Escape to the Country (6 page)

Leah spotted Tarragon on the opposite side of the yard. He seemed to
want to cross over to her, but was glaring at the mud which prevented
him from doing so and reaching his destination with clean dry paws.
After her own experience with a muddy foot she didn't blame him, but
couldn't help laughing at the way he'd got himself trapped by picking
his way round the edge. Strange that he'd coped better when it was
actually raining. With a bark, the dog leapt forward through the mud
and bounded towards Leah. She braced herself, but he didn't jump up,
just sat calmly by her side and sniffed at her pocket.

"And I thought you'd come to see me, boy, and all you're
interested in is what I've got to give you."

Leah didn't have any treats left. "Sorry," she said,
pulling out the pocket to prove it was empty. He wagged his tail and
slobbered on her hand as though to show he wasn't too disappointed.
Maybe she'd misjudged him and he wasn't as shallow as she'd supposed.

"Oh and I promised you a whole box full as a reward for rescuing
me, didn't I? I'll get them for you this afternoon."

He wagged his tail again and seemed to grin. Soon it was Leah
grinning. A tractor passed the entrance to Jayne's yard and the
driver waved to her. She waved back at Duncan and wondered how
obvious it would be if she rushed straight into the yard and got
herself stuck again. She'd like another opportunity to feel those
strong arms around her, but that probably wasn't the best way of
achieving it.

Chapter 4

After breakfast, Jayne and Leah cut sprigs of herbs which Jayne tied
into neat bunches and packed, with a few drops of water, in plastic
boxes. There was rosemary, sage, savory, bay, thyme and mixed
bunches.

"The butcher sells these too," Jayne explained. "I
wasn't convinced there'd be a demand for them, but when I made the
deal for pork and eggs, he asked me to think of anything else he
could sell for me. Now I make more profit from these than the meat,
especially in the summer when I have a much wider range available."

They loaded the herbs and an unfeasibly large quantity of eggs into
the pick-up and took these into the butcher before they started their
shopping.

"Thanks, Jayne. Just in time, I've sold out."

"The hens are laying as fast as they can for the time of year,
Mike. They should pick up a bit over the next few weeks though."

"Good, good. And the herbs?"

"Them too. I'll probably have chives and marjoram next week and
the mint won't be far behind."

"Good, good. I've been asked for lemon verbena. Do you grow
that?"

"No, but probably I could. I'll look into it."

There were several shops selling clothes in town. One supplied
outfits for babies and toddlers, another specialised in work wear
(steel toe-capped boots, overalls and quilted shirts rather than
power suits) There were two charity shops and one that looked as
though its customers must only ever go to hunt balls and travelled
fifty years back in time to get there.

It was to this last one that Jayne headed. "Don't worry, it's
not nearly so bad in the back."

She was right. Once inside, Leah saw a good selection of perfectly
normal clothes.

"What's that window display all about?" Leah asked.

"We get a few tourists in the summer and the owners don't like
to disappoint them."

"Did I mention that you country people are weird?"

Leah enjoyed trying on comfortable clothes in colours she liked
without having to worry what Adam might say.

Jayne said, "Those jeans look a bit baggy. You'd better try a
size smaller."

She had a point. The clothes did seem to be more generously cut than
the brands she normally wore. Perhaps she could get away with smaller
ones.

"They show off my bum!" she giggled and wiggled as she
emerged from the changing room.

"Good, get this too," Jayne said holding up a clingy
looking jersey top in bright pink.

"That'll get me noticed," Leah said.

"Good. Dressing like a mouse has encouraged you to act like
one."

"I don't," Leah said without conviction. It wasn't entirely
true though. Most of her wardrobe had been selected with the aim of
avoiding criticism from Adam rather than with any hope of attracting
compliments. Most of her actions had, until she drove down to
Winkleigh Marsh, been motivated in the same way.

Leah tried on the top. She was right about it getting her noticed.
The colour was hard to miss and so she suspected was the amount of
cleavage on display. As she looked at herself in the mirror she did
rather wish Duncan had seen her in that, with her curves shown off to
perfection, rather than covered by one of Jayne's thick anoraks.

She came out and gave a twirl for Jayne.

"Very nice, buy it."

"Oh, I couldn't. It's too low cut."

"'Course it isn't, silly. Covers your underwear doesn't it?"

Leah decided to buy it. She doubted she'd have the nerve to wear it
without something over the top, but in this weather she'd need that
anyway.

"What about you, Jayne are you getting anything new?"

"Not right now. I prefer to buy things for a particular
purpose."

"Me too," she didn't mention she had a purpose in mind and
that he drove a big red tractor.

"You'll probably need to replace some of the stuff that got wet
when the roof leaked. Will your insurance cover it, because if not
your landlord..."

"Leah," Jayne interrupted. "Don't worry about it.
There was nothing in that wardrobe that could be damaged by a drop of
rain. I keep the few fancy outfits I do have somewhere safe."

"You mean you knew the roof would leak?"

"It's old thatch and an ancient cottage, so it's hardly a
surprise."

"If it's not a surprise then there's even more reason for your
landlord to have done something about it before now."

"He has. It's been regularly maintained, but thatch doesn't last
forever. It's got to the stage of needing to be completely replaced.
That's a major job and not that easy to arrange, but I expect it's
all in hand. Come on now, we don't want to fall out over G-B do we?"

"No, of course not. He's caused me enough trouble already."
She saw Jayne's face and added, "Sorry."

"What is it with him? I don't understand how you can so dislike
someone you've never met."

"You don't like Adam and you've never met him. Maybe it's
something that runs in the family?"

Jayne looked thoughtful for a moment, then shrugged. "Maybe.
Now, brace yourself, we're going to get the chicken feed next."

"Chicken feed doesn't sound scary."

"It's not. I meant Jim the feed mill's manager. Not that he's
scary, he's just... Well, you'll see."

"Is Jim the one who sends the Christmas Valentine cards?"

"Yes."

They put Leah's purchases into the pick-up and drove to the yard to
buy chicken feed. First they went into the office and Jayne paid for
two sacks of mixed corn, a bag of organic layer pellets and ordered
milk powder to be ready for when she got her lambs.

"We pay here, then take the receipt to the mill to collect the
feed," she explained.

"Do they sell dog food too?"

"Yes, but Tarragon's got plenty for now."

"I promised him some chews," Leah said. She turned to the
lady on the counter. "I'd like the biggest pack of the best dog
treats you do."

The woman tapped on her computer. "They're thirty-two pounds
twenty-seven, plus VAT."

"Fine, I'll have them," Leah said. She had no idea how much
dog food cost, but thirty odd pounds was a small price to pay for
being rescued and introduced to Dishy Duncan.

"You'll have to stay for months now, Leah," Jayne said. "If
Tarragon eats that lot this side of midsummer he's going to explode."

They drove round to the mill to collect their purchases.

A forklift appeared and Leah was impressed to see it carried their
order.

"Whatever you do, don't giggle, it only encourages him,"
Jayne said.

Guessing she was referring to the driver, Leah asked, "How did
he know what we wanted?"

"Well, out here in the country we have these magic boxes that
tell us stuff like that. I think they're called computers. You city
types should get them, I'm sure they'd help with keeping your
accounts straight too."

Leah could have apologised for having thought everything in the
country belonged in the past or even have pointed out that a computer
seemed to have done the exact opposite of keeping her and Mr
Gilmore-Bunce's accounts straight. She could have if her mind hadn't
gone into shock at the sight of Jim throwing his arms around Jayne
and lifting her off her feet. As Jayne was squealing and giggling
like a schoolgirl it wasn't likely she was aware of Leah's lack of
response.

Jim, it had to be him, was well over six feet six. Leah could tell
that much by the way Jayne's feet were nearly level with his knees
and yet he still had to bend his head to kiss her. That was something
he was doing with considerable enthusiasm. Leah couldn't help wishing
she had a man who greeted her like that. Maybe she could; Duncan was,
she knew, strong enough to lift her off her feet.

Eventually Jim released Jayne and demanded an introduction to Leah.

"Can't kiss a girl, even one as pretty as this, without knowing
her name, can I?"

"This is my niece, Leah. Leah, this is Jim."

"I rather thought it might be. Hello, Jim."

Leah, sure no amount of bracing would protect her if Jim really did
try to kiss her, offered a hand to shake. Jim took it in his.
Although his huge hand completely covered hers, he was very gentle.

"So you girls have been talking about me, have you?" he
asked, winking at Leah and keeping hold of her hand.

"Yes and it was all bad, so don't you go getting yourself a big
head, Jim Applemore!"

"Too late, Jayne my love. I've got a big everything." He
winked again and Leah felt a giggle build up. In an effort not to
laugh she looked away from Jim's grinning face, down past her where
her hand disappeared into his and right to the ground where she saw
the most enormous pair of wellingtons in existence. Even Duncan's
would look small next to Jim's. Surely he had to have them specially
made?

The giggle escaped. Instantly she was airborne and giddy. Jim had
kissed her and set her back down again before she realised he'd
picked her up and swung her around just as he'd done with Jayne.
Well, it was almost the same. He'd given Jayne a full on snog but
contented himself to a loud kiss on each cheek in Leah's case. If
anything remotely like this had happened in her office at Prophet
Margin she'd have slapped the man's face and filed a report for
sexual harassment. This wasn't her office though and Leah was
giggling just as Jayne had done. Big as he was, it was impossible to
imagine Jim's greeting was anything more than excessively friendly.

Jim loaded the first sack of feed into Jayne's pick-up as though they
were no heavier than a loaf of bread. That left two more sacks and a
huge box, which Leah guessed must be the milk powder,

"Oh, you'll need this for my order," Leah said, offering
her receipt.

"No need, I've got them here." He indicated the box which
was bigger than Tarragon himself.

"Oh. Crikey."

"Don't worry, the chews are all in smaller boxes inside, so
they'll keep all right. They for Tarragon?"

"Yes, he rescued me, well sort of. Really Duncan rescued me, but
Tarragon fetched him."

"Duncan? Now don't break my heart and tell me you've got a
boyfriend?"

Leah giggled.

"She means Duncan, Mr Gilmore-Bunce's new foreman," Jayne
explained.

"But G-B hasn't..."

"Yes, he has," Jayne interrupted.

"Oh, right. I've not met him yet. Nice is he?"

"Yes," Leah admitted and felt herself blush.

"Ah, I see." Jim laughed. "Glad to know a country lad
can turn the head of a city girl."

Leah wasn't sure she could explain her head hadn't been turned
because she rather suspected it had, so instead she asked why Jim was
so sure she was a city girl.

"I can tell you're down from the bright lights of London. Must
be because I can see them shining in your eyes. They'd put the stars
to shame."

Leah couldn't help it, she burst into giggles again. Jayne was right
about that only encouraging him, luckily most of his outrageous
compliments were directed at Jayne, but Jim didn't leave Leah out of
the conversation.

Jayne mentioned they'd been into town buying new clothes.

"You don't need them, Jayne. You look gorgeous in anything,"
Jim said.

"Even this?" Jayne indicated the jacket which was probably
once waxed and green but was now just held together by the grease
from Rosemary the cow and the sheep's coats and by farmyard grime.

"Absolutely." He caressed her shoulder. "Nice coat
this, you know what it feels like?"

"No?" Jayne said.

"Girlfriend material."

Leah giggled again.

"You think I'm corny, don't you?" he asked Leah.

She did a bit, but that didn't mean it wasn't fun to hear his
outrageous compliments and she wouldn't at all mind having a man,
provided it were the right man, look at her the way Jim was looking
at Jayne.

"Well..." She hesitated. Although she didn't want to cause
offence by agreeing too easily, neither did she wish to imply she
took his every word at face value.

"So would you be if you handled this stuff all day." He
pointed to the load of mixed corn on the tines of his forklift.
"Suppose we'd better get it into the truck."

He did the job quickly, then kissed both women good bye.

"Nice man, hope I didn't offend him laughing at his chat-up
lines," Leah said as they drove home.

"He is nice, far too nice to be offended over someone's
amusement. He likes to make people happy."