“Yeah, Mick Dunstan.” Alex spoke as if it were the most obvious conversational segue on earth.
“Right. Sure. Mick,” Pippa said faintly.
“Well, he and I got to talking.” Alex squeezed her hand tightly.
“About weddings?” Pippa blurted.
“Wed—?” Alex shook his head in bewilderment. “Pip, no. What? He’s buying the farm!”
Pippa blinked. It was as if her ears were blocked with treacle, because surely, she couldn’t have heard those words coming from Alex’s mouth. “Which farm?”
“My farm.” Alex looked around him. “This place.”
Pippa rocked back in her chair. “You … you sold this place? Are you—?” Her mouth was suddenly dry, and she took a deep gulp of tea, not caring at the heat scorching her mouth. Something was very wrong. “Is this some kind of joke?”
Alex’s mouth puckered. “No, Pip. I’d never joke about something so important.”
“But we never…” Pippa’s brain churned. They’d never once discussed that option, not even as a hypothetical. She had the sensation of fault lines yawning open beneath her, of the world rearranging itself without her permission. “We didn’t talk about this.”
“What’s there to talk about?” Alex demanded. “It’smyfarm. Pip.” He searched her eyes. “It’s a deal worth over a million and a half quid.”
Pippa struggled to concentrate. What did money matter when compared to their entire future? The farm was where their kids were going to grow up, where she would grow old and play with her grandchildren. “I don’t … I’m sorry … I’m struggling to understand.” She cast her gaze to where her hand sat atop his, primed to receive a diamond ring she now understood wasn’t coming and maybe never would.
He took a big swig of his tea. “Mick made a stellar offer for the house, the land, the livestock. I took my time to consider it, but really, what’s there to think about?”
“What’s there to think about?” Pippa echoed, gulping back tears. “This is my – our – home.”
“Come on, Pip.” Alex held his hands out to her, as if he could manually dissemble the disagreement before him. “Don’t be unreasonable. We always said we’d build this place up. Expand it. What’s the point of that if not to profit and reinvest?”
“Unreasonable?!”Pippa scrambled to make sense. He was talking as if their many, many conversations about the future had never taken place, as if she had dreamed Goodman’s farm was to be her forever home. “You think I’m unreasonable for reacting this way? Alex, you’ve just dropped the biggest bombshell of my life on me and what, I’m supposed to just accept it without question?”
“Doesn’t feel like you’re giving this idea a fair shot, no,” Alex replied.
“Why didn’t we discuss this? Why didn’t you talk to me about it before deciding anything?” she demanded.
“We’re talking now, aren’t we?” Alex’s eyes were wide and beguiling.
Pippa was unmoored, as if lost at sea with no land in sight. She cast about for rationality. “What about your dad? This has been in his family for generations. It’s his home too.”
“Finn’s taking him in and Dad’s on board with that,” Alex said. His younger brother and wife lived the other side of town with their baby boy, Dylan.
Pippa suddenly felt very cold, and it had nothing to do with the ancient farmhouse’s poor insulation. “You’ve already discussed this with Ted?”
Alex frowned. “Of course.”
“Your dad already knows.” It wasn’t a question. Pippa felt sick. Ted had been standing in that doorway making demands on her only moments ago. The man had known what was in store for her and hadn’t shown a shred of consideration. Hadn’t thought to mention it. Like his son, he’d not deemed her input as valid. “Have … is this final?”
“Yep, since this morning. I signed the papers on the way to the auction!” Alex swigged his tea, eyebrows jumping. “I thought you’d appreciate the efficiency.”
Pippa stared at him hollowly. So that was the real reason he didn’t take the auction seriously. “You’ve thought of everything, haven’t you?”
Alex gulped. “I mean, yeah. Haven’t I?”
“Everything except me,” she said sadly. “You didn’t factor me in at all. Didn’t think to run it by me in any way, shape or form.”
Alex shook his head. “I thought you’d like the surprise! But Ididthink about you, Pip. When Mick made the offer, I knew I couldn’t just sell up without a plan. You would hate that.”
I already hate everything about this,Pippa thought miserably. “Oh, so there is a plan? What might that be?”
