Page 63 of Sunrise over Strawberry Hill Farm

‘That’s a great idea,’ said Nico, turning to look at her. ‘Perhaps we could put those leftover tables and chairs we had for people to have dinner under cover in there.’

‘Talking of dinner, what about my old camp stove?’ said Grams. ‘They’re welcome to use that.’

‘And we’ve got a barbeque people can use as well,’ said Joe.

‘What about that old dartboard that we had?’ asked Ryan, looking at his brother.

Ethan nodded. ‘Yeah, I think it’s hidden in my old room somewhere. And we’ve got some board games too.’

‘This sounds wonderful,’ said Grams, smiling. ‘Shall we have another drink to celebrate?’

She held up her empty glass and everyone laughed.

Flora turned to look at Nico. ‘What do you think?’ she murmured.

‘I think that we don’t give up without a fight,’ he told her in a soft tone. ‘And thanks to our friends, we might just scrape through.’

She nodded, unable to look away from his dark eyes. ‘Me too,’ she replied.

She wasn’t sure if it was the limoncello or the way Nico was looking at her, but the positivity and enthusiasm of her friends was making her feel warmer than she had felt all day.

37

Nico woke up the following morning feeing much more positive now that they had some sort of plan in place to resolve the issue of the weather.

He threw open the curtains in his bedroom and was a little upset to see that it was still raining heavily, but he felt more optimistic than he had done the previous day.

So he rushed through a very early breakfast with Flora before they both headed out to start setting up things before the campers began to rise.

First off was setting up the barn. They moved the leftover chairs and tables into place and then Nico rigged up some lighting so that it was a more enjoyable setting to spend time in. Flora strung up some fairy lights and bunting to ensure that it was in keeping with the rest of the site and gave the area a bit of ambience.

Ryan dropped off some board games early before he started work in the coffee shop. Flora was amazed at the number of different ones he had provided, including a giant Jenga, as well as a tabletop football game.

They hooked up the dartboard on one side of the barn away from the seating area. They also brought up the last of the spare bales of hay that Flora had saved for people to sit on.

Flora had some spare blackboards from when she had been using them for the tents and wrote on them the various outing options for people to choose from.

The first was a tour of the old steam train that Bob and Eddie were working on. There was also the offer of a free hand massage in the lavender spa with Harriet, as well as a tour of the lavender fields.

There was a surprise visit from Dodgy Del which made both Flora and Nico instantly tense up.

‘Ethan text me and said that you needed something to keep the campers happy,’ he said.

‘Er, yes,’ said Flora, dread hitting her stomach.

‘So I’ve brought you this. My nephews are just bringing it in for me.’

Flora exchanged a worried look with Nico but was pleased and immensely relieved to see that it was a table tennis table.

‘Bene!This is great!’ said Nico, relief flooding his voice.

‘I know a bloke whose pub has just shut down,’ said Del, with a smile. ‘Thought it might keep the troops happy, yeah?’

‘Thank you, Del,’ said Flora, so relieved that she stepped forward to give him a peck on the cheek.

Del looked very pleased at that and left with a grin on his face. Nico was feeling less pleased. Surely Flora wouldn’t feel anything romantic towards someone like Del, would she?

But there was no time to contemplate that unsettling thought as Flora shuffled the table into position and began to wipe it down, ready to be used.