Nikki shook her head. ‘He’s working.’ She turned to Ashton. ‘He’s a copper.’
‘I know him. He can usually be seen in a Panda car,’ Ashton said.
‘That’s the guy,’ Nikki confirmed. She and her sisters all had the same fair hair, blue eyes, and high cheekbones. They followed Beth in looks. Carla’s dark hair and hazel eyes were a direct contrast, and his gaze kept drifting towards her.
Now and again, it also drifted towards Otto, and Ashton hoped the chef hadn’t witnessed his debacle on the night he’d proposed to Lacey. The evening was a bit of a blur, but he could remember the way everyone in the restaurant had fallen silentas they waited for Lacey to say yes, and how the silence had stretched out uncomfortably when it became clear she wasn’t going to.
Feeling overwhelmed, Ashton hung back, letting the conversation flow around him as he was invited to take a seat at the dining table.
‘Before we start,’ Dulcie said when everyone was seated. ‘I want to give Ashton something.’ She held out a small envelope.
‘What is it?’ he asked.
‘Open it and see.’
He prised the flap open and sucked in a breath. ‘What’s this for?’
‘Because you refused payment, and you deserve something for your time and expertise.’
‘This is too much.’
‘No,’ Dulcie replied, her voice firm. ‘It’s not.’
‘I don’t know what to say.’ He knew he was blushing, and he felt rather embarrassed.
‘No need to say anything,’ Otto told him. ‘Right, tuck in before it gets cold.’
Relieved that everyone’s attention turned to the food, Ashton slid the gift card into the back pocket of his jeans. When he saw Carla smirk, he understood why she had been in InFocus previously the day she’d bought her camera. He narrowed his eyes at her and shook his head in admonishment.
Her smirk grew wider, and his gaze was drawn to her lips. A sudden urge to kiss them took him by surprise, and heswiftly turned his attention to his plate and tried to think about something else.
‘How’s business,’ Otto asked Adam, handing a platter of beef to Beth, who took a couple of slices of meat and passed it on.
‘Ticking along. I’ve got more work than I can handle to be honest, although things will calm down once the house is completed.’
‘When will that be?’ Walter asked. ‘Last time I was up your way, it looked almost done.’
Carla leant towards Ashton and murmured, ‘Adam and Maisie have a place somewhere on the mountain. He runs a machinery repair business, and Maisie is opening a kennels. They’ve got some building work going on.’
Adam said, ‘I reckon another week or so should do it. It won’t be perfect, but it’ll be habitable, so if that’s okay with you Beth, we’ll be moving out of the house in Picklewick shortly. It’ll be better if we’re on site.’
Carla offered Ashton another explanation. ‘The house was a shell, so he and Maisie have been living in Beth’s house in Picklewick while they do it up, because she’s moved in with Walter. It’s a bit like musical chairs but with houses and no music.’
Ashton had noticed. The names and addresses on letters were a giveaway, and he recalled that at one time Otto used to live in the cottage on the lane with his dad, before moving into the farmhouse with Dulcie. The musical chairs analogy was quite apt.
Beth cried, ‘That’s earlier than you expected. How exciting!’ She turned to Carla. ‘Have you been up to The Forever Home yet?’
‘The what?’
‘Adam and Maisie’s place. That’s what they’ve called it.’
Maisie said, ‘You must! It’s coming along a treat. I’ve got some photos of the way it looked before we started work on it.’
At the mention of photos, Carla sent Ashton a warm look, and he felt a corresponding glow in his chest. The Fairfaxes and the Yorks were a close-knit family, and he was acutely conscious that he was an outsider. Perhaps Carla also felt a little like that, he mused. They were two outsiders together (despite Carla’s friendship with Dulcie) with the common bond of a love of photography to bind them together, however briefly. It suddenly struck him that he didn’t know how long Carla would be staying at the farm. In fact, he knew hardly anything about her, and he realised he wanted to know more.
After the best Sunday lunch Ashton had ever eaten, he and Carla went outside to resume her lesson. Despite being secretly relieved, he felt rather guilty that his offer to help with the washing up had been turned down. Clearing up after all those people was a daunting prospect. Equally daunting was the thought of asking Carla about herself, and he didn’t know why he wanted to know – he just did.
‘So,’ he began, as they perched on bales in the barn for Carla to practice taking shots in low-level light. ‘How long will you be in Picklewick?’
