Darla was puzzled. She figured they’d only eat what they liked. ‘Who eats the wheat then?’
‘The geese, but you have to put it in the bucket of water?’
Was he winding her up? This was all sounding a bit complicated and she’d not read any of this in her library books although she had mainly been looking at the pictures and trying to skim-read them. They weren’t the most riveting reads. ‘Why would I put their food in water?’
‘It stops the rats and mice eating it.’
‘Ahh that’s clever. Eek, rats?’ Darla hopped from one foot to the other whilst scanning the ground for any sign of vermin.
Elliott exhaled heavily. She got the feeling he was despairing with her. ‘They mainly emerge at dusk and they move about most at night-time.’
Darla gave an elaborate shudder. ‘Are there many of them?’ But she immediately held up her palm, making Elliott pull his head back. ‘Don’t tell me – I don’t want to know.’ She took a moment to calm herself. ‘Okay. I put the wheat in the water for the geese. What should I feed the ducks?’
‘They eat the pellets.’
‘Yay, I got something right.’ She carried on quickly before Elliott pointed out that she’d actually given all the animals some of the pellets. ‘And the goats. What should I feed them?’
Elliott was scratching his head. ‘Do you know anything about animals?’
‘Rude. And yes, I am well versed in many types of animals but mainly the domesticated kind.’
Elliott smirked. ‘These are domesticated.’
Darla threw up her arms. ‘I know you’re winding me up. I won’t be letting them inside the house. I’m not that daft.’ She lifted her chin. ‘Back to the goats, what do they eat?’
‘Hay,’ he said and he strolled away.
Hay? ‘Hang on!’ she called and she bounded after him. ‘I don’t have much hay.’ She’d used most of it for beds for the chickens. How was she to know it was goat food? ‘I’m expecting a food delivery sometime next week but those guys are going to need some to tide them over.’
Elliott stopped walking. ‘And?’
‘And . . . as my lovely new neighbour I thought you might be able to help me out.’ Darla beamed him her best smile.
Elliott harrumphed. ‘Hay doesn’t come free you know.’
‘I’m sure we can come to an arrangement.’
Elliott looked shocked and then Darla realised her mistake. ‘Oh no, no, no. I wasn’t offering sex in exchange for hay.’ Elliott’s eyebrows shot up even higher. ‘I wasn’t meaning to offer sex at all. I meant eggs. I have lots of eggs. Not my eggs. Chickens’ eggs! The hens are like machines. I’ll swap eggs for hay. Deal?’ She held her hand out and he glared at it.
‘Fine.’ He shook her hand briskly and stomped off.
‘Bye, Elliott. Lovely to see you again,’ she called after him but she got no reply. She’d wear him down eventually; she always did.
***
The kiss had thrown Ros far more than she liked to admit. Although it made more sense when she realised her dad had walked into the kitchen behind her and if Cameron hadn’t stopped her talking she could well have given the game away. With hindsight she felt there may have been a number of other options available to Cameron rather than resorting to close personal contact. However, what she hadn’t banked on was her whole body reacting to his kiss. It hadn’t lasted long but wow, had it made a big impression. But then, she’d not kissed anyone for over a year so it was to be expected. Kissing was a very intimate thing and an area they had not fully thought through. There was only one way to solve it: get Cameron over for another workshop. They had to work around his shifts and university studies so they had agreed that Thursday evening was best for them both.
First, she had to get through the follow-up to the team awayday. Ros put on a smile and joined her team in one of the company breakout rooms where their yacht captain from the awayday was already waiting.
‘Welcome, Ros, nice to see you’ve fully dried out,’ he said.
‘Yes, thank you.’ Ros had heard most of the jokes since they’d returned to work.
Alastair strode in and broke into a grin as soon as he spotted Ros, which was not something she was used to. Rarely did he smile in her presence. ‘How’s the little mermaid today?’
‘Fine thanks. And you are hilarious as always, Alastair.’ Ros checked her watch. There was still two minutes until the meeting officially started.
The captain did some more unnecessary introductions before revealing a flip chart. She liked that he was prepared; it instantly settled Ros. She scanned the flip chart; it bore no resemblance to what she’d experienced. She raised her hand. ‘Yes, Ros.’
‘Sorry, is that the right list?’ she asked.
It made the captain have a quick look at the sheet. ‘Yep. Let’s quickly run through it. This is everything we covered on the awayday and what I’m sure you’ve all been applying in the office.’ There were a few shared guilty looks. Ros remained utterly confused. The captain read out the list. ‘Connecting on a personal level which we did on the day as part of the initial icebreaker. Uniting around a common purpose.’ Ros must have been frowning because the captain looked straight at her. ‘Which was when we came together to crew the yacht.’
‘Oh I see. Yes,’ said Ros.
‘Gaining new skills,’ he continued.
‘Like walking on water,’ said Alistair. This time everyone laughed.
Ros acknowledged the joke with a smile and a nod. She could see it was funny from their perspective.
‘Improved communication,’ said the captain. ‘Coming together as a cohesive team and celebrating success.’
Sonia was scribbling feverishly in her notebook.
‘Sorry,’ said Ros, holding up a finger. ‘Did I miss the last three things?’
‘Err.’ The captain seemed unsure as to whether Ros was being serious or not. ‘I only think you missed a little of the celebrations because you were getting dry.’
