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

he was hotly denying it. I hoped I wasn’t about to find myself capable of applying the same aphorism to Eliot.

Anthony ran a hand through his hair which fell neatly back into place and I immediately thought of Eliot’s hair which never laid right when he’d been on his bike and how he didn’t care at all. I would have been hard pushed to find two more different men anywhere on the planet.

‘Okay,’ Anthony began. ‘Well, it was the arrival of the bike that first got folk talking.’

‘The Ducati?’

‘Yes. How much would you say a bike like that would set you back?’

I puffed out my cheeks and thought about the catalogues and price lists Marco used to leave lying about. I did a quick mental calculation, exchanging euros for pound sterling.

‘Depending on the model, but brand new, somewhere between fifteen and thirty-five thousand, I would think.’

Anthony whistled under his breath. ‘Thirty-five thousand. Jeez.’

‘That’s top of the range,’ I pointed out. ‘I don’t know where the bike that Eliot rides fits on that scale.’

‘How do you know about the prices though?’ Anthony asked. ‘I wouldn’t have had a clue.’

‘I have a Ducati obsessed friend,’ I said. ‘Besides Eliot, I mean.’

‘Fair enough.’

‘I don’t see how Eliot buying a motorbike could be cause for gossip.’ I shrugged.

Anthony leant further forward. ‘You don’t think it’s a bit strange that a guy who still lives at home with his mother and sister and who cares for old folk for a living, could afford a machine like that?’

‘Not really,’ I said. ‘Plenty of people have finance. He’s probably making payments. Living with Louise must be cheaper than living alone so he could afford to do that.’

‘But what if it’s all paid for?’

‘How do you know it is?’

‘I don’t,’ Anthony admitted, sitting back again. ‘But let’s pretend we do and it is.’

‘Okay,’ I said. ‘Well maybe he had a win on the lottery.’

‘Not likely.’

‘Inherited some money then?’

‘Bingo,’ said Anthony. ‘That’s more like it. Well, sort of.’

‘How can you sort of inherit some money?’

‘If an elderly woman you’re looking after dies and she leaves you a lump sum in her will.’

‘Well, there’s no law against that, is there?’ I snapped, not at all liking the libellous insinuation this obviously nasty rumour was gearing up to infer.

‘If the person named in the will had undue influence over the person who died, then there most likely is.’ Anthony expanded. ‘If the person in the position of trust made themselves indispensable and made the other person feel beholden to them…’

‘So, that’s what this rumour amounts to, is it?’ I interrupted, narrowing my eyes. ‘That Eliot looked after this woman with a view to getting his hands on her estate?’

Who on earth could possibly think that? Certainly, none of the people I’d come across in Wynbridge or the surrounding countryside. Granted, my social circle might have been somewhat limited, but it didn’t alter the fact that what Anthony was saying was absurd.

‘From what I’ve heard, yes,’ he confirmed.

I shook my head, rolled my eyes and reached for my glass again. The look on Anthony’s face suggested that wasn’t the reaction he had been expecting.

‘You’re not at all concerned about that?’ he asked. ‘Given this guy’s closeness to your grandad. You’re not at all troubled?’

‘You just told me,’ I swiftly reminded him, ‘to promise you that I would remember that this is just a rumour. Idle town gossip and hearsay, were your exact words.’

‘But even so…’

‘No,’ I said, cutting him off. ‘This is ridiculous, Anthony. Eliot’s loved by absolutely everyone.’ I felt my face flush a little when I said that. ‘I might not have been in the area long, but I’ve never heard or seen anything to back this nastiness up.’

We sat in silence for a minute or two then. I finished my champagne and Anthony ground his teeth. He looked more than a little put out that I had dismissed him so adamantly.

‘I only mentioned it out of concern for your grandfather,’ he eventually said.

‘I’m sure you had the best of intentions,’ I responded, although actually I wasn’t all that convinced he had.

‘It’s just that Eliot’s always had an eye for things that don’t belong to him,’ he then carried on, encouraged by my comment. ‘He was cautioned for shoplifting when we were at school and, having heard the rumour, I’ve been wondering if he might have moved on to bigger things than aftershave and PlayStation games.’

‘Are you suggesting that he’s got his eye on inheriting Fenview Farm?’ I snapped. ‘Because that’s preposterous!’

‘I’m not suggesting anything,’ Anthony recoiled, but he clearly was.

The date wasn’t going how I had expected it to at all. I might have agreed to it to make Eliot think I wasn’t still harbouring feelings for him, but after our heated moment in the library and the way I had just defended him to Anthony, I wasn’t sure it was worth it. Perhaps denial was futile.

‘Are you all right?’ Anthony asked. ‘You look a bit peaky.’

‘I’m fine,’ I told him. ‘But I would like to go home now, if that’s all right with you?’

‘I’ve ruined the evening, haven’t I?’ he said, with a hangdog expression.

‘Yes,’ I truthfully said. ‘You have.’

We were both quiet on the taxi journey home and my head was spinning. I knew what Anthony had told me was total rubbish, but now it was stuck in my head and I resented him for that. I briefly wondered if I should mention it all to Eliot, but knowing it would upset him, I resolved to try and forget about it. Easier said than done of course.

I noticed the stars were shining as the taxi reached the drove road which led to the farm. There wasn’t a single bit of cloud cover. Had the meal gone better, it would have been a romantic end to the evening. Not that I had romantic feelings towards Anthony. Far from them now.

‘I’m sorry I’ve messed up,’ he said.

‘It’s fine,’ I replied, although it wasn’t. ‘You don’t really believe it though,