A Wedding at the Beach Hut: The escapist and feel-good read of 2020 from the bestselling author of THE BEACH HUT by Veronica Henry

Author:Veronica Henry [Henry, Veronica]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Orion
Published: 2020-05-27T18:30:00+00:00

26

Mick was in the yard, creosoting the fence that led to the exercise paddock, when his phone went. He didn’t recognise the chirrup of his ring tone at first for he hardly ever used his phone. But the ringing persisted and eventually he pulled it out of his fleece pocket, wiping a few crumbled dog treats and some grass seed off the screen.

It was Geoffrey Minard. He remembered he’d told him not to call Hawksworthy.

‘I don’t want to get Sheila’s hopes up just yet,’ he’d explained.

It was a week since he’d been to see him at his office in Tawcombe, and he’d sort of assumed no news meant, well, no news.

But Geoffrey told him the film director had perked up no end when he described Hawksworthy to him.

‘He’s very interested,’ he said. ‘I showed him an aerial photograph, and the ordnance survey map showing the boundaries. He wants to come and have a proper look. I told him you’re only thinking about it, but he seemed very keen. His wife’s jumping up and down because they haven’t found anywhere suitable yet.’

‘Did you mention a price?’

‘I did.’ Geoffrey sounded pleased with himself. ‘I stuck another couple of hundred grand on to what we talked about. He didn’t seem phased.’

‘Get on!’ said Mick with a chuckle.

‘Of course, come the day he’ll negotiate. But like I said, you can go down, but you can’t go up.’

‘Well,’ said Mick. ‘I’d better talk to Sheila then.’

‘He was wondering about the weekend after next? For a viewing?’

Mick ran through his mental calendar.

‘That’s the weekend before the wedding. But I don’t see why not.’

‘Shall we say Saturday lunchtime? I’ll show him around. You don’t have to get involved.’

‘Yep. Sounds good. Saturday week unless you hear otherwise.’ Mick knew it was important to strike while the iron was hot. He didn’t want his potential buyer to fall in love with somewhere else. You had to be cute with the DFLs – Down From London, it stood for. They assumed everyone who lived in the country was a gormless yokel, but you didn’t keep a farm going for generations without being shrewd. And they always underestimated how much hard work it was, managing land.

He stood for a moment in the yard outside the farmhouse, the April breeze ruffling his hair like an affectionate great aunt. It smelled of fresh grass and spring flowers with a hint of sea. He felt a surge of hope and excitement at the chance for a new beginning. An adventure for him and Sheila. Relief from generations of duty and responsibility. It would be hard to leave, but he suspected it would be harder to stay. For both of them, and eventually for their children. The thought of burdening Robyn and Clover with the decision of when to sell the farm, if he and Sheila became elderly and infirm, was repugnant.

He had spent a long time thinking this through, but Sheila was a long way off thinking about selling. She threw herself into keeping

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.