Page 23 of A Fresh Start at Bramble Cottage
His West Country accent had thickened perceptibly, and Vicky was finding it difficult not to laugh out loud. He flicked a brief glance in her direction, sharing the moment.
“I like cows.” Jayde had propped her elbow on the table and rested her chin on her hand, and was gazing at him like a starving man offered a thick juicy steak. “They have such lovely long eyelashes.”
“Perhaps you should put them on your flog,” Tom suggested with an innocence that was entirely bogus. “You could demonstrate how to put on mascara.”
Jayde trilled with laughter. “It’svlog,notflog— video and blog put together, see?”
“Ah yes. I thought it was because you use it to flog things.”
Vicky watched the interaction between the two with trepidation. Jayde could be annoyingly patronising at times. So far Tom seemed to be responding with just a touch of subtle humour — she could only hope that he wouldn’t give her stepsister a harsh put-down.
She glanced at Bill across the table. He hadn’t spoken since he had sat down. He had one hand wrapped around his beer-glass, gazing into it as if it held all the secrets of the universe. It wouldn’t be easy to engage him in conversation, but this was a good opportunity to get to know him a little better.
“Um... are you from Sturcombe?” she ventured. “Were you born here?”
He glanced up at her with a nervous smile. “Yes.”
Ah. Well, that’s a start. Try to think of something that won’t have a monosyllabic answer.“It must have been a great place to grow up. Do you live in the village?”
“No.”
Damn — monosyllable again.
She tried the approach she sometimes needed with nervous clients at the estate agent — leaning forward and smiling encouragingly but not filling the silence, giving them space to speak.
“I... um...” His gaze was fixed somewhere over her left shoulder. “I live at the farm. Over the stables.”
“That’s convenient.” She made her voice warm. “You don’t have to get up so early to get to work.”
He grinned, beginning to ease a little. “Well, five o’clock is still quite early, but I’m used to it.”
Jayde heard that and gasped, horrified. “Five o’clock? Every day?”
Tom laughed. “That’s the life of a farmer. Up at five, clean up the shed, then out to the fields with the dogs to bring in the girls. An hour or so to milk them, then it’s time to clean up the shed again, shovel all the shit into the composter, feed the calves and clean out their pens. It’s a good healthy life — invigorating.”
Vicky suppressed a bubble of laughter. If her sister had been harbouring any designs on Tom, the picture he had painted of life on a dairy farm had thoroughly disabused her of the fantasy. Possibly deliberately.
She had suspected, listening to his conversation with Jayde, that he concealed a very dry sense of humour behind those enigmatic eyes. She could tell by the way Bill was trying to suppress a smile that he too knew that Tom was teasing.
Unfortunately Jayde was too self-absorbed to be aware of it. And however irritating her stepsister could be, Vicky didn’t want her to be made to feel a fool when the penny dropped.
As Jayde was distracted by eagerly searching through her phone for another vlog to show him, she slanted him a warning glance, and shook her head. He smiled, and nodded — he understood.
He rose easily to his feet. “Another drink, ladies?”
“Oh... thank you.” Jayde’s smile was all sweetness. “White wine, please.” She watched him walk to the bar, a smug smile on her face, then leaned towards Vicky. “I think he fancies me,” she whispered.
Vicky managed not to roll her eyes. “You could be right.”
Chapter Five
Tom finished his second pint and glanced at his watch. “Well, ladies, if you’ll excuse us, us country boys need to hit the sack.”
Jayde pouted prettily. “Already? But it isn’t even ten o’clock yet.”
“Sorry — we have a bunch of girls who are going to want to see us bright and busy in the morning.”
“Oh... of course.” But Jayde hadn’t given up completely. She finished her wine in one swallow and rose to her feet. “We ought to be getting along too. It’s been a long day.”
