Page 32 of The Last Casterglass
He hadn’t expected such an offer, and he wasn’t sure what to do with it. Part of him wanted to leap at the chance to prove himself even more but also to stay at Casterglass and continue to get to know Seph. But another part thought longingly of Pembury, and he knew he needed to get back before the farm slipped through his fingers—although maybe it already had. The last text from his uncle had rather tersely informed him that he was taking Jack to Scotland for fly-fishing over Christmas, since ‘the poor boy’ worked so hard; Oliver clearly wasn’t invited. Not that he cared—he didn’t particularly like fishing—and there had been a fair few family holidays where he had not been included. Still, he’d been hoping to talk to his uncle about Pembury when he returned for Christmas. Now he wouldn’t even be returning.
“I’ll think about it,” he told Althea, and she nodded briskly.
“Good. Please do. Now I’m afraid I have work to do—we’ve got some exciting plans ahead that I need to talk to Seph about.” She gave a rather mysterious smile that had Oliver feeling a little alarmed. He was pretty sure Seph wasn’t a fan of surprises.
“Exciting plans?” he asked neutrally. “Can I ask what they are?”
Althea gave him a rather narrowed look, and Oliver wasn’t sure if he was overstepping, or she was wondering just what his interest was. He maintained what he hoped was a neutral, personable expression and waited for more.
“Just some developments on the property that will make Seph’s life a little easier,” she replied, with a mysterious smile that he suspected was meant to be quelling. “I’m sure she’ll be thrilled.”
With that, she rose and reached for her coat, leaving Oliver with no choice but to smile weakly. She’d bethrilled? He really wasn’t so sure, and yet who was he to interfere? He’d come to know Seph pretty well over the last month, but he wasn’t related to her. And yet as well-meaning as Althea could be, he still had an instinctive sense that she didn’t really understand Seph.
Not the way you do.
Was it wrong, or worse, stupid, to think that way? To feel like he knew someone he’d met a month ago? As Althea left to impart whatever plans she’d been brewing, Oliver stared blankly at the computer screen, wondering what her news could be—and whether he should even care. He’d be leaving here in less than two months if he refused Althea’s offer, which he felt he had to, for the sake of the farm.
And yet…for a second, he let himself imagine it. Living at Casterglass. Working to develop the orchard, the whole property.Staying with Seph…
He let out a sigh as the fantastical images evaporated in the ether of his mind. Casterglass wasn’t his home, and considering how many Penryns there were already working here, he wasn’t sure how people would take to him being Althea’s right-hand man. And in any case, he wasn’t sure that such a role didn’t really mean her personal secretary. As for Seph…well, they were friends, certainly, but despite the awareness tingling through his whole body whenever he saw her, he didn’t know how she felt. He’d misread signals before, if two years of dating could be reduced tosignals. Did he really want to try again and be rebuffed? Laughed at?Oh, Oliver, you didn’t actually think…
No, he didn’t, particularly, thanks very much. Besides, there was Pembury to think of. Seph was never going to leave Casterglass; the place was in her bones, her blood. If he wanted to think about a future, it had to be with the farm, not the woman who occupied far too much of his thoughts.
*
“Seph? Do youhave a moment?”
Seph looked up from the sketch she’d been working on, covering it quickly with her hand.
“Um, yes?” she said as Althea stepped into her workshop with her usual briskly efficient manner. “What’s up?”
“I wanted to show you something.” Althea’s attitude was deliberately mysterious, which gave Seph pause. What plan was her sister hatching now? “Do you mind going for a walk?”
“No, I suppose not.” Although her sister’s manner was making her decidedly nervous. She didn’t like surprises, but maybe Althea didn’t realise that. As much as Althea was trying to get to know her now, there was still a twenty-year-gap in their relationship. “Let me just get my coat and boots,” she said, and Althea nodded.
A few minutes later they were trudging through the meadow that led to the sea, now a sea of clumpy mud, some frozen, some sludgy. As far as walks went, it wasn’t the most picturesque; Seph had no idea where Althea was taking her so determinedly, marching through the field as if she had a GPS.
They skirted around the edge of Appleby Farm, heading for the single-track lane that cut through the far edge of the property, which dead-ended up at the beach.
“Where exactly are you taking me, Althea?” Seph asked as they finally clambered over a stile on the other side of the field, and landed on the lane.
“Here.” She nodded towards three cottages huddled against the lane.
“Here?” Seph couldn’t help but sound sceptical. The cottages had been built a hundred years or so ago, and had last been lived in in the 1980s, when they’d had casual labourers farming some of their fields. They looked seriously dilapidated now, and she suspected they were even worse inside. “Are you sure?”
“Yes, of course I’m sure.” Althea brandished a key. “We can even go inside.”
“Do we really want to?” Seph muttered under her breath as she followed her sister to the cottage on the far end, facing the sea. With a little jiggling and a judicious kick, Althea managed to unlock and open the door. The smell that wafted from the cottage’s lounge was a mixture of mustiness and mildew that had Seph wrinkling her nose.
The place wasn’tquiteas bad as she thought; the furniture had been removed, and the wallpaper was hanging down in strips, but it could have been worse. There was a small, narrow lounge and a kitchen tacked onto the back; up a narrow set of stairs were two small bedrooms and a tiny bathroom. Back in the day, it probably would have housed a family of eight.
“Okay, so what’s your big plan here?” she asked Althea. And what did it have to do with her?
“Well.” Althea pushed her hair out of her eyes as she turned to Seph with a bright, determined smile. “We’ve got enough money now to do these cottages up. I had a look at them a while ago, and I was thinking about offering them as self-catering places, but then it occurred to me that really we could use them ourselves.”
Seph glanced around the box-like living room with a decidedly dubious air. “Ourselves?”
“Yes…the castle is getting a little crowded, you know, with all of us home, and everyone with significant others now…”