‘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.’
‘Is there a problem with it?’
‘Not a problem as such. I asked Lee for a small supply and he built a wall with it in the back garden. There’s like twelve great big cubes of the stuff.’
She could see Elliott was trying to hide a smirk. ‘Twelve bales would be a small supply to Lee. We go through a lot here with the sheep.’
‘Okay. It’s just that that’s probably quite expensive and more than a basket of eggs, so I was wondering if you could bill it back to whoever owns The Brambles now. Is that okay?’
‘Don’t worry about payment for those. Horace can have them on me. He’s been a good neighbour over the years.’
Darla saw a chink in Elliott’s armour and dived in. ‘What was he like?’
‘Horace?’ A hint of a smile briefly appeared. ‘He loved his animals and nature. He was a belligerent old bugger but he knew all there was to know about farming. His advice got me out of a few problems more than once.’
‘I bet you miss him.’
‘Yeah.’ Elliott looked sad but then as if he remembered who he was talking to his head snapped up and he frowned at Darla. ‘Was there anything else because I’ve got things to be getting on with?’
‘Um . . .’ But while she was thinking of something else to say he disappeared behind the tractor. ‘Take care, Elliott. Hopefully see you again soon,’ she said but the radio went back on and she was drowned out by Ed Sheeran.
