Chapter Four #3
‘I’m not sure why I felt the need to go in the first place,’ Jake muttered. ‘There was no pressure from Mum and Dad. You’ve met them. They’re not the type to get stressed about stuff like that.’
There was a moment of silence, then a bird started singing from the reedbed. Matthew couldn’t see it and didn’t recognize the call.
‘I was in here early in the morning,’ Jake said.
‘It was a bit frosty. We don’t get much frost this close to the coast. The pond was full then and there was a layer of mist across the top of it, so it looked as if it was a pot steaming.
Then the door opened. I got up to go, expecting some old guy with binoculars, but it was Hannah.
She was wearing a red jacket, and her nose was red too – she had a cold and couldn’t stop wiping it.
I asked her where she’d come from. There aren’t many visitors staying in Millscombe in the winter, and I knew she wasn’t local.
She told me she was at Tide House. That put me off right away.
You know, a fancy politician, buying the place and doing it all up, just to spend a few weeks there when the family wanted a break from London. ’
There was another pause. The bird was still singing.
‘But she started asking questions,’ Jake went on.
‘About the farm, and the village, and she seemed all right, you know. Not posh. Hard to come across as posh, isn’t it, when your nose is dripping snot, and you can’t stop coughing?
I found myself talking to her. I told her about uni and how I’d hated it, and she told me about being bullied at her old school and not liking the new one much better, because all the kids were so confident, but she’d made a few friends at last.’
You fell for her even then.
Jake continued talking. ‘I’d taken on a few shifts at the pub.
They get busy over Christmas with locals coming out to celebrate.
There’s a limited menu, but the food’s still good.
The family came in that night for a meal, and when I saw them all together, I thought I had no chance.
When I got to know them better, I thought they were okay.
Especially Cath. But that night at first, they just looked like another entitled bunch of incomers.
I wasn’t even sure that Hannah would recognize me. I was just the hired help.’
‘But she did?’
‘Yes.’ His face lit up. ‘She introduced me to the rest of them. “This is Jake from the farm. I met him this morning when I was out walking.” And Cath asked me if I’d like to call in for coffee the next day.
“It’ll be lovely for Hannah to make some friends of her own age in the village. ” So that’s how it started.’
‘The family must have gone home after Christmas.’
‘Yes, but we emailed.’ Jake smiled. ‘Long emails, getting to know each other. It’s odd. We never phoned or did FaceTime or Zoom. All words. Somehow, I found it easier to be honest, just writing things down.’
Matthew wasn’t convinced by that. Jake might have thought they were being honest, but weren’t these stories? Making a narrative so they could both show themselves in the best possible light. They wouldn’t be lying exactly, but they would be creative.
‘Would you let me see the emails?’ Matthew asked. ‘It might help me understand her better.’
Jake paused. He seemed awkward. ‘Some of them are a bit personal, but yeah, anything that helps.’
‘Was this weekend the first time you saw Hannah since Christmas?’
‘No. The whole family came again at Easter. They invited me to supper on the Saturday, and I helped Hannah to lay out an egg hunt for Gilbert and Alex.’
‘They’re Hannah’s brothers?’
Jake nodded. ‘Then when the rest of them went back, Hannah stayed for a few days and came to the farm for some of her meals. In the end, she was pretty well living with us. I drove her to Tiverton to catch her train home before school started again.’
‘Your parents didn’t mind Hannah spending so much time with you?’
‘No! They liked her and they could see she made me happy.’
‘And her parents?’
‘They were cool. They said she had her own life to lead, and they understood it would be easier here than in London with all the media around Paul.’ He paused. ‘She was seventeen, after all. All legal.’
‘You have no idea why Hannah ran back to Tide House so early this morning? No argument? Nothing troubling her?’
Jake shook his head. ‘She knew her parents were coming. Perhaps that was it. She wouldn’t trust Lottie to tidy the place, and she’d want to be there before they all turned up.
’ He paused again. ‘We were chilled, you know. We had plans. She’d worked so hard to get the grades she needed to get into Exeter.
The closest place to here. As soon as she got her degree she was going to move back.
Work with me on the farm. She was doing environmental science, and we were going to make every inch of it more sustainable. ’ He started sobbing again.
Matthew stood up. ‘We should go back. Your parents will be anxious about you. Someone will call in later to talk to you all in more detail about the festival.’
They walked back across the meadow. Two figures each deep in thoughts of their own.