‘And you don’t want money?’
‘No, why on earth would I?’
‘Well, the will like.’
And suddenly it all fell into place. Tom was avoiding talking to her because he thought she wanted to discuss the farm’s future. Her mother had left her half of the farm to Sylvie and Sylvie had every intention of passing it on to Sam, she just hadn’t told Tom. It hadn’t occurred to her that she’d need to.
‘Oh, Tom, did you think I wanted you to buy me out?’
‘I can’t do that. I can’t raise any more finance on the farm, maid.’
‘Of course you can’t. Tom, listen to me now, this is Lovage Farm. It’s yours way more than mine, whatever the legal facts of the matter. I am not asking you to buy me out. I am not asking if I can buy you out. I want the farm as it is, as it’s always been. This is Mum’s and yours and one day, I hope, Sam’s. And who knows, you could have children and then it will be theirs and Sam’s.’
Tom laughed then, a great big laugh straight up from the belly, his mouth open, showing two gaps where teeth should be. It took him a while before he could speak.
‘I ain’t having no children. Dear me, don’t be saying such things. Julie will out-and-out leave if she thinks I expect children.’
‘Would be a punch in the eye for medical science, that’s for sure. Although I’m sure I read an article about some women giving birth in their fifties these days.’ The colour drained from Tom’s face. ‘You could give it a shot, get yourselves both in the newspapers. TheCornish Guardianwould probably want a full feature.’
Sylvie stopped and glanced across at her uncle.
‘Breathe, Tom, breathe. I was only teasing. Don’t make me have to do CPR in the kitchen. I was teasing. I don’t think Julie has any intention of getting pregnant.’
‘I don’t think that that is a subject to joke about, maid. I know attitudes are more relaxed these days, but oh my goodness, I think we’re well past that!’
‘I’m sorry. Will you move Julie in?’
‘What is it with you today? Not everyone wants to live in sin. I shall have to see.’
‘I don’t want you to be lonely, Tom, if Sam and I go, and we will be going at some point.’
‘Lonely? You mean I won’t have to be tripping over them damn blocks or needing nine different shampoos in the bathroom? I think I’ll manage.’
‘Huh, you’re a bad-tempered old bugger. I’ll miss you.’
‘Humpf. Then you need your head examining, maid. You’re not going anywhere today, are you?’
Tom stood out of the old low-slung chair and patted her shoulder as he walked past towards the open kitchen door. He turned as he got there and Sylvie looked up from the flagstones on the floor where she had fixed her gaze as she felt his eyes upon her.
‘Scones were good, maid.’
Chapter Eighteen
Sylvie was jolted by the sound of a text coming through. She saw as she looked at her phone that it was just past four which meant she had been sitting there for nearly an hour – she must’ve fallen asleep after Tom had left. He was a funny old thing – fancy thinking she had any intention of hurling him out of Lovage Farm!
Sitting here was not helping get on with the afternoon; she couldn’t remember the last time she had dozed during the day. She hit play on the voice note she had received and heard the voices of Sam, Alex and Ellie singing, ‘We’re all going to the beach right now, beach right now,’ pretty tunelessly. Sam managed to fit in a properly hideous crescendo at the end that made her grin. He was her future, there was no way she would be selling the farm off when it was the security she had for Sam, the one thing she knew she could give him, even when he was but a twinkle.
Shaking her head, hoping it would get rid of the sleepiness, she got to her feet and headed to grab the beach bag by the back door. She boiled the kettle and made herself a coffee to take in the car with her – maybe that would also help clear the fug. A quick check in the hallway mirror, and she decided to slosh some cold water on her face just to make sure. It took a mere ten minutes before she was parked in Penmenna village and walking to the beach, the sun beating on her face and the pink Fowey Pride still in bloom and poking out of the walls. As she turned the corner by the ice-cream shop she could hearthe squeaks of Ellie and Sam before she saw them tiptoeing by the water’s edge, playing the racing-the-tideline game and deliberately losing. Alex was down there with them, their giggles occasionally interspersed with his deep rumbly laugh. An orchestra of sound when combined with the crash of the waves and the noisy caw of circling gulls. It brought a smile to her face for the second time and she felt her pace pick up as she headed towards them. For some reason, the very shape of Alex struck her today. She had experienced that flutter yesterday when he had put his arm around her, but today she was deeply aware of his sheer physicality. The way the T-shirt shaped his abs, and the way the top of his arms filled the sleeves to bursting was possibly her favourite bit. She was used to beautifully toned young men – after all she had been dancing with them her whole career – but there was something even stronger about Alex, something that made her tummy flip when she studied him, butterflies not merely fluttering their wings flirtatiously but practically colliding and bouncing off the wall of her stomach.
Why was this hitting her today? Did she not have enough to deal with in her life right now? Could her brain not just give her a break for a bit? She had managed to accept that they had a great friendship and she had no intention of rocking the boat with lustful imaginings about a man who could only ever see her as a friend. A man like Alex dated Glamazons, women like Claudia or those who dashed from continent to continent with a camera slung around their neck looking effortlessly glamorous whilst still engaging in danger day to day. Not a single mum who lived in jeans and Converse and barely brushed her hair. And definitely not the single mum whose child Ellie was best friends with.
Neither of them were stupid enough to rock this particular boat, not with both their children so dependent upon eachother. That way madness lay. Fabulous madness, but dangerous delusional destructive madness all the same.
She walked across the beach reminding herself of this fact. Alex is off limits. It will explode your life and ultimately break Sam’s heart.
Alex looked up as she approached and she watched the grin spread across his face.
‘Hey, all good?’
