He hands Fiona a coffee cup and a biscuit too, and I focus on the way he touches her elbow and turns towards her as he sits down. She gives him a shy smile that’s completely at odds with her loud voice and outfit.

‘Noel certainly kept you quiet,’ Fergus says. ‘I didn’t realise he was seeing anybody.’

‘Oh, we’re not—’

‘Oooh!’ Fiona squeaks. ‘He didn’t tell me you were his girlfriend! What a lovely couple you make!’

Fiona’s squeak has attracted Noel’s attention and now he’s looking over at us.

‘We’re really not—’

‘About time too,’ Fergus interrupts. ‘He’s such a good chap, he deserves someone to take care of him after he does so much for everyone else, and he’s been alone for so long now, we were starting to think he wouldn’t find anyone after that evil woman broke his poor heart.’

‘We’re not … What evil woman?’ My curiosity gets the better of me. I can set them straight in a minute.

‘That horrible stuck-up one who came back from the city with him years ago. A right hoity-toity cow who thought she was so much better than all of us, and Noel’s so down to earth, we could never work out what he saw in her. All she did was take advantage of him. Still, the poor bugger was destroyed when she left. No wonder he hates city-types now.’

Oh, great. What the heck does he think I am then? ‘Which city?’

‘London,’ they say in unison, like there’s only one city in the whole of the UK.

‘Noel was in London?’ I ask in surprise. I look over at him and he raises a questioning eyebrow. He knows he’s being talked about.

‘He lived there for quite a while, a good few years ago now mind, but he wouldn’t go back again – he’s got nothing but contempt for the place now.’

‘Well, that might explain his grumpiness,’ I mutter to myself, surprised by this revelation. Noel doesn’t seem like a city dweller at all. He seems to fit so well in the countryside that I assumed he’d been here all his life.

They both laugh at the mention of Noel’s grumpiness. ‘You mustn’t take him seriously. He’s so busy at this time of year that he barely has time to breathe, he forgets to eat most days because he’s so busy helping everyone else.’

‘You’ll be good for him,’ Fergus says. ‘He needs someone to share the burden with.’

Fergus seems to have a knack for saying things that are impossible to ignore. ‘Burden?’

‘Well, how hard he works for the farm, and looking after his mum, and everything he does for the community. It takes its toll on him but he’ll never let it show. It’ll do him good to have someone to open up to.’