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

‘No dice,’ I quickly said and the two of them laughed to have turned the tables on me.

Grandad spent a few minutes taking everything in and by the time he’d finished, he looked a little tearful himself.

‘You’d never think it was the same place,’ he sniffed. ‘And I can see what you had in mind for that old sacking now,’ he added. ‘It doesn’t look too bad, does it?’

I went to say something, but spotted him wink at Eliot so knew he was teasing.

‘You’ve done a grand job,’ he then said. ‘I never would have believed it could look like this.’

‘And this is just one corner,’ I pointed out. ‘Think how it’ll look when it’s full.’

Grandad nodded and looked around again.

‘I’ve made tea,’ he said huskily, ‘so come up to the house when you’re ready.’

Eliot and I gave him a few minutes to recover. We both knew the significance of what I was trying to achieve and what a difference it could make to the future of the farm. We finished checking everything was as perfect as possible and then pulled the doors shut.

‘I know Bec still wants to help,’ I smiled at Eliot as I made sure they were bolted tight, ‘but I don’t want her seeing it until tomorrow night now.’

‘I don’t blame you,’ he agreed. ‘Otherwise the whole town will know what it looks like before you’ve even started.’

‘There is that,’ I laughed, though I’d been thinking more of watching her reaction to seeing it all set up for the first time.

‘She’s helping out in the evening though, isn’t she?’ Eliot asked. ‘With the serving and stuff.’

‘Yes,’ I said. ‘Between the two of us we should be able to manage.’

‘Three,’ he said. ‘I’ll be helping too, don’t forget.’

‘You don’t have to,’ I told him. ‘I know you’ve got a full-on workday, so I wasn’t expecting you to.’

‘I know you weren’t,’ he said. ‘But I want to. If that’s all right? This is a huge deal for the farm and I want to be a part of it. That is okay, isn’t it?’ he frowned.

‘Of course,’ I swallowed. ‘I just didn’t want you feeling you had to when you’d been on the go all day. I’m more than happy for you to find a seat and let the food come to you.’

‘Are you sure about that?’ he asked, one eyebrow cocked. ‘You’re not trying to keep me out of the way, are you?’

‘What?’ I frowned. ‘No, of course not.’

There was no way I could explain to him that I wanted him in one corner, this guy Anthony, who I’d been out with and who was bad-mouthing him, in the other and never the twain should meet, without revealing the mess I’d made of things. Far better to feign ignorance instead.

‘You’re not worried about me bumping into your boyfriend?’ Eliot then shockingly asked.

‘Who?’ I blustered.

‘Bill happened to mention after lunch, that the chap you went out to dinner with the other week is going to be here.’

I wondered if that accounted for Eliot’s change of mood. I was rather annoyed that Grandad had said anything.

‘Oh,’ I said. ‘Right. Yes, he is, but he’s not my boyfriend. I only went out with him to…’

The words had rushed into my mouth before I could stop them, but I forced them back down.

‘Yes?’

‘Oh,’ I said. ‘It doesn’t matter now.’

‘Well, I’m relieved he’s not your boyfriend,’ Eliot smiled. ‘Because I don’t go around kissing women who are already spoken for. I was worried I’d broken the unwritten rule.’

‘You haven’t,’ I huskily said. ‘You didn’t.’

‘That’s all right then,’ he said back.

‘Perfectly all right,’ I agreed.

But of course it wasn’t all right, and I was already spoken for, because my heart unreservedly now belonged to him.

Chapter 23

I lost count of the number of times I snuck out to try and call Anthony that evening. Either my phone signal dropped out before the call had connected or he didn’t answer when it did. In the end I gave up and resigned myself to hoping that I would be able to grab a few minutes with him prior to everyone else arriving. It wasn’t ideal, but it was the best I could do.

‘So,’ said Grandad, peering at the laptop screen as I prepared to make my first call to Puglia, ‘are you sure you know how this works?’

‘Yes,’ I told him. ‘It’s ever so easy. Sit here next to me and I’ll introduce you to everyone.’

If possible, my heart was hammering even faster than it had been when I’d locked lips with Eliot in the barn. It felt like for ever since I’d seen my Italian family and I couldn’t wait to fill them in on everything that had been happening. A written email was all well and good, but actually seeing them was going to be wonderful.

‘No, no,’ said Grandad, hastily backing towards the kitchen door. ‘You say your hellos first and I’ll come back in after I’ve checked the hens.’

He sounded nervous, and truth be told, I was a bit jittery myself. Once he’d gone, I wiped my hands down my jeans, took a deep breath and pressed the button to connect the two farms. I kept my fingers crossed, hoping that Marco would pick up and I didn’t have to wait many seconds before he did.

‘Ciao Fliss!’

‘Marco!’ I beamed as his familiar face and the backdrop of the comfortable Rossi kitchen filled the screen.

My nerves disappeared in less time than it took my heart to beat again.

‘Papà!’ he shouted over his shoulder. ‘Vieni qui, papà! Nonna! Come stai, Fliss?’

‘I’m well,’ I smiled back. ‘Really well. How are you all?’

‘Fliss!’ shouted Alessandro, appearing suddenly in shot and looking a little red in the face. ‘This is a surprise. How are things?’

‘Il mio bambino!’ I heard Nonna call out before she also appeared. ‘What has taken you so long?’

Once they were seated so they could all see the screen, I explained that the farm had finally been connected to the