Page 33 of Summer at Rachel’s Pudding Pantry

‘Rachel,’ Jill warned, her grimace saying it all.

‘Hi, Rachel, Maisy,’ Daniel ventured, tactfully ignoring Rachel’s spikiness, even though the air in the kitchen could have been cut with a knife.

‘So, how was Granny?’ Jill said, moving the conversation on and deciding to behave like the adult in the room.

‘Oh, umm, she was in pretty good spirits. Though she’s still got a bit of a cough hanging on.’

‘Hmm, she’s never been quite right since that bad spell last winter. We’ll have to keep a careful eye on her.’

‘Yeah, we will.’

‘I’ll watch her if you like, Grandma?’ Maisy offered, bless her.

‘Well that’d be good, Maisy. We’ll all keep an eye out for Granny Ruth, shall we? Tea, love?’ Jill turned to Rachel, hoping the offer of a cuppa would be an olive branch of sorts. ‘The kettle’s just boiled.’

‘Umm, I’ve only just had one. I think I’ll crack on and do my early evening checks on the animals before supper.’ Rachel didn’t feel quite like cosying up in the kitchen with Mum and Daniel right now. She knew she was feeling out of sorts, and some fresh air and a job to do was what she needed. A new focus for her thoughts. ‘Maisy, do you want to come with me or stay with Grandma?’

‘Hmm, are there any cupcakes, Grandma?’

‘I think there might be. There were some chocolate ones left from the Pantry today.’

‘I’ll stay.’

‘Cake trumps everything else, does it? That’s my girl. Okay, I’ll just get my wellies on and jump on the quad. I’ll not be too long – if all’s well out there, that is.’

‘All right, love. See you later.’

‘Bye, Daniel,’ Rachel managed to say politely.

With the handlebars held tightly, the quad engine revving beneath her, and the fresh Northumberland wind in her hair, she began to feel a little better. Whatever her problems, this place, the hills, helped settle her. Big skies (today’s was an ultramarine blue with just a few puffy wisps of cloud), undulating valleys, and pastures that morphed higher up into moorland. There was an amazing sense of space and freedom here. The valley rolled away below her now as she roared up the bank, pausing the vehicle at a rise to take in the view; those curves and folds of vibrant summer greens, dotted with her cattle and sheep. The hay fields near the farmhouse had grown long and were nearly ready to cut. She hoped the recent good weather would hold out for that.

She headed to the top fields where her flock were happily grazing. Rachel liked to do a check twice daily, early morning and evening. Mostly things were fine on the farm at this time of year, but there could be problems with minor injuries, lameness from issues with their hooves being a common ailment in her flock of ewes. And she liked to know that the water troughs out in the fields still had their supply flowing freely.

After trimming a sheep’s hoof and cleaning it with her purple antibacterial spray, Rachel got back on the quad bike and drove slowly around the hillside to check on the rest of the flock. All seemed well thankfully, with the other ewes and lambs enjoying the sunshine and settled weather. Heading back down the bank, she caught sight of Tom’s neighbouring farmhouse in the valley – her potential future home.

She’d been sheltering behind the cover of text messages the last day or so. Suddenly the urge to go and see him, to feel his arms around her, was overwhelming. She knew it was no good hiding from her fears, not when they were getting married in only four weeks’ time. And actually, looking down at his solid stone-built farmhouse, maybe it wouldn’t be so bad after all, just to move in, give it a try, see how she and Maisy settled? After all, that little cosy scenario with Dan and Mum had felt pretty awkward in the kitchen back at Primrose Farm. Maybe Jill needed a little space and privacy too.

Yes, Rachel resolved to go and see Tom. They could chat about all that, and maybe she might find the words to say how she’d felt overhearing him and Ben talk, get all that off her chest and give him a chance to explain. She felt lighter, more positive, as she took the track that crossed her farm and led to Tom’s land. Arriving at his yard a few minutes later, she was relieved to see his grey truck parked up outside the house. She might even be able to broach the matter of Jake being at the wedding too. And then … well, they could reconnect in the loveliest, sexiest way she could think of.

She leapt off the quad, with a bounce in her step, rapped on the door that led into the kitchen, and waltzed in.

‘Hey!’ She gave a beam of a smile and saw Tom on the phone pacing the flagstone tiles.

He gave a nod of acknowledgement, and the tightest of smiles, then continued his conversation. The dip of a frown was etched into his forehead.

It might well be work, she reasoned, problems with suppliers or equipment maybe, which often led to all sorts of frustrations. Not to be deterred, Rachel went ahead and filled the kettle to get some coffee ready.

‘Okay, well, keep me posted,’ Rachel heard, even though Tom’s voice was low. ‘Thanks for your advice.’ He pursed his lips together as he turned off the mobile.

‘Hi … sorry about that.’ He seemed distracted as he ran his hand through his longer-than-usual, chestnut-brown wavy hair.

‘It’s all right. Coffee?’ Rachel gave him the chance to come down from the conversation. Maybe he’d open up about it in a minute or two. She spooned instant coffee into two mugs.

Tom stayed silent. He didn’t look at all happy as he stared across the kitchen into some void.

‘Everything all right?’ Rachel ventured after a few more moments.

‘Ah … been better.’