Lisa was right it was high time she had a little fun in her life and found something, or someone to make her smile again.
By the time she reached Sam’s address the sky had clouded over but it was still warm and she climbed out of the car to head towards what she assumed was his plot. The white vest she wore was a little too tight and she wriggled trying to pull it down to meet the waistband of her denim shorts. She knew it was strained tight across her chest but then pulled her shoulders back with an air of confidence and repeated Lisa’s favourite saying - if you’ve got it flaunt it.
The large well planned vegetable plots stretched further than she’d imagined and at the side was a long greenhouse where she presumed Sam must be. Sauntering casually towards it she relished in the feel good factor and how nice it was to be outside in the fresh air rather than being stuck in a stuffy office building.
This was definitely one of the perks of self-employment she decided calling out a greeting, “Hellooo, are you there, Sam?”
He popped his head out of the door and walked towards her grinning playfully and she noticed how tanned his arms, face and shoulders were, which she supposed was typical for gardeners who worked in the open air all day.
“Hi,” she said walking along the gravel path towards him and brushing his cheek with a kiss. “Lovely place. Is it all yours?”
“It sure is," he said. "Glad you could make it.”
He extended a hand and pointed to where his boundary line started and finished, and told her about his future plans to buy another area for a fruit orchard.
“Wow!” she said. “That’s impressive, growing fruit and vegetables isn’t as easy as everyone thinks it is.”
He smiled his thanks and nodded. “Tell me about it,” he said with a sudden frown creasing his brow. “It certainly wasn't easy at first and I only started with a small allotment intending to grow my own vegetables. It was more for something to do than anything else because I'd been made redundant.”
Heavens she thought, here was another person’s life being turned upside down with this bloody recession and nodded sympathetically as they fell into step with each other.
He continued, "And, at the same time because the monthly wage packet had stopped coming into our bank account my long suffering wife ran off with her physiotherapist.” His cheeky grin disappeared and a haunted expression settled on his face.
"Oh dear," she murmured.
Visibly he shuddered, as though the memory of her had left a nasty taste in his mouth. "But there again, in another way she did me a big favour," he said, and touching the side of Katie’s shoulder he beckoned for her to follow him down the length of gravel path towards the greenhouse. While they walked he explained which local companies he was selling his produce to and the areas where he delivered his vegetable boxes. She nodded her head while listening and by the time they reached the greenhouse door his cheeky grin was back in place.
He made a dramatic bow allowing her to step inside before him and she giggled with pleasure. The greenhouse was old with a few small panes of glass broken in one corner and two long benches which ran either side. There was a vast array of vegetables on the nearest bench and she inhaled the different fresh aromas of home grown tomatoes, cucumbers, spring onions, Vichy carrots, and green beans.
"Mmm, lovely smell – you don’t get this in a supermarket," she commented, looking around and immediately felt the hot, damp atmosphere.
“Of course not, most of the vegetables are shipped and flown into the country which is a terrible thing to do to them. They probably get jet-lagged just like we do.”
She giggled. “This all looks wonderful,” she said pointing at the vegetables admiring them and him at the same time.
He set down a large wicker basket onto the bench. “Thanks, I thought I’d make you a basket of vegetables as a belated flat warming present.”
She was taken aback by his kindness. “Hey, that’s great. Thanks very much.”
“No problem,” he said grinning, “I suppose most people would give you a bottle of wine but these will last much longer.”
"Yeah, the way me and my friends drink you're probably right," she agreed laughing.
He began explaining which vegetables were his best and the ones he’d had problems with and she leant