Page 44 of Sunrise over Strawberry Hill Farm

Grams nodded. ‘We’re just lucky to be in charge of this land for a short period in our lifetimes. We’re the caretakers, so it’ll be good to give something back to the land that’s given us so much. In fact, it’ll be just like it was in the early days here.’ Her eyes misted over. ‘I think your grandfather would love it. He was an organic farmer earlier than anyone else in the area. Using chemicals never sat well with him, so he decided not to. You know, we only ever worked half the fields in the early days. The ones at the bottom were always wild until we made the decision to plough those fields as well. So perhaps nature and the farm have gone full circle. With a few people missing, of course.’

Flora knew that she was thinking of her late husband and squeezed her hand.

‘I miss him so much,’ Grams said softly.

‘I know you do,’ said Flora. ‘So do I.’

‘I think that’s why I enjoy having Nico here,’ said Grams. ‘It feels as if a small part of Lorenzo is here and that in turn takes me back to happier times when we were all together.’

‘But he’s not Lorenzo,’ said Flora.

‘And he’s not his father either,’ said Grams in a pointed tone.

‘I know that,’ replied Flora quickly.

‘Then why don’t you let him in?’ asked Grams.

Flora let go of her grandmother’s hand and looked away. ‘We’re friends now.’

‘Nothing more?’

Flora shook her head.

‘He’s got a good heart underneath that handsome exterior,’ said Grams. ‘I know that he told you about what happened to his family home.’

‘He’s told you as well?’ she asked.

Grams nodded. ‘Terrible. Must be heart-breaking for him. After all, we know what it’s like to have the loss of our family home hanging over us. Imagine if we had lost it altogether, not having our friends around us to help.’

Flora couldn’t even conceive how much pain that would cause her.

‘So the fact that he’s here fighting for our family home makes it even more extraordinary, don’t you think?’ said Grams. ‘You can’t help but think the best of him because of that.’

‘I do,’ Flora told her.

And she realised that she was speaking the truth. Nico was generous of spirit, to help them so much when he could have just walked away. She admired him for that. And so much more.

For a moment, she thought back to the paparazzi photos that she had googled when he had first arrived. At the time, she had been concentrating on him, but last night she had looked again at the photographs and studied the women instead. They were all glamorous and fashionable, super polished women that Flora hadn’t a hope of ever being. She wondered why that mattered to her. She didn’t want Nico to think of her as a potential girlfriend, did she?

26

Flora had received assurances from the local council that the application would be approved and so was able to forge ahead with getting everything ready on the campsite for inspection.

She had sourced all the furniture for one of the tents and so, with the photographs being taken the following day for the website, the tent needed prettying up.

Ethan had been a huge help in setting up the electric supply to each tent and the fairy lights were already installed. Although not everyone approved when she said so at their girls’ night in at the farm that evening.

‘He’s infuriating,’ muttered Libby.

‘He’s free which makes him our new best friend,’ said Nico, who had wandered into the farmhouse kitchen to make himself a drink. ‘Ethan seems like a really nice bloke. Why don’t you like him?’

‘He ruined my prom, so I will never forgive him,’ said Libby, with a sniff.

Her friends all exchanged a knowing smile as it was the same excuse that she had always given. There had never been full details from Libby and Flora was pretty certain that she was hiding something from them all, even after all these years. But Libby’s hard shell, despite being the most generous and supportive of friends, was still pretty tough to get through.

Nico merely raised his eyebrows at Flora, who shook her head to warn him from digging any further.

‘Well, I’ll leave you all to your exciting evening,’ he told them, nodding at the pile of materials on the table.