On the way to Willow Tree Hall the following day, Lily realised that her dad was more nervous than he had let on to Jack on the previous day.
‘I still don’t know about this.’
Lily glanced over at her dad as she turned her car into the high street. ‘It’ll be fine,’ she told him for the fifth time since they had set off only a few minutes previously. ‘It’s just Jack. No one else. But he can’t do this on his own and we need to be able to press the apples to make lots of nice drinks for the album launch.’
‘There must be someone else who can do this,’ muttered her dad, fiddling with his prosthetic leg.
‘I think it’s nice that he thought of you,’ said Lily.
Her dad grunted in reply.
Better than nice, she thought. It was caring and thoughtful. And it made her fall in love with him a little bit more.
Lily turned the car into the long driveway leading up to the Hall.
‘Isn’t it lovely out here today?’ she said, trying to change the subject.
Her dad carried on fidgeting and didn’t reply.
She knew he was nervous. It had been a long time since he had left the house to do some actual carpentry work. It had been a few weeks since he had actually left the house at all, her mum had told her. But she thought it was a small but important step onto the road to recovery at last.
Lily gave up on the pep talk and enjoyed the view instead. The long leaves of the willow tree in front of the main hall were already tinged with yellow at the ends. Autumn would be here soon. The hedgerows were already turning brown and pale gold. The spectacular hints of reds and oranges would soon join them.
Lily parked the car in front of the Hall and was somewhat relieved to find Jack coming around the corner of the house to greet them.
‘Morning,’ he said.
Lily smiled. ‘Morning,’ she replied.
She wished her pulse would calm down whenever she saw him. She felt like a breathless teenager with a crush all over again. Perhaps it was just a crush, she told herself. Would that be so bad?
But as she watched Jack help her dad slowly and gently out of the car, her heart told her otherwise. This wasn’t a crush. This was affection. Real affection.
Not love, she reminded herself. Well, perhaps a little bit.
‘Good morning,’ said a nearby voice.
They looked up to see Arthur coming over. As ever, he leaned on his walking stick as he made his slow way over to greet them.
‘Good morning,’ mumbled her dad, fiddling with his crutches so that he could shake Arthur’s hand.
‘I was just saying to Jack that I might come along with you, if that’s alright,’ Arthur told them. ‘I like to get a small walk in each day and, to be honest, I haven’t seen the apple press in a very long time.’
‘That would be nice, wouldn’t it, Dad?’ said Lily, enthusiastically.
Her dad looked embarrassed. ‘I’m not very fast.’
‘Nor am I, Richard,’ said Arthur. ‘So we’ll let the youngsters go first and take our time, shall we?’
Nobody could ever say no to Arthur when he was at his most congenial, so Lily and Jack walked around the house and across the back grounds, letting Arthur and her dad make their somewhat slower journey behind them.
‘Dad’s really nervous,’ whispered Lily, once they were out of earshot.
‘I understand,’ said Jack. ‘Don’t worry.’
She sighed heavily, wishing that she could turn the clock back.
Jack put his arm around her and squeezed her in close to him. ‘Try not to fret. This is a big step for him today.’
‘I know,’ she said, allowing herself the luxury of leaning into him for a brief moment.
Then she straightened up and let Jack open up the wooden gate in front of them.
The orchard came into view, alive once more with the buzzing of insects and birds flying from tree to tree. The leaves were now burnished gold from the long, dry summer.
‘Oh, it’s so pretty,’ said Lily, looking down the rows of trees in front of them.
‘Isn’t it?’ said Jack.
As she went past the trees, Lily noticed they were full to bursting with the ripened fruit. But then she began to count up the number of trees and realised the scale of the task ahead.
‘How many trees are there?’ she wondered.
‘Exactly seventy-nine,’ he told her.
‘And how many apples do you think are on each tree?’
He shrugged. ‘I’m not sure. Around twenty or thirty.’
Lily did some numbers in her head. ‘So that would make maybe around 160 apples.’
Jack laughed. ‘I think you’re missing a nought from that.’
Lily was amazed. ‘1600 apples?’ she said, staring around.
‘At the very least,’ he told her.
‘Crikey.’ Now she was concerned. ‘How long is it going to take to pick them all?’
‘I’m not sure,’ he said. ‘But your grandad said we’re going to have to get a move on because the weather’s turning at the weekend and we should apparently harvest them whilst it’s still warm.’
‘Why?’
He smiled. ‘I have no idea, but I trust your grandad to know more about these things than I do.’
Lily glanced back at the gate and saw her dad and Arthur finally arrive in the orchard.
‘Well, this takes me back,’ said Richard, smiling as he looked around. ‘We used to sneak in here and do a bit of scrumping when I was a lad.’
Arthur nodded. ‘Oh, yes. I remember those days.’
‘Well, they all look very healthy,’ said her dad, reaching out to stroke the bark of the nearest tree.
‘It always was a good crop,’ said Arthur.
‘Shall I show you the apple press?’ asked Jack.
‘Lead the way,’ said Richard.
They all went together past the trees and into the small shed at the end of the orchard. Lily was pleased to watch her dad become more animated as he, Jack and Arthur discussed the repair of the apple press. It didn’t appear to be a large job, but it certainly required a skilled carpenter.
Whilst Jack and her dad measured up for the required parts, Lily went back outside with Arthur.
They had walked ten or so paces when Lily stopped, suddenly overcome with emotion.
‘It’s good to see him out and about,’ said Arthur softly, coming to stand next to her.
Lily’s eyes filled with tears. ‘Sorry,’ she mumbled, wiping her eyes. ‘You’re right. I can’t remember the last time he was outside like this.’
‘It was a clever idea of Jack’s,’ said Arthur, offering her his handkerchief. ‘And I’m sure once he has a small project like the apple press to concentrate on then he’ll feel even better.’
‘You’re right,’ said Lily. She looked across at the nearest tree. ‘There are an awful lot of apples here.’
‘There’s no rush to pick them all,’ Arthur told her. ‘I don’t think they’re going anywhere any time soon.’
‘The trouble is that Grandad apparently told Jack that they need to be picked this week before the bad weather arrives.’
‘Ah, well, Bert would be right about these things.’ Arthur frowned, his grey eyebrows knitting together in thought. ‘Do you know, in the good old days, the whole village used to turn out for the apple harvest.’
‘Really?’
Arthur smiled in memory. ‘Oh, yes! It was such fun! I wonder if perhaps we could make a day of it, don’t you think?’
‘What’s all this?’ asked Richard, as he and Jack joined them outside the shed.
‘Your daughter was concerned about the large harvest required,’ said Arthur. ‘Do you remember when we all used to help out?’
‘Oh, yes,’ said her dad, nodding. ‘We used to carry on quite late into the night, from what I recall.’
‘Bert mentioned the harvest moon is due the next couple of nights,’ said Jack.
‘Is it?’ said Arthur. ‘Then it sounds as if all of our stars have aligned just in time, wouldn’t you say? I shall ask my sister to put the word out to see if there’s enough people in the village to help out tomorrow.’
‘That’s a cracking idea,’ said Richard, nodding his approval.
In fact, her dad was lively and animated the whole journey back from Willow Tree Hall and Lily couldn’t help but smile at the contrast from the sullen man she had taken with her only a few hours previously.