Chapter 7
‘Stop tormenting me, Zac,’ Lettie said, following her brother outside as soon as Brodie had driven her mother out of the yard.
‘I don’t know what you mean.’
She could see by the self-satisfied grin on his annoying face that he knew exactly what she was referring to. Why was her brother so good at winding her up? Then again, she mused, he had spent his life finding new ways to goad her and with all that experience she shouldn’t be surprised that he did it so well.
‘Bringing Brodie Murray here without warning.’
‘I didn’t. He happened to be passing and offered me a lift, and so I invited him in. He is the new vet, after all, and I thought it a good idea you get to know him.’ He slapped her playfully on the back. ‘Ah, so you do like him then. I knew it.’
‘Get lost. It’s not that at all.’
‘Yeah, whatever you say.’
She wasn’t finished with him yet. ‘And what was all that about him trying to work out where he knew me from?’ She hated reminding her brother but needed to know so she could prevent Zac from saying the wrong thing going forward.
‘Exactly what I said.’ He frowned at her. ‘What’s the big deal? It’s not as if you recognise him from anywhere, is it? So he must be confusing you with someone else.’ He stilled and narrowed his eyes and Lettie knew she had done the wrong thing questioning her brother. Damn. Why hadn’t she left the matter alone?
Zac’s mouth opened. ‘I don’t believe it. You do know him from the past, don’t you? That’s why you’ve been so odd around him.’
She pushed Zac hard in his shoulder. ‘I do not act strangely.’
‘You do and you know it.’ He leant closer to her, studying her expression. ‘Something happened between you both, didn’t it?’
‘No.’ She pushed him away and turned her back on him. Zac knew her far too well for her to get away with lying to him. Determined to change the subject, Lettie said, ‘I thought it was sweet of Uncle Leonard to agree to me running the farm.’
‘Don’t change the subject,’ Zac said grabbing hold of her arm and turning her to face him. ‘Please tell me what happened between you. I’m dying to know now.’
‘I didn’t,’ she snapped. ‘And it was nothing,’ she added before Zac had a chance to argue.
‘Come on, Letts. You can at least tell me what you think of Brodie?’
Lettie rolled her eyes, irritated with her brother yet again. She knew she had to give Zac something or he’d never let the matter drop. ‘He seems nice enough.’
‘Nice enough?’ He mimicked her voice. ‘Don’t think I didn’t notice the way you were gawping at him when you first saw him here.’ Zac laughed.
Embarrassed to have been caught out, but not surprised that Zac had noticed when he was always on the lookout for ways to tease her, Lettie scowled at him. ‘Give it a rest, Zac. I did nothing of the sort.’ Had she? She thought back to her reaction on the vet’s arrival and realised he might have a point. Sod it.
‘If you’re not going to confide in me about how you know him, can you at least tell me what you think?’
She had no intention of giving her brother ammunition to tease her further. ‘I told you, I thought he was nice.’
‘You’re no fun at all.’
‘And your life must be very dull at the moment if you’re so interested in what I’m doing, or not,’ she added. Happy to have won this bout with her brother, Lettie stopped walking. ‘I think I’ll pop in to see how Tina is getting along.’ She was aware she hadn’t been to visit her best friend since her arrival on the island four days ago. She and Tina had been friends since primary school.
Yes, she thought, that’s what she would do. She’d had enough of Zac and his nosiness. Tina and she might not see each other all that often now that Lettie lived in London and Tina had chosen to remain on the island, but she was someone Lettie always felt comfortable confiding in. She would know what to do next, or would at least listen to Lettie without making any judgement and let her brainstorm her next step.
‘You’re looking amazing, as always,’ Tina said as she led Lettie through to her tiny kitchen. She motioned for her to take a seat at the nook where they had both spent many early mornings chatting and evenings sharing a bottle of wine as they confided in each other.
Lettie pushed her fingers through her wavy brown hair. ‘You’ve always been a rubbish liar. I know I look a mess. I haven’t had a chance to do anything with my appearance today.’
‘All I care about is that you’ve come to visit me and I’m really excited to see you.’
Lettie noticed the laptop open on a small desk by the window. ‘Have I interrupted you working?’
Tina pulled a face. ‘No. In fact I’m grateful.’ She blew a strand of hair from her face as she switched off her screen. ‘I knew it would be difficult setting up as a virtual assistant but I had expected to have more clients by now – and be making more money.’
Lettie didn’t like the sound of how things were going for her friend. ‘Not picking up as you hoped?’
‘Unfortunately not. People seem to want my services, but aren’t so quick to pay for them when they receive the bill. I’m going to have to rethink how I do this financially, I think. Anyway,’ she said, lifting the kettle and shaking it before filling it under the tap and switching it on, ‘I’m due a break by now.’
Wanting to find something to be positive about, Lettie leant against the wall and folded her arms. She thought about Tina’s two-year-old son, Noah. ‘But working from home must be easier than going into an office each day. Especially with Noah around?’
‘Yes, it’s much easier. I love it. It was exhausting having to get Noah ready each day to drop him off at nursery, then sit through the traffic each morning before queuing for parking. It drove me nuts, not to mention having to dress up each day. I much prefer working remotely. At least this way I only have to look smart from the waist up and can keep my trackie bottoms and slippers on for online meetings.’
‘I’m glad.’ Lettie thought of her lengthy commute that probably took three times as long as Tina’s did in Jersey and cost a lot more. She would love to work from home, but that wasn’t an option in her line of work. She thought again how different life would be working on the farm and having a commute that simply consisted of a walk from her back door across the yard. Bliss.
‘So, what brings you here?’ Tina took two mugs from a cupboard and spooned coffee granules into each one. ‘I don’t mean here to see me because I know you always pop in whenever you’re over, but why have you come home now? You don’t usually come back unless it’s Christmas, summer or a special birthday.’ She gasped. ‘I haven’t missed a special birthday, have I?’
Lettie pulled a face. ‘We’re the same age and our birthdays are three days apart, so no.’
Tina laughed. ‘I’ve been so busy lately I’m finding I lose track of days sometimes.’
‘Nothing’s wrong, is it?’ Lettie didn’t like to think of her friend in a bad place.
‘No. I’m fine, just busy.’ She finished making their coffees and brought them over to the table. Once seated, she continued. ‘Busy but poor.’
Lettie thought of how organised her friend always was and how much she enjoyed looking after the interests of others. ‘You’ll be fine. You’re brilliant at what you do, and I’ve never seen anyone type faster than you can, or be more organised.’
‘Let’s hope your faith in me is warranted. I worked out how much I could earn an hour as opposed to the salary I was on and thought it was worth a try. Kyle has been very supportive and assured me that if I don’t like it, or can’t make it work, then I can always go back to working for someone else.’
Lettie wondered if now was the perfect time to admit her plans to her friend. Tina knew her better than most people and was always honest with her. ‘I’ve been hoping to do the same thing,’ Lettie announced, excited to think of the pair of them starting new ventures at the same time.
Tina had been about to take a sip from her coffee but instead lowered the mug back onto the table. ‘You’re setting up as a virtual assistant, too?’
‘What?’ Lettie laughed to think that she could ever be good at that job. ‘No. I’m hoping to take over running the farm.’
Tina frowned thoughtfully. ‘What? Not Hollyhock Farm?’
Why was everyone so surprised to think of her doing just that? Lettie wondered, hurt at the thought. Not wishing to react badly to her, Lettie took a calming breath. ‘Yes, my parents’ farm.’
‘But, I don’t understand. You’ve always had the ambition to make a name for yourself in the fashion industry and I thought you were hoping for a promotion soon.’
‘Yes, well that never happened and just before I came away my boss told me that they were probably going to have to let me go.’ Lettie saw the concern in her friend’s face and as they drank their coffees she carried on explaining about why her father had come to that decision.
‘Wow, I never imagined your dad giving up the farm.’
‘I still can’t quite believe it either.’
‘And your uncle has agreed to all this?’
Lettie tilted her head from one side to the other. ‘Well, tentatively. I think he’s just trying to pacify me, which is understandable, I guess. I know I don’t have long to show what I can do, but I’m going to give it my best shot.’
Tina gave her a high five. ‘That’s my girl. Good for you. If anyone can do this, you will.’
Tina stared at her for a moment, obviously concerned about offending her.
‘What are you thinking? Go on,’ Lettie urged. ‘Tell me. I think we know each other well enough for you to say what you truly think.’
‘Look, I don’t doubt you could do anything you set your mind do,’ Tina began.
‘Really?’ Lettie couldn’t believe how relieved she felt to learn that her friend had such faith in her abilities.
‘Of course.’
Lettie heard the change in tone. ‘I sense a but coming.’
Tina looked shocked. ‘Not because I think you can’t, or even shouldn’t do it, but because I thought you loved living in London.’ She sighed. ‘No offence, Lettie, but it all sounded very glamorous and exciting, and I can’t imagine why you would choose to give all that up to look after a herd of goats, or sheep, or whatever it is your dad farms now.’
‘Goats, chickens, the alpacas and the girls.’ She smiled as she thought of the beautiful dished faces of the cows. ‘And I’m getting more interested in learning about farming organic produce, too,’ Lettie said, trying her best to sound confident. ‘I see what you mean though.’ Was she being silly wanting to make such a drastic change to her lifestyle? ‘I’m not even sure why I’m so keen to do this, if I’m honest. But for some reason I feel compelled to.’
Tina stood. ‘I think this calls for the hard stuff.’
Lettie laughed, aware what Tina was about to do. She watched her friend fetch a small foldaway step and stand on it before reaching up and taking a huge bar of chocolate from one of the high cupboards.
‘I’ve been so good lately – not letting this tempt me – but I think we both need a few squares.’
Lettie thought she needed at least half the bar to even begin to calm down, but was grateful to Tina for sharing any. ‘Thank you. Milk chocolate is exactly what I need.’
Once they had both consumed several of the chunky chocolatey cubes, Tina steepled her fingers. ‘I think you need to take a bit more time to think about this. First, you should decide why you want to do it. Is it because you’re actually tired of your current job, living in the Big Smoke, or is it because you’ve had enough of trying to avoid Scott?’
‘Probably all of those things.’
‘Fine. You grew up on a farm, so do you actually think you can make a good go of running it, with all the long hours, crappy weather, trying to balance the books, and whatever else it includes. Or,’ she added thoughtfully, ‘are you just reacting to your dad’s shocking news?’ She pushed the bar towards Lettie. ‘Go on, take another couple of chunks. I think you need it.’
‘You’re sure about this?’ Lettie teased knowing how possessive Tina could be about her chocolate stash.
‘I am. Only this once though.’
‘Thanks,’ Lettie said, breaking two off then pushing the bar back to her friend. ‘You’re right,’ she agreed swallowing the first bit of chocolate. ‘Unfortunately though, I don’t have much time to make up my mind and my gut instinct is to go for it.’
‘Well in that case,’ Tina said, ‘go home and think everything through thoroughly before committing yourself. You’ll be giving up a lot in London to come back and take this on.’
Tina was right. ‘By not doing it I’ll be standing by while the land I’ve always loved so much is sold to my uncle and I can’t bear to let the farm change forever without at least trying to do something to save it.’
‘Aw, Lettie.’ Tina reached out and took her hand for a moment. ‘I’m so sorry this has happened.’
‘Me, too.’ She realised she should be getting a move on if she was to see her uncle and not keep him waiting too long. ‘I’d better go now. Thanks for the coffee, chocolate and sympathy.’
‘My pleasure,’ Tina said giving her a hug and leading her to the front door. ‘And don’t forget to let me know how it goes. Call me, or pop in – whatever suits you best.’
Lettie knew she should have mentioned about Brodie being back on the island and thinking he knew her from somewhere. Tina would remember only too well what had happened between them and as much as Lettie liked not being the only one to recall how he had affected her back then, she wasn’t quite ready to address it. Not yet.
‘You’re the best friend I could ask for, do you know that?’ Lettie said, grateful as always to have her friend’s unwavering support.
‘It works both ways, Letts. You’ve always been there for me, too.’ Tina looked at her thoughtfully. ‘Is there something else on your mind?’
Lettie shook her head. ‘Isn’t the farmland being sold enough?’ She smiled to soften her question.
‘I suppose it is. That’s a relief then. But don’t forget I’m here whenever you need me.’
‘I know, and it works both ways.’