Page 51 of Sunrise over Strawberry Hill Farm

‘How was your dance class last night?’ asked Flora, suppressing a yawn as she poured herself a coffee.

‘Fabulous,’ said Grams, cracking some eggs into a pan.

‘We learnt the samba last night,’ added Eddie, with a laugh. ‘I’d like to say we mastered it perfectly.’

‘But we were the worst ones there,’ said Grams, also laughing. ‘It’s much harder than it looks.’

‘We’ll master it,’ said Eddie, nodding his head as if to convince himself.

Grams flipped the eggs over. ‘Of course we will. We managed the cha cha cha, didn’t we?’

Flora smiled to herself. Eddie was Grams’ oldest friend and it was nice to see them so upbeat after so many years of widowhood between them.

‘What about the foxtrot?’ she asked.

Grams grimaced as she spooned the eggs onto a couple of thick slices of bread and placed the plate in front of Flora.

‘We’re working up to that,’ she said, with a smile.

Flora thanked her for the food and dug in, her stomach now rumbling in anticipation. She wondered about asking Grams if she would mind making up a breakfast basket for the campsite guests when they were up and running.

‘You can always join us,’ said Eddie, waggling his grey eyebrows at her as he made a perfect spin on the kitchen floor tiles.

Flora shook her head, thankful that her mouth was full and couldn’t reply.

‘I’ll get her to a class one of these days,’ said Grams. ‘If she ever has a spare moment.’

‘I’m not sure Flora’s going to have any of those in the next two weeks,’ said Nico, heading into the kitchen. ‘Buongiorno, everyone.’

After the chorus of good mornings, Nico came to stand next to Flora. She looked up at him with raised eyebrows. ‘Am I allowed time for breakfast?’ she asked.

His brown eyes twinkled back at her. ‘Of course,’ he replied. ‘And you’re going to need the energy because we received an email from the council overnight. We’re now officially a summer campsite.’

Flora put down her knife and fork with a clatter and reached out for the mobile that he was holding out in front of her. She swiftly read the email and couldn’t believe it. ‘Wow,’ she said, leaning back in her chair. ‘I didn’t think it would happen that quickly.’

‘Too late now because there’s more good news,’ he said, sitting down next to her at the table. ‘We are now fully booked for our very first opening weekend.’

‘We’re actually full?’ Flora looked at Nico in amazement.

He nodded, seemingly a little dumbstruck as well. ‘I don’t know how or why, but yes, two weeks today, every one of the tents will be filled with hopefully happy customers.’

Flora blew out a long breath. ‘That’s two weeks to fill every tent with furniture and dress it.’

‘Two weeks to ensure that the Wi-Fi covers each tent, that all the health and safety measures are met,’ he added. ‘Signs and lighting. And that the swimming pond is safe too.’

‘Then I suggest you both better eat up,’ said Grams, placing a plate of eggs on toast in front of Nico.

* * *

With the days quickly ticking by towards the grand opening, Flora was rushed off her feet from sunrise to sunset.

In between applying coats of paint to all the second-hand furniture she had bought, she began to add little touches to each of the tents to make them unique.

Each day, she relaxed more and more and let her imagination take over and was thrilled with the results.

So too was Nico, it appeared.

‘This looks incredible,’ he said, looking in one of the tents that she had just completed.