Page 25 of Perfect

My brain had actually started to ache and I shooed away the thoughts. Who cared right? Connor Barratt and Ella Wade were not my business.

I released the breath I hadn’t realised I’d been holding. To hell with the drama, I would certainlynotbe getting involved in it.

It was just annoying that I couldn’t swallow that feeling of upset. Was this why my stepbrother had issues because he’d knocked his friend up? Surely that would be enough to mess withanyone’shead.

My meanderings were interrupted when Dad suddenly appeared from the house in his work clothes and I filed away the rest of the troublesome questions in my head. For now, thoughts about Connor Barratt could do one.

“You ready?” Dad piped in warmly, his weathered face now clean-shaven. He looked so much younger without the bristle.

I swallowed down another one of those lumps and constructed my reply.

“Absolutely.” I grinned. All concerns of knocked-up teenagers forgotten... for now.

Five

After a thorough introduction to farm life, my father drove us back to the house.

I’d had a preconception about staring at fields all day. I thought it would be fairly dull, but I enjoyed myself in the end.

Dad appeared to be well into farming now and his attitude was infectious. It forced me to embrace that outdoor girl I never knew I had.

The place was much larger than I had first anticipated and was set in acres of grassland. My father explained how he had been forced to pay top prices for the land and why quality was the most important factor when expanding a farm. This answered the question as to where most of his money had gone.

Depending on the season, each area would be ploughed before the crops were sown, cultivated, and eventually harvested. It was quite a lengthy process and of course much more complex than the carrots I had grown with my mum in the garden back home.

As we rattled around in the dusty Land Rover, I listened keenly as my father spoke about the pressures on farming, climate change, high input costs, and his five-minute rant about unfeasible government policies for agriculture. I must admit to being guilty of zoning out atthatpoint.

As we drove up the driveway and into the yard, I saw Connor by his Ranger. The bonnet was up, and I could only see part of his head, but I knew it was him as the two farmhands I’d been introduced to that morning were a totally different build.

The Land Rover pulled up to the house and then my father apologised as he took a call from his phone. I clambered ungraciously from the vehicle, feeling hot and sweaty.

As my dad disappeared, I started kicking a few stones at my feet, wondering if Connor would look up from what he was doing and talk to me. I had high hopes for a better day; maybe for a normal conversation where he didn’t look at me like he wanted to throttle me. He must have heard the car but had decided to ignore me anyway. I couldn’t understand why I felt such a strong need to hover when the arse was blatantly blanking me; miserable sod.

I shook my foot in an attempt to dislodge a trapped pebble from my shoe and moved closer, wondering how best to break the silence. I had toyed with the thought of saying something about Ella, curious to see how he’d react. Of course, I had promised her I wouldn’t tell Connor we’d been gossiping about him but I didn’t say I wouldn’t mention that she’d stopped by.

I took a deep breath; fuck it, there was nothing pathetic about making the first move.

“So how was the pub?” I began breezily with a curt nod as I plonked myself at the front of the truck. He kept fiddling under the bonnet, looking fit even though he wore oil-stained jeans and a tank top. The muscles in his arms were bulging. In a word, he was mouth-watering. The tattoos on his arm appeared to be of all sorts of different images and wording which I didn’t understand. By some miracle, I managed not to drool.

Connor glanced sideways at me and straightened, wiping his oily hands on a rag before gesturing for me to move out of the way with a flick of his fingers. I moved back, determined not to be put off. He reached past me and stuffed the rag into a gap between the engine and the wing.

“How was the pub?” he repeated slowly, almost tasting my words, now actually looking at me. I almost turned away but managed to stand my ground. I was here all summer, we’d have to speak at some point.

His face had lost that hateful expression he’d worn at the train station. It gave me the green light and made me more confident.

“Yes, Daddy says you go every week. Is there a quiz on or something?” I replied, feeling like a schoolgirl again. Drat why had I called my father daddy in front of him? My heart hammered against my ribs as I awaited a mean comeback.

He gave me a pointed look and raised an eyebrow.

“Do I look like I do quizzes?” Connor said in his deep baritone.

I gulped down a ball of frustration. Here we go again.

“I’m just making conversation Connor. You could attempt to play nice. Don’t you think we should try and get along while I’m here?” I said, trying to reason with him.

His dark eyes narrowed as he turned fully toward me, placing one hand on the car near a section littered with tools. The sun caught his face, highlighting each delicious cheekbone.

“Firstly, I don’t ‘play’, and what’s the actual point? After the summer is over, you’ll just fuck off back down south again. That’sifyou make it through the first week. You’ll be bored to tears without the latest episode of the fucking Kardashians, no designer shops or silly girlfriends for you to gossip with.”

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