Page 39 of Reach for the Stars
‘All of you!’ I mean, I blurted in a higher pitch than I’d have liked. ‘Everyone. Of course.’ I cleared my throat and straightened my spine and tried not to notice that Jesse Woods’ very attractive mouth was now tipped into a smile.
‘Of course,’ he repeated.
‘Right!’ Frank called, pushing himself up from where he’d been perched on a stone bench. ‘Think that’s probably all we can do for now, Jesse. Unless there’s anything else?’
‘No, that’s it until the surveyor gets out here. Thanks, Frank.’ Jesse stepped across and shook the man’s hand. ‘It’s really appreciated.’
‘No problem at all. Just glad everyone was all right.’ He gave a glance towards my pancaked car, from which they had now also removed the tree. Jesse had taken some more photos showing the full impact for the insurance and forwarded them on to me while Julie and I had been burrowing away to Narnia in the garden room.
‘Thanks so much,’ I said, taking the small group in. ‘To all of you. It sounds very inadequate considering all the time you’ve given up and how hard you’ve all worked for someone you don’t even know.’
‘Now, now, none of that,’ Frank replied, a kindly smile on his weather-worn face. ‘You’re a local now and we help each other out here.’ His words echoed what Jesse had told me and I flicked a glance at him, leaning against the warm brick wall of the outbuilding, watching with an air of amusement on his face that saidtold you.
‘Well, considering I’ve barely been here a few weeks, I think it’s very generous of you to include me as a local so soon.’
‘No time limit, love. It is what it is and that’s that.’
I didn’t have an answer for that, which in itself was unusual and the most I could come up with was ‘Oh’, which made Frank laugh, and his smile was so infectious, I found myself doing the same.
The men filed out, got into their respective vehicles and drove away. I waved as they did so, trying to swallow down the shame I felt at the snobbish way I’d likely come across to tradesmen in the past. I’d never been intentionally rude but now, I realised, I’d never really considered them at all. They would be there to do a job and that was it. Would it have hurt to have made a little small talk? Asked them if they wanted a drink every so often? But I hadn’t. I’d left them in the care of the housekeeper and not thought twice about it. It was what I’d known and I had never considered there might be a different way.
One man hung back and then hesitantly approached me. Julie was sitting on the stone bench that Frank had vacated and Pete was leaning against the dry stone wall next to it, chatting away to her.
‘Everything all right, Pat?’ Jesse asked.
‘Yeah, yeah.’ He nodded and his cheeks gained a little pink. ‘It’s just that I was wondering, Miss DeVere…’
‘It’s Felicity,’ I said quickly with a smile. Fliss felt right from Jesse but one step at a time.
Pat nodded with a brief smile. ‘Felicity. Well, we were just thinking, I mean, me and the wife, whether you’d had any thoughts about what you were going to do with the lower paddock yet.’
Before I could answer, Pat rushed on. ‘I know this probably isn’t the right time to ask, I mean what with the storm and your house and all, but it’s just that, as I was here, I thought… well, we thought…’ He ended the sentence with a slight jiggle of his head.
‘The lower paddock?’ I asked.
‘Yes. Just if you’d had any thoughts, like.’
I turned to Jesse. ‘Umm…’
He pointed. ‘Over down that way, behind this field here.’
‘Oh, that one,’ I replied in a knowledgeable tone despite the fact I still had no idea. Honest to God. I used to be a sensible, highly organised person and now I didn’t even know what land I owned.
‘Didn’t Maisie used to stable her pony there?’ Jesse asked.
‘Yeah,’ Pat replied. ‘But then the place went up for sale. We got a call to say we had to get the pony out the next day or Joe would let it out himself. Maisie heard the call and was beside herself. In floods, she was.’
‘I’m sorry,’ Jesse said, the muscles in his jaw tight and the hands that had been relaxed moments ago now gripped into fists.
‘Oh no, nothing on you, mate. None of us can help who we’re related to. Luckily, having the same blood doesn’t mean anything. Different as chalk and cheese, you and your cousin are.’
‘And Maisie is…?’ I asked.
‘My daughter. She’s ten, going on thirty.’ His face lit up at the mention of her name.
‘Keen rider, then?’
‘Horse mad!’ He laughed now. ‘Always has been.’
