BACK ON THE FARM #2
“We have! Well, as straight as you can get anywhere from Out-in-the-Sticks, New Zealand!” She shrugged.
“We took our farm plane to Christchurch, then got on a flight to Sydney, then to Singapore, next to London, and finally to Edinburgh. We drove up from there.” Adley yawned again, uncertain why she had felt the need to share all the details of her journey with Ivy.
“Anyway, it was quite the trip. I have to say I’m not sure exactly how long we’ve been travelling or what day it is! ”
“Wow, I cannae imagine! I’ve only been on a plane once, to Spain, and that felt like enough of an adventure,” Ivy replied, sounding quite impressed. “Do yous want to head upstairs first or have dinner?” she added.
“Dinner!” crowed Willow happily, and Adley agreed.
“We better eat, because if I go upstairs now, I’ll lay down and there’s no way I’m getting up again today.”
Michael was roaming the small vegetable patch behind his house, holding a large mug of coffee in his hand.
The weather was quite mild for late September, at least by Highland standards, and he hoped that would mean further good harvests.
He was going to drive out to the fields later to check on the potatoes.
The early harvest had long been brought in, of course, and if everything worked out, the produce from the late harvest would stretch all the way through winter.
He caught himself smiling at the thought.
In the old days, it would have been a matter of survival to have enough food stored.
Nowadays, it was more a matter of keeping the boss happy.
But that was still important. He would certainly do what he could to pull his weight.
After all, it was thanks to his job as the ma?tre d’ at Kirkby’s Michelin-starred restaurant, The Scottish Thistle, that he could keep his beloved farm going.
Agricultural businesses as small as his family’s were no longer profitable enough as a single source of income.
Another stroke of luck that had helped him with his business was that his father had transitioned to organic farming years before the trend caught on.
Upon opening her fine dining establishment in Kirkby a few years ago, Isla Fraser had been looking for local growers who could guarantee top quality.
One thing led to the next, and before he had time to doubt his decision, Michael had handed in his notice at the world-famous hotel in London where he had worked for the past decade and joined the staff of her restaurant.
While some of his pals back in the city had shaken their heads in disbelief, it had only taken Michael a matter of weeks to realise how fortuitous the decision had been: moving back to Kirkby had allowed him to look after his parents, whose health had deteriorated more than they had ever let on during his brief visits.
For these past years, he had been a farmer by day and a ma?tre d’-cum-sommelier by night. He didn’t mind the long hours because they allowed him to live exactly where and how he wanted. That the restaurant bought the bulk of his produce and paid fair prices for it was the icing on the cake.
After one last probing look over the lettuce he would harvest later, he took a last big gulp of his rapidly cooling coffee and headed back into the house.
He had just opened his back door when he spotted an unfamiliar car crawling along the dirt road towards the MacAlpine farm.
Curious, he stopped and watched as a woman with long blonde hair got out of the car, followed by an equally blonde little girl.
His heart skipped a beat.
For what seemed like an eternity but in reality couldn’t have been more than a minute or two, he stood stock still on his kitchen doorstep, staring at the neighbour’s yard and the pair who had alighted from the car. Adley was back, and with a child!
Michael and Adley had been inseparable since they were toddlers.
They were only a few months apart in age and had taken all the important steps of childhood together: they went to nursery together, then primary and later secondary school.
There was hardly a memory of the first fourteen years of his life that did not include her.
She had been his best friend, and later the first girl he had ever kissed.
But shortly after, she had emigrated to New Zealand with her family, and just like that, they had never seen or heard from each other again.
For a teenager, and especially a teenager before social media or smartphones were common currency, the distance was insurmountable.
But deep down he doubted the situation would have been that different had they been a few years older. New Zealand was just too far away.
I wonder what it’s like? Michael had always dreamt of travelling there one day to surprise her.
But that dream had never materialised. From time to time, old Graham had talked a bit about his grandchildren, but it seemed like he didn’t know too much himself or he surely would have told Michael.
Graham had been a grumpy fellow, but in his own way he had been a kind soul, and Michael had always got on well with him.
The same was true of the other neighbours, the Richards, and together they had kept Graham’s farm going when the old man’s once robust health had declined rapidly.
A few months later, he was gone. During this time, Graham had never once shared his plans for his home after his death, and Michael had never quite plucked up the courage to ask.
But Adley showing up here now had caught him by surprise.
Come to think of it though, it made perfect sense that a family member would come over from New Zealand to settle the estate and oversee the sale of the cattle and property, because that’s what it would come down to, surely?
He rolled his eyes as he caught himself getting carried away in speculation.
Shaking off all these thoughts, he finally stepped inside and loaded his cup into the dishwasher.
Then he stood tall and took a deep breath, his mind made up: the potatoes could wait.
First, he would walk over to the neighbours’ place and get to the bottom of Adley MacAlpine’s return.
More?