‘You don’t want me jeopardising his six-pack?’
‘Oh, I’m sure it’s fine,’ said Issi, blushing, possibly at the thought of Tig’s finely honed torso.
When the cows were all getting down to the business of eating the fresh young grass, Tig walked up the field to join them.
‘Didyou like that?’ he said to them.
‘Loved it,’ said Fran and Issi more or less together.
‘Breakfast? Bacon? Fried bread?’ Fran added.
Tig nodded.
As they walked back together Fran asked, ‘Tig, are you very strong?’
‘Why do you want to know?’ he answered.
‘Nothing really, it’s just you’re very silent.’
Tig laughed. ‘I’ll say anything I think needs saying, don’t you worry.’
Fran saw him put his hand on Issi’s shoulder. That said a lot, she thought.
The next few days were joyful. Although she was working as hard as ever, without Roy it was easier and more fun; and of course, as she became more practised, the cheesemaking went more quickly.
The man from the reclamation yard came, and paid Fran a very nice amount for the Cotswold stone tiles.
‘That seems an awful lot!’ she said, forgetting she should be edging up the price, not the opposite.
‘It is an awful lot,’ the man agreed, ‘but I daren’t give you less than they’re worth. Antony would be furious.’
‘Oh, well. As long as you’re making a profit …’
‘Don’t worry, I am. And there’s a fair bit here. I’ll send the lorry up tomorrow to collect the tiles, if that’s OK.’
‘Morethan OK. The sooner the better as far as I’m concerned,’ said Fran.
‘Right. Cash suit you?’
‘That’s fine,’ said Fran, wondering briefly if she had to worry about tax and decided not to bother.
She watched as the man peeled fifty pound notes off a wodge he produced from his back pocket and put them into her hand. She offered a quick prayer of thanks that Roy wasn’t here to snatch the money away, or at least threaten to, and reckoned she had enough for one bank loan payment and a bit towards the next. She’d pay it into the farm account today, when she planned to see Amy.
Amy was on good form when Fran went in to see her later that afternoon.
‘Roy’s gone away for a little break,’ Fran said to Amy, who nodded. As Fran had only had to say it once, it indicated that Amy was wearing her hearing aids, which helped communication.
‘Good idea. He should see a bit of the countryside if he’s going to live here.’
‘I thought he should go back to Australia and look after his farm there,’ said Fran, her good mood waning a bit.
‘It’s a long way away, Australia,’ said Amy.
‘He wouldn’t need to get there by sailing ship,’ Fran countered. ‘It’s only a day and a night on aplane.’She was a bit vague about this but felt she didn’t need to be too precise.
‘Getting under your feet, was he?’
‘He was really. He doesn’t do much but he complains about what I do.’
