‘Were you going to say you’d be back to visit?’
She threw the stick again when Branston brought it to her. ‘I was. I suppose because the village has always been here, Mum was always here, so letting go completely is bound to feel odd. It’s a place I’ve come to know better. But if I’m miles away and Mum is no longer around, it’s unlikely…’
He let the quiet embrace them both as Branston refused to stop with the game and dropped the stick at their feet once more. They were standing close enough that either of them were an option to participate.
Nate picked up the stick and did the honours this time. ‘If Dad wasn’t around, I’m not sure I’d get back here, but I suppose Little Woodville has always been there in the background for me too. It’s always been available. It’s only when there’s the possibility that something might not be that we really start to think about it.’
‘I guess you’re right.’
‘Would your sister ever head back this way?’
She shook her head. ‘Tegan and Henry took over his family’s pig farmand while it’s hard work and stressful, I know Tegan loves it. It’s not a massive farm – about fourteen acres.’
He whistled. ‘Big enough.’
‘It sounds it but apparently that’s classed as a smallholding. I can’t remember how many pigs they have and I don’t like to think about what happens to Wilbur and his mates and how they make their living, so I don’t ask too many questions.’
Nate laughed because he could imagine she wouldn’t like it if she knew.
‘They have fresh fruit and vegetables, more than I realised until she talked about it recently, and they open up for picking when the seasons allow. I think that was the way it worked when Henry’s parents ran the show too. The kids have all that countryside and freedom. Tegan has really found her home up there.’
‘Do you ever wonder whether you’ve found yours here?’
‘Maybe,’ she said, taking him by surprise. He’d expected her to answer with a quickno.
‘Wow, so that makes Scotland…’
‘Complicated.’
This time, when Branston dropped the stick at their feet, his tongue was hanging out in a way that suggested he was spent and was continuing for their benefit. ‘Come on, let’s walk this lady home.’
‘There’s no need,’ Morgan told him with a laugh. ‘You do know my cottage is right over there, don’t you? And it’s still light.’ They both spotted Jeremy walking from the direction of the Rose and Thatch towards his conspicuous, ruby-red vehicle parked on the road near Morgan’s place and gave him a wave.
‘My dad always says to walk a lady home.’ Nate rubbed Branston’s head.
‘You’re your father’s son.’
‘I’ll take that as a compliment,’ he said as they began to make their way towards Forget-Me-Not Cottage, Branston between them.
They stopped at the top of the green. ‘I can take it from here, Nate, honestly. But thank you.’
‘My pleasure. Good to see—’ But he said nothing more before he ran from where they were standing, out in the road in front of Jeremy’s car, which came to a grinding halt. Thank goodness. He’d been preparing himself for impact.
Marley innocently trotted from near his ankles over to Morgan on the green as though he hadn’t just almost been run over.
Morgan had dropped the loaf of bread she’d bought and instead scooped the cat up in her arms. He heard her ask the cat whether he was all right. Nate didn’t miss her say, ‘That was close. Don’t you die on me, you hear. I can’t take another loss. I can’t.’
A distraught Jeremy was out of the car and at Nate’s side. ‘I didn’t see him.’
Nate put his hands on the old man’s shoulders, anchoring him. ‘I know you didn’t, nobody would have, he just walked out, oblivious. I don’t think he looked both ways.’ But his joke fell flat. The man was shaken, badly.
Jeremy looked just about close to tears as he said to Morgan, ‘Love, I’m so sorry, I didn’t see him.’
‘He’s fine, Jeremy.’ Her voice shook ever so slightly. ‘Thank you, Nate.’ He got the impression she would’ve burst into tears had Jeremy not been so cut up about what just happened.
‘Honestly, Jeremy, look at him,’ she urged as Jeremy kept apologising over and over. The cat was purring in her arms and Jeremy reached out a shaky hand to fuss the feline. It had probably been more traumatic for Jeremy than Marley.
‘Come inside the cottage, Jeremy, please,’ Morgan insisted. ‘Let me make you a cup of tea with sugar.’
