A Taste of Home by Heidi Swain

Author:Heidi Swain [Swain, Heidi]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Simon & Schuster UK
Published: 2021-04-28T18:30:00+00:00

* * *

I was awake bright and early again the next morning and, having wished Grandad luck for his post-op follow-up appointment at the hospital, I headed to the strawberry field for round two. So immersed in the task in hand, I didn’t hear the Banana-mobile arrive but that was probably no bad thing.

Eliot’s little speech the evening before, combined with the rugged stubble and dazzling smile he’d bestowed upon me at Skylark Farm, had cranked my feelings for him up another notch and I was really beginning to doubt my ability to keep a lid on them. All the while I’d been thinking that he was the one who needed to get a grip, but actually it turned out, I was having just as much difficulty, if not more, than him.

What I needed was a distraction, something other than the farm. Something that wasn’t in any way connected to Eliot. Perhaps a dalliance with someone else would stop my traitorous heart constantly undoing all the good work my head was struggling to do and convince Eliot that I was sticking to our self-imposed rules? It was certainly food for thought.

‘How’s that?’ puffed Bec, stepping back to admire her first attempt after I’d shown her the most efficient way to get the straw from the bale and into the rows. ‘I know I’m much slower than you, but that’s not too bad, is it?’ she asked, pushing her sweaty curls away from her face.

It was already a sweltering day; I’d applied plenty of sunblock and stripped down to my bikini top and shorts and Bec, with her pale skin, was turning rather pink in spite of the factor fifty. I hoped she wasn’t regretting her offer to help.

‘Perfect,’ I told her, even though some of the straw needed thinning out a bit. ‘I think you deserve a strawberry for that, possibly even two.’

She immediately plucked a succulent beauty from the row and popped it in her mouth.

‘Oh wow,’ she said, practically swooning in the row. ‘That’s so good. Fenview fruit really is the best.’

‘I know,’ I winked, picking a berry for myself. ‘That’s why we’re the exclusive suppliers to the best café in Wynbridge and we’ve got you to thank for that.’

She gave a little curtsy and we both laughed.

‘I didn’t realise,’ she said, looking about her, ‘until Bill showed me and Eliot this field last night, just how big the strawberry plot is. How on earth are you going to manage to keep on top of it when you have everything else to do?’

‘Well,’ I told her, ‘I’m a pretty fast picker and I’ll only need to go over the rows every other day, so as long as I’m out here every day and working my way through at least half, it should be fine.’

‘That’s a big commitment.’

‘It’s life on a fruit farm,’ I simply said. ‘The season is relatively short, but it’s intense when everything starts to come in.’

‘You know, if you want an extra pair of hands, you only have to ask.

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