The day of the shop opening dawned with spitting rain and one of those opaque grey clouds that looked as if it would never lift. Ellie got everyone together and carried on the preparations they could do out of the weather, while praying like a revivalist minister that the sun would come out before they started greeting visitors at 2 p.m.
She was ready to be born again when a few watery rays of sunshine finally pierced the oppressive mist at noon.
Everyone threw off their raincoats and had to race like Olympic athletes to get the bouncy castle they’d hired blown up and erect the marquees and stalls for all the food samples. Dee headed the team putting the finishing touches on the store and the small grouping of café tables. The council’s food safety team had been by to inspect the premises the day before, and given everything the green light.
Ellie’s heart got trapped in her throat as she glanced at her watch. Twenty minutes to zero hour. She, Tess, Dee, Annie and Maddy had all done a food hygiene course in the last two weeks and spent the day yesterday practising on the espresso machine and the new tills. But, even so, she’d had to take one of her sleeping pills last night to calm the stage fright that kept threatening to explode out of her ears.
She scanned the yard, checking off the last of the to-do lists in her head.
Rob and Art were hooking up the passenger trailer they’d hired for one of the tractors to take visitors on a pick-your-own tour of the farm’s strawberry fields. Check. Annie sent her a wave as she arranged the home-made decorations for her cupcake-making stand. Check.
Ellie waved back then, hearing a cheer, she headed round the side of the back barn to the shop entrance.
Josh and Toto and Melody were shrieking and clapping as Mike climbed down from a ladder, having finished hauling up the huge banner the three kids had been painting on a roll of lining paper all week. The colourful and chaotic drawing of cows and ducks and geese, the farmhouse building and the shop, with each of the farm’s inhabitants standing in front of it, made Ellie’s chest ache, as it flapped in the breeze. She sniffed and then laughed when she spotted two lumpen versions of the Frozen princesses standing beside Melody’s drawing of herself.
She whipped her phone out and took a photo, planning to add it to the farm’s new Instagram account as soon as she had a spare moment.
‘Mom, doesn’t it look cool?’ Josh ran towards her, his face a picture of excitement and pride. She looped an arm round his shoulders as he threw a hand around her waist.
‘It looks fabulous, you’ve all done an amazing job.’ She had gifts for all three of them she’d bought in Salisbury on Tuesday while on her food hygiene course, which she planned to give them once today was over – no matter what the outcome. But, as the sun finally broke free of the clouds and glinted off the glitter Melody had insisted on adding to the banner, her heart bounced.
Today was going to be a success, she just knew it.
Tess and Maddy had spent the last two days leafleting in Gillingham and Gratesbury. She’d been blogging and tweeting and Facebooking and Instagramming about the launch until her eyes crossed, and Dee had even managed to secure a small spot on the local radio station through one of her ubiquitous Women’s Institute contacts. The signs had gone up yesterday afternoon on the A30 and the A303 and looked amazing. Classy and rustic and inviting, Helena’s work reflected everything the shop itself was meant to be.
‘Granny said we could help with the ice-cream stand if we wash our hands,’ Josh announced.
Toto stood a few feet away holding Melody’s hand as the younger girl jumped up and down on one foot.
‘I want to do the cupcakes, too,’ Melody said.
‘Why don’t you all go wash up then; people will be arriving very shortly.’
The kids ran around the side of the barn towards the house, whooping and shouting as they went.
Ellie heard a car horn blow, and headed after them. A procession of three cars appeared, coming down the track to park in the new car park. As they stopped and the bank manager, Mr Hegley, and his family got out of the first one, she saw two more cars coming.
She grinned at Jacob, who stood by the bouncy castle, and then sent a thumbs-up to Maddy who had trays of elderflower champagne flutes and free canapés arranged on a table ready to serve all the invited guests who would be arriving first.
‘It’s show time, people,’ she shouted, giving the cue to the six-piece steel band they’d hired from the Salisbury Youth Co-Operative who had set up next to Annie’s cupcake stall.
The opening bars of a calypso version of ‘Somewhere Over the Rainbow’ floated over the farmyard. Every moment of stress and anxiety and panic seemed to lift off Ellie’s shoulders in the tinkle of music as her mum’s arm came around her and gave her a hard hug.
‘We’re going to knock this one out of the park,’ she said to her mother, whose eyes were already misty.
‘Thank you so much, Ellie. For making Pam’s dream come true.’
‘Don’t thank me, Mum, we all made this happen. Every single one of us.’ Even Art, who she suspected still had reservations about the shop’s success but had worked like a dog for five weeks.
She spotted him standing beside the tractor and their gazes met.
The reservoir of heat, which was always there when she encountered Art, smouldered in her belly. Luckily, in the last week, ever since they’d had their moment by the millpond, she’d been running around like a headless chicken on acid trying to get everything done. And Art had been locked in his workshop finishing off the commission that he’d got behind on during the shop’s construction.
She’d crashed into bed each night unable to string a coherent thought together, so there had been no time to fixate on the picture of Art’s naked body in the moonlight that had been branded into her brain a week ago. She’d been way too exhausted to even contemplate sex, let alone worry about what that moment had meant and whether it might complicate their relationship. There hadn’t even been the need for sleeping pills or exploring vibrator options on Amazon.
He looked away first, bending to recheck the trailer coupling. And the smoulder was joined by a hum at the sight of tight male buttocks in worn denim.
Ellie ignored the leap of panic under her breastbone.
Everything was OK. They were OK. They hadn’t spoken to each other since that night. Why should she be scared of what was just a recreational crush? She liked looking at Art. He was an exceptionally good-looking guy. Rugged and raw and appealingly masculine. He excited her. Why wouldn’t he? She was a grown woman, who hadn’t had sex in nearly a year, and good sex in a whole lot longer.
That didn’t mean she’d be nutty enough to act on the attraction, so what harm could it do? He simply provided a chance to fantasise about something other than produce lists or health and safety regulations in her few moments of downtime. Just like he’d once distracted her from her loneliness and confusion nineteen summers ago.
She forced her gaze away from him. As long as she didn’t indulge, she would be fine.
Her mum squeezed her shoulders. ‘Pam would have been so pleased about all this.’
Ellie’s eyes stung, moved by her mother’s obvious pride. ‘I wish Pam could have been here too,’ she said, ‘so I could apologise for the mean way I treated her that summer.’
‘You were unhappy, Pam understood that,’ her mother replied, her smile kind and reassuring. ‘No apology was ever necessary… But if there had been…’ Her mother released a quiet sigh, her gaze drifting over the activities getting underway as Rob and Mike greeted the bank manager and the two other VIPs and their families who had arrived early. ‘What you’ve done here is more than apology enough.’
The children raced past them, heading for the bouncy castle and the free rides Jacob had promised them. As Ellie tracked their progress, she saw Art disappear in the direction of his workshop.
She ignored the pulse of regret. Art wasn’t a people person. She hadn’t expected him to get involved with their opening day once the customers arrived. She’d planned to thank him for all his help to date, but that could wait for another day – when she wasn’t feeling quite so emotional and she’d got that hum of awareness under complete control.
Plus, looking at Art could be very distracting. And she simply did not have time for any leisure activities today.
Her mother gave Ellie a final hug.
‘Now, I think we should go greet our first customers,’ Dee said. ‘And get this party started in true Willow Tree Farm fashion.’