Page 60 of Summer At Willow Tree Farm

She’d seen very little of him since. Except the day he’d turned up to help with the second day of the barn clear-out, and told her he would take over the project management. She’d been so surprised, and so grateful, she hadn’t questioned him about his sudden change of heart. And avoiding each other had been easy after that day, because she was mostly locked in her office – or rather his office – or in the kitchen helping Dee with the food prep and rotas, or on her course. While Art had been supervising the construction crew and then organising the fit-out. And doing a spectacular job despite all the gripes from Maddy about his arsey behaviour.

Art’s arsey tendencies were beginning to look totally under-appreciated when it came to getting this project in on time. She’d wandered past the barn a few times in the last fortnight, usually to track down Toto and Josh and drag them home for supper, and every time she had, she’d spied him up a ladder, or contorted under a counter busy hammering, or screwing or sanding in the lamplight.

Art was the last to leave most nights and the first to arrive every morning and also living proof that men in toolbelts had a hunk factor off the charts.

So if Jacob was having a tough time with him, while Ellie sympathised, she would feel like a hypocrite if she sympathised too much. But maybe finding out what exactly was putting that tension into Jacob’s voice, and making this project so miserable for him, was something she could do. As much as she didn’t want to intervene between Art and his crew, he wasn’t always the most empathetic of people. Perhaps he could do with some help from her, behind the scenes, to smooth things over.

She switched off the radio. ‘Are you sure everything’s OK, Jacob?’

He gave her a quizzical look that didn’t quite convince. ‘Sure.’

‘Maddy said you and Art have been having a few run-ins…’ She gave him a lead in.

He shrugged. ‘It’s nothing major. Maddy was exaggerating.’

From the totally defeated look on Jacob’s face, Ellie didn’t think Maddy was exaggerating.

‘I know everyone’s tired,’ she persevered, determined to get to the bottom of the problem, ‘and this has been a tough schedule, but if Art’s being unreasonable, I can have a word with him.’ Even though she’d rather saw off an arm than have to talk to him face to face, especially in that toolbelt.

Jacob shook his head. ‘He’s not being unreasonable. I’ve been screwing up. He’s entitled to jump on me when that happens.’

‘How bad are the screw ups?’ Ellie asked.

Jacob tapped his thumb on the steering wheel, looking more miserable by the second. ‘Pretty bad. I misread the plans and cut the wood to the wrong length yesterday for the shelves, which is why we’re having to get in a new batch now. And I left the drill charging overnight, and blew out the battery.’

That didn’t sound great, especially the bit about buying new lumber, as the budget was tight. She could see why Art would be unhappy, but making Jacob more stressed wasn’t going to help.

‘I don’t know what’s wrong with me. I’ve worked on tons of construction projects before I came here,’ Jacob said. ‘None of which mean as much to me as this one. But I just can’t seem to get my head in the game. Art’s right to be mad with me. I’ve been behaving like a twat.’

Ellie patted his knee. ‘First of all, you have to stop beating yourself up, or you’re just going to get more stressed and make more mistakes.’

‘I suppose.’

‘Perhaps you should also consider suggesting to Maddy that she stay in her own room for the next couple of nights.’

Jacob turned to her, his face colouring – which meant he had to be exhausted, because she’d never seen him embarrassed before. ‘You can hear us?’

‘I’m not deaf. And those walls are not sound-proofed either.’ She remembered what it had been like between her and Dan when they’d first got together at the summer camp, and even after their wedding. The sex had been constant. A terrific way to avoid all the stuff that they didn’t have in common, like constancy and trust and maturity. Then the sex had become like a chore, Dan had been distracted, uninterested and she had quickly become uninterested too. There had really been no way back from that, once she’d discovered why Dan wasn’t that interested in making her feel desired any more, because he was too busy servicing loads of other women.

‘I’m sorry,’ Jacob said. ‘That’s pretty mortifying.’

‘It’s not that bad,’ she said, cutting Jacob some slack. ‘But really it might be in your best interests too to give yourselves a bit of a rest. Particularly you. You’re doing hard physical labour during the day so you need your sleep at night.’ They all did.

Jacob nodded. ‘I just… I don’t know how to tell Maddy no. I don’t want her to feel rejected on top of everything else.’

‘On top of what else?’

Unlike her and Dan, it was obvious Jacob and Maddy had a great deal more going on in their relationship. You just had to see them together to know that, chatting and grinning at each other like idiots. Surely a little sleep break wouldn’t kill their relationship.

‘I’ve messed up with our place, too.’

‘What place?’

‘We’re building our own place, in the back pasture near the stream. We got the main frame up in May. I was supposed to be finishing it. But what with one thing and another I haven’t made any progress on it for months.’ He thumped his palm against the steering wheel. ‘We’ve been together now over a year…’ He hesitated, then sent Ellie a look so full of yearning, her pulse thickened. She’d never seen this side to Jacob before. Not jokey and teasing, but serious and intense. She felt honoured that he would confide in her. ‘I want to ask Maddy to marry me, but I can’t ask her until I finish the cabin. I don’t want to risk her saying no.’

No way would Maddy say no. But the thought of having to survive a wedding night with the two of them in the room next door focused Ellie’s mind.

‘How much is there still to do on your place?’ Maybe there was a better way to solve this problem. And give them all a decent night’s sleep.

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