Page 46 of Once Upon a Thyme
‘Oh! Er, hello, Tallie. I… err… I came to… is Zeb about?’
Start asking those questions, Tallie.‘Yes, he’s up in the barn with Big Pig. Simon…?’
‘Mmmm?’
‘You know you said that it was Mika’s idea to come here to film? Well, Mika said…’ Simon’s expression was baffled and I found that I couldn’t put the rest of the question into words. It had been a simple question so that we could understand what had attracted the band to Drycott. Not something that should have provoked the evasive look that Simon had acquired.
The fear crept over me, cold and hard as a frozen blanket.Don’t ask. Never question.I had absolutely no reason to expectSimonto give me the silent treatment or to behave as though mortally offended by an innocent remark. Yet here I was, almost cowering. ‘Never mind. Doesn’t matter.’
I turned away and began shoving the board towards the shop doorway.
‘Mika told you it was my idea,’ Simon said, surprising me.
‘No. Yes. Well… we only want to know because then we can advertise better,’ I blurted. ‘Whether you already knew about us or saw the sign or… something.’ I tailed off now. That scrunched look had deepened and had become almost a cringe. ‘I mean, it doesn’t matter, never mind, it was just a thought. Let’s go and find Zeb.’
I abandoned my A frame and began a brisk trot along the path, high stepping over the lemon balm which had flung itself full length along the gravel to form a fragrant carpet. Aversion therapy, wasn’t that what they called it? Zeb was right, I had been trained not to ask questions.
My mother had trained me into obedience, in the same way as you’d train a dog – no, nobody would train a dog by withdrawing any affection or attention until it behaved, that would be cruel. She had trained me in a way that you wouldn’t train a dog. The thought made that unaccustomed anger boil up again. I stopped and turned around so quickly that Simon walked into me.
‘People are avoiding telling me things, I think,’ I said, fast and breathless. ‘I don’t know why.’
Simon’s face went a peculiar colour like all the blood in his skin fell back inside him, leaving him a waxy-yellow. It made me feel sick and guilty as it dawned on me that there was more to the ‘Mika/Simon deciding to film here’ than I could have known. ‘Er,’ he said, looking around as though he wanted to sprint for escape.
To my relief, Zeb appeared. He smelled of pig and had hay in his hair but his fortuitous arrival made him almost godlike in my eyes. ‘Zeb! Simon’s come to talk to you,’ I said, very, very quickly, to prevent other questions I wasn’t sure I wanted to know the answer to escaping.
‘Oh. Hi, Simon.’ Zeb wiped his hands down his jeans and I felt again that frisson of attraction. An attraction that gave me a buzz of warmth when I thought about it.
I left the two of them to discuss barns and money and wandered off to do some weeding. There were self-sown seedlings popping up all over the place, where the irrigation system and undergrowth made conditions suitably humid, and I needed to tidy them up before my careful planting system ran riot.
While I weeded I could think. My hands could carry out the actions without the involvement of my brain, and I went straight back to thinking about Simon’s face when I’d mentioned the difference of opinion between him and Mika over who had noticed Drycott first and decided to drop in. Then that almost corpse-like expression he’d gained when I said I thought people were keeping things from me. What had broughtthaton? Simon and I had very little interaction apart from general chit-chat, so it must be something to do with Mika.But what?
Over at the pond the sun was seeding itself, tiny reflections coming to the surface and breaking into ripples as the froglets dived at my approach. It made me smile, the thought of all those baby frogs leaping like synchronised swimmers and I felt such a fierce attachment to the garden in that moment that I knew I’d never sell.
Not to make my mother happy. Not to move to somewhere ‘by the sea’. The knowledge gave me peace but that was swiftly followed by the heavy dread. The weight in my stomach that pulled all my joy down with it, knowing that Mum was going to be upset with me.
‘Right.’ Zeb appeared as though he’d sprung through the earth and grown alongside me. ‘Simon’s going to come back in a while, once we’ve finished closing up. He wants to talk to you.’
‘Oh?’ I straightened up, hands full of couch grass. ‘What about?’
‘Plans, I think,’ Zeb said, vaguely. ‘We’ve talked money and the barn extension. I expect he wants to know what you’ve got in mind.’
‘But he talked to you!’
Zeb gave me a very direct look. ‘This is your garden, Tallie.’
‘Well, yes, I just meant…’
‘…so he’s coming to see what sort of ideas you might have.’
I looked around. Over in the barn, Big Pig was trying out the new catch on her pen, but the string was holding and her attempts to break free weren’t working, to her obvious frustration. Her thwarted snorts were audible from the other side of the garden. ‘New gates, for a start.’
‘Goes without saying. I’ve already raised the issue of proper pig containment.’ Zeb had his hands in his pockets which made his arms look longer, as though he were out of proportion. ‘And a really nice handwashing station for the toddlers, low level sink and everything.’
‘You’ve thought it all through, then? The petting farm idea?’
‘Yep. Let’s go inside and we can talk it over.’ He gave me a nudge. ‘And have tea. I really need tea. Big Pig was a bit combative over the bucket just now.’
I shrugged. ‘No need. You know what you’re doing. I don’t need chapter and verse.’
