Second Chances at Hollyhock Farm (Hollyhock Farm #2)

Chapter 6

6

MELODY

She watched Zac and Callum hurry back to the farm briefly before turning back to Lettie.

‘Shall we introduce you both to the rest of Hollyhock Farm and its residents?’ Lettie asked.

By the time Melody and her grandmother had strolled through various fields, been shown the produce they would soon be helping harvest in the vegetable areas and made friends with the goats, alpacas and retired Jerseys and various other waifs and strays Gareth Torel had been unable to resist homing, she was happy to follow Lettie through the meadow down to the stream.

Melody took off her shoes and sat next to her grandmother and Lettie, sighing with pleasure as she lowered her hot feet into the cool running water.

‘Feels good, doesn’t it?’ Lettie asked, leaning back and resting her hands on the warm grass. ‘I think this will be a perfect place to hold a sound bath and a few other events in the programme.’

‘It’s perfect,’ Melody said honestly. ‘This meadow is like something out of a storybook or a film. It’s like a piece of heaven.’

Lettie gave her a beaming smile and she was pleased she had made her hostess happy. ‘I’m so glad you think so. It’s taken me longer than it should to appreciate Hollyhock Farm and all that I’ve grown up with, but now I do I’m enormously proud of the place. It’s become very important to me to make this place work and now we have the incentive to get on and make the event a success, I’m going to give everything I’ve got to make that happen.’

‘And you have the pair of us here to support you every step of the way,’ Melody said, happy to have a purpose to focus on once again.

Patsy leant forward and put her hands in the water, opening her fingers to let the water run through them. ‘I’m smitten by the place.’ She looked at Melody. ‘And I can see by the smile on my granddaughter’s face that she feels the same way. Don’t you, love?’

Melody sighed. ‘I do. I feel very lucky to be here right now.’ She saw her gran give her a quick sideways glance and was glad Lettie didn’t notice her doing it. She wasn’t ready to share her situation with anyone yet, let alone her host who she hadn’t known for long.

‘I’m so pleased. We still have to iron out a lot of details,’ Lettie said, ‘but with your experience in wellness and mine in event planning – albeit arranging fashion shows – and Zac’s in sound engineering, I’m sure we can make this festival idea work.’ She groaned. ‘We need to make it work.’

Melody hated seeing anyone anxious. She had felt that way herself far too many times before. ‘We’ll be fine,’ she insisted. ‘We still need to work out a programme and come up with a list of people we could ask to take part, but I’m sure we’ll find a way to make that happen.’

‘And don’t forget that handsome friend of Zac’s offered to interview you on his radio show,’ Patsy said. ‘So that’s a good start.’

Melody thought of Callum and how generous he had been to invite them onto the show. ‘That’s true.’ She moved her feet up and down in the shallow water, enjoying being able to cool down slightly. ‘I think it all sounds very positive. I have enough experience to help you interview candidates for the rest of the programme if you’d like me to.’

‘That would be brilliant.’ Lettie smiled at her. ‘I’m so relieved you’re both here now. I think I would have found things far more overwhelming without your help.’

‘We’re happy to do whatever you need us to,’ Patsy assured her.

Melody gave the event some thought. ‘Do you know how many days you’d like the festival to last?’

‘I’m not sure whether a weekend will be enough time if I’m to raise the funds I need.’

‘Hmm,’ Melody said, unsure how they would manage to run the event over more than two days when they still had the farm work to do. ‘And when were you hoping to hold it?’

‘I was thinking that with all the necessary planning we’ll need to do for the festival, the earliest we could realistically hold it would be the end of September.’

Melody couldn’t hide her confusion. ‘But that’s only six weeks away, isn’t it? That doesn’t give you much time to put everything in place.’

‘I agree.’ Lettie puffed out her cheeks. ‘But any later in the year and the weather could be unreliable.’

Aware she wasn’t helping by stating the obvious, Melody decided she needed to backtrack. ‘But that’s fine. It’ll give us even more incentive to work harder. I always find a deadline does that.’ She had no idea why she’d said that, especially as she never had to work to deadlines teaching yoga. ‘However, I do think that as you’re already busy and only have a short time to prepare for the festival,’ she said with a smile, ‘and that it’s your first time holding one, maybe you should start small and only hold it for two days.’

‘I wasn’t sure whether that would be enough time to raise the funds we need for the roof though?’ She looked at Patsy, who gave an approving nod Melody was relieved to see.

‘I’ve always found that people who have the most incentive to attend something want to be there at the beginning,’ Patsy said thoughtfully. ‘I think two days is about right, especially as you haven’t taken something like this on before.’

‘I suppose you’re right. I am already overstretched and don’t want to burn myself out by pushing myself too hard,’ Lettie agreed. ‘And I suppose it does make sense to keep things more manageable. Thanks, both of you.’

‘We’re here to help you in any way we can,’ Melody reminded her, glad Lettie had agreed with her.

Lettie crossed her arms. ‘I’ve been pushing myself a lot and have only recently finished a three-month trial to run the farm.’

‘And you’ve done an excellent job, I’m sure,’ Patsy said. ‘It can’t have been easy to take on all this as a novice.’

Lettie smiled. ‘I had a lot of help but as much as I love working here now, I suspect I’m better suited to working in fashion.’

‘I still find it exciting to think you had such a glamorous lifestyle before turning to farming. I’m not so sure I’d be able to give all that up to return home and rescue your family farm, especially as it’s such hard work and long hours.’ Melody hoped she wasn’t overstepping by being so open with her opinion.

Lettie shrugged. ‘Don’t be too enamoured by what I’m doing. I was getting tired of the whole thing, if I’m honest, and was on my way to being made redundant. Even if I hadn’t been, I would have returned and offered to take this place on.’

‘That’s still very loyal of you.’ Melody gave her gran a grateful smile. Having someone loyal in your life was the most comforting thing and she couldn’t ever imagine not having her grandmother around for her.

‘My parents have always been there for me. And anyway, I love this place. Even living away since I went to university I still think of Hollyhock Farm as my home, and the thought of it being sold and possibly changed is heartbreaking.’ She pursed her lips thoughtfully. ‘I’m pretty sure you’d probably do the same thing anyway if this was your home at stake.’

‘I suppose I would.’ Melody decided to change the focus of their conversation. ‘Your parents sound as if they’ve really got the travelling bug now.’

‘They have, but they deserve to enjoy themselves. They’ve worked hard and given Zac and I wonderful childhoods and put us both through university. I believe it’s the least we can do for them, as does Zac. He’s taken months away from his work to help me get a hang of the work here. I couldn’t have done it without his input and my uncle Leonard’s. He’s Dad’s brother and his fields back onto ours.’

Melody pushed her fringe from her forehead, feeling hot but more relaxed than she had in months. ‘I’ve only been here for a couple of hours and it’s obvious how close you are as a family. And this place is beautiful, like something out of a picture book.’

‘It is a special place,’ Patsy agreed, giving Melody a knowing glance.

‘I’m so glad you both like it here.’ Lettie sighed happily. ‘I’m feeling much more enthusiastic about putting on an event with you two helping me.’

Melody didn’t know what she had done to deserve spending the rest of the summer at this blissful place but whatever it was, she was going to make the most of every minute. ‘We’re excited to get started with the planning, aren’t we, Gran?’

‘We are.’

Melody saw the tension in Lettie’s tanned face fade slightly and noticed her shoulders lower and it dawned on her just how tense she must have been. Poor Lettie, she thought.

‘Shall we go back to the farm and start making some notes?’ Lettie suggested. ‘We could have something cool to drink while we do a little brainstorming.’

‘Good idea,’ Melody said. An idea occurred to her. ‘The most important thing we need to do first is get the word out about the festival. We can work on the details later, but we want to build people’s interest in the event.’

‘Where do you suggest we start?’ Patsy asked.

Lettie nodded. ‘We could set up a website?’

‘I agree. And make the most of various free social media platforms.’ Melody was glad she and Lettie were on the same page. ‘Don’t worry about how you’ll fit in the marketing side of the festival. I’m very happy to do it all for you.’ She saw the immediate relief in Lettie’s face. ‘You don’t need a complicated website, just something basic,’ she continued as they walked. ‘With the dates of the event, asking people who might be interested in taking part to contact us, and I’ll add an email address for them to do that rather than giving out your phone number and being inundated with calls. Emails are far easier to keep under control and at least everything is written down and in one place.’

‘That sounds perfect,’ Lettie said, giving her a grateful smile and making Melody feel much better about being invited to stay on the farm.

‘I’ll set up links to the different social media platforms to the site. I can draft a flyer to print off and pin to noticeboards around the village and nearby parishes, if you like.’

‘I love that idea.’

Encouraged by Lettie’s enthusiasm, Melody continued. ‘Then I’ll share a digital version of the flyer onto various local online groups, community notices, that sort of thing.’

Lettie beamed at her. ‘That all sounds amazing, thank you. Feel free to get started as soon as you like.’

‘I’ll get on to it straight away,’ Melody said, happy to see the relief on Lettie’s face. ‘Just lead the way to the nearest laptop,’ she said, her mind whirring with ideas and possibilities. This would be the perfect way to keep her brain busy and away from troubling thoughts of Rhys and what he might do next.