I had been right about Ned after their night of passion. He hadn’t woken up filled with regret. He’d woken up realising he’d fallen in love with one of his best friends and had needed a moment to process his feelings, but Jude had misinterpreted that. When she made out that it was a mistake, he’d believed her so had gone along with that, not wanting to lose her out of his life. It transpired that Ned had liked Jude when we were at Loughborough together but he’d never acted on it because he hadn’t thought Jude was interested. He’d moved on after that and had only thought of her as a friend after we graduated but during that night in Reading, the torch he’d once carried for her was reignited and it had burned for her ever since.
‘What happens now?’ I asked them. ‘Or haven’t you had a chance to talk about that yet?’
‘Now that everything’s out in the open, we’re determined to make the most of the here and now,’ Jude said.
‘As Jude’s making her home here, this is where I want to be,’ Ned said. ‘I’ve had an offer of some home-based consultancy work but there’s also a chance of voluntary redundancy at work. If I play my cards right, I might be able to get VR with gardening leaveandsecure the consultancy work. Assuming I can leave quickly, I’ll rent somewhere locally, although Jude says you’ve got a holiday cottage here that needs some work and you don’t have time to get it sorted. I don’t mind some scuffed walls and shabby furniture if you’d be happy to rent it out to me.’
‘Seeing as Jude’s investing in the business, I’m sure we can sort something out,’ I said. ‘This is brilliant news. I’m so happy for you both.’
The four of us clinked our glasses together and, as I took a sip from mine, I gazed across the farm. I wasn’t sure whether Jude had sent a request out for Ned to love her but I certainly had and it seemed that yet another wish had been granted.
* * *
When we’d finished the bottle, Jude fetched the keys for The Dovecote to show Ned around.
‘They seem great together,’ Caleb said.
‘They do. I’m so pleased for them.’
‘Then why did a dark cloud just pass across your face?’
‘Did it?’ I frowned. ‘I was just thinking about Erica – Ned’s ex.’
‘She was one of your circle of friends, yes?’
‘That’s right. We’ve kept that friendship going for so long. Jude and I shared a house with her for two years at uni, we were all each other’s bridesmaids, the six of us used to meet up as a group every year and we’d get together as smaller groupsoutside of that. Erica and I were close until she left Ned and, since then, I’ve tried to stay in touch but she’s pulled away. I sent her the article from the paper about the farm opening and she messaged me last week to say congratulations, but…’ I shook my head. ‘Even though she was the one to leave Ned, I can’t imagine her being happy about him moving on with Jude. Adrian’s gone, Laurie’s in the past, and now I might be about to lose Erica. I guess it just makes me feel a little sad.’
Caleb sipped on his bottle of lager, looking thoughtful. ‘What else did Erica say in her message?’
‘Nothing much. Hang on.’ I picked up my phone and found the message. ‘Congratulations on your exciting new adventure. You always were destined to end up on a farm. Be happy.And she included a smiley emoji and a kiss.’
‘That’s it?’
I nodded.
‘No mention of looking forward to seeing the farm or hoping you can have a catch-up soon?’
I glanced down at the phone, my breath catching in my throat. ‘That’s a goodbye, isn’t it?’
‘I won’t pretend to know your friend but my outsider’s view is that she’s moved on. You told me she’s remarried and they have a baby. That’s her life now. You and your circle of friends are happy memories from the past but you’re not part of her future. She wants you to move on too.’
I nodded once more but, instead of feeling sad, I felt clarity and peace.
‘I guess the six of us weren’t forever either, but I’m actually okay with that because I’ve got new friends now, a new home, a new direction.’
The six of us had enjoyed an incredible run of friendship and I’d always look back on our university days and the years that followed with fondness, thinking how blessed I was to have hadfive such special people in my life for so long. But things changed and friendships were one of them and, instead of mourning the loss of half of the group, I’d celebrate that half of us had stayed together. It wasn’t as though we’d fallen out. Our lives had simply headed towards different fresh starts without each other.
49
The school summer holidays started and, as hoped, there was a big increase in visitor numbers during the week and an even bigger one at weekends. Mam was in her element in the café and delighted with her new team. Chloe and Reece had both settled into their summer jobs really well. Reece had worked in a coffee shop before so he tended to be on drinks duty while Chloe was brilliant at keeping tables cleared to facilitate a speedy turnaround at busy times.
The review sites were full of praise about the food, the staff and the attraction as a whole which was brilliant but a couple of the reviews mentioned that it was a shame we were closed on Mondays and Tuesdays. We were reluctant to open the farm for seven days a week because, even though we were still busy working on those days, it was easier to get things done when there weren’t any visitors around. We decided on a compromise of opening on Tuesdays for the duration of the summer holidays only, but keeping a Monday to ourselves.
On the Monday of the third week of the summer holidays, Maddie and I were walking young fluffies Pip and Tammy to thegrooming barn when it struck me that Maddie was quieter than usual.
‘Everything okay?’ I asked after we’d tethered Pip and Tammy to their posts and started brushing them.
‘I’m okay but…’ She sighed. ‘Hunter and I have split up.’
