Meredith was fine; so long as she didn’t think too much. She got up, made some time to read a chapter or two from a book on her summer reading list, checked to see if there were any new additions to the family museum and then headed off to a shift at The Cider Kitchen. Provided she didn’t let her thoughts wander, she was absolutely, unequivocally, totally, fine. She’d even volunteered to cover a shift at the Little Orchard Tea Shop, although the memory of all the times she’d spent with Flynn there had become a bit too much and she’d had to bow back out again, or her tears would have made Anna’s delectable sponge cakes the wrong kind of moist. She was prepared to admit to a moment of not-fineness at that point.
In her downtime, she stuck close to home, trying to be gentle with herself, not assuming that the heartbreak would go away overnight. It was the first time she’d had her heart broken; she was pretty sure it wouldn’t be the last. She’d found that taking Rosa, her pony, out for long hacks definitely helped, though. During university term time, she kept the pony in livery at a friend’s stable over in Lower Langford, a mile and a half from Little Somerby, but since she was back home for three months, she decided to move Rosa back home for the summer. Her father had tentatively suggested that perhaps the pony should be sold, now that Meredith was spending so much time away from home, but Meredith couldn’t bear to take that final step. Rosa had been with her since she was twelve, and she fully intended to keep her until the end of the pony’s days. Matthew had acquiesced with a resigned smile; the way Rosa was going, she’d be around until Meredith was at least thirty.
After tacking her up for an early ride one morning, Meredith was just hacking her gently across the cider farm’s land when she saw a figure striding across the orchard towards her. Halting Rosa, feeling slightly awkward, she slid down from the saddle and waited for the figure to draw closer. Remembering the tone of their previous encounter in the Royal Orchard, Meredith was torn between wanting to jump back on Rosa and ignore the person, or stand her ground and try to clear the air.
‘Hi,’ Meredith said guardedly, when Joe Flanagan was in speaking distance. Then, when he didn’t respond, ‘How’s the Royal Orchard going?’
‘Fine,’ Joe replied shortly.
Meredith felt a flare of irritation. ‘Just trying to be friendly,’ she said. ‘I thought, since our dads are still such good friends, we should perhaps try to be civil, too. Even if you did try to kill me with a tree branch.’
‘No, thanks,’ Joe said. ‘Excuse me, but I’ve got a job to get to.’ He went to walk past her, but Meredith had the strong will and even stronger sense of justice of her father, and she wasn’t going to let things lie.
‘Don’t you think you should tell me what I’ve done to upset you?’ Meredith asked, blocking his path. She had Rosa’s reins in one hand, and she wasn’t above turning the pony to block Joe further if need be. ‘I mean, you’ve been well off with me since that afternoon in the orchard.’
‘You really don’t take a hint, do you?’ Joe snapped. He went to get past her again, unfazed by both rider and pony, but Meredith blocked his path again. ‘I’ve got work to do.’
‘Oh, come on, Joe,’ Meredith replied. ‘This is getting really stupid now. Just tell me why you’re so pissy with me. From what I remember, I was never anything but polite to you when we saw each other.’
‘Yeah, it was all very polite, wasn’t it?’ Joe snapped. ‘You, your posh boyfriend and your posh mates, nice to our faces and then laughing at the scum from the local comprehensive school behind our backs.’
‘No!’ Meredith said, her own voice rising. ‘It was never like that. I had friends from your school, too.’
‘Oh, what, you mean those kids your dad invited to your birthday parties just because they were the kids of the people who worked for him? Don’t make me laugh.’
‘And what the hell would you know?’ Meredith snapped, feeling stung by the harsh tone of Joe’s voice. ‘You never spoke much to me anyway. What, was I too posh for you? Don’t you think that’s its own form of snobbery?’
‘You have no idea, do you?’ Joe stopped walking and tugged a stray dead leaf from one of the line of trees that ran parallel to where they were standing.
‘About what? Why don’t you just tell me instead of dropping all these stupid hints?’ Meredith grabbed Joe’s arm and forced him back round to look at her. She still had hold of Rosa’s reins in her other hand, but had to resist the urge to drop them and let the pony stand on Joe’s foot; he was being so vile to her.
‘Why don’t you ask your boyfriend?’ Joe snapped. ‘I’m sure he’s got plenty to say.’
Meredith’s eyes burned with sadness and hurt. ‘He’s not my boyfriend any more. We broke up.’
Joe stopped fiddling with the branch. ‘I wish I could say I’m sorry,’ he said, but his voice was a fraction softer. ‘But I’m not. He was a twat.’
‘What makes you say that? You didn’t know him.’
‘Oh, yeah?’ Joe turned back to Meredith and looked her straight in the eye. ‘Do you remember that time down the rugby club a few summers ago? You were there with him and all your friends, but you had to get home by ten o’clock or your dad would worry. Flynn walked you home. All very cosy. Until him and his mates came back. I’d been up there playing football with a couple of my friends and we were just about to head home. They cornered us. They were full of shit, thinking they owned the place. They kept asking us if we wanted to play them, but we knew they were just going to stitch us up. They thought they were so much better than us. In the end, we’d had enough, and when we walked away they jumped us.
‘My mate, Louis, had just got a new phone for his birthday – and he had it in his back pocket. His mum had saved up for months to buy it. Your boyfriend grabbed it off him and started chucking it around with his mates. One of them missed the catch and the phone hit the ground. The screen smashed. But that wasn’t enough for them. Flynn went over to the phone, and I thought he was going to pick it up and return it to Louis, but instead he just stood on it. They didn’t even bother picking it up, they just walked away. Probably wouldn’t even have thought about the cost of it – I guess you private school kids just ask Mummy and Daddy to buy new stuff any time something gets broken, but for Louis it was different. He was gutted, and he knew his mum would go crazy if she found out the phone had been broken.’
Joe paused, as if gauging Meredith’s reaction. ‘I shouted after Flynn as they all left, but all he did was turn round and laugh. If I hadn’t stopped him, Louis would have gone after him, but I knew he wouldn’t be able to stand up to Flynn and his mates. They were all top rugby players and a year older than us. We wouldn’t have stood a chance against them.’
Meredith shook her head. ‘You’re making it up. Flynn would never do that.’
‘Why would I make it up?’ Joe asked flatly. ‘I don’t owe you anything. I just thought you should know that your boyfriend wasn’t the top bloke you seemed to think he was back then.’
‘He’s not my boyfriend any more,’ Meredith repeated. ‘We broke up at the start of the holidays.’
‘Well, if I gave a shit, I’d be glad,’ Joe replied. ‘Not that it’s anything to do with me.’
‘No. You’re right,’ Meredith snapped, hurt by the bitterness in Joe’s voice. ‘It’s got nothing to do with you. You might be working for my dad now, but that doesn’t mean you have to talk to me. So perhaps you’d better leave me alone from now on after all.’ Confused, head spinning, trying to process the information that Joe had given her, she turned away. How could Flynn have done that? He’d always come across as so caring, so lovely. She’d never seen him behave that way to anyone. But then it was a few years ago; they’d all been younger. Struggling to get her image of her now ex-boyfriend into some kind of shape, and having lost interest in a longer ride, she walked Rosa back to Cowslip Barn. Joe, of course, could be lying, but then why would he? What would he have to gain by it? And something about the way he’d spoken, the outrage and anger in his voice, made her instinctively know he’d been telling the truth. Confused and more heartbroken than ever, she couldn’t shake the feeling that she had to make amends.