Page 41 of Daydreams at the Farm on Muddypuddle Lane
‘She wasn’t supposed to be, but someone called in sick so Chef asked her to step in.’
‘Can you go get her for me?’
‘Sorry, she walked out. She had a run-in with one of your party.’ The waitress narrowed her eyes.
‘Do you know what it was about?’
A shrug. ‘No idea, but she was crying when she left.’
Adam didn’t bother to return to the table to ask what the run-in was about; he would find out soon enough when he caught up with Maisie. She was his only concern now, as he hurried outside afterher, confident that she couldn’t have gone far.
Her heart breaking, Maisie pelted along the high street, ignoring the curious stares from the people she passed. She also ignored the phone call from Adam and she turned her phone off, not wanting to hear his excuses. She didn’t want to see him, speak to him, or hear his name mentioned ever again.
Tears poured down her face and her breath came in gasping sobs as she fled towards the outskirts of the village and the path that would take her through the fields and up to the farm.
All she could think about was how badly Adam had deceived her. She had only managed a quick glimpse at his girlfriend,but from what Maisie could remember she was gorgeous. And all over him. They were clearly an item. The woman in the loo had said as much. For god’s sake, she had said that she was expecting him to propose soon!
And far from being a man who was struggling to grow his business, Adam was loaded. Or his parents were, which amounted to the same thing. Did he get his kicks out of pretending to be poor when he so obviously wasn’t?
Maisie paused to catch her breath; the hill was steep and she could hardly breathe for crying. With shaking fingers, she brushed away the tears, then fished in her bag for a tissue to blow her nose. Resuming her journey more slowly, a pang of guilt went through her as she realised she had left Otto in the lurch. He didn’tdeserve that, but there was no way she could have carried on serving this evening.
And after this, she guessed she wouldn’t be serving at The Wild Side on any other evening either.
But that was okay, she didn’t intend to. She was going to leave the farm and Picklewick first thing in the morning. Mum could come with her, or not. Maisie honestly didn’t care. Even if she hadn’t burned her bridges with Dulcie, she couldn’t contemplate remaining in the village. The thought of bumping into Adam made her feel sick. There was nothing for her here now.
Maisie wasn’t sure there ever had been.
The dream of living in Picklewick and working with animals, had been just that –a dream. And now it had turned into a nightmare.
She would go back to Birmingham where she belonged.
A bitter laugh escaped her. Her mother had been right: Adamwasn’tgood enough for her. But she had been right for all the wrong reasons. Adam wasn’t a ne’er-do-well. Adam was an entitled, doing-very-well-for-himself two-timing ratbag.
‘What the hell did you say to her?’ Adam hissed in his mum’s ear. He had searched up and down the high street but Maisie was nowhere in sight, so he had returned to the restaurant to find out what had happened.
Maisie wasn’t answering his calls and she hadn’t read his messages either, and he was frantic with worry.
‘Can we not do this now, please?’ His mother’s tone was frosty, and she gave him a meaningful glare.
‘I want to know,’ he insisted.
‘Why?’
‘Because you must have said something to upset her.’
His mother removed her napkin from her lap and got to her feet. ‘Excuse us a moment, won’t you? Martin, order some more wine. We won’t be long.’ She grabbed Adam by the elbow and steered him into the foyer. ‘I would appreciate it if you didn’t speak to me like that,’ she began, but Adam cut her off.
‘What did you say to Maisie?’
‘Nothing. Not one word.Shespoke tome, and very rude she was, too.’
‘You must have saidsomething.’
‘Are you calling me a liar, Adam?’
‘Not at all.’ He raised his hand to run his fingers through his hair, before realising it was in a bun, so he scratched his head instead. Taking a deep breath, he tried again. ‘Tell me what happened.’
‘I already did. We were powdering our noses and chatting about the merger, and saying that you and Verity were a lovely couple, when this woman burst out of a cubicle and started shouting.’ His mother stopped, and her eyes widened. ‘Oh, my god! Was that woman your girlfriend? Ithought you were making it up to annoy me.’
