Chapter Fourteen
T he morning of the village fête had dawned bright and sunny, which had immediately put Danni into a bad mood.
She’d been hoping for rain. Not just because the land needed it, which it did, but because it would have given her a good excuse to forgo the festivities.
Fêtes were for vicars and ladies that made their own jam. Not for busy farmers.
As it was, she was putting the Land Rover into park and muttering at herself about her own lack of judgment and making promises without thinking through the consequences.
It was just as chaotic as she’d feared. Children were running wild between rows of stalls, dogs wove between people’s legs, and there was already a minor altercation brewing near the tombola stand. Somebody had probably rigged it again.
Danni exhaled heavily. “Why did I agree to this?” she moaned.
“Because you love Tommy and will do anything for him,” Indi said, grinning. She was holding a toffee apple and had practically bounced over to the truck when she saw Danni. “And also because I lent you that dress for that country club thing, so you owe me.”
“Right, because standing in a field eating questionable sausage rolls is exactly the same as borrowing a dress.”
“That’s the spirit.” Indi stopped at a stall and then handed Danni a beer. “Now drink this and try not to be a grump. The fête is fun. ”
“You and I have very different ideas of fun,” Danni said. “And as much as I do love Tommy, I think we both have to admit that his band could profit from music lessons.”
“Grump, grump, grump,” Indi said. “Settle down and enjoy yourself. You can’t work all the time, and it’s a beautiful day. Ooo, look at that rhubarb.”
With Indi’s attention distracted, Danni took a sip of her beer.
Maybe it wasn’t so bad. A sunny afternoon, a beer in hand, a few hours when she wasn’t thinking about crops and water and sheep.
She had just decided that Indi was right, and she should try harder to enjoy herself, when she spotted Eleanor.
She was standing by a jam stall, listening intently to a woman who looked like she’d spent the last fifty years perfecting her preserves. She was also wearing a light summer dress that clung to her curves and made Danni instinctively think that Eleanor should wear more dresses.
Danni sniffed and made her way over. “Bet you’ve never even had a shop-bought jam, have you?” she said, peering over Eleanor’s shoulder.
Eleanor turned, raising an elegant eyebrow. “Of course I have.”
Danni folded her arms. “Really?”
Eleanor hesitated. “Once. It was awful.”
“Knew it,” Danni said, letting out a laugh.
“Would you like to try some of my raspberry and elderflower, dear?” the jam lady asked, offering them both a spoon.
Eleanor took a tiny bite and made a delighted noise. “Oh, that’s exquisite.”
Danni took her own taste and wrinkled her nose. “Eugh, tastes like cat pee and flowers.”
“Elderflower, raspberry and elderflower,” Eleanor corrected.
“Yeah, but why ruin the raspberry?” Danni muttered as Eleanor handed over a five-pound note to buy a jar. “And I hope you don’t think you’re bringing that home.”
“The elderflower adds nuance,” Eleanor said sharply. “Something you’d appreciate if your palate weren’t exclusively used to steak and ale pie at the Fox and Hounds. And this jam will be on the table for breakfast tomorrow.”
Danni growled something, but Indi interrupted her. “There you are. I thought you’d done a bunk already,” she said.
Danni already had her mouth open to retort, but just then, something else had caught her attention.
A tall, well-dressed woman had sidled up to Eleanor and was smiling at her.
Smiling at her in a way that Danni didn’t like.
A way that said that flirting over artisanal preserves was just how things were done in the Home Counties.
She growled again.
“Oh. My. God,” Indi said from behind her. “You’re jealous.”
“Am not,” Danni said quickly and far too forcefully.
“Are to,” Indi said. “Look at your face. It’s doing that thing.”
“What thing?”
“That thing where it looks like you’ve swallowed a whole lemon,” said Indi.
Danni rolled her shoulders back. “I’m not jealous.” She darted a look over to where the tall woman still stood. Eleanor, however, had moved on to a small toy stall. Her heart beat freer in her chest again. “I don’t care who Eleanor talks to. It’s none of my business who she talks to.”
“Mmm-hmm,” Indi said. “Sure. That’s why you’re staring at that poor woman like you want to punch her even though you’ve never actually met her.”
Danni made a huffing noise and looked away. She didn’t care. She didn’t.
Eleanor might be her wife, but she was a paper wife. There was nothing to be jealous of, since she and Eleanor didn’t have a relationship at all. Which meant that nothing mattered, none of this. And she didn’t care.
Except that she sort of did and it niggled in her stomach and made her beer taste sour.
There was a clash of slightly out of tune chords and Indi squealed. Tommy’s band had taken to the stage, or rather the rickety wooden platform that barely deserved the title. The crowd cheered as the chords morphed into something that might be considered a song.
Indi grabbed Danni’s hand. “Come on!”
“Nope. No way.”
“Yes way. You owe me, remember? Dress? Country club?”
Danni groaned, but the rhythm was starting to get to her and others were beginning to dance too. “Fine. But if I step on your foot, it’s your fault for dragging me into this.”
Indi laughed as she spun Danni out onto the makeshift dance floor.
???
They danced wildly, ridiculous and carefree. Indi dipped Danni dramatically, making them both laugh as Danni barely managed to keep her balance. They weren’t graceful. But they were young, and they were having fun, and their happiness was almost contagious.
Eleanor took a sip of her lemonade and watched them. It was envy she was feeling, not jealousy, she told herself. Definitely not jealousy. Even though the feeling burned in her chest in a way that made her feel a little sick.
She envied how easy it was for Danni to let go. To laugh. To be utterly ridiculous without worrying about looking foolish. It must be nice, she thought. She also knew that she herself had never been able to do that, would never be able to do that. She was far too aware of how people perceived her.
But that wasn’t the only thing bothering her.
It was the way that Danni’s eyes crinkled when she laughed. The way her hair bounced as she moved. The way that she looked so completely at ease in the world in a way that Eleanor knew she never did.
And, most frustratingly of all, it was the way Indi was dancing with her. The way Indi’s hand skimmed Danni’s waist, the easy way they clasped hands, the way their bodies brushed together that made Eleanor lose her breath again and again .
No. Not jealous. Just envious.
There was nothing to be jealous about.
Though they’d not discussed it, Danni could see who she pleased, Eleanor thought.
Then she chastised herself for not foreseeing this and putting it onto their list of boundaries.
Okay, Indi was Danni’s friend, there was almost certainly nothing going on.
But they should have made a rule, just to keep things clean and clear.
A rule where they could, should, would even, be able to… dance with other people.
Her mouth felt dry despite the lemonade.
“Having fun?”
Eleanor jumped. She’d been so busy thinking that she hadn’t seen Indi and Danni leave the dance floor.
She lifted her chin. “Of course, the fête is lovely. It always is.”
“Mmm-hmmm,” Danni grinned, as if she could see straight through Eleanor’s lie. “Hey, do you mind?” She reached for Eleanor’s lemonade.
Without comment, Eleanor let her take the cup and then watched as Danni drank from it thirstily. When Danni tried to hand it back, she thought for an instant about putting her lips where Danni’s had been, and her stomach tightened. “Finish it,” was all she said.
“Please yourself,” said Danni. She drained the cup.
“I’ll go and get us all some more, if you like?” Indi offered generously.
But Danni was looking up at the darkening sky, clouds beginning to loom on the horizon. “Dunno if that’s a good idea.” Even as she spoke, a gust of wind blew a pile of napkins off a nearby stall. She turned to Eleanor. “Did you bring the MG?”
Eleanor shook her head. “It’s at the garage. I just dropped it off and walked over.”
“Garage?” Danni asked, all innocence. “What happened? Did you hit a tractor?”
Eleanor ignored her and looked up at the sky again. The weather really was starting to turn. “I was planning on walking back up to the farm. ”
“Wouldn’t if I were you,” said Danni. “I’ve got the Land Rover. I’ll take you back. And we should probably get going. It looks like the heavens are about to open.”
Eleanor nodded, and they said goodbye to Indi, who was already pulling out a rain poncho. “You two don’t go to enough music festivals,” she said. “You’ve gotta be prepared.”
“Yes, prepared to go home,” Danni said. “And we’re going now, before we get soaked.”
As they walked over uneven tufts of grass, neither Danni nor Eleanor mentioned the tension that was lingering between them, the way they’d both stared at each other throughout the day.
But they both felt it.
Even if they weren’t quite ready to admit it yet.