Roz folded her arms across her chest; this was typical Suzie. ‘You can’t just sit around doing nothing all day, that’s not the deal. Everyone who comes to the farm has to pay their way through the sweat of their brow.’

Suzie shot her a scathing look. ‘I didn’t say I wouldn’t work, I just said I didn’t want any of you teaching me.’

Roz glanced at Adele, then back at Suzie. ‘What about Adele? Surely you can’t object to her teaching you what to do?’

Suzie gave an exasperated sigh. ‘Is she a friend of yours?’

Roz nodded.

Suzie rolled her eyes, then shot Roz a withering glance. ‘In that case I don’t want anything to do with her either.’

Roz felt sorry for Suzie, she really did, but there was only so much she could take. ‘Then who is going to teach you?’ she said, waving an arm around the otherwise empty room.

A wicked glint entered Suzie’s eye. ‘Bernie,’ she said, a calculating smile playing on her lips.

Roz gave an incredulous laugh. ‘Don’t be ridiculous! Bernie doesn’t teach anyone; he does the hard labour and the milk round, that’s it.’

Suzie turned a meaningful gaze on her mother. ‘Either he teaches me or I’m off, and you’ll never see me again!’

Roz wanted to point out that this was blackmail, and that in her view it was hardly a threat but something to be welcomed, but Joyce had already agreed. ‘I’ll speak to him, but I’ll have to tell him who you are, because he’ll want to know why you’re refusing to let any of us teach you.’

Suzie’s jaw flinched as she mulled this over briefly before nodding sharply. ‘Very well, you can tell him he can find me in the barn.’

As she left the room, Roz exclaimed, ‘He won’t go for it, he’ll say she’s acting like a spoiled brat – which she is – and that will be the end of the matter. She’s just going to have to swallow her pride and let one of us tell her what to do.’

Joyce gave Roz a pleading look. ‘He’d do it for you.’

Roz waved her hands in front of her. ‘Oh no, it’s going to be bad enough when he hears that me and Felix are together, he won’t want to do a thing for me then.’

Joyce swallowed. She didn’t want to speak her thoughts, but she had no choice. ‘Do you have to tell him?’

Roz gave her an incredulous glance. ‘Are you asking me to lie?’

Joyce shook her head hastily. ‘Not lie so much, just omit the truth.’ She shrugged helplessly. ‘You don’t have to go into details if he asks you how the trip went, just say it was good, and that Felix was well. If he probes any further just tell him you don’t want to talk about it – that way you’re not lying …’