‘Never said that, did I?’
Harvey opened the box for Barney to make his selection. ‘Did you see the rainbow yesterday evening?’ he asked, satisfied that Barney’s appetite was back a bit as he tucked into a doughnut glazed with toffee sauce. Probably not the best diet for recovering after surgery, but at least it made the man happy.
‘Melissa and I saw it out the window. It arched right over the barn, best I’ve seen in a long while,’ he smiled.
The good response was probably more to do with Melissa’s visit than the act of Mother Nature and Harvey supposed he should get used to her name being mentioned a lot while she was still here. He wondered how he was going to get through the next few weeks seeing her, hearing about her, knowing she was close but no longer a part of his life.
‘Did you tell Melissa that you don’t want the Wedding Dress Ball to go ahead?’ Barney hadn’t mentioned it to him again but with the event date looming, Harvey was beginning to wonder how serious he was about calling the whole thing off.
‘I did.’
‘And what did she have to say?’
‘Not a lot.’
Didn’t sound like the Melissa he knew, but Harvey sensed he wasn’t going to get much more out of Barney today. ‘How’s the pain?’
‘You asked me that this morning.’
‘You’re right, I did.’ He’d forgotten, or maybe he hadn’t – he just didn’t seem to be able to get a straight answer.
‘I’ve taken my medication as per the nurse’s instructions,’ Barney informed him, perhaps sensing he was only asking out of concern, ‘but I’m still too tired to try moving.’
‘Not like you to admit defeat.’
‘It’s been a long day.’
‘You’re not even halfway through it yet. Didn’t the doughnut sugar rush do you any good?’ He held up the box to offer another but Barney waved it away.
‘I need a lie down.’
‘You might feel better if you stay out here rather than go to bed again.’ He’d not been up all that long.
‘Put the lid on those doughnuts, they’ll keep,’ Barney instructed. ‘Now, could you help an old man to the bathroom?’
Harvey let Barney have the privacy he needed once they reached the bathroom and was on hand to take him from there to the bedroom, where he held on to him as Barney gingerly lowered himself onto the mattress. With Harvey’s help he lifted his legs up onto the bed and settled back against the pillows.
‘I’ll be around if you need me,’ said Harvey. He’d never really been in this room since he was younger, unless you counted the time he’d had to retrieve a dead bird that had fallen down the chimney into the ornate fireplace on the wall opposite the foot of the bed. ‘I’m going to go and fix the table in the barn.’
‘Whatever for?’
‘Because it needs doing. It’ll collapse next time you put apples on it otherwise, it’s been on its last legs for ages.’
‘Leave it.’
‘It’s no bother.’
‘I’m too old to be picking apples and squeezing fresh juice anymore, I should buy it from the supermarket like everyone else.’
‘I think we both know you won’t.’
‘Who says? I might try online ordering.’
‘Now I’ve heard everything,’ Harvey laughed. ‘Whatever happened to online orders being a sin unless you were housebound? It robs people of jobs working in the shops, you said.’
‘I did say that, didn’t I?’ he winced. ‘Well, maybe I’ll persuade Lottie from the corner shop to stock some better brands.’
‘You do that, although it still won’t be the same as the juice you make here.’
