And its another chapter! I meant to get this up a bit sooner but I'm soooo tired, I hope you all enjoy reading it. With warmest thanks again to North200 for his editing prowess.
Ivy and Kevin soon fell into a routine. They seemed to understand each other without too many words and Ivy's days were filled with comfortable silences.
Kevin's approach to growing was a revelation to Ivy. He seemed to know things about companion planting that she had never seen in any book.
He had taught her that an excess of nettles in the garden meant fertile soil, that the leaves made into tea had a restorative effect on your liver, and that she could make soup with them at certain times of year. She learned that she could add the bitter leaf of the dandelion to her salads and that during the war they made a coffee like drink out of its roots.
Kevin said he didn't know how he had managed before Ivy had come along. For her part, she was grateful to have the opportunity to gain some of his knowledge.
One day Kevin took her to the small woodman's cottage tucked away at the back of the grounds where he lived, and there she met his dad Seph. When Seph smiled his face was like a wizened old apple. He had a laugh like a sailor and a shock of thick white hair that looked like it had been left on his head by accident. His bright, intelligent eyes were always smiling. Where Kevin was taciturn and reserved Seph was nosy and warm; he wore his heart on his sleeve. The two men seemed so different from each other that Ivy wondered how they could be related.
Unless the weather was terrible, they always found Seph sitting on an old wooden bench in the shade of an ancient apple tree. He would be watching the birds, holding his gnarled wooden walking stick across his lap and looking like the master of all he surveyed and after that first meeting, Ivy spent many a happy morning drinking tea with Kevin and Seph.
~
Everything was going swimmingly, until one day Terence came to see them. He'd taken to popping by most days when he was walking the dogs. She had been working on the asparagus bed again, but when he arrived as usual with Sasha and Rosco in tow he seemed different, more focused. She stood up and put her spade down, and wiped the sweat off her brow.
"You seem about ready for a break Ivy, come and have a chat with me They sat down for a cuppa, and Terence began to talk about the project.
"Kevin told me about some of your ideas, they sound like just what we want. Richard is coming down next week for a meeting with the project manager, could you talk to him about them? We were going to hire in a garden designer, but we would rather Kevin was more involved in the project and if we get someone from outside in he is unlikely to want to be. He can be funny with outsiders but you and him seem to have hit it off."
Ivy swallowed her nerves about seeing Richard again and quickly agreed. She had picked up on Kevin's reluctance when he was showing her the site. She hadn't understood it but she had grown fond of him, and was keen to help do anything to make it easier for him to get involved.
Terence was looking over her shoulder. "Kevin, I was just saying to Ivy that we're going to be meeting about the Project next weekend, Richard's coming up with one of his colleagues to see the place and Tim is going to be there too. We can talk about some of the ideas you and Ivy have had."
"I know he'd rather get one of them clever landscape designers in from outside, why don't you just let him Mr Cartwright sir, if he wants to so much, I don't mind do I, Ivy?"
But Ivy didn't get the chance to reply because Terence was speaking again.
"Yes, but I mind Kevin, why do I need to pay some hoity toity young pipsqueak when you'd be perfectly up to the job?"
Ivy looked back and forth between them. Kevin was so quiet but she had begun to learn what he said when he wasn't speaking. If she hadn't been watching closely she might've missed it but despite his staunch denials she could see Kevin bristle at the idea of a garden designer coming in and Terence could, too.
As the meeting grew closer she got more and more nervous. Then, on the day itself, Terence called to say something had come up and he couldn't be there after all. Ivy has been worried to start with, now her anxiety was all encompassing.
She cringed as she remembered the last time she'd seen Richard. Why had she hugged him? She'd behaved as though they were old friends, and if his response had been anything to go by, that definitely was not what he thought.
Digging over a new bed, she finally managed to pull the dock root out she'd been loosening. It was good to have a strenuous job to lose herself in so she didn't have the time to build this thing up into unimaginable heights. Terence and Kevin where both so enthusiastic about her ideas and had so much faith in her. It was gratifying but sometimes she felt like they'd mistaken her for someone who knew what she was doing. She didn't have any formal qualifications in horticulture, she'd learnt what she knew on the job with Luke and her knowledge paled into insignificance next to Kevin's. His decade of experience made him an encyclopaedia of botany.
She stopped digging, leaned against her spade and let her eyes fall closed. Surely she wasn't what Richard wanted. Richard wanted a professional, someone who understood whatever statement he was trying to make with the roundhouse, someone who could produce a sleek and modern planting design to go with it. Richard and the site manager would just see through all her ideas.
She considered just not turning up, sneaking off and hiding out in her van instead, but not for long. She knew couldn't let eveyone down by not turning up, if they didn't like the ideas she and Kevin had come up with then so be it, it wasn't a big deal.
Ivy wondered if she should change out of her work clothes, but she decided that it wouldn't be necessary. The meeting was on a building site after all.
Steeling herself she set off, walking slowly across the grounds with her hands pushed in her pockets. She wished yet again that Terence could be there to act as a conduit for her ideas. She'd never met the site manager and she didn't know Richard that well. So far they'd only had a series of odd interactions that she had no idea how to interpret. Their awkward parting hug had turned into a huge thing in her head but she told herself she was reading too much into it. He'd probably forgotten all about it.
Ivy arrived to find everyone else was already there. Kevin was talking to the site manager, Richard was slightly apart from them both chatting to a woman she had never seen before. There was something about the way they were standing and their body language that told Ivy they knew each other well. She couldn't quite put her finger on how she knew, but they were more than just work colleagues. Her skin prickled. Trying not to be too obvious she looked the woman over; she surely wasn't local. Dressed in a conservative but elegant navy blue suit, she was wearing make up, but only a tiny bit and perfectly applied, so Ivy could hardly tell. Her platinum blonde hair was tied back at the nape of her neck and she was as slender as a reed. There was an air quiet sophistication that Ivy could never hope to achieve. Everything about her was understated but elegant. Ivy sighed, she must be from London, from
his
world.
Ivy was regretting not changing out of her work clothes, until she realised that nothing she owned could compete with the level of effortless grace the woman exuded anyway. She was better off looking like she hadn't even tried,
which she hadn't
she reminded herself with a scowl.
They were so engrossed in their conversation they hadn't noticed her approach. The woman smiled at something Richard said and they both laughed. Ivy felt a tightness in her chest, it crept up her throat and caught there. He seemed so comfortable, so at ease.
The site manager was talking to her. She turned, dragging her gaze away from the couple, and faced him, welcoming the distraction. She had seen him around but they'd never been introduced; she found him a little intimidating if she was honest. He was a big man, brisk with a loud voice. She wasn't sure of his name but before she had enough time to worry about that he was shaking her hand with his strong, confident grip.
"Tim," he said, the accompanying smile was warm and friendly and her apprehension dissolved, "Ivy, isn't it?" She nodded and smiled back. The West Country twang in his voice was strong and it reminded her of Seph, immediately putting her more at ease.
He had reddish blond hair, ruddy skin and warm, hazel eyes and in his checked shirt he reminded her of a teddy bear. She only just managed to stop herself before she giggled at the thought. He asked about the walled garden, and the restoration work they were doing. He seemed very interested and she was surprised at how much he knew about what they'd been up to.
