Page 16 of A Forever Home at Honey Bee Croft

‘Those two are so adorable together,’ she said, watching them. ‘Amber and Zara are hanging up the dresses and Lauren and Chloe are making drinks. Do you want one?’

‘I think I’ll leave you to it.’

Even though Imogen seemed to have forgotten I was there, I joined her for a goodbye hug, before heading out to my car. She was back to being her usual sunshine self so hopefully that clingy moment had been nothing. I’d see how the rest of the weekend went before broaching it.

As I drove towards Bumblebee Barn, my thoughts turned to my job situation. I needed to do something about it. During my many battles with Tilly about working shifts, she’d suggested retraining for a job with regular hours and my challenge back had always beenretrain as what? Most of the jobs around here are in factories, meaning shift work.But was that true or was I, like Tilly suggested, beingawkward and blinkered? None of my friends worked in factories. Barney was a farmer, Fizz was a veterinary nurse, Phoebe an accountant, Zara an events planner and her fiancé Snowy was a former Olympic gymnast who now ran his own successful gymnastics club. Tim was a plumber and Levi managed a couple of branches of his family’s estate agency. I shook my head. The only role that appealed among those was farming and I’d always loved helping Barney out, but he had enough staff already with Milo and Amber. I had nowhere near enough experience to secure a job on another farm and, if I did, it would be starting right at the bottom, probably on minimumwage. I couldn’t afford to do that when I had a mortgage and bills to pay, child maintenance, and Chester to support.

Milo was in the farmyard at Bumblebee Barn hosing out a couple of buckets when I pulled in. He looked up but didn’t smile or wave, although that was Milo all over – loved animals, couldn’t stand people. He’d worked at Bumblebee Barn for thirteen years, starting with a part-time weekend job when he was fourteen, and I always found it strange I’d known him all that time except I barely knew him at all, and he certainly didn’t know anything about me.

‘All right, Milo?’ I asked, crossing the farmyard to join him.

‘I s’pose.’

‘Is Barney around?’

‘Top Pig.’

The fields at Bumblebee Barn were named according to where they were, what they contained, and sometimes both. Top Pig was the furthest away of three fields full of pigs. The sows in Top Pig had already produced a litter of piglets last month, the ones from Middle Pig had been moved inside ready for the piglets arriving, and the piglets of the sows in Bottom Pig weren’t due until later this month or in early April so would be outside for a bit longer.

Bear and Harley, Barney’s Border collie brother and sister, were lying down beside his quad bike parked by the entrance to Top Pig, and I could see Barney at the far end. The dogs stood up and weaved round my legs. I loved dogs and so did Imogen. She’d often asked if she could have a puppy or a kitten but it wasn’t an option when I worked long shifts, so we had to get our animal fix at the farm. If I’d got the production manager’s job,I was going to look into getting a pet – perhaps an adult rescue cat which was used to being on its own during the day. Another thing I wanted to do for my daughter but couldn’t because I worked shifts. It was so frustrating.

Barney spotted me and waved me into the field.

‘How are the piglets doing?’ I asked when I joined him.

‘All good so far. Most sows have had good litters. Not many losses.’

He talked me through numbers and progress as he finished his checks, and then we headed back to the farmhouse for a tea break.

‘Are you okay?’ Barney asked, handing me a mug of tea. ‘You seem a bit quiet today.’

‘Crap couple of days,’ I admitted, sitting down at the kitchen table with him. I started by offloading about the job situation.

‘Do you wish they hadn’t told you you’d have got the job?’ he asked.

‘I’m not sure. It’s a boost to know the coaching worked, but it’s a case oflook what you could have won.’ I shrugged.‘I couldn’t not ask. I’d have always wondered.’

‘If there are redundancies, surely you’re not at risk.’

‘I’m probably most at risk. What’s the biggest operating expense most companies have? Payroll. And what’s the easiest way to cut that? Get rid of the managers who earn more and have better benefits packages.’

‘But you’re brilliant at your job.’

‘Doesn’t make any difference. I’ve been there the longest, I earn the most, I’m likely to be the first to go.’

‘I hope not.’

‘Me too. Could you imagine Tilly’s reaction if I told her I’d lost my job? She’d use it against me.’

‘If you did lose your job, what would you do?’

‘Panic!’ I raked my fingers through my hair. ‘I was thinking about it on the way over and trying to imagine what I could do instead. I might have a word with Levi and see if his family would take me on.’

Barney’s mouth dropped open and it was clear he had no idea how to react to that suggestion until he realised I was joking.

‘You had me going there for a minute,’ he said, smiling as he shook his head. ‘I was trying to picture you in a suit every day, reeling off a sales patter.’

‘I doubt I’d last a week. I’d be shockingly bad. I haven’t got the gift of the gab like Levi.’

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