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‘Oh, that’s good. Are you eating with us tonight? Rowena and I have decided we can’t be bothered to cook so we’re going to get some fish and chips – it’s been an age since we had a takeaway. I only ask as I saw Barnie a little while ago when I popped up to the Hall and he was under the impression you might be having supper with Cameron.’
Hope glanced up as Cam placed a tall glass in front of her. She smiled her thanks at him and took a sip, then smiled again. He’d made her a glass of cordial rather than just water straight from the tap. ‘Mum wants to know if we’re eating here or with them tonight. She and Aunt Ro are doing a fish and chip run later.’
Cam shrugged. ‘Whatever you’d prefer. There’s some nice steak in the fridge. I was going to do them on the barbeque, maybe put a couple of jacket potatoes in foil and tuck them in the coals.’
‘That sounds nice, as long as you don’t mind cooking again?’
He laughed. ‘Putting a few things on the table hardly constitutes cooking, but if you’d rather have something from the chip shop, I’m easy.’
Hope shook her head. The idea of a takeaway was always more appealing than the actual outcome. The last thing she wanted was a load of greasy batter, even though the chip shop made everything fresh. ‘Steak sounds good.’
‘Well, I’m glad that’s sorted,’ her mother said with a soft chuckle into the phone.
‘Sorry, Mum, I didn’t mean to keep you hanging on. I need to pop home and feed the dogs, so I’ll see you in a few minutes.’
‘Okay, darling. See you soon.’
Hope hung up and reached for her keys. ‘I won’t be too long,’ she said to Cam. ‘I might leave the car there and walk back, though, as I could do with some fresh air.’ She was still feeling a bit groggy and the exercise would hopefully perk her up. If she had any sense, she’d call off dinner, go home and flop down in her bed, but she was also worried her mother would take it as an opportunity to revisit their conversation from the night before and Hope needed some more time to process everything. She’d been doing her best to ignore it all day, but ignoring it wasn’t going to resolve anything. A walk in the woods would give her a bit of time and space to start to come to terms with what she’d learned about her father. Plus, she didn’t like the idea of leaving Cam on his own all evening. He was easy company to be around, and he didn’t seem to mind if she wasn’t in the mood to talk much. A quiet dinner, just the two of them, would be the perfect opportunity to relax and get to know each other a little better.
‘Do you mind if I come with you? I haven’t had time to explore and it’d be great to know if there’s a shortcut between here and the farmhouse.’ Cam’s expression grew concerned. ‘Unless you were wanting a bit of peace and quiet and now I’ve just gone and invited myself along.’
He looked so downcast she couldn’t help but laugh. ‘I’d like the company, and it’s a good idea for you to get your bearings a bit.’ Okay, perhaps she was avoiding dealing with all the confusing family stuff, but she’d gone twenty-five years without knowing anything about her background, so it could all wait another day or two. It’d be better to deal with it once Cam and Barnie had gone, anyway. She glanced towards Cam’s laptop. Mind you, he did have the know-how to find some of the answers she was looking for. He’d put together that family tree for his parents. Now she knew her mother and father had been married, how hard would it be for Cam to track down a name using that website he’d mentioned?
‘Shall we get going then?’ Cam had gathered the keys for the lodge and was standing next to the open patio doors with an expectant look upon his face.
‘Sure.’ Hope ushered the dogs out and filed away the idea of looking up her father for another day.
* * *
The kitchen was the usual pleasant chaos. Mum and Aunt Rowena were sitting at the table, sharing a cup of coffee with Mrs Davis, the cleaner, who’d just popped in to drop off some dry cleaning. Zap was sitting at the other end from the ladies with a pair of headphones on. He was something of a podcast addict, though Rowena reckoned he wasn’t listening to anything half the time and it was just an excuse to block out whatever she was saying. Hercule was supine in his lap, his scruffy head resting in the crook of Zap’s arm like a baby.
Hope’s plans for a quick dash in and out were thwarted as Mum introduced Cam to Mrs Davis, who of course had a million and one questions about the upcoming dig. ‘You’ll be wanting a hand to keep your place nice for the duration of your stay. I’ve an hour free on Tuesday mornings and a couple more on Friday after lunch. You can leave me a list on the table of anything you want picking up, or any specific jobs you want doing.’
Cam looked somewhat taken aback. ‘Oh, I hadn’t really given any thought to having a cleaner.’
Mrs Davis eyed him over the rim of her mug. ‘Well, now you won’t have to, will you?’
‘No, I guess not.’ He shot a pleading glance towards Hope, which she studiously ignored. It was easier to argue with a stone than Mrs Davis once she got an idea in her head.
‘Right, well, I’ve fed the dogs so now we’re going to head back, if that’s okay?’ Hope directed the question at her mother, who gave her a smile. She’d done a better job than Hope of hiding the ravages of the night before, but there were lines of strain around her eyes. Needing her to know things were all right, Hope leaned down and gave her a kiss on the cheek and squeezed her shoulders. ‘I’ll see you later, Mum, enjoy your fish and chips.’
Her mother’s smile chased away some of the strain. ‘You two have a nice evening. Have you got a torch with you in case it’s dark when you walk home?’
Hope tugged her phone out of her pocket and held it up. ‘I’ll make sure it’s fully charged before I leave as well.’
‘I’m making a fuss, aren’t I?’ her mother said with a laugh.
‘I wouldn’t have it any other way.’ It was the truth, for all she had chafed so long against it. Now she understood what lay behind her mother’s protectiveness, she knew she needed to give her a little more grace. They still needed to find a balance. Hope was determined to move out once the dig was over and she could turn her focus back to building her little house, but she would find a way to do it without hurting her mother further. God, it was just as well she hadn’t asked Cam to research who her father was, because she wanted to kill him for what he’d done.
She and Cam had just turned for the door when a glowering Rhys came stomping in and threw himself down in his chair. ‘Bloody, stupid bloody man! Why did he make me do it?’
The noise of his entrance disturbed Hercule who jumped down off Zap’s lap and ran away to hide amongst the cushion pile. Zap tugged off his headphones with a frown. ‘What’s got you in such a mood?’ Hope was wondering the same thing, too, because it took a hell of a lot for her cousin to lose his cool.
‘Keith bloody Riley,’ Rhys growled, bending down to unlace his boots. ‘Samson was digging at something in the hay in the back of the cowshed earlier. When I went to see what he was doing, I found a stash of empty bloody vodka bottles buried in the straw! We’re just about to put half a dozen pregnant cows in there. What would’ve happened if one of them rolled in the hay and smashed the glass?’
‘My God, that’s awful,’ Aunt Rowena said with a gasp. ‘And you’re sure that it’s Keith that’s been hiding them there?’ Hope wasn’t the only one who turned an incredulous glance her way. Keith Riley was a notorious drunk who’d been making his wife and his daughter’s lives a misery for as long as Hope could remember. He’d used up every bit of good will around the village and been turned off every job he’d ever had. Rhys had taken him on as a last resort as a personal favour to Amelia, Keith’s daughter. Keith had sworn he’d turned over a new leaf. Another lie. Rowena held up a hand, her cheeks reddening. ‘I know, I know. Poor Daisy.’
‘She should’ve shown him the door years ago,’ Rhys snapped.
