Page 48 of Love and Lattes at Pumpkin Hollow
I recognised the car coming towards me and my pulse immediately picked up pace. The sleek, black car pulled around the farmhouse to park outside of the cottages and I watched as Dylan climbed out of it. He wore the clothes he had left in yesterday and he looked around. When he saw me by the barn, he headed my way with a purposeful stride.
I was inclined to walk off and find Dad and Sabrina so I wouldn’t have to face him alone but I knew that would be as childish as sending him in the wrong direction had been. I was learning that putting off bad things, sticking my head in the sand, didn’t stop the bad things from happening – it just delayed them and sometimes, that made them even worse in the end. Perhaps if I had listened to my dad’s worries, we could have done something to save the farm before things had got as bad as they did. I didn’t want to have to deal with any more ‘what if’s’ in my life. So, I carried on loading up pumpkins in the wheelbarrow as Dylan walked over.
‘Hi, Willow,’ he said, pausing a few feet away from me like he was nervous to come any closer.
I stopped loading up the wheelbarrow and glanced at him. He looked the same, if a little tired and dishevelled, and not freshly shaven like he usually was. His clothes were a little bit crumpled. I wondered where he had slept last night. ‘Have you come to pick up your things?’
Dad had said, after I fled the farm, Dylan had taken off not long after in his car so I knew he hadn’t had time to pack. The cottage was still his. For now.
‘I wanted to speak to you. Can you take a break? We could have a cup of tea in the cottage?’
‘Let’s stay here; there is so much to do to get ready for tomorrow,’ I replied, not wanting to go back inside the cottage when the last time I had been there, we’d ended up sleeping together. It hurt to think about that passionate evening together.
He nodded. ‘Okay. That’s what I wanted to talk to you about. I left yesterday after you asked me to but all I did was think about the farm. I want to help get ready for the opening tomorrow. I made a pact to stay for six weeks and I want to do that.’
I put my hands on my hips and frowned at him. ‘But why? I can tell you now if this is a failure, I won’t be selling to Henderson Homes. Not after what you said to your brother, how you made me think that you liked me too?—’
‘I did like you,’ Dylan interjected. ‘I do like you, Willow. I told you, what you heard wasn’t what I really think or feel, I promise. But that’s not important right now.’
I raised an eyebrow. ‘It isn’t?’ This man was so confusing. I had no idea how he felt about me or how I should feel about him.
‘No, what’s important is opening the pumpkin patch and doing all we can so you won’t have to sell the farm to my brother, or to anyone. I know you doubt my intentions, you aren’t sure whether to trust me or believe what I say, but I can help. I can work on selling tickets and getting publicity, bringing people to the farm. You have so much sorted, Willow, you have created what will be such a fun, autumnal day out for people and you are great at fixing things, coming up with ideas, bringing it all together – just look…’ He gestured over to the field. ‘Let me help with the things that you can’t do by yourself, the things that I know how to do, that I’m good at. Even if you don’t understand why I’m doing it, can you really afford to say no? Why not just let me help and we can talk about us later? Once the pumpkin patch is open tomorrow. What do you think?’
He looked at me so sincerely, I was stumped at what to say. He was serious. He wanted to help and God knew, I needed it. Yes, ticket sales had crept up slightly yesterday but we were way off what we needed to help keep the farm going until the summer season came around again.
But what would happen to my heart if I said yes?
‘Willow, I’ve come to help bring the pumpkins over.’
Dylan and I both jumped as Paul suddenly appeared with another wheelbarrow. He didn’t wait for a response but starting to pick them up to put in the wheelbarrow, acting like we weren’t even there.
Dylan smiled at me and I couldn’t help but smile back.
I had felt my heart break a little bit yesterday morning so the damage was already done. Dylan wasn’t mine, and he never would be. But the farm was what was important now. And a tiny part of me was happy to have him back. That yesterday hadn’t been our final goodbye. So, even though I was worried about how I’d feel when he did leave for good, I wasn’t sensible enough to turn him away again. I needed his help. For the sake of saving my home.
‘Okay, Dylan,’ I said finally. ‘Let’s keep our pact going.’ I picked up another pumpkin. ‘How can we get people to the pumpkin patch?’
‘I have lots of ideas,’ he said, starting to walk off.
‘Where are you going?’ I called after him.
‘To get my laptop, of course.’
I rolled my eyes. ‘Of course.’
37
I wiped my brow, sweaty and tired, as I stood outside Pumpkin Hollow with my dad, Sabrina and Dylan. Sunday was fading away and we were starting to lose the light. We were the only ones left on the farm now. Somehow, all the work had been done and the pumpkin patch had been repaired and protected. New signs were up to guide people to the patch. The Portaloos had arrived and were in place. The school benches were lined up ready for the Birchbrook Café van to park by them later on tomorrow. Steve had moved into the cottage next door to Dylan, ready to offer tractor rides and help out with anything else we needed. I had installed a table at the edge of the field where Dad and I would check tickets or sell them, as well as any pumpkins, similar to what we did in the summer pick-your-own season. At least we had all that set up in place already.
‘Now we just need to do a walk-through,’ I said, as the four of us looked at one another. I wanted us to act like we were the visitors tomorrow and see if the patch was good enough to:
Give visitors a fun day out.
Get them to recommend coming along to people they knew.
Make us money!
‘I’m nervous,’ I added. I almost didn’t want to look in case I saw another hundred things that we needed to change or improve. We were all shattered from the weekend’s work and I knew we all just wanted to relax now.
