Page 14 of From Scotland with Love

“Lori?” Michael's deep tones faintly drifted towards her.

“What?” Lori looked about her. “Michael?” Then breaking out of her daydream, she pulled back the long grass to locate the small glowing screen. “Michael, keep talking!” she demanded, and slowly but surely followed his voice until she found it, by a large cluster of daises.

“Yes I’m here!” she shouted, “can you hear me darling?” She clutched the phone and sat on her bum in the high grass.

“What the hell happened? Did you fall off a bike?”

Lori smiled, “Well no, I’m on a hill. But I’m absolutely fine!” No response came, and she looked at her phone to see that the signal had once more disappeared. “Bugger it!” she screamed. Throwing herself flat on the grass, and unable to take out her fury on anything else, she tore up some weeds and threw them into the air. The signal in this village was going to be a serious problem alright. She would be forced to use Gran’s phone, but the idea of having personal calls while her gran pretended not to listen in, didn’t exactly thrill her. Lori got up slowly, patting down her dress and placed her useless phone back in her pocket. Catching something bright in the corner of her eye, she turned to her left slightly, and gasped. The tiniest little Highland calf sat in amongst the long grass too, sheltering from the warm sun. It licked its wet nose, peering up at Lori with wide dark eyes under fair eyelashes. It must have only been a couple of days old, with sticky tufts adorning every delicate joint, and a pale milky stomach.

“Well hello! I didn’t see you there wee guy!” She fawned over the big eyes, and couldn’t resist tentatively reaching out to touch its fuzzy red head. The calf flinched for a second, but after a moment began to look quite relaxed as Lori gently stroked its head. What a cutey! Lori thought, but where’s his…. As if reading her mind, a deep, piercing bellow sounded behind her, unlike anything she had heard before, shaking her to the core. Two huge cows marched towards her, with enormous shaggy shoulders, hooves like anvils and the exact same colouring as the calf. One animal was slightly smaller with upturned horns, the other was larger, with huge thick spikey antlers aimed menacingly at Lori. “Oh... holy shit!” Lori whispered to herself, tiptoeing around the calf and stumbling backwards. The bull and cow were approaching her from the school-side of the field, closing in towards the edge of the hill. The calf blinked at her with detached interest as its parents advanced with an imperious tread. “Oh holy shit!” Lori yelled again; the deranged animals were wanting to run her off the cliff! What could she do? Those horns looked like they could do some serious damage; if she ran at them they would impale her, surely? Her heart beat like a horse in canter, and she knew she had to make up her mind quickly before they came any closer. She took a deep breath, and without further delay, ran screaming like a mad woman towards the beasts, bobbing about in different directions and wildly waving her arms, hoping it would alarm them somehow. Remarkably, it did; they scattered nervously as she darted past in the direction of the school. Lori couldn’t believe what had happened, had she just escaped a mauling? Slowing down, she breathed out with relief, and craned her neck back to find that the cows were still after her, angry that she dared touch their baby. Lori was sure they had to be a particularly crazy breed left out on the hill on purpose to scare off any undesirable tourists. Her feet slipped and slid in her sandals, making it impossible to run fast. Her body perspired all over at the frightening prospect she may trip up and submit to an attack from the bull, which was fast approaching. Luckily, she wasn’t far from the school’s low wall, and was sure the animal wouldn’t follow her over the wall, but she had to admit that this was a hope rather than a confidence in cattle behaviour. Lori heard the piercing parental cry again and turned around in panic to see how close her pursuers were, but suddenly to her relief both cows had stopped in their tracks; maybe they were tired, or had perhaps lost interest? Either way, a few moments later Lori reached the grounds of the school and bent double to recover. With her hands resting on her knees and gasping for breath, she couldn’t believe the near misses she had experienced in the space of ten minutes on her fondly-remembered hill.

“Bloody hell!” she shouted back to the cows, but they paid her little interest, already returning back to their calf as if nothing had happened. “Insane cows! You’d better stay back!” She breathed in and out, wheezing; she hadn’t run like that since she was a child, and she didn't remember it being such a ridiculous effort then.

“Lori... are you OK?” Callum ran out towards her from the tree line behind.

She put her hands on her waist trying to get her gasps under control. “Yes, I think so!”

“I saw what happened!”

“Why didn’t you come out earlier then?”

He looked out at the cows in the distance and then back at her with a shrug. “I- well – I mean it looked like you had everything under control!”

Lori opened her mouth about to protest, but instead she started laughing hysterically. She was furious, but couldn’t help her reaction, chortling so hard that she thought she might pee herself. She walked off in the direction of the church, eyes ahead, ignoring Callum’s steps behind her.

“I could’ve used your help out there!” she called over her shoulder, still laughing maniacally.

“I only clocked that things had turned nasty when I saw you running towards the school, and then I came as fast as I could!”

“Well, I can’t believe I didn’t get killed, you should’ve seen the look in that daddy cow’s eyes!” She continued keeping the distance between them.

“I don’t know what you did to annoy them, but generally Highland cows are the most chilled-out animal!”

“Well, apparently these ones are not!” Lori snapped and walked even faster, trying to get away, but Callum managed to keep pace next to her, no matter how fast she walked. She stumbled on some uneven rocks and swayed a little, as Callum caught her elbow and held her up. He was like cast iron; Lori was sure nothing could knock him over, not even the cows, with his calm blue eyes shining back at her. But not even Macrae's baby-blues could distract her from wanting to get home safely and out of her uncomfortable sandals. “I’m fine, I don’t need any help!” Lori said sullenly.

“I’m going this way too though; thought maybe you’d want to walk together?”

She sighed and slowed down her speed. “OK, sure.”

Lori slowly descended the steep path with caution until Callum turned to her. “You know, you really need to wear suitable clothing for hiking. This time of year, you’ll need to get some wellies for the long grass, because –”

“I don’t think I need to take fashion lessons from you, Callum” She eyed him up and down. His look, which hadn’t really changed in all the years she knew him was practical and relaxed – jeans, hiking boots and a faded navy blue Sea Shepherd t-shirt.

He shook his head. “OK, I’m just giving you a wee bit of advice.”

“I am from here!” Lori groaned.

“Well it’s been a long time, eh? You’re quite different to the girl I knew all those years ago,” he said quietly. “How’s New York?”

“It’s good, I’m enjoying it. I’m working as a buyer for Costners.”

“Yes I heard, a very big and important fashion brand.” His tone was edging towards sarcasm.

Some moments passed between them until Callum stopped abruptly. “Are you going to give me an apology at some stage? Or just pretend it didn’t happen?”

Lori immediately bristled. “Are you kidding me? What do I need to apologise for? You keep popping up your head at the worst moments, Callum! Is that a super-power of yours? When I’m drunk, and stuck halfway up a dress in a changing room, or being chased by a mob of angry cows after a near-death experience at the edge of the hill, you come out and just say: ‘Surprise!’” She had to admit how bizarre all those incidents sounded to her now. Neither were exactly Callum's fault, after all.

Callum raised his eyebrows at Lori’s turned back. “You don’t feel that you owe me an apology at all? Or even a proper hello?”