Bella wasn't sure how she was supposed to take that. She might have been offended, but despite Jamie's general brutishness, he rarely intended to cause offense - at least with her. He knew better. It was a fair question really, but it dawned on her that his knowledge of her life outside his shack and Immie and Mac's home was limited. He might have been isolated, but not so isolated that he could still be unaware of the events that brought her to the Hebrides; furthermore, his reaction might simply because he assumed her to have no outside connections. He didn't know about Gemma or Lucille or Mr. Langley. He didn't know because those weren't the sort of things they talked about.

Even considering her other friendships, she couldn't use them as an excuse. She might be the one to cause offense if she suggested that she was waiting to spend Christmas with them - which she wasn't. All Bella could do was sigh.

"Well, since Mac won't be doing research over the holidays, I thought I might get some chores done," she offered, a poor answer if she'd ever given one. She did have chores - cleaning, organizing, everything she hadn't done on the days she spent with Jamie - to do, but non one expected to her to do them during Christmas.

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