Revive (The Revival Series Book 1) (6 page)

Chapter 8

Carrie spent the afternoon playing with Mia in the living room and then reading on her e-reader in her room. Every so often she would sit up and glance out of the patio doors hoping to maybe spot Daniel in the garden.

At 5pm she showered and brushed her teeth, getting dressed and putting on her new jeans, a white vest top and her new pink hoody (chosen by Mia), before drying and straightening her hair and putting on a small amount of makeup.

Pulling on her new leather boots and zipping them up, she glanced at her reflection in the mirror and wondered why she was making such an effort to go and view the moors. She grabbed her phone and headed up to the living area, where her mother was laying across the sofa.

“Carrie my darling, you look lovely” her mother whispered quietly, she was obviously very tired, the headaches taking their toll on her sleeping.

“Thanks, I thought since I was in the country I may as well get some clothes more suitable” She replied, smiling back at the frail vision before her.

“Daniel seems a lovely boy; I had a nice chat with him when we arrived. I’m sure you will have a lovely time with him tonight” She said, pushing herself up into a sitting position, her breath ragged from the sheer effort. Carrie quickly crossed the room and helped her mother to sit up before sitting next to her and holding her mother’s hand in her own.

“He does seem very sweet. Very different to any farmer I think I have met before” Not that Carrie had ever met many farmers, but he was very different to the stereotype she had in her head.

“I’m so proud of you Carrie, I know you have been through a lot but you are such a strong person and I know in my heart you will find your own path eventually, and you will find a way to be happy” Anne tapped her daughters hand and turned to look at her, Carrie avoided making eye contact with her, for fear of the tears arriving.

A knock at the door startled them both and Carrie glanced at the clock to realise it was 6 already and that must be Daniel. Leaning over she kissed her mum on the cheek, and put her phone in her jeans pocket. She didn’t expect to have any signal where they were going but it was always good to use as a camera.

Walking over to the door, she was aware of the butterflies fluttering in her stomach. She opened the door to see Daniel leaning against the door frame, smiling at her.

“Wow look at you, the city girl dressed down” he chuckled teasing her.

“Don’t you start, I’ve heard it all from my brother already” she chuckled.

Shouting a goodbye to her mum, she left the barn. Closing the door behind her, she turned and saw his large land rover ticking over on the courtyard, Daniel walked up to the car and opened the passenger door, turning and smiling at her.

“Your carriage awaits m’lady” he said, bowing. Carrie burst out laughing but decided to keep up with the act.

“Why, thank you kind sir” she replied, taking his hand and letting him help her into her seat. As soon as their fingers touched a spark shot through her body, and despite the cold November night she felt as if she was burning up. Daniel closed her door and walked around to the other side of the car and Carrie felt a moment of doubt and wondered if she should just bolt back inside.

Jumping into the driver’s side, Daniel started the engine and began driving up the lane towards the main stretch of road out of the farm.

“Had a nice day?” he asked taking a quick glance at Carrie.

“Lovely” she replied, her throat feeling dry and she began to cough and choke. Daniel quickly stopped the car and reached into the backseat to retrieve a bottle of water, passing it to Carrie before leaning over and rubbing and patting her back.

“Whoa there sugar, don’t go choking yourself, we’ve only just left”

Carrie found herself in-between a laugh and a cough as she slowly sipped the water from the bottle, the cool liquid soothing her now sore throat from the choking.

“How embarrassing! I’m so sorry” She stuttered in-between coughs. Daniel laughed taking his hand away from her back and pushing her hair behind her ear.

“Well I must say I’ve never had anyone find my company worth choking for” he chuckled, before straightening up in his seat and starting to drive the car once again.

Carrie felt utterly embarrassed at her choking fit, and leant her forehead against the passenger window, looking out into the dark night; a pitch black sky dotted with stars. It was such a lovely sight and one she never saw living in London and she wanted to take in every minute of it that she could.

The drive didn’t take long, and it wasn’t long before Daniel pulled into a small car park, and pulled the car into a space.

“Come on” he said turning off the engine and leaping from the car, leaving the headlights on to give them a small amount of light. Carrie opened her door and slid down to the gravel, before taking in the sight in front of her. A beautiful stream running amidst lots of large stones and rocks ran freely, all surrounded by trees, which had become bare branches from the cold weather.

Walking around to the front of the car to where Daniel stood, Carrie was speechless and stood staring.

“Beautiful isn’t it?” Daniel asked turning and looking at Carrie

“It’s stunning” she whispered, wishing she had brought a better camera with her, and wondering if she could come back during the day.

“Is it open here during the day? I would love to get some good photos in daylight” Carrie questioned.

“It is but it’s packed here during the day with tourists” Turning back to the car, Daniel opened the back door and grabbed out his camera before locking the doors and smiling at Carrie.

“Let’s go for a walk” he said as he started walking towards the stream, beginning to walk across the large stones in the water with ease. Carrie followed, taking each step across the stones cautiously, not wanting to slip and fall into the cold shallow water.

Noticing how nervous she was, Daniel walked back and held out his hand towards her. At first she was cautious of holding hands with this man and hesitated but then reasoned with herself that it didn’t mean anything and was the lesser of 2 evils if it stopped her slipping in.

Halfway across the stones Daniel stopped and let go of Carries hand, picking up his camera and starting to taking photos. The flash of his camera lighting up the whole area. Carrie took a step to the stone next to him and watched him as well as looking at the beauty of the area all around her. The sound of the stream was so relaxing she was sure she could spend hours there.

The clicking of the camera continued as Carrie took in her surroundings, before she suddenly realised it had stopped and Daniel was looking at her.

“It’s a great place to come and think” he said, placing his hands into his pockets, the camera hanging loosely around his neck.

“At this time of night and year it’s just so peaceful, no tourists or screaming kids, just a quiet place to come and reflect”

“It’s very beautiful” Carrie muttered “I wish I had a place like this near home. Unfortunately London doesn’t have many spots for streams” she sighed

“Are you hungry?” Daniel asked, stepping onto the same rock as Carrie. She suddenly became aware of how close they were and took a deep breath.

“I am if you are” she replied smiling up at him. Without asking this time he took her hand and helped her back across the rocks and back towards the car.

Once back on level ground, he released her hand and went to the driver’s door. unlocking it, he opened the door and reached in, switching off the headlights before opening the back door of the car, and pulling out a picnic basket, a blanket, and a large heavy duty torch.

“Come on” he said and he began walking across the other side of the car park, switching on the torch. Following his lead and concentrating on the beam of the torch, Carrie followed him across the gravel, till they came to a grassed area with a few picnic tables and a wooden shed. The shed was all locked up and from the posters appeared to be a snack bar.

Daniel placed the torch and the picnic basket on the floor angling the torch upwards, to give them light but not so that it would hurt their eyes. He then grabbed the blanket and laid it over the table before taking the lid off the picnic basket and unloading lots of boxes onto the table, as well as plastic plates and cups.

“Please don’t judge” he said laughing. Carrie took a seat on the bench and examined the boxes of food he had unpacked. The smell of Chinese food hit Carrie’s nostrils and her stomach growled, as she realised how hungry she actually was.

“So, the thing here is I’m not a good cook at all! So I decided the best thing for me to do was to order take away and pack it to keep it as warm as possible, so please tuck in before it’s totally cold”

Carrie laughed, helping herself to a selection of Chinese food; there was enough to feed them both 4 times over.

“Drink?” Daniel offered. Pulling 2 water bottles from the basket, and cans of fizzy drinks.  Nodding with her mouth full, Carrie gestured towards a can before swallowing and thanking him, feeling rude for not being able to answer with food in her mouth.

Daniel popped open the can for her and passed it across the table, before taking a big fork full of food and washing it down with water.

“So are you enjoying your stay down here?” he asked, tucking into his plate of food

“I am, but it’s hard for me if I’m honest. I haven’t really been around everyone for a few years now, after…erm, after my husband passed away”

Carrie took a big swig from her can, trying to think of way to divert the conversation away from her.

“Can I ask how he died? I mean I know it’s none of my business of course, so I understand if you don’t want to tell me”

“It was a car accident” She answered quickly, the words tumbling out of her mouth before she could stop them. “It was his 30
th
birthday and I was driving back home from his party, and another driver jumped the lights at a junction and slammed into the side of the car, his side of the car, and before you think anything as most do, I was sober, I hadn’t had any alcohol that evening”

“Wow, Carrie, I’m so sorry, that must have been a terrible thing to go through. And don’t worry the thought never crossed my mind, I don’t like to make assumptions on people”

Daniel reached over and placed his hand comfortingly over Carries and gave it an affectionate squeeze. Carrie knew she should remove her hand but she was enjoying the comfort, and it didn’t feel hard talking to Daniel. Somehow it actually felt good to be getting it all out and to talk about it all for the first time in over 2 years.

“I woke up a day later in hospital, with several broken bones and scratches but apart from that I was fine. My husband Ian, he had died on impact from head injuries” Carrie swallowed suddenly feeling nausea in the pit of her tummy, and pushed away her plate of food.

“Sorry I didn’t mean to make you feel uncomfortable” Daniel said, feeling the unease coming off her in waves

“You didn’t, to be honest it’s strangely nice to talk about it all, it’s been a while, yet it’s all still so fresh in my memory”

  “What was your husband like?” he asked wondering if the question would push her too far, but a small smile crept across her lips and her face lit up as she was thinking

“He was wonderful. We met when we were in the last years of college. He was a friend of a friend and we met at a party. He was such a goof ball and just made me laugh the whole evening. We swapped numbers and met up the next day and were inseparable after that” 

“Sounds perfect, I wish I could say I had met someone I felt such a strong connection with” Daniel said, taking another big mouthful of food.

“So no one has ever caught your eye?” Carrie questioned

“Don’t get me wrong, I’m no saint when it comes to women, but I’ve never found anyone I would want to settle down with and now to be honest, I don’t get the opportunity to meet anyone, the farm takes up too much time”

“How did you get into farming?” Carrie questioned “I mean I’ve never really come across a young farmer before, they all seem to be older and married with kids”

Daniel chuckled; he started packing away the leftover food back into the picnic basket, and took a long sip of his water.

“I never planned to be a farmer; I’m actually a qualified accountant. I used to live in London just like you up until 4 years ago”

Carrie looked confused, and wondered why a city boy would give up a London career for manual labour on a farm, it was such an opposite.

“I inherited the farm from my father, he passed away suddenly of a heart attack. I was an only child and it was either take it over or sell it, and although it wasn’t my first choice of a career I knew my old man would never forgive me if I sold the family business away. The farm has been in my family for generations now, and he always wanted it to be passed down, however my mum died when I was 4 so they never had any more kids, and then I moved away, and he hated that I didn’t show any interest. To be brutally honest I do now feel guilty for not showing more of an interest in learning the business when I was younger. It’s not been easy learning it all and I’m still learning more every day, but it’s been worth it”