‘Fixing a leak in my annexe. Go and find him if you like.’
As I walked through to the annexe, my newly formed business mind whirred with the possibilities the planned open day would afford us. The entire school had been invited up to the farm for the afternoon. Not only would it be an excellent test run for future events, it would give me a great piece of evidence for the funding bid I was writing. Aproven track recordwas one requirement for the lengthy form.
I paused at the door to Harry’s annexe. Although not out of bounds, since arriving at Lowen Farm I’d realised how much Harry must need something of her own, so had never invaded her space. Although I knew she wasn’t there, I knocked on the door anyway.
‘Come in. Oh, hi, Liv.’ Seb was up on a ladder, fiddling with a light fitting. ‘How was work?’
‘Good. I heard all about the war Carol is raging on cats in her garden and Mavis’s naughty neighbours have been at it again.’
‘Crikey, I don’t know where they get the energy.’
‘What are you doing?’
‘Water’s leaking through this light fitting and I don’t know why. What Harry needs is a professional, but she can’t afford to call one out, so I’m trying to do a bodge job with the help of my assistant Google.’
‘Good luck. Harry said she wants us to lay an Easter egg hunt in the woods.’
‘Yeah. Just give me a second to get this sorted and we can get started. Harry’s already written out the clues and there’s a chocolate egg to go with each one. All we have to do is hide them.’
‘Sounds easy enough.’
‘Hmm,’ said Seb, frowning in concentration as his hand felt around in the ceiling cavity. As his arm reached further, his T-shirt lifted, exposing a flat stomach toned from manual labour rather than the gym. I tore my eyes away, not wanting to be mistaken for one of thepeevsBeryl was so fond of discussing.
‘This place is different from what I was expecting,’ I said, looking around Harry’s domain.
‘What were you expecting?’
‘I don’t know, something a little more chaotic, maybe?’
‘That’s the last thing Harry needs with all she has to juggle and keep in her head.’
‘True.’
Harry’s living room was sparse, but in a cool Scandi way. The walls were painted white, and rather than carpet, stripped wooden boards covered the floor. A small bookshelf sat beside a wicker high-backed armchair, but other than the books, the room was free from clutter of any kind.
‘Are these Harry’s grandparents?’ I asked, picking up the only framed photograph in the room.
‘Yeah, they were an amazing couple. I didn’t know them all that well, but we came to visit them a couple of times. They leftbig shoes to fill. It’s no wonder Harry feels the pressure to work so hard. Right, I think I’ve done all I can here. I’m going to have to go up onto the roof, as I suspect that’s where the problem lies, but not today. We’ve got an Easter egg hunt to lay.’
As Seb climbed down the ladder, his foot slipped. I watched in horror as in what felt like slow motion, he lost his balance, his arms flailing above him as he landed flat on his back on the wooden floor.
‘Oh my God.’ I rushed over to where he lay groaning. His eyes were closed, and I held his face in my hands. ‘Seb? Can you hear me?’
His eyes opened, and a smile tugged at his lips. He pierced me withthatstare, and I removed my hands from his face before they could turn clammy. ‘Are you badly hurt?’
Seb winced. ‘The only thing I’ve hurt is my pride… and my bum.’
‘Ah, right, well, I’m not sure there’s much I can do for bruised bottoms.’ I held out a hand, and he took it, letting me pull him until he was sitting inches from me. ‘At least you didn’t have far to fall,’ I said, trying to break through the thick air between us. The annexe felt suddenly stuffy, like all the oxygen had been sucked out.
With a cough, Seb broke eye contact and turned towards the ladder. ‘I shouldn’t have taken my boots off. It’s a rooky error, climbing a ladder in socks, but my boots were covered in mud.’
‘Don’t worry about it, as long as you’re all right, that’s the main thing. Come on, let’s get that trail laid before sixty children arrive demanding chocolate.’
Chapter Twenty-Six
The farm was in chaos. Children tore between the animals, fields and woods, high on sugar from all the chocolate eggs they’d consumed. Two children had already thrown up, and I was keeping a close eye on Bertie, who’d collected more than his fair share of chocolate. Parents seemed happy to let their children run wild, content that with teachers also present, no harm would come to their offspring. Given that Mrs Grange was completely focused on an in-depth discussion about brass bands with Stephan, I felt the need to keep an eye on the hordes of feral children, fearing potential lawsuits should they come to any harm.
There had been a near miss when a cocky seven-year-old decided the pigs were too cramped in their enclosure and left the gate open for them to run wild. I reached them just in time, the large sow grunting in protest as I shoved her and her offspring back behind their fence.
