Page 14 of A Year at Appleyard Farm
Freya stared at him for a moment and then looked away embarrassed. ‘I’m sorry,’ she muttered.
‘I’m just teasing you. It’s no bother me being here, honestly, and Amos thought you might need some help. He surmised that I might have more experience of helping young ladies remove their clothing than he has.’
‘You didn’t tell him, did you?’
Sam studied her for a moment. ‘No, I didn’t tell him, although I would say that nothing much gets past Amos. I can see it still bothers you, though, so I certainly won’t mention anything.’
To her surprise, Freya’s eyes filled with tears. ‘Sam, don’t please, I feel bad enough as it is at the moment without having to think about what I did.’
He looped his fingers under hers gently. ‘Don’t keep hating yourself, Freya, it was never your fault.’
She looked up at him then, her eyes dark, and shook her head.
‘So…Amos is a bit of a find, isn’t he?’ he said, clearly trying to change to subject. ‘I’ve not seen him around here before; where did he come from?’
‘I don’t know, actually,’ sniffed Freya. ‘I wouldn’t be surprised if it was from under a mulberry bush. He appeared one day wanting a glass of water and somehow he just stayed.’ She stared at her sandwich in speculation. ‘I think he’d been working somewhere locally, and I know I should have asked around a bit before I let him in, but it never occurred to me, to be honest. It still hasn’t. It’s not that he actually evades answering any questions about himself, but somehow, he avoids them. I know next to nothing about him, but I’d trust him with my life.’
‘Curious.’
‘It’s mad is what it is, but someone clearly thought I needed his help and sent him to me, that’s all I can think. Of course I could be completely wrong, and by January, I’ll be in small pieces under the patio.’
Sam laughed. ‘I don’t think so.’
‘No, neither do I,’ said Freya with finality. ‘Right then, I can’t put it off any longer. I need to go and have a wash and get changed, and while I think I’ve figured out most things, I cannot for the life of me see how I’m going to get my bra off. So, if you don’t mind, and without looking, commenting, or laughing, please could you just unhook me at the back, and I’ll take it from there.’
Sam was right, it did take a huge amount of time to get ready, and she’d just about lost the will to live by the time she’d finished. How on earth was she supposed to do all the things she needed to; and Christmas was in just over two weeks’ time. The very thought of it made her want to go and lie down in a darkened room.
By the time she got back downstairs, both Sam and Amos were sitting at the table, a large notepad in front of them.
‘We need a plan,’ Amos said the minute he spotted her.
‘I need a double brandy,’ she countered.
Both men smiled.
‘Not such a bad idea,’ said Sam, ‘maybe just a teeny bit early, though. Shall we see if we can make it to lunchtime, at least?’
Freya stuck out her tongue.
‘Right,’ said Amos in purposeful fashion. ‘We need to make a list of what needs doing and by when. Also, what tasks Freya can still do and those that she’ll have trouble with. That way we can assign everyone specific jobs so that as far as possible we don’t lose any time. Oh, and Stephen sends his best wishes, by the way.’
‘Yeah right,’ Freya snorted. ‘The only thing that man will be concerned about is which arm I’ve broken, and whether I’ll still be able to sign the contracts on this place.’
Sam looked at the table, and Freya could have kicked herself. She must stop doing this. She’d thought about it last night, and although she would cheerfully run Stephen over in her van, she was pleased that Sam would be part of the equation at Appleyard; she knew he would take good care of it for her.
‘Well, the first priorities just at the minute are the wreaths and other decorations. They’re due to be delivered again on Saturday, which gives us three days. Fortunately, I have all the wreath bases and other additions here, but nothing is wired up, and Amos you know how long that takes. It’s lucky my right hand is still okay, but I’m really not sure that I can manage the wiring even so.’
‘If things were already wired, could you manage to get them in the wreaths?’ asked Sam. ‘If you show us how, perhaps Amos and I could do that bit for you?’
‘I’ll need more holly and mistletoe cutting as well.’
Amos nodded. ‘Sam and I have already discussed that, so it’s not a problem. We can get what you need for the wreaths to start with and then harvest the last of the mistletoe later.’
‘But what about your own mistletoe, Sam?’ asked Freya.
He shrugged. ‘It’ll get done, I’m not that fussed really.’
His tone suggested that she shouldn’t argue, and that was the last thing Freya wanted to do. There was one thing she wanted to know, though.
