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

help set the scene. The longest strands were going to be powered by electric, while the others, which I could twine around the place settings and bales, were battery operated. They were something I would be using when and if the business properly launched so I wasn’t worried about the money I would be parting with to buy them. It was all part of my, speculate to accumulate and fingers firmly crossed, plan.

On Grandad’s recommendation, I’d called the hardware store in Wynbridge and they were only too happy to oblige me with the lights as they had a few boxes left over from their festive stock. I’d also ordered the batteries from them and added a couple of wallpaper pasting tables to the list as they were cheap and relatively sturdy.

I might not have been able to have everything in the barn exactly how I wanted it, but I was determined to get it looking and feeling as good as possible. I hoped everyone, but especially Jake and Amber, would understand that the evening was a work in progress. I was planning to make notes on what everyone thought had worked, along with anything that hadn’t. Hopefully there wouldn’t be too much to scribble on that page.

I didn’t linger in town, calling only at the café, the hardware store, and the deli for a few extra ingredients. When I got back to the farm, I was surprised to find Anthony’s car parked on the drive. He wasn’t in it, but the low murmur of voices led me to the kitchen where I found him talking to Grandad.

‘Hi,’ I said, walking in and dropping my bag from the deli on the table.

I’d left everything else in the Land Rover, ready to unload straight into the barn.

‘Fuck,’ Anthony swore, as he spun round to face me. ‘Where did you spring from?’

Grandad looked equally as shocked.

‘Town,’ I frowned. ‘I’ve just got back. What’s going on?’

‘Nothing,’ they said together.

‘I’m sorry I swore,’ Anthony apologised. ‘But you really made me jump.’

‘No worries,’ I said, my gaze flicking between the two of them. ‘I’m guessing you were looking for me, Anthony?’

‘What?’

‘That’s right,’ said Grandad. ‘I said you wouldn’t be long so he might as well wait. You were quicker than I thought though.’

For some reason, I got the feeling that was problematic rather than pleasing.

‘Do you two know each other?’ I asked.

‘Yes,’ said Grandad.

‘No,’ said Anthony.

‘Well, you either do or you don’t,’ I pointed out, struggling to read the atmosphere.

It might have been strained because I had made them jump, but then again it could have been something else entirely.

‘Sort of,’ Anthony conceded. ‘A bit. Not well.’

‘Right,’ I said, still none the wiser.

‘Mr Brown has just been telling me about your plans for the barn,’ Anthony carried on. ‘You’ve certainly got some big ideas, Fliss. Have you had the building checked out, like I suggested?’

‘There’s nothing wrong with it,’ I told him, feeling annoyed that Grandad had mentioned what I had in mind. ‘I’ve had a good look over it and it’s fine.’

‘In that case,’ Anthony smiled, ‘I hope I’m invited to the launch this weekend?’

‘It’s not a launch,’ I told him. ‘Just a few friends getting together to talk about the idea and have a look at the venue.’

‘Oh, well that’s even better,’ he said, shoving his hands in his pockets and rocking back on his heels. ‘Just my area of expertise. I’ll be happy to come along and offer an opinion.’

‘Right,’ I uncertainly said.

If it was his opinion about the barn’s safety, then I didn’t want it.

‘I’m a friend after all, aren’t I?’ he laughed.

Suddenly I wasn’t so sure what category I’d put him in, and Grandad’s expression suggested he wasn’t either. What with his banging on about the barn and his repugnant rumour about Eliot, I was rapidly beginning to regret my decision to have dinner with him in an attempt to throw the man I really wanted to be with a curveball.

‘Of course,’ I swallowed.

‘I’ll see you Saturday then,’ he brightly said.

My stomach churned at the thought of him and Eliot being in the barn together. I knew Eliot wouldn’t do anything to jeopardise the smooth running of things, and besides, he surely couldn’t know what Anthony had said he’d heard about him, but I wasn’t sure Anthony would be able to resist making mischief. I didn’t want Eliot knowing it was Anthony I’d been out with now, but their coming together was beginning to feel inevitable.

Watching Anthony in the farm kitchen and noticing Grandad’s reaction to him, I realised, I didn’t really know him very well at all and in the last few minutes my brain had shifted him from convenient smokescreen to explosive loose cannon. It did nothing to settle my nerves.

‘What time are you kicking things off?’ he asked.

‘Seven,’ I said. ‘Or just after.’

‘Well, I’ll see you then. I better get going. Bye, Mr Brown.’

Grandad didn’t answer.

‘I’ll see you off,’ I said, moving to follow him out. ‘I was hoping to have a quick word.’

I wouldn’t get a better, or more private, opportunity to make my feelings about what he had told me about Eliot more forcefully known. There was no way I could risk him coming Saturday night thinking I was in two minds about the integrity and motives of Grandad’s dearest friend. Now was the time to nip all that in the bud.

‘No time,’ he said. ‘I’m in a rush.’

‘Just two minutes.’

‘We’ll catch up on Saturday,’ he nodded and was gone.

Now I’d have to call him instead, which was far from ideal. And as well as repressing the rumour, I’d have to ask him what it was he had come to the farm for too. He’d acknowledged that he’d come to see me, but he hadn’t said why before he’d shot off again.

‘I didn’t know it was him that you’d been seeing,’ Grandad gruffly said as the Audi shot out of the yard.

He didn’t sound impressed.

‘We’ve only been out once,’ I pointed out. ‘The night you gave