Second Chances at Hollyhock Farm (Hollyhock Farm #2)

Chapter 9

9

ZAC

He sat at the table and picked up one of the draft programmes, not wanting to dwell on his past errors. Or one in particular, he mused. He had spent far too much time running away from responsibility in his personal life, and that blip in his life had been the incentive he needed to take a break from work and spend several months in Jersey when his sister needed him most.

He pushed the unsettling memory away, not ready to think about it and wishing it hadn’t been such public knowledge. Determined not to slide back down to the mortification he had only recently recovered from, he focused his attention on the sheet of paper in his hand. His sister and Melody had already done a lot.

He was intrigued to get to know Melody better. She mesmerised him for some reason. It wasn’t her looks, although she was beautiful in a quirky way, or her quiet strength that appealed to him. He couldn’t put his finger on it. There was something else. An underlying sadness maybe. He had picked up on how Melody’s grandmother watched out for her in an understated way that made him think Patsy was trying to hide what she was doing from Melody. As if letting her feel independent while being watched over and he wondered what might have happened to cause Patsy to fear for her granddaughter.

‘Don’t you think so, Zac?’ Lettie asked, interrupting his musings.

‘Sorry, what was that?’ He looked at the faces around the table and saw that each of them was watching him, some amused by his lack of focus and others, like Phyllis and Bethan, unimpressed. He supposed he would be too if he had taken time out from work to come here. ‘I was thinking about what microphones or music you might need,’ he said quickly.

He saw Phyllis give Kathleen a gentle nudge only to be rewarded with a scowl.

‘We were saying how useful your knowledge of sound is, Zac,’ Kathleen explained.

‘That’s right,’ Lettie added. ‘But as you were already thinking about sound arrangements for the event, I think you’ve already answered my question.’

He was relieved. ‘Good. We can talk in more detail later if you like, but I’m fairly certain I know what you’ll need and will soon set everything up.’

He caught Melody’s eye and, forgetting the others’ gazes were focused on him, smiled.

‘Hello, everyone.’

Zac heard Brodie’s voice. ‘Good to see you here.’

Brodie laughed as he stood behind Lettie and bent to kiss the top of her head. ‘You seem a bit outnumbered here.’

‘You could say that,’ Zac replied, glad to see his sister’s friendly boyfriend had joined them. ‘Are you here for the animals, to see my sister or to volunteer your help for the festival?’

Lettie took Brodie’s hand in hers. ‘He’s already volunteered, if you must know, and when we’ve finished here we’re taking Spud and Derek for a walk at Les Landes.’

Melody lowered her biro. ‘I think we’ve probably gone through everything we need to at this point.’ She narrowed her eyes briefly. ‘Although, while you’re all here, I was thinking…’

‘Go on,’ Zac said, intrigued. He leant slightly forward, waiting for her to share her thoughts.

Melody looked at Lettie who nodded. ‘Go ahead.’

‘Well, it’s just that I thought it might be a good idea to hold a yoga class for any of you wishing to join me down at the beach one evening this week.’

‘I love that idea,’ Kathleen said instantly. ‘Although I’m not sure about exercising in all that sand.’

Zac pressed his lips together worried he was about to laugh. ‘I’m sure we can take towels and yoga mats.’

Melody gave him a surprised look and he wasn’t sure if it was because he knew what a yoga mat was.

Maybe she was waiting for him to show interest so the others would follow. ‘Count me in,’ he said.

Melody gave him a beaming smile, just as the others immediately began chattering about it.

‘I’m not sure it’s my sort of thing,’ Kathleen said. ‘But I’ll come and watch you all if I’m free.’

Tina, Bethan, Phyllis and Lettie all expressed their interest.

‘How about you, Brodie?’ Zac asked, hoping not to be the only chap doing it.

Brodie gave a lazy shrug. ‘Fine by me. Although, if the surf is good I might duck out at the last minute and make the most of the waves.’

‘Good plan,’ Lettie agreed.

They went back to discussing the festival and when his sister said they didn’t need him for anything else, Zac left the noisy kitchen. They didn’t need him to add to the chatter; Lettie and Melody knew what they were doing better than he did, especially as his expertise was the sound, rather than who did what and when. He would wait for them to let him know the finalised programme when it was ready and would then work out whether they needed him to set up microphones for people like Melody who would be holding classes at the event, or pull together playlists for background music.

He had discussed ideas enough to know where some of the events would be held and decided to go and check out the barns and outbuildings to try and get an idea of what might be needed of him and his electrical equipment.

Standing in the largest barn, he studied the sheet of paper in his hand. It looked as if Lettie was suggesting having a few stalls across one of the walls at the back of the room, with the rest of the room cleared to give space for yoga displays and classes. He had no experience of an event like this, having mostly been a sound engineer in recording studios and at music festivals. He would have rather this be for music, too.

Zac looked at the plan again and the notes Lettie had printed on one side, trying to imagine how it would work. It seemed that various aspects of a healthy lifestyle would be brought together covering mental health, physical fitness, as well as emotional and spiritual wellbeing.

Some of the place settings had been reserved for the experts taking part. Zac wondered if he might have a chat with the personal trainer. He also liked the look of the aromatherapy. Anything that was calming was good as far as he was concerned.

The barns were going to need a lot of work, he decided. They might be clean but they were not ready to invite in people wanting to do exercises, even if the attendees were using floor mats. He leant against one of the stall doors. This event meant a lot to his sister. To him, too.

He thought of Melody and how much of a support she was being to Lettie and knowing she was there for her was bound to be reassuring to their mother. Melody. She was so different to most of the people he came across and he felt that her entry into their lives had happened for a reason. He wasn’t sure if that was purely to help his family over the next few months, or something else. He knew that he liked her though and not only because she was attractive, but also because she was calm, kind and enthusiastic, and wanted to help his family.

An hour or so later, he heard voices coming out of the house and realised the meeting must be over and the friendly group about to leave.

Not wishing to spend ages chatting to them all again, he decided to nip out of the barn and go up to the field and check on the animals. They were all outside for the day and although he knew Lettie would have sorted out their feed and checked their water, it was a good excuse for him to take a walk and go and check that everything was fine while getting a bit of exercise.