Rich Girls Don't Date King Thrushbeard: Part 7
Larisa's time at the farm is starting to run out.
Part One, Part Two, Part Three, Part Four, Part Five, Part Six
The farm shop and the café opened late on Sunday because the family went to the early church service (Maggie said I didn’t have to come, but I told her I wanted to go), so the first two hours of the café were very busy. When twelve o’clock arrived, Kurt arrived to take over while I went to watch over the geese as they grazed.
“Hey. Mind if I join you for lunch?”
I smiled up at Tyler. “Not at all.” There couldn’t be any harm in that, could there? I’d be leaving in the morning.
“You know, Frieda and Vicky think you’re awesome. They wish you could volunteer for longer.”
“So do I.” That was true. I did want to stay longer. I wished I could get to know the family as myself, not as Brynn – but that ship was way over the horizon by now. “There’s somewhere I have to be, though.”
“Do you think you’ll ever visit Topaz Coast again? Or here?”
I couldn’t say yes or make a promise I couldn’t keep. “I’d love to, but I don’t know if I’ll ever get the opportunity. Besides, there are some people in Topaz Coast I’d rather like to avoid.”
“Tell me something about Topaz Coast that I don’t know.”
I gulped down some pink lemonade; the liquid was cool, sweet and tart on my tongue. “All right. Did you guys get hit by those huge storms last month?”
“Yeah.”
“Well, a boy in the year below me was caught in one while he was sailing. He fell out of the boat and was found in a small cove, alive.”
Tyler shook his head, letting out a long, low whistle. “He must be one heck of a swimmer.”
I leaned closer. “He’s not. He doesn’t remember getting there, but he swears someone saved his life.”
“Who was it?”
“That’s the thing. Nobody else was there – but there was a set of footprints on the sand leading back into the sea, so there was somebody there at the same time he was. They just left when help arrived. How’s that for a mystery?”
Tyler’s eyes twinkled, and I felt a pain somewhere between my chest and my throat. “Brilliant. Reckon it’ll ever get solved?”
“Hope so. But some mysteries are better unsolved.”
“You know…” Tyler shifted around so that he was almost facing me. “…thank you so much for volunteering. One of our usual waitresses is sick and…well, I know watching geese isn’t what you signed up for, but the birds do love you.”
He laughed softly. “Look, this is gonna sound crazy, but I swear that I know you from somewhere, and I don’t just mean that I’ve seen you before. I feel like I’ve actually talked to you.”
Suddenly, he shook his head. “Sorry, that’s…I know that’s impossible. I don’t mean to freak you out.”
“No, it’s OK.” My stomach started to churn uncomfortably. Guilt was a horrible and heavy feeling. The Pastons had been so kind when they didn’t have to be, and I’d been lying to them all this time.
“Tyler, there’s something I have to tell you. We have met before, and it was during the market on Friday. I’m…I’m sorry for lying to you and your family. It wasn’t supposed to be this way.”
That was no excuse, and I knew it.
“Lying to us? What do you mean?” He looked nervous now…afraid, even.
“My name’s not Brynn. It’s Larisa Harcourt.”
“What?”
Looking into his eyes was like staring into the glare of the sun, but I forced myself to do it. “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. If you guys want me to leave, then I will.”
The geese started honking in an agitated way. Tyler looked down at his knees, then back at me.
“All this time, you’ve…Wait. Your parents are worried about you.”
“Why? I left them a note. And how do you know about that?”
He took out his phone. “It’s all over their socials. Apparently, some creep’s been answering your phone and blocking their numbers.”
That must have been whoever stole it. “I’ll put up a post on my socials saying I’m OK, but I don’t think they really are worried about me. Trust me, they’ve never been worried about me in their lives.”
He gave me his phone. “Then how do you explain this?”
If anyone has any news on the whereabouts of our daughter Larisa, please contact me immediately. Larisa, if you’re reading this, I promise we’re not angry with you. Please, please let us know you’re all right.
It was just words. Words on a screen. And yet…somehow, they felt sincere.
How was it that my mother was more sincere and open with me on a screen than she ever had been face to face?
“I’ve got an old phone,” Tyler was saying. “If you want, you can borrow it this evening to contact your parents.”
“Thanks.” It was the least I could do.
“Why couldn’t I recognise you in the first place?”
“Because I’m wearing a disguise spell. It only lasts for seventy-two hours, but I thought my parents might put out a post on their socials asking people to track me down.” I shrugged. “It worked a bit too well.”
“Did you think we’d turn you in?”
Now I couldn’t look at Tyler at all. “No. I was…embarrassed.”
I should have confronted him at the market instead of just walking away in tears.
“Yeah, I guess you would be.” Tyler sighed. “For what it’s worth, I owe you an apology too.”
“You do?”
“Mrs Harcourt – sorry, your mum – had you on speakerphone. You must have overheard Kurt and me talking and hey, if my parents kept trying to set me up with girls and I wasn’t interested, I’d be pretty mad too.”
I shook my head. “When I realised it was you, I was interested. I couldn’t believe my luck, but then I heard…People at my college think I’m like that, and I really don’t want to be that person.”
A pair of swallows dived out of the air and swooped around us, their voices light and shrill in the air.
“Mum says it’s always important to realise when you’ve misjudged someone and I misjudged you.” Tyler looked right at me, his gaze solemn and sad. “I’m sorry, Larisa. I really am.”
“And I’m sorry I didn’t give you a chance.” I couldn’t believe what I was about to ask next, but it was worth a try. “Is…is the offer to get in touch on socials still open?”
“I was kind of hoping you’d say that.”
I edged a little closer to him. I was going to have to tell his parents the truth about who I was – perhaps I could send them some flowers or a box of chocolates with a letter of apology. Or better yet – a face-to-face apology.
“Should probably start looking up buses for tomorrow,” I murmured before drinking some pink lemonade. The ice had long since melted, but the drink was still cool.
I wished I didn’t have to go just yet.
***
Supper was at eight precisely. I trudged into the kitchen, remembering to take my shoes off at the door. After putting the geese away in their little paddock along with some fresh food and water, I’d helped Maggie prepare a recipe called “Marry Me Chicken” and a strawberry cheesecake; it’d been fun, but I’d spilled icing sugar all over the counter.
Maggie hadn’t minded at all.
“That smells good,” Tyler commented as he entered behind me. He headed right over to the sink and began to wash his hands.
“Oh, it’s not just me you have to thank.” Maggie set a jug of peach ice tea in the centre of the table. “Brynn offered to help.”
Tyler turned his gaze on me again, making me blush deeply. “Can’t wait to try it.”
Kurt stalked inside and went over to the table.
“Shoes,” Maggie said without looking at him.
Rolling his eyes, Kurt got up and kicked his shoes off so that they landed with the others. “Happy now, Auntie?”
“You won’t be, if you speak to me that way again.”
Tyler mouthed Sorry in my direction. I shrugged. Whatever mood Kurt was in was not my problem.
Footsteps echoed down the stairs; moments later, Scott walked in, running his hands through his hair.
“Uh-oh,” Tyler said. “What’s happened?”
“I just talked to Sophie.” Scott’s tone was heavy. “She was taking the newest batch of cups and plates out to the car when someone bumped into her, and she dropped the box. Everything in the box broke.”
Maggie groaned. “So she’s got to make those things again?”
“Does that mean she can’t help out tomorrow?” Kurt cried. “Unbelievable. She always does this.”
“It’s not her fault, Kurt. But yes, she can’t help.”
Don’t even think about it. You’ve been delayed enough. Catch a bus in the morning and go.
But I couldn’t.
“You only want help with setting up, right?” I asked cautiously. “Because that’s all I’d be able to do.”
Everyone was looking at me.
“Are you sure?” Tyler took a cautious step forward. “You did say you had a deadline.”
I didn’t want to look at the others. The air felt far too tense with hope.
“It’s a late afternoon deadline,” I said slowly. “I think as long as I get going by midday at the latest, I should be OK.”
Maggie shook her head, dark blonde locks tossing from side to side. “I don’t know what we did to deserve you, Brynn. Thank you, thank you. We’ll have an early start and be in Topaz Coast by nine.”
Topaz Coast. Of all the places, it had to be Topaz Coast.
“Sounds great!”
***
I’d wandered away from the lodge and to the right of the farmhouse, where the huge field was. The sun poured gold over it. White streaks of cloud stood out sharply in the sky as it slowly faded into amber, and the trees stood in place like sentinels. All around me was a warm, sweet scent, like sun-kissed leaves.
The two swallows kept playfully swooping around me. I wanted to capture this moment, freeze it forever and keep it in a bottle.
Gentle footsteps sounded behind me. I didn’t need to turn around to know who it was.
He came to stand beside me, and we watched the sun sink lower and lower.
“I’ll drive you.”
I wasn’t sure if I’d heard Tyler correctly. “What?”
“After we finish helping to set up the fair, I’ll drive you to where you need to go.”
“You’d do that?” I whispered.
“In a heartbeat. Parents might not be happy, but we’ll get round that.”
For a moment, I didn’t know what to say. The only word I could think of was a quiet: “Thanks.” It wasn’t much, but the air between us didn’t change.
We both stayed quiet after that, just watching the golden sky.