Trust Me by Nell Grey

Author:Nell Grey [Grey, Nell]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2020-07-30T16:00:00+00:00

I’m surprised a couple of days later when Alun, my next-door neighbour, pulls up on the yard in his new Range Rover. I haven’t seen him since my mother’s funeral when he’d said again that he’d be calling.

And now he’s here.

Peeking at him through the window as he marches purposefully towards the front door, it doesn’t look like he’s making a social call.

He pulls a face as he steps into the refurbished farmhouse.

“Someone’s been busy.”

He scans the kitchen approvingly.

“You’re safe. The walls and woodwork have just dried.”

I can see him making the calculations in his head. How much the place is worth. With, then without, the land.

Clearing my throat slightly, I draw his attention back to me.

“I’ve been dying to spruce the place up for years.”

“Getting ready to sell?”

“No. I’m keeping the farm.”

I say it firmly and his eyes meet mine, staring at me hard for just a second as if I’m spoiling his plans.

He looks good. Successful. I take in his expensive country-gent designer clothing, and the new top-of-the-range Range Rover parked in the yard.

But, I can’t shake off the shadows of the past. I shudder. Lizard Man.

“You cold?”

He’s being perfectly charming and polite. I’ve made him tea and we sit in the kitchen at the big pine table, now scrubbed clean with a bowl of fruit on it.

“You’ve not been tempted by the money, then?”

He thrusts into the real meat of the conversation, cutting to the chase.

“You could get a fair bit for a place like this.”

“No. I’m staying.”

Alun’s face twitches.

“But, what about your job in London?”

I don’t want to go into that with him.

“I’ve left. Time for a new start, back here.”

He sips his tea and stares at me intensely.

“And what you gonna do when Jac goes?”

“What?”

Taking in my blank stare, he continues, smugly.

“Sorry, Annie, I thought you knew... He’s asked me to buy his sheep off him. We’ve agreed a price.”

“When?”

I'm summoning everything I have within me to retain my composure, although I’m certain that Alun’s noticed.

“He’ll be gone by June.”

I gulp my tea.

“If you’re interested, I’d like to rent the land after?”

I shrug noncommittally, my mind still reeling.

“Sure.”

Now he’s said what he came to say, Alun rises to leave. He has no time to waste.

“How about we talk it over again after you’ve had time to think it through? Over dinner?”

I nod, numbly.

“I’ll be in touch.”

Alun’s car has barely left the farmyard, when I grab my coat and hastily leave the house, scouring the place in search of Jac.

I scan the yard, then rush through the old stone sheds.

He’s not there and the tractor’s out.

The lambing season will be starting any day now. Then, he’ll be working around the clock. I was going to offer to help him, but after Alun’s bombshell, everything’s up in the air.

And if Alun’s right, things are more than a little broken between us. Unfixable even.

But, I can break this stupid silence.

I need, at least, to have it out with him. And apologise for what I said.

I spot him over in the field we call Windy Corner.

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