In the village of Oakvale-On-Roe – (002) Garden Girl

 

The village of Oakvale-On-Roe is in the north of the relatively small English county of Downshire, situated between the old market Town of Nettlebridge, and their more affluent neighbour, Roespring.

It was in the kitchen of a large, detached house in Church Lane where 40-year-old Adam Power was making himself a sandwich, then in response to a knock on his front door he grabbed his stick and hobbled down hall to open it.

As the door swung open the late spring sunshine spilled into the hall and he got his first look at the person who had disturbed his lunch preparation.

From his vantage point on the threshold, he looked down and saw a broad brimmed straw hat, with what he assumed was a woman beneath it, judging by the folds of floral material rippling in the breeze. 

“I was wondering if you needed any gardening doing, or odd jobs, whatever you need” a quiet feminine voice said, but she said it in a monotone run on sentence.

“Ok let’s try that again more slowly, with punctuation” he said and the front of the straw hat slowly rose and a pale face, framed with red hair appeared.

“I was wondering if you needed any gardening doing, or odd jobs, whatever you need” the girl repeated as instructed but her eyes never left the ground 

“Are you Liams cousin?” Adam asked

“No, I don’t have a cousin” she replied and raised her eyes for the first time

“Oh, I’m sorry, Liam cleans my car and said his cousin was looking for some gardening work, I just assumed you were she, but I guess it’s just a coincidence” he said

“Well, I don’t have any cousins, brothers, sisters, aunts, uncles or grandparents, just me and my mum”, She explained and began to walk away

“Well thanks anyway”

“Where are you going?” he asked and she stopped and turned around

“I didn’t think you needed me” she replied timidly “What about the cousin?”

“She’s not here, and you are” he said and as he brandished his stick he added “And I need someone now, so come through and tell me if you’re interested in the job”

“Really?” she exclaimed and was beaming as she followed him

“You might not be smiling when you see it, the garden is a real mess”

He said as he stepped gingerly through the French doors onto the patio

“Oh Gosh!” she exclaimed

“I did say it was a mess; there’s a lot of work there” He said “If you decide not to take the job on, I won’t think any less of you”

“Oh no, I want to do it, but…” she responded

“Ah there’s a but” he said sardonically

“I’m a carer for my mum” she explained

“She has MS so I can only work a couple of hours at a time and as I’m her carer I can only work in between…. caring”

“That’s not a problem, it will take as long as it takes and if you can’t work every day then that’s ok too” he said “it’s been more than two years since I’ve been out there, and I wasn’t much of a gardener even then”

He manoeuvred himself into a chair and sat down

“Pull up a chair” he said and the floppy hat wearing red head did as requested

“Introductions are in order I think, I’m Adam, Adam Power”

“Lorna Budd” she responded and offered her hand and as he took it and he made an appraisal of the girl.

Lorna was about 5’4 or 5 slim but shapely, long red curly hair, stunning blue eyes but her face was on the attractive side, except when she smiled.

Estimating the age of women was difficult for him so he guessed she was somewhere between 18 and 25, when she was on his doorstep speaking to her feet, he would have pegged her nearer 18 but when he showed her the task in hand, she showed more maturity, so nearer 25.     

“So, Lorna what are you going to charge me?”

“Oh, I don’t know I hadn’t thought that far ahead” she replied uncertainly

“Well would you like an hourly rate or a flat fee?”

“Oh Gosh, I don’t know” she replied “I’m not very good at this I’m afraid”

“Well how about you make a start, and we’ll talk again at the end of the week, he said “Does that work for you”

“Yes, yes” she squealed

“Good I’ll put the kettle on”

“I’ll do it” Lorna said eagerly

 

While the kettle was boiling, he took her into the garage so she could see what tools he had.

“My goodness!” she exclaimed when she saw the array of tools hanging on the walls.

Then when they were satisfied, they had everything required they repaired to the kitchen and when they were seated at the kitchen table with mugs of tea in front of them Lorna said timidly 

“There are a lot of saws and axes,”

“Yes, there are one or two” he agreed

“Are you an axe murderer?” she asked and laughed

“No, you’re quite safe, I’m a Tree Surgeon, my brother and I have our own tree surgery business, Power Brothers, although I'm little help to him at the moment, and won’t be for a while more I suspect” 

“Is that how you hurt your leg?” she asked

“I wish it was”

“Oh?”

“The truth if far more embarrassing” he admitted

“Really?”

“Yes, I was putting the Christmas decorations away in the loft” he explained

“And?”

“My foot slipped and went between the rungs and I broke it in multiple places”  he said and winced “I spent months in hospital, numerous operations and now two years later all I can do is physio to build up the muscles, I had a session today which is why it hurts so bad, but it is getting better, although I doubt I’ll ever get back up a tree”

“That’s really awful” she said sympathetically, “But why is it embarrassing?”

“Well, I’ve spent 20 years climbing 40- and 50-foot trees and I manage to fall off an 8-foot ladder”

“Oh gosh I see what you mean” she said and giggled

She finished her tea and looked at her watch

“I’m sorry I have to go and see to mum”

“Of course, off you go, it was nice to meet you”

“Yes, and you” she responded

“I will see you tomorrow”

“Ok just let yourself in through the side gate” he called

 

Lorna’s mother had MS and she’d been caring for her since she was 12 years old and as a result, even though she had 4 A Levels, a university education was not an option for her although her mother wanted her to go, but such was her sense of duty Lorna would not hear of it.

Her caring duties also curtailed school friendships as she could never attend the cinema, parties or festivals so she stopped being asked and it was a similar story with relationships, boys were attracted to her but she always put her mother first, and that was the reason she was still a virgin at the age of 23, but she had no regrets.

 

Lorna was back at Adam Power’s house just after 9 o’clock on Tuesday morning and had made a good start by the time Adam appeared at the back door with two mugs of tea

“Good morning” he said more cheerily than he felt   

“Morning” she called back and walked towards him when she saw the tea

“I’m sorry I wasn’t here when you arrived” he said “The leg kept me awake”

“I’m sorry to hear that” she said as she took the tea “have you got pain relief”

“I have but I only take it when I absolutely need it” he replied and sat down on a patio chair

“Well, it sounds like you needed it last night” she pointed out  

“That’s what my father said”

“Very wise, is he a tree surgeon as well?” she asked

“Oh no, my mum and dad are both doctors, and they were GPs in the village, they are retired now and live Spain, they check up on me regularly”    

“I remember Dr Power, she diagnosed my mum MS, I liked her very much”

Lorna said

“She wouldn’t be best pleased with me if she could see the garden, it was her pride and joy, especially the roses” he said

“Did your parents live here then?” she asked

“Yes, it was our family home, and when my parents retired, they left the house to my brother and I” Adam explained

“Does he still live here?”

“No, I love my brother very much and he I, but…” he began

“But?”

“We love each other more when we don’t live under the same roof” he explained

“So, as I love living in Oakvale, and I love this house, and as he has no particular feeling about either I bought him out and he lives in Roespring with his wife and children”

Adam put his mug down on the table he moved his leg and winced in pain

“Why don’t you try massage?” Lorna suggested “Mum has one that comes to the house, she’s very good, I can give you her number if you like”

“Yes please, that would be great”

She got it up on her phone and showed it to him and he typed it in his own,

“Thank you, I suppose we should exchange numbers, don’t you think?” he suggested

“Yes, I do” she replied and took his phone and typed in her number and then sent herself a text message “Done”

“Great, now I should let you get on” he said and shakily got to his feet “I have a call to make”

 

It wasn’t the last chat they had sitting on the patio drinking tea in fact it happened several times a day, they both enjoyed the company, but despite that Lorna made good progress by Friday afternoon when they sat down to discuss payment.

Adam was in good spirits because he’d had his second leg massage of the week and was feeling the benefit and he’d booked more to follow his next three physio sessions.

As he put the drinks down on the table he heard her sigh.

“What’s the matter?”

“I still don’t know what to charge”

“Well, I’ve given it some thought” he said “I don’t think a fixed price will work because you don’t know how long the job will take, you don’t even know how long the garden is yet”

Lorna laughed at his joke, but her frown soon returned  

“So, what should I say then?”

“Well, I’ve done some research on the typical hourly rate for a gardener in the UK” he said “And there isn’t one, they range between £14 to £45 per hour depending on experience, location, and the type of work”

“Oh Gosh what does that mean?” she said in despair

“Well, I suggest and hourly rate of £25 while you’re clearing the jungle”

“No that’s too much” she protested

“And £20 when you’re maintaining it” he added

“You want me to stay on as your gardener?”

The thing Lorna was worried about was not seeing him, drinking tea and chatting once the job was done.

“Only if you are agreeable” he said

“Definitely” she exclaimed “Thank you”

“So, in that case here is this week’s money” he said and handed her an envelope of cash

“Oh Gosh” she exclaimed

“I’ll do it straight into your account going forward” he said and smiled

 

Although he couldn’t climb trees or do the manual stuff, he still worked for the business, writing reports, placing orders, quoting for jobs and some accounts work.

He had a good view of the garden when he was sat at his desk in his study which he had found quite depressing when it was a jungle, but now since Lorna had got to grips with it, it was a much more pleasant view, especially when she was busying about, but she was a terrible distraction particularly when she was bending and stretching, which was actually terribly delicious.

 

By the end of June Lorna had reached the end of the garden and was using the woodchipper to deal with the huge pile of shrubbery, it was a bit boring, but it was all part of the job.

 

As she was walking along Church Lane it started to rain so she ran the rest of the way and when she got through the kitchen door, she tripped over her own feet and went sprawling and had Adam no been there, she would have hurt herself.

However Adam reaches out and caught her, but his handholds were problematic, his right hand was on her breast, and his left gripped her buttock, that in itself was less of a problem, it was the fact that her gave both of them a squeeze and his grasp lingered too long to be decent.

“I’m so sorry” he said as he manhandled her to her feet “that was unforgiv…”

Before he could complete his apology, she had thrown her arms around his neck and kissed him vigorously.