The girl, Lettie, beamed at Bethan and immediately did as she asked. ‘Bethan! So good to see you again.’
Bethan stood and hugged her. ‘I haven’t seen you in such a long time.’ She pulled out the chair next to her for Lettie to sit on.
The man she had come in with looked very like her, Brodie noticed. Both had chestnut-coloured hair and dark blue eyes and freckles. He supposed they must be siblings.
‘Hi, I’m Zac,’ the bloke said carrying two drinks and kissing Bethan on both cheeks before giving Brodie a friendly nod. ‘You don’t mind if we join you, do you?’
Brodie shook his head, just as Bethan laughed. ‘When have you ever worried about anyone minding anything you did, Zac Torel?’
Torel? The name rang a bell. He’d had a crush on a girl withthat last name once, but the girl Brodie knew hadn’t been called Lettie. Maybe they were related? It was a local name after all.
‘True.’ Zac placed the two drinks on the table and pulled out a chair next to Brodie.
‘This is Zac’s sister, Lettie,’ Bethan explained smiling briefly at her friend who, Brodie mused, also seemed vaguely familiar to him for some reason. ‘We were at school together.’
Brodie said hello but instead of Lettie reacting in a similar way to her brother, she seemed a little subdued. Maybe she was shy. He hoped that was the case and not that they had met at some point in the past and he had inadvertently upset her.
‘Good to meet you both,’ Brodie said.
‘Letts promised to come and meet up with me earlier,’ Zac explained, ‘but she’s been helping Dad out on the farm, so I’ve been catching up with a few mates in the next parish.’
‘You’re working on the farm?’ Bethan asked.
Brodie wondered why this seemed so surprising to Bethan. ‘Is there something odd about that?’
‘Only because Lettie here has a fancy job in a fashion business in London. At least you did the last time I bumped into your mum in the village store.’
‘You wouldn’t think it fancy if you worked the hours I do each day,’ Lettie scoffed. ‘Although I do love it. Did.’
‘I’m intrigued.’ Bethan nudged her and smiled.
‘Which farm does your father run, if you don’t mind me asking?’
‘Hollyhock Farm,’ Zac replied pointing towards the window. ‘It’s not one of the bigger farms, only about thirty-two verges.’
Brodie had no idea what that meant. ‘Right.’
Lettie must have seen his confusion. ‘Just under eighty acres. It’s only a mile that way.’
‘Yes,’ Zac said. ‘Close enough to walk here, thankfully.’
Brodie decided he liked the siblings. They were friendly and notat all wary about him being a relative stranger. He decided he wanted to know more about them. ‘And what does he farm?’
‘Organic produce,’ Lettie explained. ‘Mostly vegetables, Jersey Royals, of course, and apples, plums and damsons late summer. He also has a few animals, too. Goats, which we sell on to other locals to either use or make cheese, and our chickens. He has a couple of cows left over from his dairy herd when he sold them on over ten years ago. They’re useful for grazing on the fallow land during a rest period.’
He was surprised to hear that he didn’t still have a dairy herd. ‘Really? That sounds interesting.’
He noticed Lettie study his face and hoped he hadn’t sounded sarcastic. ‘I mean it. I don’t know if he’s one of the practice’s clients but if he is I look forward to visiting the farm.’
He was relieved when Bethan began chatting again, asking Lettie how long she was over for, before Lettie explained she had been given the opportunity of running their father’s farm and needed to find a way to prove herself in three months.
‘That’s not long enough to prove anything much.’ Brodie laughed, shocked to think anyone could expect to do much with a farm in that time. Everyone glared at him and, mortified, he realised he had said the words out loud. ‘Sorry, I hadn’t meant to say that.’
‘You did though,’ Lettie snapped, clearly offended. ‘And you thought it was funny.’
Brodie grimaced as he locked eyes with the pretty girl glaring furiously at him across the pitted bar table. ‘I really didn’t mean to offend you.’
‘I’m not sure I believe you.’
