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

of disappointment attached to that realisation. I should have been pleased that he was as committed to keeping us on the straight and narrow as I was, but I wasn’t.

At least Grandad looked delighted.

‘I’m actually looking forward to it now,’ he chuckled. ‘It’s going to be quite an adventure, I think!’

‘You’ll have to give Bill a lesson in cyber safety, Eliot,’ Louise laughed. ‘Otherwise goodness knows where he’s going to end up.’

She had a point.

‘The engineer will be coming out next week,’ Eliot said, turning his attention back to Grandad. ‘And when we’ve finished at the hospital tomorrow Bill, we’ll go and see about a laptop. There’s a place in town where you can pick up a perfectly decent reconditioned one for a fraction of the price of something brand new.’

Grandad looked even more thrilled.

‘I thought I was taking you to the hospital,’ I said, quickly recovering. ‘I’ve scheduled the time out into tomorrow’s work.’

Eliot shook his head.

‘That step into the Land Rover is too high,’ he said, ‘and then you’ve got to negotiate getting out at the other end.’

‘There are plenty of apple crates kicking around here that we could use as an intermediary step,’ I pointed out. ‘It will be a darn sight easier than Grandad swinging his leg over the back of your Ducati.’

Everyone was quiet for a moment and then as one we all burst out laughing, our heads filled with an image of Grandad in bike leathers, riding pillion.

‘You wouldn’t get me on that thing,’ he said, taking out his handkerchief to wipe his eyes, ‘even without the trick hip.’

Eliot caught my eye and I started laughing again.

‘So, what is happening then?’ I asked.

‘I’m going to lend Eliot my car,’ said Bec, ‘and I’ll come here and help you with the strawing up. If you think I’ll be able to get the hang of it, that is. I thought you might fancy a bit of company.’

She had no idea what she was letting herself in for, but she was right. A bit of company, hers especially, would be wonderful and we’d hopefully get through the work all the faster.

‘All right,’ I agreed. ‘Just be prepared for stiff legs and an aching back at the end of the day.’

I could have quite easily taken umbrage that they’d organised things without asking me, but I was well aware that they all had Grandad’s best interests at heart and I needed to remember that they had been helping him long before I came on the scene. They weren’t meddling, or taking over, they were simply and kindly pulling together, just like the Rossis did in times of need and of course, many hands really did make light work.

I was awake bright and early again the next morning and, having wished Grandad luck for his post-op follow-up appointment at the hospital, I headed to the strawberry field for round two. So immersed in the task in hand, I didn’t hear the Banana-mobile arrive but that was probably no bad thing.

Eliot’s little speech the evening before, combined with the rugged stubble and dazzling smile he’d bestowed upon me at Skylark Farm, had cranked my feelings for him up another notch and I was really beginning to doubt my ability to keep a lid on them. All the while I’d been thinking that he was the one who needed to get a grip, but actually it turned out, I was having just as much difficulty, if not more, than him.

What I needed was a distraction, something other than the farm. Something that wasn’t in any way connected to Eliot. Perhaps a dalliance with someone else would stop my traitorous heart constantly undoing all the good work my head was struggling to do and convince Eliot that I was sticking to our self-imposed rules? It was certainly food for thought.

‘How’s that?’ puffed Bec, stepping back to admire her first attempt after I’d shown her the most efficient way to get the straw from the bale and into the rows. ‘I know I’m much slower than you, but that’s not too bad, is it?’ she asked, pushing her sweaty curls away from her face.

It was already a sweltering day; I’d applied plenty of sunblock and stripped down to my bikini top and shorts and Bec, with her pale skin, was turning rather pink in spite of the factor fifty. I hoped she wasn’t regretting her offer to help.

‘Perfect,’ I told her, even though some of the straw needed thinning out a bit. ‘I think you deserve a strawberry for that, possibly even two.’

She immediately plucked a succulent beauty from the row and popped it in her mouth.

‘Oh wow,’ she said, practically swooning in the row. ‘That’s so good. Fenview fruit really is the best.’

‘I know,’ I winked, picking a berry for myself. ‘That’s why we’re the exclusive suppliers to the best café in Wynbridge and we’ve got you to thank for that.’

She gave a little curtsy and we both laughed.

‘I didn’t realise,’ she said, looking about her, ‘until Bill showed me and Eliot this field last night, just how big the strawberry plot is. How on earth are you going to manage to keep on top of it when you have everything else to do?’

‘Well,’ I told her, ‘I’m a pretty fast picker and I’ll only need to go over the rows every other day, so as long as I’m out here every day and working my way through at least half, it should be fine.’

‘That’s a big commitment.’

‘It’s life on a fruit farm,’ I simply said. ‘The season is relatively short, but it’s intense when everything starts to come in.’

‘You know, if you want an extra pair of hands, you only have to ask. I’ve only got three shifts a week at the café, so I can always help out here around them.’

‘That’s really kind, Bec,’ I told her. ‘But we couldn’t afford to pay you.’

‘I wasn’t expecting you to. That’s not why I asked.’

‘I’m not sure Grandad would be happy