Page 23 of A New Family at Puddleduck Farm (Puddleduck Farm #6)

Sam wasn’t running an errand for his parents, but he was holding the fort because Ma was taking Pa for another dentist appointment. Pa had been having trouble with a tooth for a while and he wanted it sorted before Christmas.

‘I don’t want to be in pain while I’m trying to eat my Christmas dinner,’ he’d grumbled. ‘So I’ve decided to have the bugger out.’

The Hendries didn’t usually have big Christmas dinners – they tended to boycott tradition and get fish and chips – but because it was Lily’s first Christmas they’d been invited to Puddleduck Farm with the rest of the clan.

‘We’ll probably be back in time to shut up shop,’ Jan had said. ‘But if we’re not just close up as normal, Sam.’

It was nearly five-thirty, closing time, and they weren’t back yet and Sam had served a steady stream of customers.

He’d just weighed out some apples into a paper bag for a regular and then cashed up her other purchases and packed them into her shopping bag for her when the bell on the door tinged and he realised another customer had come into the shop.

‘We’re just closing,’ he called out. ‘But I can serve you if it’s a quickie.’

‘A quickie sounds great to me, Sam.’

He glanced up in shock. Not that he needed to look to confirm her identity. He’d have recognised that laughing, sultry voice anywhere.

‘Judy! What are you doing here?’

‘Charming. You might sound a little more pleased to see me, Sam. I come in peace. And I have glad tidings of great joy. Well, I have glad tidings anyway.’

She sashayed across to him, her immaculate blonde bob bouncing around her shoulders and flashing red Father Christmas earrings swinging from her ears.

He stared at her open-mouthed. She was the very last person he’d expected to see, and she looked spectacular.

Not that he’d ever seen her look much less than spectacular.

Even when she was dressed for riding in her Barbour and old jodhpurs, she looked great, but today, clearly dressed as she was for a party, she looked stunning.

She was wearing a short skin-tight gold dress made of some shimmery material and a jacket with a fur-lined collar.

‘It’s great to see you.’ He gathered his scattered wits. ‘What can I do for you? I take it you haven’t come in for any shopping?’

‘You are correct. I was in the area so I thought I’d pop by and see why you haven’t responded to my message.’

‘I did respond to your message. The last time we spoke you said you’d heard of a possible home for Ninja and that you were going to look into it and let me know if they wanted to come and see him.’

‘And they did. And I phoned you. And I left a message, which you never answered.’

‘No, you didn’t.’

‘Yes, I did.’ She smiled at him, whipped out an expensive-looking mobile from her miniscule sequinned handbag and showed him the record of a call she’d made.

It was dated a month ago. ‘I didn’t chase you up because they weren’t in a massive hurry, and I’d sensed that you might not really want to sell your darling horse so I thought I’d leave it.

But then they happened to phone again yesterday to see if the horse was still available and I happened to be in the area today.

So I thought I’d call by in person and check you out. Figuratively speaking.’

Sam frowned and picked up his own mobile, which was on the shop counter beside the scales.

He scrolled through his received calls, which didn’t take long. They were mostly between him and Phoebe. ‘Look. See?’ He held out the phone to Judy.

She took it, tapped a few buttons and said, ‘It’s been deleted, Sam. There. I’ve just called up the deleted list. My voicemail message has been deleted too.’

‘That’s ridiculous. I wouldn’t have deleted it…’

‘Have you got a jealous girlfriend?’ Judy widened her eyes. ‘Maybe she deleted it. No matter. I’m here now.’ She put both hands on the counter and leaned forward provocatively, revealing even more of her cleavage, which Sam was determined not to be distracted by.

‘And my question is – would you like to take me for a latte in The Crown so we can discuss it?’

Taking her for a latte was the last thing Sam wanted to do. His head was spinning, and it wasn’t just her giddying presence. Surely Phoebe wouldn’t have deleted one of his messages without telling him. It didn’t make sense.

‘I’m expected home,’ he began, just as the shop doorbell tinged again. For goodness’ sake, surely not another last-minute customer. But to Sam’s chagrin it wasn’t a customer. It was worse. It was his parents.

‘Sorry, son. That took longer than we expected.’ Ma’s voice chimed across the shop. ‘Shall I turn the door sign round?’

‘Yes, please.’

His pa came across to him, holding his mouth with one hand. He gave Judy a brief, interested glance, before gesturing that he was going on up to the flat. He looked slightly dazed, or maybe that was the aftereffects of the anaesthetic.

His ma wasn’t so circumspect. Her eyes were popping out on stalks as she took in Judy’s party clothes and flirty demeanour.

‘I think this customer has finished, haven’t you, madam.’ Sam silently begged Judy not to give him away. And the laughter in her eyes told him she wouldn’t.

‘I’ll see you in The Crown in five,’ she said in a voice only loud enough for Sam to hear.

He nodded. ‘That’s great. Thank you very much.’

‘By-ee. Have a great Christmas.’ Judy sashayed across the shop past his ma, who looked as if she was trying to remember where she’d seen her before.

‘I was about to cash up,’ Sam said in an effort to distract her.

‘I’ll do that,’ Jan offered. ‘You get home, lad. And thanks for covering.’

Sam thanked her and escaped. He knew his face was flaming. It was a relief to get outside into the cold December darkness.

Every instinct he had told him that meeting Judy in The Crown was a bad idea.

He knew dozens of people in Bridgeford. What if someone saw him and told Phoebe?

But that was ridiculous too. He wasn’t doing anything he shouldn’t.

On the contrary. And if Phoebe hadn’t deleted that message he doubted Judy would have come by at all.

Had she really deleted that message? He definitely needed to get to the bottom of that.

His mind flicked back through the weeks.

He couldn’t remember what he’d been doing last week, let alone a month ago.

They might have more help with Lily now and they might have been in much more of a routine, but it was still very hard work fitting everything in.

The days flew by in a haze of work and babies.

If he didn’t go to The Crown, Judy might turn up again. Besides, he did want to know about the people who wanted Ninja. They might not be suitable but if they were it would be a relief. Judy was right – he wasn’t in a hurry to let go of his horse – but that didn’t mean it didn’t have to happen.

A few minutes later, he pushed open the front door of the pub and went into the dimness of the lounge bar.

A giant Christmas tree, festooned in red and gold baubles with its top scraping the ceiling, lit up one side of the room, and Judy, in her shimmering gold dress and flashing earrings, lit up the other.

She was sitting in a booth – The Crown was divided up into private booths – and attracting admiring glances from a group of men propping up the bar.

When she saw him, she waved a hand and he walked over to meet her. There was a large glass of white wine on the table in front of her.

‘I changed my mind about a latte but I figured you might be driving so I’ve ordered one for you. They’re bringing it over.’

‘Thanks.’

‘Don’t thank me, you’re paying. I set up a tab. Sit.’

‘Bossy as ever,’ Sam remarked, but he sat on the padded bench seat opposite her anyway. ‘Tell me about the people who want Ninja.’

‘Straight to the point as ever,’ she countered with a grin. ‘So how are you, Sam? I heard on the grapevine you’d got yourself tied down with a sprog. Is that true?’

‘Settled down, not tied down.’

‘Whatever.’ She waved a careless hand. ‘So who is she, this message-deleting female of yours? Anyone I know?’

Sam had no doubt at all that if she knew he had a baby he knew who her mother was, but on the other hand they didn’t move in the same circles so maybe she didn’t.

‘Her name’s Phoebe and we don’t know that she deleted that message.’

‘No, of course we don’t.’ She took a large sip of wine and winked at him. ‘Is that your childhood sweetheart, Phoebe? The one who’s a vet. When did you two get married?’

‘We’re not married. But yes, it’s the same Phoebe.’ He didn’t like her tone, but he was here now, and Judy had always been something of a wind-up merchant. He refused to get ruffled.

‘Happy news. That’s if you planned the baby, did you?’ She looked at him keenly. ‘And she didn’t just trap you into it.’

‘Of course we planned her,’ Sam lied. ‘She’s beautiful. Do you want to see a photo?’

‘I assume it’s the same baby whose picture is on your screensaver. You used to have Ninja on there.’

She’d seen his phone. That’s how she knew. She hadn’t heard it on the grapevine at all. She was just fishing.

Before he could respond, Judy held out her left hand and waggled her fingers so he couldn’t fail to spot the enormous rock on her engagement finger.

‘I’m getting married too. But we thought we’d do things in the right order. Wedding first, babies second. Actually, I think you two have met. His name’s Claude. He was at my cousin’s wedding. He was on our table, I think.’

Sam felt a wash of humiliation as the memory of her cousin’s wedding reception flashed into his head.

That had been an awful occasion. It had been when he’d realised that Judy’s parents would never in a million years accept him as a suitable partner for their daughter.

They’d deliberately invited him to a society wedding so they could get him to see he’d never fit in, not to mention humiliating him as publicly as possible in the process.

‘The hooray Henry with the hedge fund,’ Sam said dryly. ‘I remember it well.’

‘No, darling, that was Tarquin. Claude’s the one whose father owns the island in the Bahamas. We’re going to have our wedding there.’

‘I see. Well, I wish you every happiness.’

‘We’re not married yet. It’s a couple of years off.

Lots to plan. And all my friends have to save up so they can join the celebration.

’ She leaned over the table and touched his hand.

‘Anyway, seeing as neither of us are actually married yet… I was wondering if you fancied a get-together. For old times’ sake.

’ She licked her lips suggestively. ‘We were always so good in the bedroom department.’

He reacted instinctively, snatching his hand from hers.

‘No.’ Suddenly he felt sick. What had he ever seen in this woman? What was he even doing sitting here while she flirted unashamedly? What on earth had he been thinking?

He pushed back his chair and got out his wallet in the same movement. ‘I’m going,’ he said, putting a twenty-pound note down on the table in front of her. ‘That should cover the drinks.’

He was vaguely aware of her staring at him, open-mouthed in shock. Judy had never dealt well with rejection. Then he turned and strode back towards the exit, narrowly missing the barmaid carrying a tray with his latte to their table.

Outside once more, Sam took a lungful of the cool December air and tried to contain his anger.

He should have listened to his instincts.

He felt slightly dirty now, and it didn’t matter that he hadn’t done anything he couldn’t justify.

He’d have given a lot to wipe the last twenty minutes of his life from his memory.

He didn’t care who it was who wanted Ninja, the horse wasn’t going to them.

He wouldn’t sell him to any friends of Judy’s.

Not after that little performance. It would have felt like selling his soul.

He walked briskly back along the High Street towards Hendrie’s.

The yellow and blue Christmas lights strung across the roads usually cheered him, but tonight they looked garish, and the sparsely branched Christmas tree lit up with blue bulbs, with its gold star on top, looked suddenly cheap.

Sam was out of breath as he reached Hendrie’s, and he headed down the back alleyway to the parking space where he’d left his Subaru.

It wasn’t the tree and the lights that looked cheap tonight, he realised with a gasp of insight as he unlocked his car. It was the way he felt that was colouring everything. He felt cheap and somehow vaguely tainted. And he was desperate to get home and see Phoebe and Lily.