I positioned my pillows against the headboard and sat down with my back against them. Maddie closed the door behind her and sat cross-legged at the end of the bed beside Clemmie, facing me.
‘Did you have a good night?’ she asked.
I nodded, smiling at her. ‘A wonderful one. I told him how I feel and he feels the same.’
She smiled. ‘I approve. Did you kiss?’
‘Yes. I hope that doesn’t make you uncomfortable.’
She shook her head. ‘I’m cool with you and Dad being over and I’m happy you’ve found Caleb. You deserve someone like him. You deserve to smile like this again.’
‘Thank you. That means the world to me.’
‘You’re welcome. So, three things about my day…’
Tears pooled in my eyes and I clapped my hand across my heart. This weekend, visitor numbers had increased, my best friend had offered to stay and invest in our business, I’d had a lovely family meal, I’d opened my heart to Caleb and we’d shared several wonderful kisses. I didn’t think anything could possibly top all that but Maddie sitting on my bed sharing three things just had. I listened to my daughter recounting three special moments from her day – all of which involved the farm and the animals – and noticed her eyes shining with excitement and the enthusiasm in her voice.
I’d dreamed of having the ‘old’ Maddie back but I realised now that she wasn’t sixteen anymore and the person sitting on the bed was the butterfly who’d emerged from a dark chrysalis – older, wiser and more fiercely determined. She knew her self-worth and refused to tolerate friends who let her down. She was able to own her mistakes, learn from them and make thingsbetter. She was willing to call others out on their bad behaviour, like she’d done with her dad, and she’d found happiness once more through being in the countryside, surrounded by animals, and being part of our family. I couldn’t be happier.
48
Jude set off for Twyford first thing on Monday morning, stopping at a services a couple of hours into her journey to phone some estate agents. She managed to set up three appointments for Wednesday, meaning she could drive back to the farm on Thursday and get settled in before Ned’s arrival on Friday evening.
It felt strange not having her around across the week and it made me very aware of how stretched we were the moment one of us was out of the business. Schools were breaking up for the six-week summer holiday on Friday so visitor numbers were likely to increase and we needed more bodies to support that.
The existing team had the experience and expertise with animals so it made sense to take on extra staff for the café. Willow told us she had a friend in Birchwood Rigg – Chloe – who was desperate to find another summer job after the one she’d lined up fell through. Jude was happy for Mam and me to make the decision so we invited Chloe for an hour’s trial and were impressed with how quickly she picked everything up. She was a little on the shy side but polite and friendly so we offered her a job starting at the weekend.
Chloe mentioned that her older cousin in Mapleton – Reece – was also seeking a summer job before heading off to university so we gave him a trial and offered him a job too.
Maddie had made great progress with her plans for the guinea pig handling sessions. She’d chosen an empty barn near the stables and had arranged for Des and Hunter to build a large indoor run in the middle of the barn with safe covered access to the outside. They were making various houses and caves to give the guinea pigs places to hide and explore and would be fitting sturdy benches around the outside of the barn so that the visitors handling them could cradle the guinea pigs in their laps. Bubble, Squeak, Ginger and Pickle would remain Maddie’s pets in the private part of the farm but she’d sourced twenty guinea pigs in varying colours for our visitors. She’d had assurances that all were used to being handled but, as we were doing with the cows, she’d test that out extensively before we opened the experience to the public.
On top of all that happening, Caleb and I had our first date. He drove me to Bamburgh with the dogs and we had a fairly early tea in one of the village pubs. The pub was lovely and the food was delicious but it was getting busy as we finished eating and my favourite part of the date was what came next – a romantic walk along the beach, hand in hand, while the dogs chased each other in and out of the sea.
‘My first trip to the coast since moving back here,’ I said, breathing in the salty air. ‘I love these wide stretches of beaches and how they’re not heaving with people.’
‘Same here, especially in winter when they’re pretty much deserted. Does that make me sound anti-social?’
‘Disliking crowds doesn’t make you anti-social. I’m the same. I know I’m going to thrive on busy days at the farm but, at closing time, I’ll be more than ready to shut the gate andhave the place back to myself. I need the peace and quiet to reenergise.’
‘When do you think you’ll be ready to launch cow cuddling?’
‘We’re thinking the start of September. With having an age restriction on it, it doesn’t feel like it’s something we want to launch during the school holidays. When we’ve worked out the order and timings for the experience, we’ll offer free trials to some of our regular customers and take the summer to fine tune things. In the meantime, we’ll allow visitors access to the fields to see the cows. When Des and Hunter are finished with the guinea pig barn, they’re putting in some perimeter fencing round the cows so they can be seen but not touched.’
‘Good idea to keep visitors safely away from the horns.’
‘That’s exactly it. The fencing should be ready in about a fortnight’s time.’
‘You’ve done such amazing things at the farm already. I’m so impressed with you all and I cringe every time I think about how rude I was to you when you first arrived.’
‘So incredibly rude,’ I said, my tone teasing as I stopped walking. ‘I think you’ve got a lot of making up to do, Caleb Nash.’
‘Is that so? Well, just as well I’m more than willing to do a lot of making up to you. Would a kiss be a good start?’
‘Hmm, I could be convinced.’
He let go of my hand and slipped his arms round my waist and lowered his lips to mine. As he ran his fingers into my hair, I melted against him.
‘That was a very good start,’ I whispered when he pulled away. ‘Might need a few more of them.’
