A.L. Lester

It's 1972. Fifteen years earlier, teenage Laurie Henshaw came to live at Webber's Farm with his elderly uncle and settled in to the farming life. Now thirty-two, Laurie has a stroke in the middle of working on the farm. As he recovers, he has to come to terms with the fact that some of his new limitations are permanent and he's never going to be as active as he used to be. Will he be able to accept the helping hands his friends extend to him?<br><br>With twenty successful years in the city behind him, Phil McManus is hiding in the country after his boyfriend set him up to take the fall for an insider trading deal at his London stockbroking firm. There's not enough evidence to prosecute anyone, but not enough to clear him, either. He can't bear the idea of continuing his old stagnating life in the city or going back to his job now everyone knows he's gay.<br><br>Thrown together in a small country village, can Phil and Laurie forge a new life that suits the two of them and the makeshift family who gathers round them? Or are they too tied up in their own shortcomings to recognise what they have?

Taking Stock

“Calm down! I wish I hadn’t said anything now!” Paul emerged from the pantry with the butter. “You looked so bloody miserable though. And you have done for weeks, until he turned up.” He plonked the butter on the table and began to unwrap it to put it in the dish.


“Sal will skin you if you put that in there on top of the old stuff without washing it out,” Laurie said, absently.


“Yeah, well, I won’t be here, will I? She’ll think it was you.” Paul grinned at him. “Look, Laurie. It doesn’t matter. Whether you are Mr McManus are doing the wild thing or not. None of anyone’s business except your own. Except. You looked like something the cat dragged in when you came out of hospital. Not surprising, really. But since he turned up, you’ve come back to life a bit. And that’s good. That girl isn’t bad for you, either.”


“You leave her alone,” Laurie warned. “She’s too young for you. And that’s another thing Sal will skin you for. And me.”


Chapter 31