A Surprise Christmas Wedding - Phillipa Ashley Page 0,14

edge of the forest.

He stared up at the tree. ‘Skeletons. That’s a good description. Some people find it sad to see bare branches but actually I like them. You know the leaves will be back soon and it’s all part of the process. It’s essential that the leaf litter provides a habitat and food for lots of insects and fungi.’

‘All part of the circle of life?’ Lottie said archly.

Jay smiled. ‘Like in the Lion King, yeah.’

‘The twins loved that film. Especially the belching warthogs.’

‘That’s my favourite part too.’

‘Really?’

Jay smiled, and Lottie’s opinion of him rose a little higher. Perhaps his initial gruffness was merely because he was so new to Firholme and needed to find his feet. ‘Not really. I’m more of a thriller fan myself. I’m not sure I can remember the last time I went to see an animated film. Must have been when Ben and I were at school.’

‘Ben?’ Lottie picked up on the name, wondering if Jay was referring to a partner.

‘My brother.’ Jay’s smile evaporated instantly. ‘But I should shut up. I must be keeping you from your work.’

‘This is part of my work,’ Lottie said, detecting a sharp change in the atmosphere between them.

‘Even so, I’ll walk you back through the woods. With the storm we had last week, there are a lot of fallen trees and branches. That’s one of our main jobs at the moment, clearing up the debris to make the grounds safe.’

Lottie was about to tell him that she’d be fine and knew her way around Firholme even better than him, but he’d already started walking off down the forest track. She caught up with him, wondering what had caused the abrupt downturn in his mood when out of the corner of her eye, she caught a glimpse of russet dashing up a tree.

‘Shh. Hang on a moment!’ Jay touched her sleeve, indicating she should hold back.

Lottie was shocked at his touch but froze anyway. ‘What?’ she mouthed.

‘Red squirrel.’ He lifted his hand slowly to point at an oak a few metres away.

She followed the direction of his finger but could see nothing among the leaf litter, bracken and twigs. Suddenly, there was a rustle and a flash of red as a furry tail appeared and the creature dashed from behind a trunk towards the woods. It stopped halfway to another tree and dug at the ground, found an acorn and started to nibble it.

It was a magical moment, seeing a wild animal in its natural habitat, especially one as cute as a red squirrel. They were quite rare now, and had been pushed into smaller pockets of the Lakes by the greys.

She and Jay stood very close together, neither moving in case they disturbed the squirrel, its fluffy tail quivering in the shaft of sunlight. The squirrel found another nut, popped it in its mouth and then raced off again, over the ground and up a tree.

‘It’s great to know they’re thriving here at Firholme,’ Jay said, when it became clear the squirrel was gone. Lottie moved away and they continued walking back to the house. ‘They love eating the spruce cones, you know.’

She was pleased that he shared her excitement. ‘Firholme is one heck of an office.’

He nodded enthusiastically. ‘I worked in an office after I left college. I’d trained as an accountant and I’m not knocking it as a career, but I pretty much hated it from the start. I’d worked a vacation job with a tree surgeon and I’d enjoyed that a lot more, so I went back to uni and retrained in landscape management. I worked for the forestry commission in the Highlands of Scotland and Kielder Forest before I came back to the Lakes. They had red squirrels there too.’

His animated expression made it clear that the squirrel had lifted his mood again.

‘They’re beautiful creatures,’ Lottie said. ‘I only hope they won’t be driven out by the greys.’

‘Or chased away by Trevor. I have to keep him on the lead when I’m walking through here. He goes mad if he gets a sniff of squirrel.’

‘I can imagine,’ Lottie said, having seen Trevor hurtling out of Jay’s cottage on his way for a walk. ‘Occasionally they come onto the feeders outside the cottage but I’ve never seen any here in the woods,’ she said, still with a glow of excitement from the squirrel encounter.

Her glow might also have to do with the fact that she’d enjoyed sharing the moment with someone who loved their surroundings