There was no answer to her knock; there was no reply to her call of, “Jem? Hey? Hullo? Birthday girl, where are you?” She was thinking of letting herself inside-no one locked doors in this part of the world-and leaving the cake along with a note when she heard someone call in return, “Hello? C’n I help you? I’m over here.”
It was not Jemima. Meredith knew that at once from the voice, without having to turn from the door. But turn she did, and it was to see a young blonde coming round the side of the barn, shaking off a straw sunhat, which she then put on her head as she drew near. She was saying, “Sorry. I was having a go with the horses. It’s the oddest thing. For some reason this hat seems to frighten them, so I take it off when I go near the paddock.”
Perhaps, Meredith thought, she was someone they’d hired, Gordon and Jemima. With common rights, they were allowed to keep wild ponies, and they were also required to care for them if the animals weren’t able to graze freely on the Forest for some reason. With Gordon’s work and Jemima’s work keeping them busy, it wasn’t completely out of the question that they’d had to bring along someone in the event they were forced to keep ponies on the holding. Except…This woman didn’t look like a stable-girl. True, she wore blue jeans, but they were of the designer sort one saw on celebrities, hugging her curves. She wore boots, but they were polished leather and very stylish, not boots for mucking out in. She wore a work shirt, but its sleeves were rolled to show tanned arms and its collar stood up to frame her face. She looked like someone’s image of a countrywoman, not like an actual countrywoman at all.
“Hullo.” Meredith felt awkward and ungainly. She and the other woman were of similar height, but that was the extent of their similarities. Meredith wasn’t put together like this vision of life-in-Hampshire approaching her. In her body-shrouding caftan, she felt like a giraffe in draperies. “Sorry. I think I’ve blocked you in.” She tilted her head in the direction of her car.