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‘Won’t spare the time, you mean.’ There was a distinct wobble in her mother’s voice.
‘Can’t,’ Tasha repeated. ‘The project I’m working on is helping a family-run hospitality business and Easter is their first big event in the calendar. I’m sorry, Mum, but it’s just impossible this year.’
‘But you’ll miss Luna’s first Easter,’ her mother protested, laying her best guilt card on the table.
At the very end of her patience and too old a hand at her mother’s games to fall for it, Tasha snorted. ‘Luna won’t know if I’m there or not. Look, I really have to go.’
‘No, it’s fine. It’s clear you have much more important things to think about than your family. Goodbye, Natasha.’
Tasha jabbed the end-call button, tossed the phone down on the table, threw back her head and screamed.
‘Jesus Christ!’ The shout came from outside and was followed by the clatter of feet on the steps as Rhys appeared on her deck, a box tucked under one arm. ‘What’s wrong? Are you hurt?’ He paused only long enough to toe off his muddy boots before rushing in through the open door towards her.
‘I’m fine. I’m fine!’ Tasha assured him, though she was sure her face must look as if it were on fire with how hard she was blushing.
‘But you were screaming…’ Rhys set the box down on the table, still frowning in concern.
‘A bug flew in and startled me.’ It sounded pathetic even as she said it and she hated giving him the impression she was one of those women who was terrified of everything and needed rescuing every time she found a spider in the bath. But she was just going to have to settle for him thinking that, because there was no way she was going to tell him the truth. He’d only want to know more and he was so nice she’d end up spilling her guts and telling him how her parents had written her off as a sad spinster.
‘Where is it?’ Rhys asked, moving towards her.
‘Where’s what?’
He gave her a look as if he thought she was crazy. ‘The bug you were just screaming about.’
‘Oh. It must’ve flown out the door again.’ God, she was a terrible liar.
‘Huh. What kind of bug was it?’ Why wouldn’t he let it go?
‘A big beetle thing. I don’t know. I’m not an entomologist. Anyway, it’s gone so we can forget about it.’
Rhys shook his head. ‘It’s not that easy, I’m afraid. I need to try and figure out what it was in case it’s a notifiable pest.’
What the hell was a notifiable pest when it was at home? ‘It was just a silly bug and I overreacted.’ Tasha could hear the desperation in her voice.
‘Hopefully that’s all it is, but I can’t rest easy until we know what it was. There are too many invasive species and I’m not overreacting when I say that the wrong type could spell devastation for our woodland. I’ll have a look around outside and see if I can spot anything. Can you try and draw a picture of it?’
Tasha watched for a moment while Rhys walked out onto the deck and began looking around. When he started moving the furniture, she knew she couldn’t let this farce play out any longer. ‘Come inside,’ she told him, walking towards the patio doors.
‘I don’t think you understand the seriousness of the situation,’ Rhys replied as he lifted the corner of the hot-tub cover.
‘Oh, for goodness’ sake! There’s no bug, okay?’
Rhys dropped the cover and turned towards her, arms folded across his chest. ‘I know.’
‘What do you mean, you know? Why go through this elaborate charade, then?’
‘Because I don’t like being lied to. I know you like being independent, Tasha, and I appreciate how much you’ve taken on so quickly, because God knows it’s been a relief these past couple of weeks when the farm has taken up so much of my time. But if there’s a problem that’s stressing you out enough to make you scream like that, you have to tell me about it.’
Tasha folded her arms and glared back at him, embarrassment over being caught in a lie making her defensive. ‘And if it’s got nothing to do with work, what then?’
His eyes widened and his eyebrows lifted, his mouth forming a little ‘oh’ of surprise. Ha! That would teach him to play stupid games with her. ‘Well, umm, if that’s the case then of course you are entitled to your privacy…’
‘I’m glad that’s settled. Now, do you want a cup of coffee?’ Without waiting for a reply, Tasha marched into the kitchen and switched on the machine. She pulled out a pod of extra-strong coffee for him and a decaffeinated cappuccino one for herself. Working in silence, she added half a teaspoon of sugar to his cup and a dash of milk that barely changed the colour.
By the time she was done, Rhys had taken a seat at the table and was flicking idly through the diary. He glanced up when she placed his coffee on a mat in front of him. ‘Thank you. What are the highlights and symbols for?’ He tapped an open page of the diary.
‘The yellow highlight is to show I’ve entered the booking into the system. The star is to show I’ve spoken to them and confirmed which plot they want, and the blue circles are for bookings that include children so I know how many activity packs I need to make up.’ Tasha resumed her seat and sipped her drink, relieved the conversation had moved on to safe territory. ‘I’m going to do one final check back of the data and then we should be in a position to press go on the booking system this evening.’
