Page 16 of Love and Lattes at Pumpkin Hollow
‘If I can make it worth people spending the money,’ I said. I leaned back against the leather car seat. There was a lot to think about. ‘I learned about business plans at uni but I suppose I’ve left all the business and money side to my dad over the years. And it took him a long time to tell me just how tough things had become.’
‘We can make a spreadsheet. Once you know how much you can spend, you can talk to suppliers and put the costs in,’ Dylan stated matter-of-factly. ‘And see what profit you could turn with or without an entry fee but personally, I think you need to charge something. It sounds like you have grand plans for it all. People will want to come along, I’m sure.’
I looked over at him. ‘You’d help me do that?’ I asked, thinking this was more than I had expected him to do.
‘I said I’d help,’ Dylan replied with a shrug. ‘And once the spreadsheet is done and you realise you can’t turn a profit, then you know you have another option.’
I let out a puff of air and folded my arms across my chest. ‘Right.’ I was determined to make that bloody spreadsheet show a profit. We managed to make our summer season profitable, although that wasn’t enough now with the cost of everything to keep us afloat, so if I could do the same for the autumn season, we might be okay. And then I could throw Dylan’s offer back in his face. I thought back to what I’d overheard earlier. ‘How much of an impact would buying my farm have on your brother’s business?’
‘Well, as I said, it would give us a foothold in this area, which we’ve never have before, and Birchbrook is really sought after. You have good land that we can build on, and we’ve been given an unofficial nod that we’d get planning permission. So, it would be great for the company, and my brother really wants to expand and…’ Dylan stopped for a moment and glanced at me as if unsure whether to keep going.
But I had a feeling what he was going to say. ‘Your brother would be grateful to you for securing our land.’
Dylan looked away and gave one nod. ‘I want to make him proud,’ he said quietly.
I sensed his family put a lot of pressure on him and as he felt he’d let them down leaving university like he did, this was a chance to show them they could be proud of him. God, we had a lot of weight on our shoulders. I was desperate to do the same for my dad too. ‘You could find somewhere else that would work just as well,’ I said quietly, looking out of the window again. ‘Don’t forget that. This is business for you. But it’s personal for me. You could find other ways to make your family proud. This is my last shot.’
Dylan didn’t answer me and we spent the rest of the car journey in silence.
I gripped the box I’d put my mother’s necklace in tightly on my lap and wished things hadn’t come to this.
14
When I left the jeweller’s, I saw Dylan was outside of his car, leaning against it. The sun was bright against a clear, blue sky, and the town was busy as kids came out of school.
He held two takeaway coffee cups and squinted against the sun to watch me walk over. ‘Somehow, I thought you’d want the seasonal drink,’ he said, holding out one of the cups. ‘It’s a pumpkin spiced latte,’ he added, wrinkling his nose like the thought of it was unpleasant. He clearly didn’t have good taste.
‘It’s my go-to drink in autumn, thank you.’ I took it and had a sip, leaning next to him against the car and tilting my face up towards the sun, breathing in the fresh air.
‘How did it go?’ Dylan asked me then.
‘It depends on your perspective. They bought the necklace and they gave me even more than they quoted when I first reached out as the price of gold is so good. It’s worth a lot. They were really excited to have it. We have enough to get this patch going for sure, but I feel sad.’
‘Of course you do,’ Dylan said. ‘What do you want to do next?’
I let the sadness wash over me for a minute. That was all I wanted to allow. I had no time to wallow. I had to shake it off. The clock was ticking. I needed to get this patch open for the start of October and show my dad I could make it successful enough to keep hold of the farm in six weeks’ time. ‘Go back to the farm and finish clearing the field then tonight, work on that spreadsheet. Get the ball rolling.’
‘Then that’s what we do.’ Dylan opened the door and climbed into the car so I walked round to the passenger side and got in beside him. We set off back towards Birchbrook and I did feel fired up. I had more money in the bank than I’d had since I could remember and I was ready to invest it into the farm. It felt weird though to be planning how I was going to do that sat next to the man who wanted me to do the opposite. This had felt like an almost fun challenge. A way to push Dylan’s buttons after he pushed mine. But now I was faced with six weeks with a man who had opened up to me about why this was important to him. And I understood him. More than I wanted to. I couldn’t let myself get sidetracked by his agenda.
I cleared my throat and decided to voice my concerns before either of us got in too deep with our hasty pact. ‘Are you sure about staying on the farm? I could do with your help, there’s no question about it, but we are on different sides. You want me to sell; I want to stay. Maybe you should come back in six weeks instead.’
‘Why the sudden change of mind?’ Dylan asked me. ‘I thought you wanted to use me for my business acumen and prove to me you can make a go of your idea? You’re backing down now?’
‘I never back down,’ I replied stubbornly.
‘That’s what I thought. Neither do I. So, we finish what we started, right?’
‘Fine with me,’ I retorted. ‘I can’t wait for you to admit that you lost the pact.’ I pulled out my phone. ‘I’m going to start looking up suppliers,’ I said, googling pumpkins for sale nearby. Something, I have to admit, I never thought I’d be doing.
‘We’ll see,’ Dylan said evenly. His lack of rising to my anger annoyed me further. It reminded me of how I told him he clearly wasn’t a passionate guy and for some reason, that made me feel even grumpier.
I didn’t speak for the rest of the car journey home but when we pulled up outside the farmhouse and Maple ran out to us, I watched as Dylan got out of his car and bent down to greet her almost as enthusiastically and my annoyance faded. I turned away to hide my smile but I made eye contact with my dad, who had followed Maple back. He gave me a curious look so I quickly adjusted my face and walked over to him, whistling for Maple to join me, which she did.
‘They gave me a great price, Dad,’ I said. ‘But it was really hard.’
‘I know it was,’ he said softly. ‘What’s he up to?’
We both turned to watch as Dylan walked away from us. ‘I’m going to carry on mowing while it’s still light,’ Dylan called back.
