Lettie looked confused. ‘Connections? We already deliver to small grocery stores and help top up stocks on farm shops or supply them with produce they don’t grow themselves.’
‘I was thinking more about local restaurants, or smaller hotels. You could offer to supply them directly with seasonal produce. It would save them taking time if you deliver several times a week. Diners are wanting more seasonal food now, I seem to recall reading in one of the newspapers. I think it makes us feel a bit virtuous to know that we’re following tradition some of the time – and that we’re being environmentally responsible.’
‘That’s a good point,’ Zac agreed.
‘If your father saw you had increased the income in some way for the business, or had plans to take it forward that way, then maybe he might be more encouraged to keep you on.’
‘Brilliant idea,’ Zac cheered. ‘I can chat to a few friends and see if any of them know of catering outlets who might want new genuine locally produced stock. I know everyone here seems to want to buy local.’
Lettie seemed to like their ideas. ‘I don’t think it’s just here. People are far more concerned now about the distance their food has travelled before reaching them. That’s a great start guys, thank you.’ She beamed at each of them.
Zac leant back in his chair and crossed one ankle over his other knee. ‘It’s a shame you don’t have longer to put all these ideas into place.’
‘Maybe not,’ Brodie said thoughtfully, hoping to keep the tone of the conversation upbeat. ‘However, if you put some kind of plan in place and have it ready to present to your father, then he’ll be able to see how much background work and planning you’ve been doing and it might go a long way to persuading him that you’re the right person to keep running this place.’
She puffed out her cheeks. ‘I hope you’re both right. Dad can be a stubborn man when he wants to be and I know he trusts Uncle Leonard to continue with his life’s work.’
She rubbed her eyes and he noticed how drained she seemed. ‘You seem tired. We can leave this for now if you’d rather do that.’
She shook her head. ‘No, it’s fine. I’m picturing Dad and Mum enjoying afternoon tea on the ship, then an evening dancing in the ballroom. There’s no chance either of them will change their minds about wanting to continue running this place,’ she said sadly. ‘Mum showed me the cruise company’s website online before they went away.’ She sounded more and more dispirited. ‘I have a feeling Dad might have already made up his mind to getrid of everything apart from the house and immediate outbuildings.’
Brodie could tell she hoped she was wrong to trust her instincts in this case. ‘Maybe, but they could be open to persuasion when it comes to the next step for the farm, and there’s little point in wasting your energy worrying about that yet.’
‘Yeah, sis. Don’t assume you’ve lost. Not until you’ve spoken to Dad about it.’
‘You’re both right.’ Lettie smiled at each of them. ‘I had no idea quite how much running this place would mean to me when I first suggested I take over. It seems nuts now when I think how I always had to be practically forced to help out here growing up.’
‘I’m the same,’ Zac said pulling a face. ‘Now I can’t help feeling sorry for Dad and Mum. How disappointing must it have been when neither of us showed any interest in wanting to work here?’
Lettie looked thoroughly miserable. ‘I know. I feel guilty every time I think about it. I love this place so much and have only been doing this for a couple of months. Imagine what it must have been like to dedicate yourself to this place and your children only having ambitions to leave the island at the first opportunity.’
Brodie watched the pair of them and sympathised. ‘Try not to be too hard on yourselves.’
Zac didn’t seem comforted by his words. ‘With all due respect, Brodie, you haven’t let your family down.’
‘You don’t know that, Zac.’
‘You’re a vet for heaven’s sake. They must be very proud of you and all you’ve achieved.’
Brodie could see how his life choices hadn’t impacted on his family in the same way that Lettie and Zac’s clearly did, but, like his older sister Maddie, he had still chosen a different path to the traditional one the rest of his family followed. ‘They are, very. But in mycase my father, uncle, grandfather and great-grandfather were all dentists and naturally they expected me to follow them.’
‘At least you’re still in the medical profession,’ Lettie said.
Brodie had never thought of that and now she had pointed it out he wondered why it hadn’t occurred to him. ‘I suppose so.’
She shrugged. ‘The nearest I got to following anyone in my family career-wise was going in to fashion like my mum, although in a different area of it, and Zac didn’t follow anything remotely connected to our family.’
Brodie thought back to how her mother and father had seemed with her when he had met them a few months before. ‘I’ve seen your parents with you though, don’t forget. I could tell they were very proud of the pair of you and I think that you mustn’t lose sight of that when you worry about what might have been with the farm.’
‘True,’ Zac agreed finally before turning to Lettie. ‘This bloke of yours has a point.’
Her cheeks coloured again and she glared at her brother. ‘Zac, will you stop with the insinuations? It’s childish and annoying.’
Brodie tried not to show his hurt. Was she embarrassed for her brother to know about them? He hoped not.
Zac reached out and rested a hand on Lettie’s arm. ‘Don’t be so sensitive, Letts.’
She shrugged him off and, pushing her chair back, stood. ‘Thanks for coming and trying to help, Brodie. I’m going to have to get back to work now.’
