“Looks like it,” Noah agreed, taking Keira’s bag for her.
“How far is it?” She hoped they weren’t in for a trek; her shoes weren’t designed for walking long distances.
“Not far,” Noah said. “It’s about a fifteen-minute walk.”
“Maybe there’s a bus coming.” She wandered to the bus stop. She felt like a wimp, but she could already feel a blister forming on the back of her foot.
“There won’t be,” Trystan said. “The bus only runs about three times a day. It’s a nice walk though.”
As Noah and Trystan started down the road, Keira’s gaze was fixed on the bus stop. “Treneary Transport Company,” she read on the top of the sign. “Hang on. Treneary? Is that …?”
“That’s us,” Noah said.
“You own the bus company?”
“No.” He waited while she caught up with them and they fell into step together. “Kit owns the bus company.”
She frowned. “You made him sound young and crazy.”
“He’s twenty-two,” Noah told her. “He came into some money when he was eighteen and had this idea of buying an electric train to give sightseeing tours of the island.”
“Most of the islanders thought it was a big joke,” Trystan said. “A lot of the residents were against it. They thought it would be tacky and lower the tone of the island.”
Noah adjusted his backpack on his shoulder. “Somehow he managed to get it past a load of committees and he bought his train. But there’s only nine miles of road on the island and it’s narrow in places. If the bus and train were to meet, they couldn’t pass. So, he bought out the bus company to control the bus schedule.”
“Now he sounds like some sort of genius entrepreneur,” Keira said. “Which really isn’t how I imagined him.”
“You wouldn’t know it to meet him. He comes across as a bit of a joker. But his little train turned out to be a gold mine.”
“It’s pretty amazing,” Trystan said, a note of pride to his voice. “He puts a lot of money back into the community with sponsorships and funding of various things. A lot of the people who were against the train are now coming to Kit for money.”
“That must feel so good for him.”
“He’s much more gracious than I would be,” Noah said, then nodded ahead to a golf cart trundling up the hill. “That looks like our lift.”
Keira squinted to make out the driver – an older woman in jeans and jumper, with short, brown hair. “Is that your mum?”
“Yes.” Noah beamed as the white buggy came to a stop in front of them.
“We thought you’d forgotten about us!” Trystan said jovially, as she jumped out and threw her arms around each of her sons in turn. They wished her happy birthday as they hugged her.
When Noah introduced Keira, Mirren smiled warmly and embraced her too.
“It’s so lovely to meet you,” she said.
“You too.” Keira was pleased she was the squishy, cuddly kind of mum rather than the designer Italian type. “I hope I’m not intruding on your birthday.”
“Of course not. The more the merrier.” She squeezed Keira’s arm affectionately. “Let’s get home and you can get settled before dinner.”
“There are cars on the island, right?” Keira quietly asked Noah as they sat behind his mum and Trystan in the golf buggy. It felt like a stupid question. She thought there’d been cars outside the airport, but she wasn’t sure.
“Yeah, but not that many. Tourists can’t bring cars over and there aren’t any car rentals, so it’s only residents who have cars. Mum has one but she doesn’t use it that much.”
“I use it more in the winter,” Mirren said over her shoulder. “I prefer to whizz around in this thing if the weather’s fine. It’s easier to park and better for the environment.”
“How big is the island?” Keira asked Noah as they turned a corner.
He pursed his lips. “It’s approximately six square miles. The population’s one and a half thousand.”