A Taste of Home by Heidi Swain (the beginning after the end read novel TXT) 📕

Randall and I were friends and destined to remain so. He turned in the seat and gave me a wave before he drove off. I nodded back because I was holding the laundry. What about friends with benefits? I wondered.

Chapter 11

Sunday was a gloriously sunny day so I took an early walk around the farm. The birds were singing away and the rain, which had fallen steadily over the previous few days, combined with the slowly rising temperature, had brought everything on a treat.

All the fruit looked as though it had the potential to ripen a little earlier than expected for the UK and Jemma’s business proposition really couldn’t have come at a better time. The previous evening I’d mulled it all over and I was planning to present it to Grandad over breakfast.

Having shooed a blackbird out of one of the fruit cages and tried to pull the holes in the net together, I walked back to the yard. I hoped the order from Andersons was going to come early the next day because I really did need to make the repairs, along with a proper start on preparing for the busy season ahead, as soon as possible.

With that in mind, I set about stripping the roof off the henhouse and gave it a thorough clean and airing. I was pleased to be doing something productive and having found a sanitising powder in Grandad’s stores I also gave the whole structure a good dousing. It wasn’t all that likely it still harboured any mites because it had been empty for so long, but I didn’t think it would hurt to err on the side of caution.

‘Are you ready for some breakfast?’ Grandad shouted from the house.

‘You’re awake!’ I called back, dusting myself down and walking over to the back door. ‘And you’re downstairs. You should have waited and I would have helped you.’

‘I managed fine,’ he told me, as the smell of bacon made my tummy rumble. ‘I took my time and besides, you were nowhere to be seen.’

‘I hadn’t realised the time,’ I said, glancing at the clock as I washed my hands. I was amazed to see that hours had passed since I’d headed out. I also felt surprised and a little guilty to realise that my thoughts hadn’t strayed to Mum too. Perhaps the expression about time being a great healer wasn’t a cliché after all. ‘I had an early wander and then started sorting the henhouse.’

‘Just as well,’ Grandad smiled as he loaded our plates with bacon, scrambled eggs, grilled mushrooms and tomatoes, ‘because I spoke to Jake at Skylark Farm earlier and as well as the straw, he’s got three hens we can have. They’re an ex-battery trio. Still a bit rough around the edges, but perfectly healthy and laying well.’

I abhorred all forms of intensive farming and rather liked the thought of giving some ex-battery girls a happy retirement. They were going to love clearing out the fruit cages at the end of the summer.

‘What’s the fox situation like here?’ I asked. ‘Will we need to keep them in a big run of some sort?’

I hoped not.

‘I haven’t seen one for a while so I don’t think so. I reckon they’ll stick to scratching about the yard. They’ll soon settle in with the house to use as a bolt-hole should they need it.’

‘Will the cat bother them?’

‘She never showed any interest before, but we’ll keep an ear out, just to be on the safe side. Now, eat your breakfast and then you can tell me what you came back from town thinking about yesterday, because I know there was something.’

With breakfast cleared away and a leg of lamb ready to go in the oven, Grandad and I carried on talking while we prepped the potatoes and other veg at the table.

‘I hope you don’t mind me inviting the Randall clan,’ he said as I counted the potatoes I’d peeled ready for roasting. ‘It’s been a while since I’ve been able to have people around.’

‘Of course, I don’t mind,’ I told him. ‘They’re your friends.’ I was already genuinely fond of Bec and Louise. My feelings for Eliot put him in a completely different category of course, but I wasn’t going to let them impact on Grandad’s desire to entertain. ‘And they’ve fast become mine too,’ I therefore added. ‘It will be lovely to spend the afternoon together.’

‘It’ll be too hot to eat in here though,’ Grandad pointed out.

With the oven heating up it was almost too warm already.

‘Let’s eat outside then,’ I suggested. ‘We did that when you were poorly and it was lovely under the tree. Although we balanced the plates on our laps then. I’m not sure we’ll be able to do that with a full roast dinner.’

‘There’s an old table in the barn,’ Grandad reminisced. ‘Years ago, we used to drag that out to eat in the shade.’

A memory of watching the Larkin clan from The Darling Buds of May on television doing something similar sprang to mind and I imagined me, Grandad and the Randall family in their place.

‘Let’s do that then,’ I smiled. ‘I’ll ask Bec and Eliot to give me a hand setting it up as soon as they arrive.’

With lunch plans finalised, I took a deep breath.

‘And now I’m going to tell you what happened during my trip to town yesterday, other than in the library. Thank you for talking to your friend by the way. She let me use the computer as a result.’

Distracted by Eliot’s presence when I arrived back, I’d forgotten to thank Grandad for that.

‘I thought she might,’ he smiled. ‘But that’s not what’s been on your mind, is it?’

‘No,’ I confirmed. ‘I’m more preoccupied with something that could be a great opportunity for Fenview Farm.’

Grandad listened intently as I presented Jemma’s idea. I made it sound as appealing as possible, which wasn’t difficult given that it was such a wonderful idea, but it still didn’t stop his brow