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

His timely offer of a dinner date could serve a very useful purpose. I hoped that wasn’t too sly of me to think it. For all I knew, he might have been harbouring very different intentions. I would have to make sure I kept things properly platonic between us from the off.

‘I’ll even tell you what I do for a living and what my favourite colour is, if you like?’ he temptingly added.

‘What about, whether you’re a cat or a dog person?’ I quizzed.

‘Naturally.’

‘Whether you believe in ghosts?’

‘Yep.’

‘If you could change one thing about yourself, what it would be?’

‘All that and a whole lot more,’ he promised. ‘So, what do you say?’

‘In that case, how can I possibly resist?’ I grinned. ‘I’d love to have dinner with you.’

We sealed the deal by exchanging mobile numbers and then tucked into the strawberries Bec had picked and taken an age to come back with.

‘I’d really better go,’ he said, once he’d helped polish off the lot.

At least with Bec finally present there was no opportunity for an awkward goodbye kiss.

‘What kept you?’ I asked her as we waved him off.

‘I wanted to give you a bit of time,’ she replied, waggling her eyebrows.

‘Very tactful.’

‘He looked as though he was going to pass out when you sauntered up the row in that top and those low-slung shorts,’ she giggled.

‘I did not saunter,’ I gasped. ‘And these aren’t low-slung,’ I added, hoisting them up, ‘they’re just a bit too big, that’s all.’

‘Well, whatever,’ she said. ‘He definitely liked what he saw.’

Given that she’d hinted that her own brother had designs on me the other night, she didn’t seem all that bothered about me getting on with Anthony, which was a relief. However, if she was right about Anthony’s reaction to seeing me half-dressed, then I was going to have to be mindful of any misleading flirting.

I’d showered and changed by the time Eliot and Grandad got back and so had Bec. She’d borrowed an oversized T-shirt and pair of shorts and I was relieved to find that my muscles felt nowhere near as stiff as they had the day before.

Not only had Bec done more than her share of the work, I must have also been more relaxed while I did mine. Working with her had been a total tonic and I was grateful for her company.

‘So,’ I said to Grandad. ‘How did you get on?’

‘Absolutely fine,’ he proudly said. ‘They were thrilled with the progress I’ve made, weren’t they Eliot?’

‘They were,’ his friend confirmed, that gorgeous smile that I was trying not to think about firmly in place. ‘The consultant said you looked like a new man, didn’t he?’

‘He did,’ said Grandad. ‘And I feel like one too. And,’ he added, ‘we’ve just picked up this new-fangled contraption, by way of celebration.’

The contraption in question was a laptop.

‘I’ll come and set it up at the weekend,’ said Eliot. ‘If that’s all right?’

‘Saturday night?’ Grandad suggested.

‘Perfect,’ said Eliot.

It was perfect too, because Eliot would find out about my dinner date. But what on earth was I going to wear?

I was already planning to pick and take the ripened strawberries to the Cherry Tree Café the next day, so I could have a look in town then. I didn’t think a little retail therapy would go amiss and I’d maybe wear Mum’s bangles for luck. She was always a savvy shopper. And I could ask if I could check my emails in the library too. I was certain I would have a reply from Marco waiting for me. I only hoped it was an understanding one.

Chapter 15

The next morning, there were enough ripe strawberries to fill two trays and I carefully lifted them into the back of the Land Rover with a more surging sense of pride than I’d ever experienced before. Sure, I’d helped pick and transport tonnes of fruit over the years, but none of it had been grown on my own family farm.

This was going to be a very special delivery indeed, and with that knowledge making my chest swell and the comfort of some of Mum’s many bangles familiarly jangling on my wrists, I turned on my phone and took another couple of photos to record the moment for posterity.

‘More pictures,’ chuckled Grandad as he came to look at what I was up to. ‘I’ll have to make sure I’m always looking my best at this rate, in case you get me in the corner of any of your snaps.’

‘I can do better than that!’ I told him.

I switched the camera to selfie mode and took a few shots with us both in the frame. Then I took a couple of him on his own, holding one of the packed punnets of strawberries.

‘How’s that?’ I asked, showing him the results.

‘Really lovely,’ he nodded. ‘That’s a very clever phone you’ve got there, Fliss.’

I passed it to him and he looked more closely at the images.

‘Do you know,’ he said, his tone a little emotional, ‘you look just like your grandmother.’

‘Do I?’

I took the phone back again and looked at myself with fresh eyes.

‘Yes,’ he said. ‘You do. I’ve got some albums in the house somewhere. I’ll have to find them when we get back and then you’ll be able to see the resemblance for yourself.’

‘I’d really like that,’ I told him, before I realised what he’d said. ‘Are you coming to town with me, then?’

He did look a bit spruced up. He’d changed out of his work gear and into the obligatory ‘farmer goes to town’ outfit. In my experience, it was mostly reserved for market days and meetings at the bank.

‘Yes,’ he said. ‘I’ve got an appointment with my solicitor and the bank manager, so we’d better get a move on. The solicitor in particular is a stickler for punctuality.’

‘Right,’ I said. ‘Fair enough. I’ll just get my bag and lock up and then we’ll find a way to get you in and out of the Land Rover