The Beekeeper’s Cottage: An absolutely unputdownable feel-good summer read

by Emma Davies

  Grace crossed to the sink to rinse her hands. ‘It would appear that way, yes. But if you want a definitive answer I guess you would have to ask Zac.’ She smiled sweetly.

  ‘Yes, well, just don’t do it again,’ muttered Paul. ‘It doesn’t look good. I’m your husband for goodness’ sake.’ He picked Zac’s mug up from the table and handed it to Grace. ‘And that’s another thing, do you think you could pretend to enjoy it when I kiss you? As far as our guests are concerned, we’re supposed to be happily married, but it’s like holding a cardboard box, you’re so stiff.’

  Seeing Paul’s pouting expression was just too much and Grace had to turn away to hide her smile. His childlike manner had driven her mad over the years, but now she merely found it funny.

  ‘I’ll make you a coffee,’ she said. ‘But I’ve got things to do, Paul. Why don’t you go and show Zac the garden?’

  He almost shuddered. ‘Why would I want to do that? You know I hate it.’

  Fifteen minutes later Zac was back.

  ‘You weren’t joking, were you?’ he said, brushing a greenfly from his sleeve. ‘I’ve never seen anything like that before, but then I guess… well, how else do you grow flowers?’

  ‘It’s quite something, isn’t it?’ agreed Grace. ‘My neighbours converted their dairy farm earlier in the year and that’s the result.’

  Zac nodded. ‘There was a chap already working in the field, but he spotted me and came over, wondering who I was, I suppose. He explained to me what had happened.’

  Grace checked her watch but it was only half past seven. ‘Crikey, they’re starting early today, business must be good.’

  ‘That’s what I said, but he was weeding before it gets too hot. A full-time job, I would imagine.’

  ‘Well, rather them than me,’ said Paul. ‘I can’t think of anything worse.’

  Zac regarded him evenly. ‘Oh, I don’t know. I’ve always quite fancied the idea of an outdoor life.’

  Paul looked uncomfortable. ‘That’s not to say I don’t admire them,’ he said hurriedly. ‘I do, it’s just not for me, that’s all. I think I’ve worked out where my strengths are.’

  There was a moment when Grace thought Zac was going to comment, but then he smiled. ‘You’re probably right. I suspect the reality is very different from the dream.’

  Even if she couldn’t hear it, Grace could sense Paul’s release of breath.

  Zac looked between the two of them. ‘Well, thank you for the tea, Grace. I guess I’ll go and get ready. When did you say you’d like us back for breakfast? I’ll make sure the others are up and ready.’

  Grace was torn. She sensed that Zac might like to set his own timetable and yet Dominic had been very definite in his requirements and she would hate to mess up his schedule.

  ‘I think Dominic said half eight.’ She looked at Paul for confirmation. ‘As long as that’s okay with everyone.’

  ‘Fine by me.’ Zac nodded at Paul. ‘Excuse me, won’t you?’

  And then he was gone and it was just her and Paul alone once more. He stared at her, searching her face for a few seconds before turning away.

  ‘I’ll be in the study,’ he said. ‘Call me when everyone appears.’

  Grace could tell there was a problem as soon as Dominic came back into the kitchen. He steered Paul to the window, taking his arm and talking softly. She watched them from the sink, seeing an agitated expression swiftly cross Paul’s face and a minute later he strode off in the direction of the sitting room, presumably to talk to the others. Dominic beckoned her over as soon as he was gone.

  ‘We have a bit of a problem,’ he explained. ‘In that I’ve just been out to put some things in the car and discovered it’s got a flat tyre.’ The car in question was a luxurious people carrier that Dominic often used for entertaining, allowing six people to sit comfortably. ‘Obviously that poses a massive problem, given that we’ll be using it all day.’

  ‘Don’t you have a spare?’

  ‘Well yes, but—’

  ‘So, I’ll just stall everyone,’ said Grace. ‘Make more coffee, take them into the garden, I’ll think of something to do while you change the tyre, don’t worry.’

  Dominic shook his head. ‘I was rather thinking you could get someone to fix it for us,’ he said. ‘I don’t think either Paul or I want to start behaving like bloody mechanics this morning. It’s not exactly conducive to the type of day we need to have here, Grace.’ He leaned into his last words, a sharper tone undercutting them.

  She frowned at him, annoyed by his tone. ‘Well, funnily enough I don’t happen to have a mechanic on standby who can just drop everything and come on over. Or were you suggesting that I change the tyre?’

  He tutted. ‘No, of course not, but there must be someone. Paul rather thought someone from the farm might be able to help out.’

  ‘Oh, he did, did he? Those people who he doesn’t give a fig about from one day to the next… For goodness’ sake he never even bothered to find out how Fraser was doing after he had open heart surgery following a heart attack. Do you really think they’re going to drop everything to help him?’

  Dominic didn’t really know them either, although he had met them once or twice over the years, but he could see that Grace was telling the truth. His gaze sunk to the floor and, seeing it, she relented.

  ‘But fortunately, they’re my friends and they might do it for me,’ she said. ‘Give me a few minutes and I’ll see what I can do.’

  She picked up her mobile and slipped through the patio doors, dialling Ned’s number. There was no reply and Flora’s phone went unanswered as well. She didn’t bother to leave a message but carried on down the garden, making for the field. If she was very lucky someone would still be working there and, if not, then the farmhouse was a short walk away. She had only gone halfway when she saw Amos coming towards her, swinging a basket.

  ‘Morning!’ He waved an arm in salute and hurried towards her, studying her face as he reached her. ‘Is everything all right?’

  Grace nodded. ‘I’m fine, but Operation Impress the Americans has hit a snag. Flat tyre,’ she explained. ‘The end of the world, obviously, and neither Paul nor Dominic could possibly change it. I was just on my way down to the farm to see if Ned might have half an hour to spare.’

  ‘He might have,’ Amos replied. ‘But I can come quicker.’ He handed her the basket. ‘I was on my way up as it happens – Hannah thought you might be able to make use of those,’ he added. ‘And of course I volunteered to bring them over simply because that way I’d get all the salacious gossip from last night first-hand.’ He grinned at her.

  Grace peered at the dozen or so eggs nestled inside, smiling at both the thoughtful gift and Amos’s comment.

  ‘I’m not sure gossip is quite the word,’ she said. ‘Although, actually, despite Paul being Paul, I enjoyed the meal. Everyone is impossibly young, of course, but for all that, educated and rather eloquent – not jumped-up, arrogant upstarts at all. It quite surprised me.’

  ‘I met one of them this morning by the field,’ replied Amos. ‘He seemed genuinely interested in the flowers that are growing.’

  ‘Oh, that was you. Zac did say he’d got talking to someone but I assumed it was Ned. You had an early start.’

  Amos looked up at Grace through his lashes. ‘Can I confess to having been in the garden and legging it when I saw someone coming. I only just made it into the field and pretended to be pulling up weeds. Actually, I was pulling up weeds but that hadn’t been my intention.’

  ‘Were you sleeping there…? Only I thought I saw you in the garden late last night just before I went to sleep.’

  ‘Sorry, I was just… keeping an eye on things, I—’

  ‘No, it’s okay, Amos. I don’t mind, it was… well it made me feel… better,’ she finished lamely, not really sure how to explain how it had made her feel, or indeed if she should. ‘Knowing you were around, I mean.’

  Amos gave her a look she really couldn’t fathom.
‘It made me feel better too,’ he said. ‘Knowing I was around… So, you’re okay then?’ His voice was serious as he laid a hand on her arm. ‘I couldn’t stop thinking about you last night… wondering how you were all getting on. Wondering if Paul was behaving himself.’

  Grace sighed. ‘Well apart from chastising me for altering the sleeping arrangements without telling him, it’s been okay.’ She paused. ‘I’d just rather he didn’t feel the need to prove he’s my husband by kissing me every time we’re in the same room; it’s beginning to make my skin crawl. I don’t suppose anyone else is interested and besides…’ She trailed off, not wanting to spell out to Amos how she felt having Paul touch her. ‘Anyway, at least they’ll be out all day, so it’ll be fine, I’m sure.’

  ‘Provided there’s a car for them to go out in at all. I’ll go and see what I can do.’

  ‘Would you? Are you sure you don’t mind? It doesn’t really seem right to ask you, not when Dominic and Paul are both perfectly capable.’

  ‘Grace, it’s fine. If it makes life easier then I’m happy to help. The quicker it’s done, the quicker they can leave.’

  There was certainly a lot of truth in this statement and Grace hurried back into the house, leaving Amos to go and investigate the problem. ‘I’ll bring you out a coffee,’ she said as she left him.

  Dominic was still pacing the kitchen but looked up the second she walked back into the room. ‘Did you get something sorted?’ he urged. ‘We need to leave in half an hour at the latest.’

  ‘I would imagine you’ll be leaving when the tyre’s fixed,’ she replied. ‘But yes, a friend of mine has come to the rescue. You might want to go and give him a hand. At the very least say hello.’

  A gale of laughter echoed from the other room. Paul’s laughter. She doubted very much that whatever had been said was that funny and she was beginning to find his ridiculously over-the-top behaviour trying. Admittedly, she didn’t know Zac or Riley at all well, but they had both struck her as pretty down-to-earth characters, not the stereotypical showbizzy types she had imagined they would be. And Zac was astute with it too; it made her wonder just how they really viewed her husband.

  Reassured that conversation was still ongoing in the sitting room, she took a mug of coffee outside to see how Amos was getting on.

  The boot on the car was raised and she could tell from its rocking movement that it was already being jacked up. She’d expected to see Dominic but was surprised to find Amos by himself. She walked around to the side of the vehicle, still holding his drink.

  ‘Is everything all right?’ she asked.

  ‘Should be,’ came the reply. ‘It’s straightforward enough. The tyre had picked up a gouge from somewhere, could have been a sharp stone, any number of things. It didn’t puncture it straight away, but I reckon the air has been seeping out all night. There’s a spare, fortunately, which looks okay. The chap who came out said it was a company car so it’s been well maintained by the look of things.’

  ‘Yes, that would have been Dominic. I’m surprised he didn’t offer to help you.’

  Amos looked up. ‘Are you?’ he said.

  His words took her aback. Although it wasn’t said with any particular undercurrent, Amos wasn’t usually given to making sharp comments. He was right though of course; now that she thought about it, she wasn’t surprised in the least.

  She smiled. ‘I brought you a cuppa,’ she said, holding out the mug. ‘Shall I put it down for you?’

  He nodded and she rested it on the gravel. With the car now jacked to sufficient height, Amos picked up the wrench and attempted to loosen the wheel nuts.

  ‘Jesus…’ The word hissed out from between his teeth, as he leaned all his weight onto the wrench. ‘Whoever last did these up must have been a direct descendant of Thor.’

  He tried a different nut, rocking his full weight onto the wrench to get it to turn, gritting his teeth and straining with the effort. Expelling air in a loud rush he stood up, panting for a few minutes before trying again. It was hard to watch him, obviously hurting from the effort.

  Grace was about to stop him in case he did himself an injury, when she heard steps on the gravel. Turning around, she was amazed to see Zac walking towards them. His jacket was already off and he was busy rolling up his sleeves. He came to stand beside them.

  ‘Hello again,’ he said, looking at Amos. ‘I saw what was going on from the bedroom window, can I help at all?’

  Amos flicked her a glance, really not sure what the protocol was. Grace wasn’t sure either, but Zac was offering to lend a hand, no one had forced him to.

  ‘I’m obviously feeling particularly puny today, but I can’t get the wheel nuts off,’ said Amos. ‘Either that or some Neanderthal tightened them before me.’

  Zac pulled a face. ‘I can have a go, if you like, but if you can’t shift them, I’m not sure I’ll be able to.’

  Whatever the circumstances, it was a very generous thing to say. Amos smiled and handed him the wrench.

  ‘I’ve probably loosened them for you,’ he said with a grin, rolling his eyes at Grace.

  But Zac grunted and groaned in just the same way that Amos had done and couldn’t shift them either.

  ‘Oh, thank God,’ said Zac. ‘That could have been embarrassing. Shall we give it a go together? I can’t see how we’re going to shift them otherwise and I think plans will be ruined if we can’t change the tyre.’ He caught Grace’s eye and smiled. She was liking him more and more by the minute.

  With one man either side of the wrench and a good deal of groaning and, in Zac’s case, swearing, they finally managed to release the nuts so that Amos was able to ease off the flat tyre.

  Amos offered Zac his hand. ‘Blimey, that was hard work, and I really appreciate your help. I was going nowhere fast on my own. I can probably take it from here though, if you need to get back.’

  But Zac shook his head. ‘No, come on, let’s get finished up. I rather think you’re being kept from your work too, and your drink is getting cold.’ He rolled the spare tyre across while Amos stood up to take a slug of his coffee.

  ‘How are we doing?’ It was Paul’s voice from the front door. ‘Are we nearly ready, do you think?’ He began to march across the gravel.

  Grace saw Amos look down as she too realised that Zac, crouched by the side of the car, was below Paul’s line of sight and that therefore Paul was talking to Amos. It was, she realised, the first time the two men had met. She moved further to Amos’s side.

  ‘Paul, this is Amos who’s helping out at the farm next door. It was very kind of him to come to our rescue.’

  ‘Yes, yes, of course,’ Paul replied, moving nearer. And then he stopped. ‘Amos?’ he queried. ‘I know that name from somewhere…’ He broke off, frowning. ‘Yes, I know… You’re the gardener chap, aren’t you? The one who gave my estate agent the runaround.’ He looked directly at Grace for a second, eyes narrowing and then back again. ‘Only I don’t remember employing you.’

  Grace took a step forward, feeling utterly helpless. Zac had chosen to carry on working instead of revealing himself, replacing the tyre and slipping back on the nuts ready for tightening. If she wasn’t careful this could all go very badly indeed.

  ‘Actually, Paul, Amos doesn’t work here, he’s been helping out at the farm next door for the summer, and has given me a hand with some of the bigger gardening jobs, that’s all.’ She gave a light laugh. ‘And all out of the kindness of his heart… and maybe the odd cup of tea.’

  She wanted to give Paul the opportunity to offer some praise and to thank Amos for his generosity, but instead she could see from the expression on his face that he had taken it entirely the wrong way. Oh dear lord, whatever was he going to say now?

  ‘Hmm, how very obliging of you.’

  Grace’s heart sank; he sounded like a pompous idiot.

  ‘That’s not it though,’ Paul continued. ‘That’s not where I know you from. What’s your last name?’ It sounded more like an or
der than a casual enquiry.

  Amos squared up. ‘I don’t think we’ve met, so just Amos will be fine. Like Grace said, I’ve been working at the farm so it was lucky I was around this morning to help out.’

  ‘And you’re pretty much done, I think, aren’t you? Zac very kindly came to help as well.’ She had to say something to alert Paul to his presence.

  But even this didn’t help. ‘Zac did? Oh, for goodness’ sake, whatever for? Well I suppose that explains why I couldn’t find him earlier. Where’s he gone now?’

  Zac stood up abruptly and grinned at Paul. ‘Right here actually.’ He handed Amos the wrench. ‘Just give the nuts one more turn for luck and we’re good to go, I think. Thanks so much, Amos.’ He looked down at his dirty hands. ‘I’d better go and get washed.’

  Paul’s mouth was hanging open, and Grace could see his brain working frantically. He came swiftly around the side of the car, smiling broadly. ‘Yes, thank you, Amos. I’m really not sure what we would have done without you.’ He thrust his hand into his inside jacket pocket and pulled out the silver money clip he always kept there. He peeled off several twenty-pound notes in succession. ‘Thank you,’ he said again.

  Amos stared at the money in his hand. ‘I was doing a favour, Mr Maynard,’ he said. ‘Thank you, but that’s really not necessary.’

  ‘Nonsense, come on.’

  But Amos made no move to either reply or take Paul’s money, and the silence stretching out was embarrassing.

  In the end it was Zac who spoke, patting Paul’s arm in a way which Grace knew he would take for condescension. Whether it was meant that way she wasn’t entirely sure.

  ‘You heard the man, Paul, put your money away and just buy him a pint sometime for God’s sake.’

  He flashed them both a wide smile and led Paul back inside the house. ‘Right, so run through this morning’s schedule for me one more time,’ he said, as they moved away.

  Amos bent to double-check the wheel nuts, turning away from Grace so she couldn’t see his face.