Page 34 of Whispers from the Past

‘Ok.’

‘Seriously, I’m fine. Look, I’m smiling and everything,’ he turned to her and smiled whilst still looking pissed. Rose let it go though as she realised they were pulling into Gibson Farm. Mrs Gibson stood with two llamas happily munching on dandelions that were dotted around the lawn in front of her stone farmhouse. Rose smirked as she noticed the leopard print leashes attached to the two animals.

‘Luke, Rose, I’d like to introduce you to Desmond and Donald.’

‘Great names Mrs Gibson,’ Rose beamed.

It quickly transpired that the walk wouldn’t be going ahead as planned. Mrs. Gibson had an emergency on the sheep field.

‘I’m so sorry to leave you both like this, but some hikers have managed to damage part of the perimeter fence. I’ve got to check it out and oversee the repair. I really wanted to be able to lead this walk for you both, but if you’re happy to continue on without me, I’ll meet you back at the farm?’ She handed over the leashes for Desmond and Donald, assuring Rose and Luke that they’d be fine as long as they stick to the footpath that surrounded the farm. And then she was hopping into her muddied Landrover and driving off.

‘You’d better lead the way,’ Rose suggested as the car drove out of sight, ‘my sense of direction is dreadful.’

Luke nodded and led Desmond towards a tree-lined narrow path.

The four of them walked for about half an hour before Donald decided he’d had enough and sat down in a small clearing under a large horse chestnut tree. Luke pulled Desmond over and stood stroking the large furry beast.

‘He likes you,’ Rose said, looking at the two of them.

‘Someone has to, I suppose,’ he muttered, ruffling the llama’s tufty curls around his chin.

‘Maybe…’ but Rose stopped herself.

‘Maybe what?’

She’d been about to say that maybe if he was as nice to people as he has been to Desmond in the last thirty minutes, more people would like him. But she realised that wasn’t true. Luke had been a mixture of indifferent, rude and perfunctorily pleasant to Rose and she still liked him. A fact she didn’t like to admit. So she’d changed tact;

‘I was going to say, maybe you should get one. Or a dog?’

The mention of a dog didn’t have the desired effect, as it drew the clouds of sadness that Rose recognised only too well, over Luke’s eyes almost immediately.

‘No. No more pets.’

Realising her mistake, she tried to apologise for being insensitive but Luke was already pulling Desmond away. ‘Let’s keep moving.’

She sighed. It pained her that she seemed to be the cause of so much upset for Luke. Despite his protests, he had been in a bad mood this morning, but standing with the llama just then, he’d softened. She hated seeing him so sad again. Pulling Donald along to catch up with them she tried again to shift his mood.

‘How was Holly this morning?’

‘She’s fine. I took Natalie to brunch at Harris Hall, to give her a bit of a break.’

‘I bet she appreciated that, and Natalie is pretty good company.’

‘She sure is. Not a chance in hell for any peace and quiet but she’ll always keep you busy.’

‘Holly mentioned that you take her swimming too?’

Luke nodded a little distractedly. ‘It was important for her to be able to swim and due to Holly’s phobia it made sense for me to take care of that.’

‘It’s more than some brothers would do, I’m sure.’ When Luke didn’t answer, Rose decided it was best to switch topics. ‘What is it like at Harris Hall? Me and Tony are going there on Thursday - will I like it?’

Luke stopped a little too abruptly, causing Rose to bump into Desmond. ‘You’re Tony’s plus one for the raffle prize?’

‘Yes, he said it was only fair for me to go with him as I’d helped so much with the raffle.’

‘Right’

Now it was her turn to push for more; ‘What?’.