Chapter 11
After Dylan had finished his dinner, and our drinks were gone, we walked back to the farm together. We had been keeping the conversation away from deep subjects again, Dylan asking questions about Birchbrook and me waxing lyrical about my hometown.
‘You really do love it here, don’t you?’ Dylan said after a minute of silence following me describing the lantern parade we had on Halloween.
We were strolling up the hill towards the farm.
The sky above us was clear, dotted with twinkling stars, the night air chilly, promising cold days and nights ahead, the light from the moon guiding our way.
There were no streetlamps here, and no one on the road.
I was used to the quiet, and to the dark, but Dylan kept looking around and I wondered if he was slightly spooked by it as a city boy.
‘I know you think I probably haven’t seen much of the world like you have,’ I said, shaking my head.
He opened his mouth to protest but I was sure that was going through his mind.
I shrugged. ‘I actually went to university myself,’ I said, glancing across at him.
He, as I expected, did look surprised, although he tried to hide it.
‘Yeah, a few towns over so in the week I lived there and just came back to the farm on weekends and in the holidays. My best friend Sabrina came too. She’s a teacher now.
Anyway, I studied agriculture. I wanted to be able to run the farm one day.
But after I left, my mum became ill and lots of things I had planned fell by the wayside.
I did miss Birchbrook a lot too. This place is just in my blood. ’
I could see the edge of the farm ahead of us now, lights left on in the farmhouse to guide my way.
My dad had done that since I was a teenager and started going out at night.
It was reassuring. Whatever happened, I could always come back home.
But all that was under threat now. I wondered if Dylan could ever really appreciate the fear inside me that one day I wouldn’t be able to return to this place.
Dylan stumbled beside me then, his shoes not as hardy as my boots walking in the mud in the dark.
Instinctively, I reached out to grab hold of his arm.
‘Thanks,’ he mumbled, righting himself.
‘You need to get some decent footwear if you’re going to live and work on a farm for six weeks,’ I said, as he righted himself and avoided falling over.
‘Hmm, you might be right. I’ll order some tonight. Oh, can you get Amazon to deliver out here?’
We started walking again and I let go of his arm, trying not to think about the curve of his muscles that I had felt through his coat.
‘Of course you can,’ I said with a laugh. ‘We are part of the modern world, you know. We have Wi-Fi too.’
We walked through the gate and I closed it behind us. I paused at the end of the path as I would go on to the farmhouse but Dylan needed to head the other way to the cottages. ‘Can I ask you something?’ I checked softly.
‘Go ahead,’ he replied, turning to face me. I could only make out his silhouette in the light coming from the house behind us. It made asking him this question easier.
‘If you weren’t involved in it, would you think I was crazy to be creating a pumpkin patch like everyone else seems to?’
‘I’ve never been encouraged to use my imagination. My family are logical, my work is logical, but I wish I could sometimes. I admire people who can dream.’
‘Everyone can dream,’ I told him. ‘You just need to let yourself.’
‘Maybe you can teach me.’ I saw his eyes catch the light. There was that twinkle again. It made me wonder if there was more to this man than the city, than his suit, than business, than the logical world he came from. Then I scolded myself. I shouldn’t be wondering that.
‘What will you teach me ?’ I blurted out the thought before I could stop myself.
‘I’ll have to think about that. Goodnight, Willow. I’ll see you tomorrow.’
‘Meet me right here at 9a.m.,’ I called as he started to slip away in the darkness.
His chuckle drifted back to me. ‘Yes, ma’am.’
I smiled then let myself into the farmhouse.
Maple was asleep in her bed but opened her eyes and lifted her head, her tail wagging as I went over to give her a pat.
‘What a night, girl,’ I said, softly. I gave her a kiss then headed upstairs to my room, my mind whirring with ideas of what Dylan could teach me while he was here.
I needed him to get me back into the mindset I had at university.
I needed my business brain alongside my imagination.
I needed to be logical and make this a success.
Turn a profit. I needed to use Dylan to help me do this.
But as I got ready for bed, my mind wondered if he could teach me anything that wasn’t business related.
‘You’ve been single for too long,’ I grumbled to myself as I went over to the window to pull my curtains closed.
Just before I did, I peered out and looked over to the cottages which were just visible from my room.
There was a light on in one of them. I wondered what Dylan was doing, and then the light turned off. He’d gone to bed.
Why did I feel lonelier all of a sudden?
I shook my head, pulled the curtains abruptly closed and then put on my pyjamas, trying desperately not to think about Dylan in bed.
* * *
My eyes opened before my alarm went off the following morning.
It was still pitch-black outside. I was used to waking up when it was dark and with everything on my mind, I wasn’t surprised that I didn’t need a wake-up call.
The farmhouse was chilly as the heating always needed an hour to feel like it was actually doing its job so I didn’t want to get out of bed just yet.
I turned on my lamp, reaching over to my bedside table and opening up the drawer where I kept things my mother had left me.
I pulled out the wooden jewellery box she had had since she was a teenager and put it on the bed so I could open it up and look inside.
When I was growing up, I loved looking at these pieces.
My mum only wore them on special occasions.
She told me once though when she was ill that she regretted that.
‘Life is short, Willow. Don’t save things for special occasions.
If it brings you joy, use it or wear it now.
The same goes for people. If they bring you joy, tell them.
’ I lifted out the gold and diamond necklace that her grandmother had passed down to her – it had been in the family for generations and I knew it was worth a lot – along with the diamond ring my mum had worn when she and my father had got engaged, and a string of pearls that had been a wedding present.
I touched them, hating the thought of parting with them but Mum had told me she regretted keeping them in a box so much.
Surely, she would agree that saving the farm was a reason to take them out?
I pulled out my phone and opened up an old email.
A couple of years ago, when I couldn’t ignore the fact we were struggling on the farm, I had taken the pieces to a jeweller’s a couple of towns over to have them valued, and they had been willing to buy them at the time.
But I’d walked away and like my dad said, I’d stuck my head back in the sand and ignored the valuation.
For now, I thought the diamond necklace would be enough to get the pumpkin patch started, along with the small amount left in the farm bank account.
I typed an email to the jeweller’s asking if I could come in with the necklace ASAP and then I put the necklace around my neck for what was probably the final time, getting out of bed to look at it in the full-length mirror.
My reflection reminded me instantly of my mum. We had looked so similar. I remembered seeing her wear the necklace for Christmas once. I couldn’t wait to be old enough to wear it too. ‘I’ll get it back one day,’ I promised us both now.
Downstairs, Maple clearly heard that I was up and barked and I knew that the moment to be sentimental was over.
We had work to do.