‘Any update from the hospital?’ asked Ros.

Barry appeared bemused for a moment before he spoke. ‘I’m not expecting one.’

‘No news is good news,’ said Cameron.

‘Let’s hope,’ said Ros, getting out the carving knife. ‘Cameron took me to the cricket at Hoglands Park yester-day.’ They had both really enjoyed themselves. But best of all it gave them something they could confidently talk about in front of her dad.

‘It was cricket or a musical,’ said Cameron.

‘I’ve never liked musicals,’ said Barry. That was a much shorter conversation about their cricket trip than she’d been hoping for. ‘How’s work?’ he asked. Ros couldn’t be sure but she felt he darted a stern look in Cameron’s direction, or she could have been imagining that look being his thinly veiled disapproval at Cameron being a student and not having a full-time job – although she may have read far too much into one simple glance.

‘Work was the usual bunfight. They say we have to work collaboratively but that only works if everyone is at the same competency level. They’re not, so I end up checking what they’ve done so I might as well just do it myself in the first place.’

‘But if you show them how to do it to your standards, they will become competent and you’ll have less to do,’ said Cameron.

Ros was shocked by what she felt was a challenge and she could see Barry was watching them closely. ‘But it would still need to be checked,’ she said.

‘Maybe to start with but eventually you’d be able to trust them. Might be worth a go. A little time invested now might save you in the longer term. Life’s a team sport – that’s all I’m saying.’ Cameron turned his attention back to Gazza.

‘I suppose,’ said Ros. That was as much as she would concede. ‘And as if it wasn’t bad enough to spend all day with these people there’s the annual social on Friday night that I have to attend.’

‘What’s this?’ asked Cameron, popping back up.

‘It’s the annual Easter barbecue at the CEO’s place that Ros complains about every year,’ said Barry. ‘But at least this time she won’t be going on her own. Will it be the first time you’ve met her colleagues, Cameron?’ asked Barry.

‘He’s not coming,’ said Ros.

‘Why not?’ asked Barry. ‘You always say it’s worse than going to a wedding alone because even though everyone brings partners to a wedding at least the food is edible.’

Ros needed a good excuse and quickly. ‘He can’t come because he’s busy with his thing,’ she said very unconvincingly.

‘I’m not anymore. My thing is off,’ said Cameron, with his trademark grin in place. He clearly found this amusing. ‘And who doesn’t have fun at a barbecue?’

‘Ros,’ said Barry, tipping his glass in her direction.

‘I simply don’t understand why they are so popular,’ said Ros. ‘You have a perfectly good oven inside so why burn things over charcoal in what is inevitably inclement weather, especially around Easter? Usually the person cooking only does barbecues and is therefore without any competent cooking skills resulting in frequently undercooked meat, leaving you vulnerable to salmonella, E. coli, yersinia, and other bacteria.’

‘Really not a fan then,’ said Cameron, and Barry chuckled.

‘I wouldn’t attend at all, but apparently the CEO takes it personally if people cry off. I go along for an hour, make a point of talking to the CEO, his wife and my boss, and once people have had a few drinks they don’t notice when I leave.’

‘It won’t be as bad this year,’ said Cameron. ‘I’ll be there.’

Ros forced a smile. ‘Right. If you’re sure.’ There was an awkward moment and Ros busied herself with getting out plates ready for serving.

‘I was speaking to your Uncle Pete,’ said Barry. Ros’s mind flashed back to the overheard conversation.

‘That’s nice. How is he?’

‘He’s fine. Touch of sciatica, but it’s not stopped him golfing so it can’t be that bad. He said you’ve not changed your relationship status on Facebook.’

‘What now?’ said Ros, starting to get food out of the oven.

‘Pete says you’ve not put up any pictures of you and Cameron and that you’re down as single on the internet.’ He leaned towards Cameron. ‘I don’t understand it myself but Pete’s into that sort of thing. He said it’s the first thing you youngsters change.’

‘I’ve changed mine,’ said Cameron. ‘I’ll try not to be offended that she’s not said we’re in a relationship but she has been super busy with work.’ He picked up a tea towel and took the hot tray off her. ‘I’m sure she’ll get around to changing it soon.’

‘Er, yes. I will. I don’t really like social media. I rarely post any updates. I don’t see the point. It was Darla who made me join.’

‘I said it would be something like that,’ said Barry, inspecting his magnificent Yorkshire puddings as Cameron carefully put down the tray. ‘Let’s eat.’

Thankfully the rest of the meal went without anything contentious popping up. Ros gave Cameron a lift back to his digs as he’d got the bus over to avoid the rain that had been forecast but never materialised.

‘I think that went well. Definitely better than last week,’ he said.

‘I agree. It was a shame we didn’t get to say more about the cricket, but I don’t think we needed it in the end. Once you got him talking how he got Gazza, there was no shutting him up. Great call by the way.’

‘Thanks. It wasn’t a ploy to get him talking, I was genuinely interested.’ He pointed ahead. ‘Next left and then it’s the third house on the right.’

‘Oh.’ She’d not realised Cameron was actually interested in her dad’s story. ‘And thanks for saying you’d come to my boss’s barbecue but you really don’t have to. That’s definitely above and beyond our contract.’

‘I think I’d quite like to go. If you don’t mind. I don’t want to cause you issues at work but if I don’t go it might make Barry suspicious unless we lie about me going and I think the less we lie about the better.’

That was unexpected. Ros had a think about how that would look to her boss and colleagues. Given that the feedback she’d had was that she didn’t get on well with anyone in the office, perhaps showing them that she was capable of getting on with someone would be a bonus. ‘It’s up to you,’ said Ros, pulling up outside the house.

‘Great, I’ll see you Friday.’

‘Do we not need to have a flip cha—’

‘Ros, you need to relax. We are doing great. Your dad suspects nothing and neither will your work mates. Call me if anything comes up. Bye.’ And he got out of the car.

***

It was Monday afternoon when Darla had a chance to walk down to the farm and ask Lee about the hay bales. It was either a joke or a mistake and either way she wanted to check she wasn’t going to receive an unexpected charge for them all. She probably did need all the hay because the goats were eating it at a startling rate but then in their defence they had been living off duck pellets for a few days. She was going to ask if he could somehow bill the owners of The Brambles although she wasn’t sure who that would be. Obviously it wasn’t poor Horace but she assumed someone somewhere was inheriting the lovely property and its assorted menagerie.

She wandered up the farm track and into the yard. There was the sound of a radio in one of the barns so she followed the sound of Harry Styles. As she got closer she could hear someone singing along to ‘As It Was’ and she spotted a green overall sticking out from behind a muddy tractor. When he missed the high note she spluttered a laugh but quickly changed it into a greeting. ‘Hiya,’ she called, expecting it to be Lee.

Elliott’s scowl appeared.

‘Oh, Elliott. I didn’t have you down as a Harry Styles fan.’

‘It’s just the radio,’ he said, breaking eye contact as he wiped his hands on a cloth and walked around to the front of the tractor. He constantly had a look on his face as if he was waiting for bad news. ‘Are you taking care of Horace’s animals?’ he asked as if keen to change the subject.

‘They’re all still alive and very vocal so I think that means they’re all fine. And I’m really enjoying living there. It’s a bit of a juggling act as I’m a cleaner and a bar worker as well as doing the house-sitting.’ He hadn’t asked about her but that wasn’t going to stop Darla giving him an update. He nodded and she continued. ‘I’d like to make a few changes but I need the okay before I can do that. There’s a lot of furniture in a small space so I was thinking maybe—’

‘Sorry,’ he said, cutting her off. ‘Is there something I can help you with?’ he asked.

‘Yes. I came to ask about the hay.’