‘How selfish of us,’ Skye said, picking up the plate and tea towel to dry up. ‘I feel really mean now.’
‘Not as bad as me.’ Joe fetched the bag of kibble and a new tin of dog food from the utility room and returned to the kitchen. ‘All I was thinking of was our food.’ He smiled at her, wishing she was still in his arms and recalling how it felt to hold her, kiss her.
Spud nudged him again and Skye laughed. ‘You need to pay more attention to him, at least until he’s eaten.’
Joe groaned. ‘Sorry, Spud. I really am being useless this morning.’
‘Oh, I wouldn’t say that exactly,’ Skye teased, making him laugh.
‘I’m glad you think so.’ He opened the tin, placed the two dog bowls down, poured in the required amount of food and spooned in some of the tinned meat, mixing them together. ‘There you go, lads. Enjoy.’
Hearing vehicles outside, Joe put the food away and went to see who was there. ‘It’s some of the lads from Leonard’s farm come to help finish harvesting the Jersey Royals.’
‘Right,’ Skye said. ‘I’ll go and greet them and meet you in the field.’
‘Won’t be long.’
He watched her go, waiting for the dogs to finish eating so he could wash up their bowls rather than leave them to attract flies. Skye really was always diligent and he didn’t wonder why Melody had thought her the perfect person to suggest for coming over and running the farm.
And he was very glad that she had done. It had been a refreshing time staying here at the farm and getting to know Skye. He had thought himself settled until his mother’s arrival and moving to the farm. He’d presumed he was happy with his lot and that having a job he loved and his home meant that there wasn’t anything missing. He hadn’t noticed anything missing – not before coming here and getting to know her. Now, as he thought of the time they had spent together on relaxed walks on the beach and in the fields, sitting up late chatting; chilled, pleasant times he’d spent in her company, he realised there had been a gaping hole in his life that he now felt an urge to fill.
If only there was a simple solution to making that happen. Even if Skye came over to visit Jersey and spend time with Carlos and Paul, they also had their own lives, and how long could Joe realistically expect her to spend here? He could visit her in Edinburgh, and assumed that as her grandmother lived there that would be where Skye would want to live. Unfortunately, he knew from past experience with his ex that meeting someone under one circumstance rarely ended up working long-term when both parties had to get back to their daily work routines. However he looked at it, a relationship between them would take some thought and a lot of compromise if it was going to work in the long term.
Maybe he wasn’t meant to expect this amazing time with Skye to continue after the Torels returned and he moved back home and Skye returned to live with her gran. He was probably being fanciful, romantic even, hoping that they could find a way to make this work.
Hearing the dog bowls clanging against the tiles as Spud and Derek licked them clean, he picked them up and washed them. He caught sight of Skye out of the window striding up from the lower meadow and leading the three rescue alpacas to the field where they would spend the day. She didn’t seem to have a care in the world but he now knew her better and understood that there was a lot for her to contend with and get used to, especially after all the recent changes in her life, meeting her father and discovering she had half-brothers. It couldn’t have been easy for her meeting Carlos for the first time, discovering more about her mother and learning of experiences her mother had chosen not to share with her.
He dried the bowls and put them away in the cupboard, then went to join Skye in the field. If they only had a short time left together then he needed to make the most of every second with her, because it wasn’t long now until Lettie and Brodie would be back.
38
SKYE
A few days later, Skye reread the message she had just received from her father. ‘He wants me to arrange for us to meet up with him and Sandra, if she’ll be willing to,’ she explained to Joe as they watched another trailer load of potatoes being driven away to the docks in St Helier for shipping to the UK. ‘Do you think she’ll be up for that?’
Joe shrugged. ‘I’ve no idea. I don’t see why not though. Why don’t you ask her and see what she says?’
Working out that Sandra would have returned from her holiday a couple of days before, Skye decided to contact her. She didn’t want to waste any time, so immediately began typing in a message and pressed send before she had a chance to talk herself out of it. ‘It’s still very early so she might not be up yet,’ Skye said, already prepared to brace herself for disappointment. If she could get Sandra to agree then hopefully the two of them would inspire each other’s memories as they reminisced and gave her more information about her mother. It was worth a try.
After the previous few days when the tension between her and Joe had been heightened after their intimacy during the storm, she was glad to have been kept busy and now she had this to focus on to stop her mind from tormenting her with constant thoughts about what might happen between them when their time on the farm was over.
‘Come along,’ Joe called, waving for her to join him in the larger barn. ‘Now the last of the lorries has left we should let the animals out into the fields. It’s going to be warm today and they’ve all probably been a bit disturbed by the voices and engine sounds going on for the past couple of hours while Lettie’s uncle and his staff harvested the Jersey Royals.’
‘Good idea.’ Happy to have something to distract her from constantly checking her phone for Sandra’s reply, Skye helped lead the alpacas while Joe sorted out the cows and took them to their field.
Her phone vibrated against her buttock and after closing the gate to ensure the alpacas were safely in the field, she withdrew her phone and checked the screen. ‘She’s responded,’ Skye yelled excitedly.
‘What does she say?’ he asked, exiting the next field. ‘Has she agreed to join us?’
Skye opened the message and squealed, causing the dogs’ heads to turn in her direction, ears pricked. ‘Sorry, boys. Yes, Sandra said to arrange whatever we like and she’ll fit in with us.’ She read on. ‘Apparently she has very little in her diary right now.’
She beamed at Joe, realising how excited she was coming across when he laughed. ‘Sorry. I’m a bit enthusiastic. I know so little about Mum’s life before I was born. Little more than what I’ve discovered in her notebook, to be honest. I’m desperate to discover anything I can about how she lived. I feel a little as if I’m trying to find all the pieces of a jigsaw puzzle, hoping that once I’ve found all the bits I’ll have a much better understanding of why she made the decisions she did and how everything changed her.’
‘You don’t say,’ he teased, walking over to join her. ‘Well. When do you want to arrange this get-together?’
‘In five minutes’ time, if I could.’ She laughed. ‘Um, would you think it too impatient of me to ask them to join us tonight?’
Joe mulled over her question. ‘I think it’s a great idea. That way neither will have too much time to overthink meeting up after all these years. Yes, let’s make it this evening.’
