‘We’re going to see how things go,’ Zac replied. ‘My sister Lettie runs the farm now. We’re an organic farm with various rescue animals living there too. We had intended taking longer to decided what to do for the best, but necessity has caused us to bring this event forward by quite a few months due to repairs being needed on our larger barn roof after it was hit by lightning a couple of months ago and caught fire.’
‘That sounds daunting,’ Callum said and Zac could hear the sympathy in his friend’s voice. ‘Hopefully you’ll raise enough money for the repairs.’
‘Yes, that would be a great result. And to answer your question, I imagine that if enough people attend and we can see that there is a call for this sort of thing, then we will most probably do this again next year.’
Callum asked them a few more questions. The time seemed to fly by and soon their interview was over and Callum was thanking them. ‘Well, Zac and Melody from Hollyhock Farm, thank you for coming in today to explain about the upcoming wellness festival. I’m sure it’ll be an enormous success and look forward to seeing you both there.’
‘Thanks, Callum,’ they said in unison.
He realised Callum had finished with them and was speaking to his audience.
Melody smiled at Zac. He returned her smile, eager for Callum to announce the next record so they could leave the studio and get back outside.
Hearing the record start playing, Callum removed his headphones and smiled at them.
‘Thank you both for coming in today. It was fun chatting to you both.’
‘Thanks, mate,’ Zac said.
Callum walked around the huge console in front of him and gave Melody a hug before kissing her on the cheek. He moved to Zac and patted him on the back. ‘You both did well there,’ he said. ‘You sounded like you’ve done this before, Melody.’
Zac waited while she told him about Patsy’s podcast and could see Callum was visibly impressed.
‘Any time you or your grandmother want to come and chat again, you only have to ask,’ he said.
As Zac drove back them back to the farm, they reflected on everything they had said in the studio.
‘It was exciting being at a real radio station and seeing a professional studio for the first time,’ Melody said. ‘Gran has a decent set-up, to be fair. Although hers is in her spare bedroom, so not nearly as impressive.’ She grinned at him. ‘I loved it, didn’t you?’
He thought about it as he drove up Beaumont Hill. ‘I did actually. Once my nerves vanished.’
‘I thought you’d be far more relaxed about it,’ she said thoughtfully. ‘Especially with your experience in the music industry.’
He had thought he would too, but didn’t say as much. ‘I’m not sure what happened. I’m relieved I did finally manage tospeak. I know Lettie will have been listening to the show and I’d hate to let her down.’
‘You definitely didn’t do that.’
‘Neither did you.’
‘I’m glad you think so.’ She sighed. ‘Gran was going to listen too. I’d be mortified if I had said something silly.’
‘You certainly didn’t do that. I thought you were amazing,’ he said, hearing his voice soften and wishing he could hide his emotions even more than he already did.
‘Did you really?’
They stopped behind a row of cars at the top of the hill, waiting to go through the filter in turn. He looked at her, trying to gauge the tone in her voice and realised that if he didn’t know better, he might be persuaded to think that Melody also had feelings for him. Someone hooted behind him and Zac saw the car in front had driven forward. He raised his hand by way of an apology.
Realising he hadn’t answered Melody, he decided to be honest. ‘Yes, I really did.’
18
MELODY
She wondered what Zac really meant when he called her amazing. She watched him discreetly as he drove, willing him to say more, disappointed when he just made small talk about jobs they still needed to do for the event.
They arrived back at the farm minutes later to be greeted by Lettie and Patsy who gave them a round of applause when she and Zac got out of the car.
Zac took a bow and for the first time Melody sensed he hid a lot of his feelings from everyone. It was a shock to discover that the man she had assumed to be an open book, always cheerful and wanting to make everyone around him as happy as him, might not be what she had at first assumed. It was a revelation.
