‘Oh, there’s no chance of you taking her on then, Jem,’ Amber smiled. ‘This place is going to be a hit. Jake and I are already planning winter supper dishes we could serve here.’
‘Are you?’ I gasped.
Amber nodded.
‘We are,’ Jake chimed in, ‘and we want you to add a wood burner to your list,’
‘It’s already on there,’ I said, feeling slightly dazed. ‘Are you really going to pick Fenview Farm over your other venue?’
‘There’s no contest,’ he told me. ‘The barn is beautiful and the added attraction of Bill’s collection is the ultimate cherry on the cake.’
My head began to spin and I’d barely had a sip to drink.
‘And Bill took me to look at the washhouse and other outbuildings earlier,’ said Tom, joining in, ‘and I can’t imagine there would be any objection to you putting in a kitchen and cloakroom. There’s more than enough space for both.’
I didn’t know what to say. I’d always had faith in the idea, but listening to everyone else’s approval made it suddenly feel very real. The Fenview Farm supper club was going to happen. I couldn’t wait to tell Grandad what everyone was saying. And the Rossis. Nonna would be cock-a-hoop to know how fast her semifreddo had vanished.
The limited money in my savings account sprang to mind again and I hoped I would be able to find a way to make the vision I, and everyone else, imagined the place could be, a reality. Tears then filled my eyes as I wondered what Mum would have made of it all. She had been delighted by what I’d done for the Rossis and I wondered if she would have felt even more proud here because Fenview was our very own family farm.
‘And you know we’ll help,’ said Bec, cranking my emotion up another notch. ‘Won’t we, Eliot?’
‘Of course,’ he nodded, leaning in to refill Jemma’s glass. ‘I can wield a sledgehammer as well as the next man.’
‘I’m not sure we’ll need anything knocking down,’ I quickly said, but nonetheless felt extremely grateful they were both so willing to get stuck in.
‘Well, a paintbrush then,’ he smiled.
‘Hey,’ said Bec, swatting his arm. ‘That’s my line.’
We were all in fine spirits by then and it was a relief to see Eliot smiling again. I was just about to tell Bec my plans to offer wall space to local artists when Anthony announced he had to leave but couldn’t get his car out because of how everyone was parked. Considering he’d been put in charge of parking, I felt a bit miffed about that, but at least his early departure put paid to him saying anything untoward to Eliot.
‘I was hoping we would have more time to chat,’ he said, when I saw him out.
‘Well, I did tell you it was going to be a busy research evening, didn’t I?’ I reminded him.
‘You can get your car out now,’ said Eliot, who had untangled the mess Anthony had made of arranging the vehicles.
Anthony didn’t acknowledge him, but pulled me into his arms and kissed me firmly on the lips. I was furious and rigidly unresponsive.
‘I’ll call you tomorrow,’ he said, releasing me. ‘We’ll go to that wine bar and talk all this through. I’ll give you the benefit of my business knowledge.’
I didn’t want the benefit of his business knowledge and I hadn’t wanted that kiss either. He had no right to go around pressing his lips where they weren’t wanted. I took out a tissue and wiped my mouth.
‘So much for him not being your boyfriend,’ Eliot glowered.
‘He’s not,’ I said. ‘He’s really not.’
‘Well, you better tell him that then hadn’t you,’ he said walking away, ‘because that kiss suggested otherwise and so did what he said to me earlier.’
‘What are you talking about?’
‘When we were taking those bottles off the table,’ he said spinning round to face me, ‘which, by the way, there was absolutely nothing wrong with, Anthony made it very clear that you and he were an item and that if I’d got any romantic feelings for you, then I should forget about them as soon as possible.’
Chapter 25
I tried not to dwell on what else Anthony might have said to Eliot in the brief time they had been thrown together and, as no one else was in a rush to leave, turned the music up a little before going around with my notebook to talk over how the evening had gone. It turned out that Eliot wasn’t the only person Anthony had had a quiet word with and my resolve not to get distracted by his comments was soon tested to its limit.
By all accounts the evening was a huge success and both Jemma and Jake were going to be among the first to book events, much to mine and Grandad’s delight and relief, but they did have a couple of issues for me to iron out. As did practically everyone else.
Thankfully, all of the problems were easily solved, minor things which were simple to address and the largest, the safety of the barn itself, was soon dismissed by Tom and Jake. However, the one thing practically all of the issues had in common was that they had been flagged up by Anthony.
As I made my way around, I realised that he’d had a word in everyone’s ear, and he seemed to have contributed little that was positive to balance out his gripes. That, added to what he’d said to Eliot about steering clear of me and his gaslighting over the strength of the drinks table, combined to leave me with a bitter taste in my mouth. Considering the sweetness of the menu, that was quite an accomplishment.
Once the last of the guests had left, Grandad and I cheerfully talked about the success the evening had been, along with what we should plan to do next, and then he left me and the
