Second Chances at Hollyhock Farm (Hollyhock Farm #2)

Chapter 13

13

ZAC

Why was he acting like a love-sick teenager, Zac thought, irritated with himself for the mess he was in.

‘Zac?’

He stared into Melody’s light blue eyes and desperately tried to come up with something plausible that wouldn’t result in him ending up looking like a complete fool. Why had he given Callum her number when he wanted to take her out himself? Because he assumed she would be more interested in his handsome friend, that’s why, he reminded himself.

‘Is something the matter?’ Patsy said, entering the room carrying a book. She looked at the table. ‘And my tea?’

‘Oh, sorry, Gran. I forgot. I’ll make it now.’

Patsy waved for Melody to remain seated. ‘No, it’s fine. I was only joking.’ She took a mug down from the shelf and Zac noticed her turn to look at him. ‘I sense an atmosphere in here,’ she said as she dropped a teabag into her mug and poured water over it. ‘You two haven’t fallen out about something, I hope?’

‘No!’ They answered in unison and Zac caught Melody’s eye again.

Patsy sighed heavily. ‘Give me a couple of seconds to finish making this drink, then I’ll leave you to sort out whatever it is that’s going on here.’

He watched as Patsy finished making her drink. Then, picking it up, she grabbed her book and turned to them. ‘I’ve no idea what’s going on, but I do know that there’s too much to do here for you two to fall out.’

‘We haven’t, Gran, I promise,’ Melody said.

‘Really, it’s nothing,’ Zac assured her, wishing he hadn’t been such a prat and caused this tension in the first place.

He waited for Patsy to leave. ‘Look, I’m sorry. I’m acting weird – I know I am.’

‘Why, though?’ She tilted her head to one side and studied his face.

Because I don’t want you to go out with my friend, he wanted to shout.

Her phone pinged and they both looked at it. He took a mouthful of coffee, wincing as he realised too late how hot it still was, and waited for her to pick up her phone and read it.

‘It’s Callum,’ she said, reading the text.

Zac tried to push away his instant jealousy to think of his best friend with Melody.

‘He must think me rude.’

‘Why?’

‘Because I didn’t get round to replying to his last text.’

Not wishing for her to feel guilty, Zac said, ‘Callum is a chilled guy. He probably doesn’t mind.’

‘I hope you’re right.’ She stared at her screen.

‘He’s sent you another text, so he’s obviously not fazed, or anything.’

‘Good point.’ She smiled, looking relieved. ‘He’s suggested we go out to the pub tonight.’ She stared at him thoughtfully for a few seconds. ‘He’s asking if I’d like him to pick me up or if I’d rather meet him there,’ she said, looking as if she was trying to work out what she would prefer.

He watched her put the phone back onto the table. ‘Do what makes you more comfortable.’

She flushed slightly. ‘I’m not sure I should be going out with him, if I’m honest.’

Unsure why she would say such a thing, Zac asked her.

She went to say something, then seemed to stop herself. A cloud appeared to cross her face and he wondered what could be bothering her. A boyfriend maybe?

‘Do you have someone in Edinburgh?’ he asked, expecting her to say no. When she didn’t reply, but just looked at him, he suspected he had hit a nerve. Maybe she had fallen out with her partner and that was the reason for her coming to the island with Patsy?

She didn’t deny that there was someone, but her face lit up and she bit her lower lip for a second. ‘Why don’t you join us this evening?’

‘Me?’

She laughed. ‘You do know us both and I barely know Callum. I wouldn’t have to walk into a new pub by myself if you were with me.’

He didn’t like to remind her that Callum had offered to pick her up. ‘If you want me to, then of course I’ll come with you.’

‘Great.’ She picked up the phone and tapped in a reply. Her phone pinged again almost immediately. She laughed. ‘Callum. He says he’ll meet us there.’

Zac knew he should feel happier to be accompanying Melody on her date with Callum, but instead he felt ridiculous. If he didn’t like the thought of his friend being with Melody, how was it going to feel if she and Callum kissed? He closed his eyes. Why hadn’t he just let the pair of them get on with their evening out and stayed out of things? The last thing he wanted from Melody was for her to feel sorry for him.

He finished the rest of his coffee, careful to drink more slowly and blow on the hot liquid before taking a mouthful of it. Then it dawned on him that all he had to do to rectify the matter was walk in with her, have one drink and then make an excuse and leave them to it.

Melody stared at him for a moment and, wanting to fill the silence, Zac decided to change the subject to something more neutral and bring up arrangements for the festival.

‘I’ll be glad when we have everything organised for this event.’

‘Me, too. I feel responsible for bringing as much of my expertise as possible to help make it the success Lettie hopes it to be,’ she said. She was looking up at him with an expectant expression on her face.

Zac couldn’t work out why, then wondered if he could make a suggestion that might show her he still enjoyed her company despite passing on her contact details to his friend. He didn’t want to be obvious about his feelings for her, especially now he knew she was happy to go out with Callum, but didn’t want to ruin the friendship they had made by being distant.

‘I know what you mean. I feel the same way about making sure all the sound is up to scratch. Maybe we could go out for coffee together and chat about—’ Zac stopped, realising that was exactly what they were currently doing.

‘Yes.’ She looked down. ‘I mean, I’d like that.’

Thrown by her enthusiasm, Zac was happy to think she still wanted to spend time with him. ‘Um, OK. We could run some ideas between us and think of ways we can help Lettie. I want this to be as much of a success as possible.’ He thought of the amount of money they needed to raise. ‘It’s not going to be easy though. We haven’t had time to build up any momentum with advertising.’

‘We’ll do the best we can,’ she insisted.

‘We will.’ He shrugged as a thought occurred to him. ‘I’ll do all I can to help towards the cost of the repairs.’

Her smile vanished. ‘We’ll all try to think of ways to help do that,’ she said. ‘For now though, I think we need to focus on making this festival as slick as we can.’

‘Yes.’ He held up his hand for her to return his high five.

Melody laughed and slapped her hand against his.