The Little Orchard on the Lane: An absolutely perfect and uplifting romantic comedy

by Tilly Tennant

  ‘If you want to sleep I would wake you.’

  ‘Thank you but no. It’s habit now – I see a train and I’m conditioned to suddenly feel wide awake no matter how tired I might be.’

  ‘Did you like to be home?’ Pavla asked.

  ‘You mean this weekend? Yes, it was good to see my mum.’

  ‘How is she? She misses you?’

  ‘Probably, but she keeps busy and I know she’d never say so – wouldn’t want to make me feel guilty about being away. And like she says, one day I’ll be moving out for good so it’s as well to get used to it. Did you enjoy your visit to your brother?’

  ‘Perhaps not as much as you, but it’s good to get a rest from working.’

  ‘I’ll bet Karen’s missed you.’

  ‘She is very good to me.’

  ‘I imagine she’s good to everyone. I mean, I haven’t met anyone she won’t try to help… even grumpy Lachlan.’

  Pavla laughed. ‘Yes. He is very grumpy. A very difficult man – sometimes kind, sometimes angry. You never know.’

  ‘I don’t know how you managed to work for him.’

  ‘I felt sorry for him.’

  ‘You did?’

  ‘He was always sad.’

  ‘He was? Why?’

  ‘I don’t know why, I just know he is.’

  Posy regarded her thoughtfully. Had there ever been anything between Pavla and Lachlan? Pavla seemed rather well acquainted with what Lachlan did and didn’t feel. Posy shook the thought – what did it matter anyway? It certainly oughtn’t to matter to her. ‘If he is sad he hides it well. He just seems annoyed at everyone all the time to me.’

  ‘It wasn’t always bad.’

  ‘So if he could afford to pay you now you’d go back to him? I mean, I got the impression he was going to ask you the last time I was at Sunnyfields and he came looking for you… so he has money to pay you now?’

  ‘No. I like Karen, and her job is nicer than being rained on all day in Lachlan’s fields.’

  ‘That’s true. So you don’t miss working for him?’

  ‘Sometimes I liked how interesting it was. Every day different – in the spring tending, keeping a lookout for bugs, in the summer watching the grapes grow, in the autumn all the excitement of harvest and pressing the grapes…’ She shrugged. ‘But working for Karen is interesting too – I like to talk to the visitors.’

  ‘Didn’t he get anyone to replace you?’

  ‘Sometimes he has money to pay, sometimes he doesn’t.’

  ‘Was it like that when you worked for him?’

  ‘Not as bad, but last year was difficult and he didn’t grow enough so I think things are worse now. Workers want to know they’ll be paid.’

  ‘Surely he doesn’t plan to run that place alone – it’s huge!’

  ‘Harvest time will be hard.’

  ‘He has to get someone in to help! Surely trying to do it himself to save money is counterintuitive? I don’t know much about it, but wouldn’t he just lose another harvest and go under anyway?’

  Pavla gave a slight shrug. ‘If he pays them and doesn’t sell the wine he’ll have no money left.’

  ‘I don’t understand… what does that mean?’

  ‘No money, no more vineyard.’

  ‘He’ll sell his wine, though? I’ve tried it; it’s good stuff. There must be a market for it.’

  ‘Yes, but there are many wines out there just as good.’

  Posy was thoughtful for a moment. ‘I’m surprised he doesn’t join forces with the orchard – surely they could tap the same markets and supply both wine and cider.’

  ‘Perhaps they never thought of it. I think Lachlan would be too proud; he likes to do things alone.’

  ‘It’s all very well to be proud and isolated in your personal life, but as a business plan it stinks.’

  ‘I don’t think he cares too much for that,’ Pavla said.

  Posy paused again. ‘I think I’ll mention it to Giles and Sandra anyway,’ she said after a moment of consideration. Even as she did, she was aware that maybe it was none of her business and that she might be overstepping the mark where both parties were concerned, but it made so much sense to her she was amazed it had never occurred to anyone before. Though they made different products they were practically in the same business, and many of the customers for one would be customers for both.

  ‘I think it would be too late for this harvest, even if he said yes.’ Pavla broke into her thoughts. ‘And I think he would say no.’

  ‘So how serious is this harvest problem? How many people does he need to get it in?’

  ‘Last year he had six but that was still hard.’

  ‘Six?’ Posy gazed out of the window. The train had already left the grimy, jostling backs of London’s apartment blocks behind and was whizzing through the airier suburbs.

  ‘Yes.’

  ‘The vineyard is good for people…’ Posy began slowly. ‘I mean, it’s important to the village? There’s a long history of it being there, so everyone keeps saying.’

  ‘I don’t know,’ Pavla replied, looking slightly puzzled. ‘Perhaps.’

  ‘It could be important economically too,’ Posy pressed. ‘Like the orchard is. It brings money and visitors to the area and gives the place a reputation for good produce – at least it could. And that would carry to other producers – anyone who grows around there.’

  ‘We don’t have too many in Astercombe.’

  ‘But there are some.’

  ‘Yes.’

  ‘And even Karen might benefit if it brings in buyers or visitors who need somewhere to stay?’

  ‘Yes, perhaps.’

  ‘So the people who’d potentially benefit have a vested interest in saving the vineyard no matter how they might feel about Lachlan personally…’

  Pavla raised her eyebrows. ‘What does this mean? You’re worried for him?’

  ‘Not worried… I just don’t like to see anyone struggle.’

  ‘Why bother? Lachlan means nothing to you.’

  Posy was silent for a moment. ‘I know,’ she said finally. ‘I suppose it sounds strange that I would be this bothered. He’s rude, surly, pig-headed and arrogant…’ She shook her head slightly. ‘God knows why I’m bothered, now that you come to mention it,’ she said, laughing. ‘Perhaps it’s because I’ve come to love Astercombe already and the vineyard is part of that.’

  Pavla shook her head as if she couldn’t quite believe what she was hearing, and Posy wondered if she might just have a point.

  ‘Pavla,’ Posy began, serious again. ‘Why is he like that? Why does he shut everyone out and lock the door to his house? He can’t be happy to live like that – nobody can.’

  ‘Why not? You say that because you would not be happy, but everyone is not like you.’

  ‘I know that, but I don’t believe that of him. When he fixed my tyre that day I felt like I saw something, another side to him that he tries to hide.’

  Pavla frowned, but then smiled slowly. ‘He is handsome, you think?’

  ‘That’s got nothing to do with it.’

  ‘So you don’t—?’

  ‘No!’ Posy hissed, perhaps a little too hotly. ‘No,’ she repeated. ‘I can take an interest in a fellow human being without it being… you know…’

  ‘Yes, of course you can.’

  Posy looked at Pavla, who had conceded the point but still looked smugger than she should had she actually believed it for one minute.

  ‘I only said he’s handsome,’ Pavla said. ‘And that is true.’

  ‘Undeniably,’ Posy replied primly. ‘But there are plenty of handsome men in the world and we don’t go round falling in love with them just because they exist.’

  ‘No, we don’t,’ Pavla agreed, but the smug smile was still in place, and Posy had to bite her lip and keep her thoughts about it to herself.

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Giles looked over his glass at Sandra. The remains of supper were still out on the t
able, uncollected and forgotten as the conversation had taken a more serious tone. The sun was still hot, though summer was undoubtedly breathing its last and autumn was fast approaching. Asa swatted at a wasp that was nosing round the rim of his wine glass. It showed the usual waspy persistence, until a breeze rolling over the patio finally took it off to the orchards beyond the garden.

  ‘I don’t know about this… cooperative arrangement you’re talking about,’ he said, turning his gaze to Posy, who’d just mooted the proposal of a joint effort between the orchard and Lachlan’s vineyard that she’d discussed with Pavla on the train. ‘I doubt Lachlan would be amenable to that. And if the vineyard is really in as much trouble as Pavla says – and I’m not convinced it’s not just idle gossip on her part – then getting involved might just pull the orchard under with it. Rather than helping, both businesses might suffer. Oleander Orchard has ticked along since your great-grandfather’s time and I’m certainly not going to throw away all his hard work and all his years of struggle to get established trying to save Lachlan’s tenuous business.’

  ‘But there must be something we can do?’ Posy insisted, unable to deny the logic in what Giles was saying but stubbornly clinging to the idea of helping in some way.

  ‘Hmm.’ Her uncle nodded slowly. ‘I know of one or two vineyards who get round the harvest issue by opening their doors to visitors who come and pick the grapes as a sort of day out. They get an experience and are sent away with a crate of wine and everyone’s happy. One would presume Lachlan is perfectly aware of this easy fix and has chosen to snub it, which leaves me to conclude that he doesn’t want help – at least he doesn’t want the sort of help that might indebt him to anyone.’

  ‘But he needs it; Pavla said—’

  ‘That may well be, but even without the risks to our business I still don’t see that he would accept it from us.’

  Posy stared at her half-full wine glass, deep in thought. She didn’t know much about running a business, but she couldn’t believe that anyone who did would sacrifice its success just because it meant being civil to a few people for a day or two. And if saving a harvest meant being in the debt of a few well-meaning souls, Posy was quite sure she’d accept that and take the help – anyone who didn’t must be mad.

  ‘I’m afraid this is Lachlan’s mess to clear up for himself,’ Sandra said. ‘And if he’s too stubborn to reach out for help and take advantage of offers that exist then it’s down to him if his business fails.’

  Posy clamped her mouth shut. It wasn’t something she wanted to let go of, but what else could she do? Sandra was right, though she hated admitting it.

  ‘Bear in mind it’ll be short notice too,’ Giles said.

  ‘What will?’

  ‘As far as I know – and I’m no great expert – there’s a small window for grapes just as there is for apples. There’ll be a peak time and you won’t know when that is until they’re just about there, and then maybe you’ll only have a few days to get them in and processed. You’d have to have your pickers on standby, and that’s hard if you’re asking people who’ve got other things to do.’

  ‘Well, how do the places that let visitors in to pick do it?’

  ‘That I don’t know,’ Giles said.

  ‘I expect if that’s something you rely on you’d invent some kind of notification system,’ Sandra said. ‘I suppose you could contact one of them to ask.’

  ‘Though I wouldn’t waste your time,’ Asa put in. ‘Lachlan will only say no to the idea anyway.’

  Posy shook her head. ‘I can’t believe he’d sacrifice his harvest to protect his privacy.’

  ‘I don’t think he’ll go that far,’ Giles said. ‘I wouldn’t be surprised if he simply gave up sleep for a week and tried to power through it all himself.’

  ‘But that’s ridiculous!’ Posy cried. ‘Nobody could get all that in alone!’

  ‘Well,’ Sandra said with a wry smile, ‘he is a rather ridiculous man.’

  ‘We couldn’t spare anyone at all?’ Posy pressed. ‘You have staff here…’

  Giles let out a long, loud sigh, and Posy sensed he might be at the end of his patience with this conversation. She supposed she could see why that might be – she was probably asking a lot for something that didn’t really affect them.

  ‘While I admire your intentions and your generous spirit,’ he said, ‘I think you have to let this go. Autumn is a crucial time for us as much as it is Lachlan and we simply can’t worry about his harvest when we need to secure our own. I’m sorry if it sounds selfish but that’s just the way it is. Lachlan would understand this very well, and he would probably do the same if the tables were turned.’

  Posy was finding it hard to let go of the argument, but what was the point in pushing it any further? Even she could see the sense in what Giles had said. The mood around the table was tenser than she’d like it to be, and when all was said and done she was still a guest in their home – perhaps it was best not to make herself an unwelcome one.

  ‘Maybe if his harvest doesn’t overlap too much with ours we could lend a hand for the odd hour here and there?’ Asa asked, seeming to sense Posy’s disappointment.

  Sandra shook her head. ‘That’s not very likely to happen. He’ll have more than one variety, and we have to assume that means his grapes will be ready at different times and he’ll have to bring them in stages, just like we do. There might be a day or two overlap, but you know well that there’s more to harvesting than just picking the fruit. We could do with you here, Asa, even on days when we’re not in the orchard.’

  He nodded and threw Posy a slightly apologetic look, and she suddenly felt incredibly guilty for not being more supportive of Oleander Orchard’s own harvest. They probably hadn’t asked her to get involved with theirs because she’d told them about her job offer in London and that she’d be leaving soon; at least, before they began bringing in their apples. But now she was fighting to get help for someone else’s harvest when they’d perhaps have been grateful for her help with theirs. What must they think of her now? She sounded ungrateful and unreasonable and not like someone who wanted to be accepted as part of their family.

  She hadn’t even broached the question of having Jackson to stay and that suddenly didn’t seem like such a good idea. If the next few weeks were going to be busy for them, they might not appreciate a stranger on site.

  So that was that, she mused as she reached for her wine. Lachlan was on his own.

  * * *

  Pavla was manning the reception at Sunnyfields when Posy walked in the following day.

  ‘Hello!’ she said cheerfully. ‘Have you finished designing your plan yet?’

  Posy gave a rueful smile. ‘I think so, although it didn’t get a very warm reception at the orchard. They don’t seem to think it’ll get very far and I have to say, now that I’ve had time to think about it, they might be right.’

  ‘Perhaps it is for the best,’ Pavla said. ‘Lachlan would not have wanted it.’

  Posy didn’t know how to take that statement. She guessed, of course, that Pavla didn’t mean to offend her, but she couldn’t help but feel a little offence. Of course, there were a million good reasons why she ought to keep her nose out – not least that she ought to be thinking about her imminent move back to London and the new job that was waiting for her, not hanging around here for some grapes to ripen, especially if Giles was right and there was no way to tell exactly when that would happen.

  So, if she thought all that, why was she here to talk to Karen now? Maybe it wasn’t such a good idea after all.

  ‘Karen said she was expecting you this morning,’ Pavla added. ‘She’s in the garden.’

  ‘Which bit?’ Posy asked.

  ‘Weeding by the guest terrace while it’s quiet,’ Pavla said. ‘Go through; it’s perfectly alright.’

  ‘Thanks, Pavla.’

  Posy made her way down the corridor that led away from the lobby and down to the day room, where large French doors open
ed out to the guest terrace where she and her mum had shared a drink with Karen at the start of the summer. Those weeks had flown by so fast, and yet it seemed like a lifetime ago. Astercombe had been strange and new to her then, not like now when she felt almost more at home here than she did in London. She didn’t know how to feel about that or what she was meant to do about it, but she did know one thing – she was going to miss this place terribly when she finally went back. But she had a new job waiting, exciting possibilities, and she supposed she’d get used to that way of living again soon enough.

  * * *

  Karen straightened up as Posy approached. She was wearing a floppy-brimmed straw hat, her usual flowing skirt and sandals, and a large crystal on a chain around her neck.

  ‘That’s lovely,’ Posy said, pointing at the pendant. ‘I don’t think I’ve seen it before.’

  ‘Ah, yes… picked it up on my most recent outing to Glastonbury. It gives the wearer wisdom, apparently. Thought I could do with a bit of that.’

  ‘Could I borrow it then?’ Posy asked. ‘I could do with some wisdom right now too… although I think it might take more than a crystal to sort that out.’

  Karen peeled off her gardening gloves. ‘Really? Pavla told me about your chat on the train…’ She stroked a thoughtful hand along the length of her gardening gloves as she studied Posy in silence. She looked torn, as if deciding whether to entrust a huge secret to her.

  In the end, she simply asked if Posy wanted a glass of lemonade.

  ‘You’re busy,’ Posy said. ‘I don’t want you waiting on me when you have so much to do.’

  ‘Alright,’ Karen said slowly, ‘if you don’t want to keep me then perhaps you want to tell me what you’re here for. Not that I mind you popping in at all, but I get the feeling there’s something you want to ask?’

  ‘Sort of,’ Posy said. ‘I know you can’t really say anything, but I suppose I just want to understand.’

  Karen chuckled. ‘Well, that makes two of us because I’m afraid I don’t have a clue what you mean!’

  ‘Well, for a start, why is he so angry all the time?’