Suddenly there was Orla, boot laces undone, coat open, no hat.
‘Go back inside,’ Jacques stated. ‘It’s too early. Too cold. You will freeze.’
‘I’m not abandoning Ginger and Baby and Posh… or Zayn Malik.’
He shook his head. ‘You are crazy.’
‘So tell me what to do to get them back in the barn.’
‘I have no experience in catching chickens. They have never escaped before and when I move them into the barn for the winter it is a well thought out procedure.’
‘Well, how do you do that? Can we think about it quickly before they run all the way down to Saint-Chambéry?’
‘Food,’ Jacques said. ‘That is the only way. The feed is in the barn.’
‘I will go and get it.’
‘And I will catch the ones who have run furthest away.’
He watched Orla turn and head back to the barn before he set off in the other direction.
It took a while, but, by the time Orla had re-joined him, he had a chicken under each arm and a few were bobbing about by his feet.
‘Sprinkle a little of the feed on the ground and we will keep going, like dropping breadcrumbs to lead them back to the barn.’
‘OK,’ Orla said, taking a handful of the feed and doing as he said. ‘Come on, chickens, let’s get you back somewhere warmer than this. Come on, eat the food.’
He watched her, dropping the pellets, her hair falling over her face, enthusiastically encouraging his poultry to comply and all his thoughts went back to last night. He had kissed her. Without any holding back. And it had been more than he could have imagined. Because that action, coupled with the fact he had opened up about his previous occupation and told Orla a part of what he had been through, was something he had never done, even with Katie. And it was something he never thought he was going to beableto do. Everything had been heightened ten-fold since last night when Delphine had said she was sick. Everything had at first felt insurmountable and then suddenly, with the kind of clarity bad news always brings arriving at top speed, his heart and head had been challenged to take a chance and trusthis feelings. Except now, in the very cold light of day, he was questioning that decision-making all over again.
The birds in his arms squawked.
‘So, how pregnant is Noble?’ Orla asked him.
‘What?’
‘I looked it up. Reindeer are usually pregnant for around seven and a half months and, you were right, usually they give birth in May or June.’
‘Oh, well,’ Jacques began. ‘I would say this one is… going to give birth…’
‘Yes?’
Her expression was so hopeful. He knew he should tell the truth because, Orla wasn’t stupid, she would work it out herself before too much longer. But he really needed a frank conversation with Delphine before he said or did anything. Finding outherexact situation had to be his priority.
‘I would say any day now,’ Jacques finished.
‘Great!’
‘But, I will need to speak to the vet in Grenoble. Take his advice on what to do, see if there is anything else we should be thinking of. Maybe he will come… if the weather stays consistent.’
‘And as soon as the baby is born, Erin and I can get out of here and back to the UK for Christmas.’
He swallowed, gripped the chickens a little more securely. She was thinking about leaving. Of course she was. She wasn’t even meant to be staying with him. He still didn’t know if Delphine’s windows were really being fixed. Saint-Chambéry seemed to be a whole web of white-lies right now.
‘Sorry,’ she apologised. ‘I didn’t mean for that to come out quite how it sounded. I’ve enjoyed my time here, of course, but my parents need me at home.’
‘It has got more serious, with your parents’ situation?’
‘I just think someone needs to guide them through a few things.’
