It had been this way all day and no amount of breaks and walks with Cliff had helped. At just after five she gave up—hating to be defeated but knowing full well that she couldn’t present a half hashed proofread to her client. She resolved to try again in the morning.

  Her head was pounding and she realised she hadn’t eaten since breakfast. She decided to have a wander up to the Spar to find something tempting for dinner and maybe a bottle of wine too. Rain was lashing at the windows and Cliff was asleep under the kitchen table so she left him to snooze, grabbed her waterproof jacket and slipped her feet into her Wellingtons before heading off to the shop armed with a fold away shopping bag.

  The high street was all but deserted apart from a few cars driving away from the beach, sloshing through the puddles forming at the edges of the road. The shop window lights reflected in the water and she kept her head down against the biting chill of the almost horizontal downpour.

  As soon as she pushed through the door of the Spar she flipped her hood back and breathed a sigh of relief. She grabbed a basket and aimed first for the alcohol section. Two busy concentrating on what to buy she didn’t notice that she had company.

  She walked, slap bang into a hard wall of muscle. ‘Whoops, I’m sorry about that. Not watching where I was… Oh… Hi, Mac. H-how are you?’

  ‘Fine thanks.’ His short response was deserved after the way she had shouted at him on the beach.

  ‘Look… I want to apologise. I was out of line yesterday. I know you were only trying to help and I shouldn’t have gone off at you like that.’

  He shrugged. ‘Yeah. Whatever.’ He turned his back towards her.

  Tears of guilt stung at her eyes and she blinked to stop them manifesting. ‘Mac, please? I really am sorry. I just… I have trust issues right now. I’m finding the prospect of making friends a difficult one to comprehend. But I do appreciate your kindness.’

  ‘Aye. Right.’ He continued selecting bottles of beer, pretending to read the labels and then placing them down again.

  Ugh, he’s not making this easy. But I can’t really blame him. ‘I don’t suppose there’s any chance you might forgive me at all?’

  He turned to her. ‘For what? For being a crabbit, moody cow? Aye… so long as you can forgive me for being a nosey bastard.’ He smiled.

  She smiled in response and nodded with relief. ‘Oh, I think I can.’

  He nodded. ‘Great. And for what it’s worth, I think you’re well shot of them. The Glasgow two I mean.’

  She thought how sweet it was of him to say so. ‘The Glasgow two. Hmm, has a kind of criminal element ring to it.’

  A strange silence descended between them and Cassie wondered if she should invite him around for a drink, by way of an apology.

  But before she could speak he broke the silence. ‘Hey, you should let me teach you to surf.’ His voice was filled with the excitement of a child on Christmas morning and she scrunched her face.

  ‘Are you joking?’

  ‘No! It’d be a great way to de-stress after a long day of… whatever it is you do that makes you look all frowny.’ He pointed at her face for effect. ‘And it’d be a laugh.’

  It’s you that makes me ‘frowny’, she thought. ‘Oh yeah. You’d be the one laughing at my expense no doubt. I think I’ll give it a miss. Thanks though.’

  ‘Well, if you change your mind come and find me. I think you’d love it. Could even teach Cliff to stand on a board. It’s do-able. I’ve seen videos.’

  She giggled and shook her head. ‘I think I’ll stick to looking after him in a safe environment if it’s all the same to you.’

  He shrugged. ‘Aye, well maybe the next pet you get then?’

  ‘There won’t be any more pets. I’m just sticking with Cliff.’

  ‘Aye but just think; now you can fill your house with all manner of stray cats and dogs and be crazy animal lady. Then you’ll be surrounded by friends that won’t ever betray you.’

  Her smile disappeared. Why is it that he can be so nice one minute and then so bloody tactless the next?

  Suddenly he threw his head back and guffawed loudly. ‘Your face! Honestly, it’s a picture. You’re so easy to wind up, you know. I’m messing with you, Crabbit McGrumpy Arse. The whole cat lady thing is just a wind up.’ He shook his head and held his stomach. After a few moments, when he realised she wasn’t laughing along he cleared his throat and calmed down. ‘I didn’t mean to offend you again. It’s just that you have to look on the bright side of shit like this or it’ll eat you alive, Cassie. Trust me. I know.’ He calmed down and stepped a little closer. ‘Don’t let your grief over what happened begin to define who you are, Cassie. Lighten up and live a little. And please make some friends. But if not get some surfing lessons. Surfing will do you so much good. I mean it. It helped me. Anyway, I’ll see you around the village no doubt.’ He patted her on the shoulder and walked towards the cash desk.

  She once again watched him walk away, leaving her in a rather bewildered state. He irked her. That was the only way to express her feelings for the man. She didn’t hate him, nor was she his biggest fan. He was just irksome.

  Once she had found something for dinner she paid the cashier and began to walk home. The rain had subsided a little—a fact she was grateful for. As she walked she pulled out her phone and googled ‘learning to surf’. She was greeted with a list of dos and don’ts and began to read, l
ifting her head and narrowly missing walking in to the lamp post at the end of her street.

  ‘Well, if that’s not fate telling me to avoid injury, I don’t know what is.’ She huffed and stuck her phone back in her coat pocket.

  But Mac had got her thinking. Maybe a new hobby would be good for her. Maybe she should try something she never had before. Horse riding perhaps? Rock climbing? She had always favoured the path of least resistance in almost every area of her life. But where did that get her? Absolutely bloody nowhere. Well perhaps it was time to have a little adventure.

  Perhaps she would take Mac up on his offer to teach her to surf. Well, she’d certainly think about it and that was a start.

  *

  Thankfully for Cassie the issue with her focus was a very small blip and in the days that followed she faced her daily tasks with a renewed vigour. In fact, she could finally admit to herself that she was proud of her achievement. Feedback from clients had been excellent and work was filing in nicely. It was a far cry from the life she had left behind where she had been a very lowly planet revolving around the huge sun that was Seth Guthrie. Now she had something for herself.

  People in the village were friendly and she guessed that since they had seen her around regularly they realised she wasn’t a holidaymaker but a resident. There had been an increase in greetings from people as they passed her out walking with Cliff and she had taken to not walking along looking down at her phone. She was certainly feeling a little more relaxed about being there. And the prospect of making friends wasn’t quite so scary. After all, Mac was right when he said she couldn’t tar everyone with the same brush of deceit that Pippa and Seth had been swiped with. People deserved a chance.

  She was just leaving the shop after picking up some milk when a young woman with a stroller stopped her. ‘Cassie, right?’

  Cassie felt her cheeks heating as she nodded. ‘Yes, that’s right.’