Page 44 of Love and Lattes at Pumpkin Hollow
‘You can’t believe that!’ Dylan cried at the same time. ‘All I’ve done is try to help you.’
‘But why?’ I cried desperately. ‘I don’t understand. I thought you liked it here, liked me, but then I hear you on the phone to your brother saying what you said…’ I couldn’t be explicit with my dad right next to us. I didn’t want him to know we’d slept together. ‘You just wanted me to sell. All you’ve been doing is to get me to trust you so you could persuade me to give you the farm. I heard you say that to your brother. Just admit it!’
‘Dylan?’ Dad asked him, looking as lost as I felt. I knew he had grown to like Dylan and to trust him too.
Dylan kept his eyes on me. ‘You really believe that after all we’ve been through? That I would be with you just to get you to sell this place to me?’ Dylan looked as shocked as I felt.
‘I just heard you telling your brother exactly that! How can I not believe it?’ I retorted. I shook my head. He was trying to confuse me. I knew he had told his brother I was putty in his hands. I’d felt so close with him last night. But I was clearly a fool.
‘Because you know me! What about last night?’ Dylan asked softly.
‘It meant nothing,’ I snapped before I could stop myself. I saw him wince but I knew I shouldn’t care. He had hurt me. Why not hurt him back? ‘You should just go, Dylan. Now. Okay? The pact is over. I will never sell to you, and you don’t want to be here if this can’t be yours. I… we… this place – it all means nothing to you, right? So, leave us to sort all this out ourselves,’ I cried, gesturing to the mess.
‘Willow, maybe we should all go inside and have a cup of tea and talk about this…’ Dad began calmly while Dylan stared at me in silence.
Both of them were pissing me off in different ways. There was so much weight on my shoulders – it felt as if I was being pressed into the ground like the roots of a tree. ‘I can’t deal with any of this,’ I said, throwing my hands up in the air. ‘I need to be alone right now. This is all just too much.’
I took off before either of them could stop me. Deep down, I knew it was pointless to try to run from my problems but I had to get away from the mess. The farm. Dylan. Dad. The memory of my mother. The feeling I’d let everyone down. How betrayed I felt by Dylan. I was so hurt and scared. And I had no idea what to do.
Maple started after me instantly and even though I didn’t know where to go, I needed to leave the farm. So, I let her walk with me, desperate to escape, trying to hold back tears.
34
I could hear Dad calling me from the field but I didn’t respond. I marched out of the gate, passing Sabrina’s damaged Pumpkin Hollow sign, with Maple at my heels as if she knew I needed her support and comfort right now. I marched towards town without even knowing where I was really heading, but I had to create some distance from the place where it seemed like everything had gone wrong. The familiar landscape around me was lost as my head and heart raged against the past few hours. I’d felt so happy just yesterday evening falling asleep naked in Dylan’s arms but this morning, everything had changed.
Leaves the colour of pumpkins and butternut squash swayed gently in the calm after the storm as we walked towards the High Street. Then I saw the birch trees lining the road and I swallowed the lump in my throat. Their mustard leaves reminded me too much of home. I looked down at my feet but the road was scattered with them, like yellow confetti had been tossed around to celebrate autumn in the same way you’d celebrate a wedding. Right now though, there seemed to be nothing to celebrate.
My feet moved of their own accord towards the Birchbrook Café and Maple seemed eager to get inside the warm again so I didn’t bother calling her away from the door. Once inside, my chest sagged as the cosy café with its autumn décor and delicious, sweet pumpkin smell just reminded me of my failures.
‘Willow, I thought you were too busy to meet for breakfast today,’ Sabrina said in surprise as she turned around from where she was ordering at the counter, beaming at the sight of me and Maple walking through the door. Then she saw my face and her smile faded. ‘What’s wrong?’
I let out a sob before I could stop myself and she charged towards the door, threw her arms around me and pulled me into her chest. ‘Are you okay?’
Sniffing into her blonde hair, her floral perfume as familiar as my own vanilla one, I felt Maple leaning against my legs as if she wanted to join in our hug too. ‘It’s been a shit morning, to be honest,’ I said, as a tear rolled out of the corner of my eye. I returned her hug tightly. ‘I forgot you were coming in; I’m so glad you’re here.’
‘Bradley and Dottie are at home, I said we’d get a takeaway brunch as we all feel pretty tired but they won’t mind if I stay and chat to you. Go and sit down, I’ll get us something and then you can tell me what’s going on.’
I shook my head in a weak protest.
‘Go on.’ She pointed to the tables and I was too weary to argue with her so I went to our favourite one and sank into a chair, grabbing a napkin from the box on the table and dabbing my face. Maple sat down by my feet and I stroked her, glad she was with me. I felt even worse now I was away from the farm. I had walked out on Dad, leaving him with all the mess, and I’d told Dylan to go. My heart was heavy. We’d been so close to the patch opening and now I had no idea what would happen.
‘Okay,’ Sabrina said a few minutes later. ‘I hope this helps. Tell me what’s going on. You’re worrying me, Willow.’ She sat down opposite me and slid the tray onto the table. She’d ordered two pumpkin spiced lattes and two almond croissants for us plus the two Pats had given her a dog treat for Maple, who took it from her eagerly and ate it on the floor.
‘Are you sure?’ I asked. ‘You need to get home, don’t you?’
‘Willow, you’re my family too; surely you know that by now?’ she chastised.
I let out another sob, making her eyes widen in alarm.
‘Have some of your drink and food, have another tissue here, take a deep breath and then fill me in…’
I followed Sabrina’s calm instructions. She had always been good in a crisis. I was vaguely aware that the two Pats, and Paul, were keeping an eye on me from behind the counter, plus a couple of customers who I knew glanced over in concern. I hated that I was having a very public meltdown but everything had gone wrong, I couldn’t help it. After I’d had a sip of the drink and a bite of the croissant, I dabbed my eyes and exhaled. ‘Last night, it felt like maybe there was a storm brewing so I said to my dad I’d check on the pumpkin patch but I had to take Dylan his laptop back and I wanted his advice as well – we’ve only sold ten tickets so far. But then we kissed. There was a whole thing with whipped cream…’
‘Whipped cream?!’ Sabrina cried in shock. She saw my face. ‘Not important. Sorry. Go on.’
‘We spent the night together. And I fell asleep. And I forgot about checking on the pumpkin patch. There was a storm and it’s such a mess, Sabrina. All that hard work and it’s going to put us behind to fix it all. And then Dylan…’ I swallowed the big lump in my throat down. I told her briefly what I’d overheard of his phone call with his brother. ‘I told him to go. And I just couldn’t deal with him or the patch. I took off and ran away from it all. And came here,’ I finished lamely with a big sniff. I stared at my friend in despair. ‘What am I going to do?!’
Sabrina sucked in a breath and took a gulp of her coffee. ‘I’m so sorry, Willow. Firstly, if Dylan did sleep with you so he could persuade you to sell the farm then he is an absolute dick and you shouldn’t waste another breath on him. I don’t know, though; I saw the way he looked at you, and you two seemed to make such a good team. Maybe there is more to the story. I got the feeling from what you’ve said, and when we had breakfast in here with him, that he’s not all that close to his brother so maybe he was just trying to get him off his back?’ She took in the glare I gave her. ‘Let’s leave that to one side then; the more important problem is the pumpkin patch.’
