Page 32 of Sunrise over Strawberry Hill Farm

‘Have you been anywhere since?’ he asked.

She shook her head. ‘No time and no money. Anyway, I have a farm to run.Had,’ she added, with a frown.

‘I’m sorry it didn’t work out after all your hard work,’ he told her.

‘Looks like neither of our futures panned out the way we thought they would,’ she said.

‘I’m not sure I truly thought mine would ever be on a safe foundation anyway,’ Nico told her with a grim smile. ‘Dad lost money over and over.’

‘How?’ she asked.

‘Wine, women and gambling,’ he replied, with a roll of his eyes. ‘He spent a fortune over the years. I guess it was inevitable that he would come for the vineyard eventually.’ He sighed softly. ‘That’s why I started to put money aside in a savings account. Just in case Dad proved me right one last time.’ He seemed to deliberately brighten himself up. ‘But hopefully the campsite will be a better prospect than we’ve both been used to. And even leave you time to enjoy yourself.’

‘I enjoy myself,’ she told him, feeling a little defensive.

‘Not from what you’ve just told me.’

Flora dragged a hand through her hair. ‘Look, I’ve had all these responsibilities, as well as Grams to take care of. I have to be sensible.’

‘So why did you strip down to your underwear and go into that lake?’ he asked, with a knowing smile.

She choked a little, blushing furiously. ‘That was a one-off,’ she muttered.

‘Shame.’ His smile grew broader. ‘I was hoping to join you in there some time.’

She laughed. ‘You wouldn’t have said that if you’d felt the water temperature. It was freezing cold!’

He joined in with her laughter. ‘Maybe some time in the summer then,’ he said.

Flora was still blushing as she picked up her mobile, as if making to leave. The thought of being in the lake with Nico in only their underwear brought up confusing thoughts. But the sensible side of her won over. Of course, she didn’t think about him that way. Nor him about her, she was sure.

Something had changed between them, though. Now that she felt she could trust him, she began to relax and found herself liking him. He brought something out of her. Excitement. A tiny bit of the thrill of life. And she wasn’t sure she wanted to deny herself any of that in the future, whatever her sensible head was trying to convince her otherwise.

19

Back in Cranfield, Flora woke up late the following morning, grateful to have finally fallen into bed just before dawn when she and Nico had arrived back from Scotland.

It had been a long but relatively easy journey home, with Flora feeling completely differently about Nico. So much had changed now that he had finally been honest with her. She felt sympathetic for his situation and, in many ways, grateful that he was staying on at the farm to help set up the campsite.

After a much-needed brunch, she left Grams and Nico planning to head into Cranbridge to talk through legal matters whilst she went to meet the girls for a coffee and a brainstorm.

‘It sounds like you need this,’ said Katy, as she placed a large coffee in front of Flora before heading over to take another customer’s order.

Flora glanced at the long to-do list on her phone that she had just read out to her friends. There were the tents to inspect and hopefully erect, as well as all the administration required for the change of business on the farm. After that, they would need to get the groundwork started. There were inspections to be had from the council, as well as the main communal areas to get ready.

‘So, once all the boring legal stuff is done and dusted and the tents are up, what are you going to fit them with?’ asked Libby.

‘Nico was talking about flat-pack furniture,’ said Flora.

Harriet made a face. ‘Really?’ she said, raising her eyebrows.

‘What’s the matter with that?’ asked Flora. ‘It’s cheap.’

‘Yeah, but the point of glamping is the “glam”,’ said Libby.

Flora frowned. ‘I know, but our budget isn’t really going to stretch that far.’

Katy popped by the table. ‘What did I miss?’ she asked.