Zac tapped in the number and saved it, but instead of passing it to her simply gave her a knowing smile.
‘I don’t know what you’re thinking but you can stop it right now.’ Lettie held out her hand. ‘Let me have my phone back now. I’ve promised Dad I’ll go and help him fix the dry-stone wall and he wants to talk to me about the alpacas in the top field before we have lunch,’ she said determined to distract her brother. She loved the alpacas and suspected that it had been her mother who had persuaded him to keep them so that they could sell the wool. ‘I havea feeling he and Mum have something they want to get off their chests for some reason.’
‘Do you?’ Zac frowned, her tactic clearly working. ‘What do you think they could have to tell us this time?’ He groaned. ‘I don’t think I want to hear any more unwelcome news from them.’
‘Me neither,’ Lettie agreed. ‘But I’d rather know than try to guess.’ She looked at the time on her phone. ‘Damn, I’m late. Dad will go mad.’
She ran off without waiting for her brother to reply. Thankfully she was already dressed in her oldest jeans and a T-shirt and only had to push her feet into her wellies when she reached the back door. Grabbing her sunglasses, Lettie ran out of the yard and up the first field, hating the incline as she ran out of steam. This farming business was either going to help her become very fit or kill her off entirely. She was certain she used to be much fitter, but those years standing around while models were fitted and taking notes, then sitting in restaurants and bars with friends had obviously taken their toll.
She saw her father standing next to the damaged dry-stone wall, arms crossed and a scowl on his face. He noticed her and tapped his wristwatch. ‘What time do you call this, young lady? You’ll have to up your game with your timekeeping if you’re going to do this work.’
‘Sorry, Dad. Zac was talking to me about something important.’
She reached her dad and bent over, resting her palms on her knees as she tried to catch her breath. ‘That’s some hill.’
‘It isn’t all that bad. I’m twice your age and it doesn’t bother me to walk up it.’
Lettie didn’t point out that she had run up the hill not walked it; there was little point in antagonising her father any more than she had already done.
She realised he was looking her up and down but couldn’t think why. ‘Is something the matter?’
‘Have you brought any gloves up with you?’
Bugger. ‘I forgot them,’ she admitted, irritated with herself for being unprepared. ‘Sorry.’
He tossed his old pair to her. ‘Take these.’ When she went to argue, he said, ‘My hands are toughened from years of this work. Yours—’ he peered at them before closing his eyes and shaking his head ‘—are not.’
She pulled on the gloves and they turned to study the wall. Her father kept his farm pristine, and this wall had only been damaged recently when she had accidentally reversed into it, knocking part of it down with the tow bar on the back of the tractor. She wasn’t sure what had upset her father more, the damage to his otherwise spotless wall, or the scratches on his immaculate tractor. She hadn’t liked to ask.
‘Right watch me and then try to do the same thing.’
After removing the loose stones, Lettie watched her father select a stone with a flat front and place it neatly on the top one, then moving it slightly until it sat flush at the front and neatly on the top. He then searched for another stone to fit the next place.
‘It’s rather like a jigsaw puzzle, isn’t it?’ she said, wondering when the last time might be that she had completed one of those.
‘Not quite,’ he said sounding weary. ‘Are you concentrating, Lettie? I won’t be here to help you soon and I don’t want you bothering your uncle too much while I’m away.’
He motioned for her to continue working. ‘Your mother and I were going to tell you and Zac over lunch.’
‘Tell us what?’ she asked nervously. ‘Nothing’s wrong is it?’ She thought of his previous heart attack. ‘You haven’t had another…’
‘No. Nothing like that.’ He picked up and put down several other stones.
‘Then what is it?’
He stopped what he was doing and frowned at her. ‘Will you keep working?’
‘Please tell me.’
‘For pity’s sake, Lettie. I need to go away for a few health checks, but what we’re wanting to tell you is that we’ve booked a cruise. Quite a long one, in fact. Now will you hurry up and get on please?’
‘Yes, sorry.’ Relieved, she did as he asked. So her parents had booked their trip now? They wouldn’t have done that if he was ill. She relaxed slightly.
‘I don’t think there’ll be many times in the next few months when you’ll need to do this, unless you drive other machinery into different areas. Although I’m hoping you don’t make a habit of doing that.’
‘I certainly don’t intend to.’
Why was everything so much harder than her father made it look? Lettie wondered after they had finished building the wall and she had watched her father redo most of her lousy effort. Years of practice, she supposed.
