‘Lettie!’ Her mother ran towards her and they hugged. It was good to have them back again, Lettie decided. She stepped back and looked her mother up and down. Her hair was in a different, more up-to-date style and she looked years younger. ‘You look amazing, Mum.’
‘I do, don’t I?’ Her mother patted her hair and gave Lettie a smile filled with confidence. ‘It’s been an incredible trip, Lettie. We’ve got so much to tell you. And the photos I’ve taken.’
‘Hello, Letts.’ Her father pulled her into a hug and kissed the top of her head. ‘Do yourself a favour and have a good night’s sleep before you agree to start looking through all the photos. There must be thousands of them.’ He gave her mother a cheeky wink. ‘Only joking.’ He turned back to Lettie and lowered his voice. ‘I’m not really. She never stopped taking the damn things.’
Lettie saw the taxi leave the yard and counted eight large suitcases. ‘How on earth did you get all these back? You must have paid a fortune in excess luggage.’
‘Shush, don’t remind him.’ Her mother widened her eyes andgrimaced. ‘He hasn’t stopped moaning about it from the time we disembarked.’
‘Right, you two can grab some of these cases and help me carry them upstairs,’ he said lifting the biggest two and marching into the house.
Lettie followed her mother, carrying a couple more.
‘Phew, I’m glad that’s done.’ Lettie flopped back onto the unmade bed in the spare room where they had left the cases ready for her mother to unpack in the next couple of days. She waited for her father to leave the room and whispered, ‘I’ve loved it here, Mum, and I’m going to tell Dad that I want to keep doing it.’
Her mother had her back to her but Lettie noticed her stiffen before she turned to her with a sympathetic expression on her tanned face. ‘I’m so sorry, sweetheart. I know this is disappointing for you.’ She pulled out the dressing table stool and sat down. ‘The thing is, Lexi, we’re not sure we’re even going to be able to keep any of the farm now.’
‘What? You’re selling everything? Mum, you can’t want to do that, can you?’ Her parents had lived here their entire married lives and not once had she ever expected to hear something like this. ‘But why?’
Her mother stood. ‘Come with me. This isn’t something I’m happy discussing behind your father’s back. We’ll go and find him and he can tell you his thoughts.’
Dread filled Lettie as she accompanied her mother back downstairs, finally finding her father sitting at his desk in his small study opening mail that had come in during their absence. He glanced at the invoice in his hand then noticed them come in. ‘Ah, you want to talk.’
It was a statement rather than a question, Lettie noticed. ‘If you don’t mind, Dad.’
He put down the piece of paper in his hand and rested hiselbows on his desk. ‘Take a seat, both of you. I’ve not been looking forward to this, Letts, but your mother and I have been talking while we were away and have decided to put the farm on the market.’
Letting the land go was one thing, but selling the farmhouse itself made Lettie want to cry. ‘Why though?’
‘Because we loved our cruise so much and decided that we want to make the most of the time we have left to travel more.’ He looked at her mother. ‘Isn’t that right?’
‘It is.’
Lettie felt her mother’s hand on her arm. ‘I can’t believe you’re willing to part with Hollyhock Farm,’ she said close to tears. ‘Zac and I grew up here and we all have so many memories of the farm. I thought you both loved this place.’
‘We do,’ her father said. ‘It’s just that if we’re to finance our travels then we have no option but to downsize. You’d always be welcome wherever our home is though – you know that.’
‘But nowhere else will ever feel like this place, Dad. There must be another way,’ Lettie argued racking her brain to try and conjure up a solution. She thought of the long hours she had put into the farm for the past few months and began to feel annoyed. ‘Are you tell me that everything I’ve been doing here since May has been a waste of time then? And what about Uncle Leonard? Or were you still thinking of selling the land to him and the farmhouse separately?’
Her parents swapped glances and she could see they both felt guilty.
‘We know it’s a conversation we need to have with my brother. I think it was going to be a bit of a struggle to buy the land from us, so I can’t imagine he’d be able to afford the house and maybe not the barns,’ her father said.
Lettie thought of her own brother. ‘Does Zac know anythingabout selling the farmhouse yet?’ She doubted he could do but wanted to point out that she wasn’t the only one who would be affected by this plan to sell their family home.
‘No, he doesn’t.’ Her father shifted uncomfortably in his chair. ‘We’ll call him this evening and explain everything.’
She wished they could explain things better to her. Lettie stood. ‘I need time to mull this over. I’m going to go out for a bit. I’ll see you later.’
It took all her efforts not to burst into angry tears in front of them but as soon as she was outside she got in her mother’s car and drove from the farm. With little idea where to go, she headed to the beach, wanting to be alone to try and come to terms with this unexpected change in her future.
47
BRODIE
The water was perfect and Brodie enjoyed every second catching wave after wave with the other dozen or so surfers who were making the most of the late afternoon tide.
As he rode one particularly spectacular wave, he reached the shore and noticed a lone girl sitting up near the beach wall. She had her arms crossed and resting on her updrawn knees, her head down. Was she crying? He hoped she wasn’t hurt.
