I'm back with another fic! Only this one has the potential for multiple chapters – hurrah! Haha.

This is AU: Caroline and Gillian. I love their characters and can really see how well they would be together, so I decided to take the characters and run a story where they haven't met. I've tried to stick to their lives pretty much the same in LTIH, only major difference being Celia and Alan haven't met.

Set after the last series of LTIH. Some elements may be slightly tweaked for the sake of the story.

Hope you enjoy!


"Thanks for all of your help setting this up, I can't believe we've pulled it off." Gillian pulled Raff into a hug as they looked across the field, full of pumpkins ready to be picked and sold.

At the beginning of the year Gillian had been trying to come up with new ways to make money using the farm and additional land she had purchased. Scrolling through the internet late one evening it had suddenly dawned on her none of the other farmers in the area had ever set up a pumpkin patch and turned it into an opportunity to make money. Bingo!

Over the next few weeks, she did her research on when to buy the seeds, how she would need to adapt the land in order for the pumpkins to grow, what to do and not to do. It had been tough over the months, more than once she wanted to give up, but she persevered and by late September she could see her efforts had paid off. Now all she had to do was get people to visit the farm and buy them.

Raff had set up pages on a few social media sites where he had posted pictures of the progress over the months, including one picture of Gillian lying down on the field.

I can't keep her away from those pumpkins! #pumpkinpatch #takinganap #gonecrazy

When in reality Gillian had thrown herself down on the floor in a fit and stuck her fingers up in the air, shouting and swearing because a small number of pumpkins had been eaten and by what she wasn't sure.

Once the patch was ready to welcome the public, he posted one final photo taken of all of the family each one standing with a carved pumpkin that spelt open and Emily stood at the end with a lopsided smiley faced pumpkin she had helped carve.

We are officially open! Come down to get your pumpkins, ready for Halloween – we can't wait to see you! Soft refreshments will be available and fancy dress is encouraged! #pumpkinpatch #halloween #spookyseason #trickortreat

Over the months they had managed to build up a decent following of over 500 people on social media. They'd also made posters to put up in and around the area, leaflets they handed out in the shops and at receptions of schools nearby in the hope of getting as many people to visit as possible.

Their first weekend had started off strong and they continued to get more visitors as the weeks went by.


"Hello, you two, have you had a good day?" Caroline smiled as she walked through the door and saw Flora and Celia at the kitchen table.

"Hi mommy!" Flora jumped up from the chair, ran to Caroline and hugged her waist. Caroline put her arm around Flora and bent down to kiss the top of her head.

Celia motioned towards the kettle to make them both a cup of tea and checked in the oven at the stew bubbling away. On opening the oven, the smell filled the kitchen and Caroline smiled walking over to her mother.

"It smells gorgeous mum, thank you." Caroline pecked Celia on the lips before taking off her scarf and coat she hung them both up on the coat rack by the door. After greeting the dog who had heard Caroline's voice and ran in from the garden, she sat at the table next to Flora.

"Are you doing your homework?" Caroline looked over at the paper on the table.

"Yes mommy, I'm nearly finished. Can I go and play afterwards?" Caroline picked up the homework and couldn't help herself looking over it. Some would call her bias, but her daughter was very intelligent, full marks all round.

"I think dinner will be done soon but after then of course you can." Caroline smiled and opened her school bag to put in the completed homework and to check for anything that needed signing or reading. Caroline didn't expect anything with half term coming up, all she found was a leaflet advertising a pumpkin patch that had opened on a farm close by. It had been open for a few weeks, but she hadn't heard about it up until now.

Celia placed a cup of tea down in front of Caroline and glanced at the leaflet.

"What's that for love?" Celia took residence back at the seat she was sat in before Caroline had come home.

"I'm not sure, it was in Flora's school bag. Looks as though one of the farmers has decided to open a pumpkin picking patch not too far away."

"Are you going?"

"I don't think so." Caroline didn't exactly fancy traipsing around on a muddy farm looking for pumpkins in the cold, she just saw it as an opportunity for people to take pictures to post on their social media.

"Please mummy can we go? I've never seen a pumpkin before."

Caroline let out a small laugh. "Yes, you have Flora, do you remember we carved some out last year for Halloween and put them outside?"

Flora thought about it and remembered with a sad look on her face. "But an animal ate them, and you said we could get another one, then the supermarket didn't have any left." She stuck out her bottom lip. "Please please please." She pleaded to her mother.

Caroline smiled. Thinking back, she never used to give into the boy's half as much as she did with Flora. Being her only parent, she felt like she couldn't always be the bad cop, she had to strike a balance and as much as she might not want to do something she had come to learn that life is short. She would never get this time back with Flora and she wanted her to have the happiest of memories. A lot of what they did was outside of her comfort zone, but seeing Flora's face light up and every day they did something it was 'the best day ever' made it all worth it.

"Okay, we'll go this weekend but I'm not dressing up." Caroline kissed Flora on the cheek and took a sip of her tea.

Celia looked across at Caroline with a look she had seen many times before, judgement for being such a push over.

"Thank you, mummy. I'm going to dress up!" She snuggled into Caroline's side. "Are you coming too granny?"

"No love, but pick one for me, the biggest one you can find." Celia got up and took out the stew, she had already laid the table and put out the fresh crusty loaf she had picked up earlier in the day. Putting the dish in the middle of the table she warned them both to be careful before turning the oven off and sitting back at her seat.

"Are you finished?" Caroline picked up the last of Flora's homework and checked over it before putting it with the other papers in her school bag.

"Thanks granny." Flora sat upright to eat her dinner that her mother had served.

"Thank you again mum, did you get up to anything exciting today?"

Although Caroline got lonely and her mother got on her nerves at times, she was glad that she wasn't on her own. Being the headteacher at such a difficult school was tough, that paired with having a 5-year-old to run around after was really hard work and she felt exhausted a lot of the time, but she wouldn't change it for the world. Only sometimes, she wished she had someone to share her life with again.

Thankfully the week flew by for Caroline, finally the term was over, and she had a whole week off. It was always the hardest term of the year, a flock of new students, students adjusting to their new classes and in some cases new teachers joining. Caroline always made sure the students and teachers had her full support, no matter the issue.

After putting Flora to bed, having a shower and getting into her comfortable clothes she sat with a glass of wine on the sofa with the dog, skipping through the channels trying to find something to watch. In the end she turned the TV off and threw the remote on the other side of the sofa.

Since moving from Harrogate, Celia had found a group of local women of a similar age to socialise with. Friday was bingo night down at the social club, so Caroline was on her own. This was the time she felt the most alone, having put Flora to bed and finally being able to switch off from work for the weekend, she had no one to talk about her shitty week with or argue over what they were going to watch on TV. Not that it was too much of an issue for Caroline, she could never concentrate on watching anything long enough.

Sighing, she stood up and went to the kitchen to refill her wine glass. Walking past the fridge she noticed the leaflet for the pumpkin patch stuck on the front, she was dreading going there the following day, but she saw there was a social media handle on the leaflet. Filling her glass and sitting down on the kitchen table with her phone, she grabbed her glasses and typed in the handle gillianspumpkinpatch.

Caroline spent the next half an hour scrolling through and laughing at some of the posts. It seemed that Gillian hadn't had a smooth ride, but she had got there in the end and looked to doing well since they opened given the amount of 'check-in's'.

Caroline couldn't help but be drawn to Gillian just from seeing her in the pictures, she hoped she had an opportunity to bump into her the following day, she was clearly an impressive woman after setting up the pumpkin patch, mostly by herself.


"This is it then, the final weekend before Halloween." Raff was sat at the table as Gillian served up breakfast for her family.

"Yep, and we've done really well with entry fees, pumpkin sales, face paintings and food and drink, it's inspired me to try and come up with something for Christmas. You can dress up as Father Christmas dad." Gillian laughed as she sat down to eat her breakfast.

"You couldn't afford me." He chuckled.

"My friend Flora from after school club is coming today, Gran."

"Flora? You've never mentioned her before." Gillian usually heard all about Emily's friends from school.

"Yeah, she's in the year below me and doesn't always come to after school club but she told me she's reaaaalllyyy excited about coming this weekend. Her Gran picks her up too but she's older than you, almost ancient." Emily sniggered, biting into her pancake.

"Calamity, that's not nice, I won't let you come with me if you're going to be mean."

"Sorry Gran, please take me, I want to see Flora, I never get to see her unless it's at school."

"Eat up then and go get dressed."

Emily finished up her breakfast and went off to get dressed. Gillian wasn't far behind her and by 9:45am they set off from the farmhouse to the pumpkin patch, only a short walk away. Raff had set off earlier that morning to ensure their trailer serving refreshments and food was stocked and check the backdrop he had created for people to take photographs was still intact.

As Gillian approached the entrance, she saw the back of a blonde and young girl with a witch's hat on, both wrapped up and with wellies on.

Someone's eager.

"We're not open for another 10 minutes love." Gillian shouted in her direction as she walked further up the hill.

Caroline and Flora turned around hearing someone talk behind them.

That's when Caroline saw her, Gillian, the woman she had spent looking at last night on through pictures, only now she was here in the flesh.

Gorgeous.

"Oh, that's okay…we can wait. Sorry I thought it was further away than what it was, so we've ended up getting here early." Caroline let out a nervous laugh.

"Emily!" Flora shouted and smiled looking at her friend who also had a witches hat on.

Emily ran up to Flora grinning. "Hi Flora, this is my gran." She gestured towards Gillian.

At this point Gillian had reached the entrance and was now stood opposite Caroline. Gillian looked at the blonde, her hair perfectly straightened, her make up looked flawless and she was dressed head to toe in black.

Gorgeous.

"Flora, how do you know…Emily?" Caroline was confused, she had never heard of an Emily or seen her gran before, if she had of done, she would've remembered.

"Calamity said they are friends at after school club, she's a year older so they aren't in the same class." Gillian smiled.

"Calamity?"

Gillian rolled her eyes upwards. "My dad thought he heard Calamity when he was told her name and it stuck ever since, we think it suits her."

"Oh…right." Caroline pursed her lips together and smiled.

"I'm Caroline…Flora's mum." Caroline took off her glove, pulling finger by finger and extended her hand.

"Gillian. I own the land." Gillian reached and shook Caroline's hand.

Soft.

"Nice to meet you, Gillian."

"You too Caroline. Do you want to come in?" They didn't break eye contact until they let go of each other's hand and Caroline put her glove back on.

"Are you sure? We can wait, I know we're early."

"No, it's fine, you can have first dibs." Gillian grinned and brushed past Caroline, gesturing for her and Flora to follow and Caroline couldn't help checking her out as she walked ahead.


Caroline ended up taking Emily around with her and Flora as the two seemed to be inseparable. Gillian had needed to run around and do some errands and asked if Caroline would mind watching Emily. Caroline agreed but she was shocked that Gillian so freely let her granddaughter go with her after the two of them had only just met. It did help that Emily knew her way around.

In exchange for taking Emily, Gillian had arranged for Connor; one of Raff's friends who was helping out to go around with them to pick out their pumpkins, so Caroline didn't have to push around a wheelbarrow. Once they had picked the pumpkins they wanted, he told Caroline he would leave them in safe keeping and to let him know when she was ready to leave so he could help put them into her car.

On their way around the patch Flora spotted a young brunette who had a station set up for face painting.

"Mummy, can I have my face painted please?" Flora jumped up and down excitedly.

Caroline knew she would give in, again and nodded at her daughter.

Both Flora and Emily ran over to the station with Caroline following shortly behind.

"Hi mummy!" Emily jumped into Ellie's lap.

"Hello, my lovely girl, do you want your face painted? Is this your friend?"

"Yes! This is Flora, she wants her face painted too." Emily jumped down so her mum could stand up.

"Hi, I'm Flora's mum, Caroline." Caroline introduced herself.

"Nice to meet you, I'm Ellie, Calam…Emily's mum." She smiled and looked to Flora. "Hi Flora, what would you like sweetheart?"

Flora went shy and sucked on her finger. A habit she picked up when she was younger and still did occasionally when nervous. "I don't know." She mumbled in response and turned to her mum.

"Flora, take your finger out of your mouth when you're talking to people, please." Caroline slightly tugged on her arm to pull out her finger.

"What about some creepy cobwebs and a spider?" Ellie grinned to which Flora nodded.

"Can I have the same mummy?"

"Of course, you have to match just like your outfits." She smiled.

"Flora, can I pop you up on this chair?" Ellie asked and Flora nodded again allowing herself to be picked up.

Caroline popped a ten-pound note in the tin on Ellie's table. She knew it didn't cost that much but could tell from the people working on the patch that Gillian had family and a few family friends helping to run it so she couldn't imagine they were benefitting a great deal in terms of wages.

"Thank you, Caroline, that's really generous of you." Ellie smiled as she painted Flora's face.

"So, are you Gillian's daughter?" Caroline was intrigued to understand who was who in Gillian's life.

Ellie laughed. "No, I'm married to her son Raff. We live with her at the moment. Well actually we have done since Calamity was born."

"Oh right. You must have been young." Caroline looked across at Ellie, she only looked to be in her early twenties.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to be so intrusive." Caroline stepped back slightly.

"No, it's fine, we were still in school, it did come as a surprise, but a happy one. Gillian was really good to us, and she still is, couldn't have done it without her." Ellie reminisced, it's why she agreed to help out at the patch and the farm when she could.

Caroline smiled hearing that, she had been given a small insight into what Gillian was like as a person as well as establishing where Ellie fit into the mix. She hoped she might get chance to talk to Gillian again before she left.

"You're all done Flora." Ellie held up a mirror so Flora could see, and she grinned, looking at the spider looking as though it was going to crawl down on her forehead.

"Thank you." She said softly as Ellie lifted her off the chair.

"You might scare granny Flora; she might think it's a real creepy crawly spider whose legs are going to tickle you." Caroline laughed and tickled Flora who giggled loudly.

"Mummy! I want the exact same!" Emily jumped up on the chair for Ellie to paint her face.

"Can we wait for Emily?" Flora looked up to Caroline who nodded and looked across the field to see the farmer walking across in her direction.

"Flora! You've got a spider on your head! It's going to crawl into your mouth, ahhh!" Gillian squealed as she reached the blonde and her daughter, she couldn't help looking at the blonde again.

Both Caroline and Flora laughed. "It's not real, Ellie painted it on for me."

"Phew, that's okay then! Whats this rascal getting?" Gillian turned to Emily and saw she was having the same.

"Oh, matching your new best friend, are you?" She teased.

"Yes, we're going to be best friends forever and I want her to come to our farmhouse because I never see her at school and she's just sooooo cute!"

"Yeah, you said, except you do see her at school, in after school club."

"That's not the same Gran, we only get like 5 minutes to play." Emily practically rolled her eyes.

"Oh, well, we can't be having that now can we if you're best friends." Gillian laughed; she knew the girls likely had an hour after school with each other before either one was picked up, but she also knew kids had no concept of time.

Caroline watched and listened to the interaction. It did make her wonder if Gillian meant what she said, because if the girls spent more time together then there might be a chance for her to see Gillian again in the future, she hoped.

"Have you had any lunch yet?" Caroline was snapped from her thoughts as Gillian was looking at her.

"Oh, no we haven't. I didn't even realise the time. We should probably head home." Caroline sighed.

"Been having too much fun! You can stay here for lunch. It's only some pre-made lunch bags with sandwiches, fruit, crisps, a little treat kind of thing. Only if you want to that is." Gillian hoped she would stay, there was something alluring about the blonde and she had found herself watching her from afar around the patch for the last 2 hours.

"Any chance of a cup of tea? If so, then we're in." Caroline smiled.

"Pushing it a bit now Caroline, but I'll see what we can do. Come on." Gillian led the way up to the trailer Raff was stood inside.

"Raff I need four lunch bags, two teas and two juices please." Gillian tapped the counter on the trailer before picking Emily up.

"Hi daddy!" Emily waved at her dad while she was in her Gran's arms.

"Hello darling girl, you been having a nice time?" He packed the lunch bags and made two teas, putting them on counter.

"Yes daddy, I've been with Flora and Caroline and mummy did my face painting."

"I can see, she's good at drawing your mum. Who are Flora and Caroline?" He grabbed two juices from under the counter and placed them on top.

"Sorry," Gillian stepped back and Raff leant across to see Caroline and Flora stood behind her. "Flora goes to school with Calamity and Caroline is her mum. She's had this little rascal with her all morning." Gillian tugged on Emily's coat.

"Nice to meet you Caroline and thank you for looking after her, I hope she wasn't any trouble." Raff smiled.

"No, she was fine." Caroline returned the smile and reached into her bag for her purse.

"Put that away Caroline, it's on us for looking after her, seriously, it would have taken me double the time to do what I needed to if I had her asking me a million and one questions." Gillian put Emily back down and picked up a bag and juice for her and Flora, passing them one each. "Do you want to go sit on that bench." Gillian pointed to a bench nearby, both girls ran off and sat down on the same side. "Here you go." Gillian passed Caroline her bag and tea before going over to a small station set up with milk pots, sugar and stirrers.

Caroline followed and they both made their tea to their liking, each taking it turn to look behind them at the girls already tucking into their lunch. "I never knew they got on so well, I can't recall Flora ever mentioning Emily." Caroline threw her teabag in the bin and stirred the tea.

"No, same with Calamity. Maybe it's because they aren't in the same year. You know what it's like at school. All the pressures and you can't be friends with so and so rubbish." Both women walked over to the girls and sat on the other side, next to each other.

All four of them ate their lunch and they talked about the girls at school, what they had been learning, eager to be the first one to answer and ending up turning the conversation to the made up stories they had come up with for their barbie dolls.

While the two of them were chatting away Gillian took this as an opportunity to get to speak to Caroline and try to get to know a little more about her.

"So, what do you do Caroline?" She turned inward to the blonde so she could look at her.

"I'm the headteacher at Crow Wood Park Academy in Huddersfield." Caroline turned further into the farmer so she too could look at her as they spoke.

"Ouch! How did you manage that gig, mind you I have heard it has improved over the last few years. Did you know a science teacher was stabbed there?" Gillian mouthed the word 'stabbed' so neither of the girls picked up on it.

Caroline had received similar reactions over the years when she told people. "I did know that, yes. I was head of a private school for years before but someone…" she thought back to Olga. "Someone told me that I could make a difference, so I thought why not, and I took a leap of faith. I think it has paid off though, the school and the students are doing well, there's still work to be done but we're in a better place." Caroline smiled as she thought about all of the work she had put in over the last few years, she was never one to really blow her own trumpet, but it had become a school parents wanted to send their children to and each year the grades got better.

"Impressive. Well done you." Gillian sipped her tea.

"How about you? I know you have this patch which I have to say you've done really well with. I looked through the social media pages before I came and it look like it took a lot of hard work, but it appears to have paid off." Caroline looked around at all of the people who were there and the queue at the entrance.

"Yep. It took a lot of blood, sweat and tears. Mostly tears because something went wrong at every stage, but I managed to get around it. I started off with a farm just over there." Gillian gestured in front of them. "I've still got it, but I just have sheep, then I decided to expand and buy this land but no real idea what to do with it. I wasn't sure buying more sheep was the best idea as I was already struggling to make a profit. So, I did some looking around on the internet for ideas and came up with this, it's taken a few months, but I've made my money back and more. Thanks to the success, I'm thinking of doing something for Christmas, but time is not on my side." That and the fact she had only thought about it this morning.

"Have you spoken to any of the local schools? There's an incentive to get children to grow their own fruit and vegetables, but it's relatively new and not all schools have enough land. Maybe you could offer some of your land? I'm sure there is funding available, or you could even grow your own to sell. Sorry, I didn't mean to interfere." Caroline looked away, she didn't want to put her foot in it, she had only met the woman 3 hours prior. It was one of her strengths and weaknesses, she nearly always had a suggestion for people, even when they didn't ask for her opinion. She was constantly trying to work on it and stop herself from interfering.

"No, don't be sorry, I'm rubbish with this kind of thing and haven't got a clue, at least you know what you're talking about. It sounds like a great idea. I'll definitely get looking into it, thanks." Gillian hadn't even thought about anything like that, she figured she might need the blonde's help, if she was willing to help her.

"Well, if you need any help then let me know, I'm not the best with these kinds of things either but I do have a corporate head and can write a very stern letter if and when required." Caroline let out a small laugh. If it meant spending more time in the presence of the farmer she was on board.

"Thank you, I might take you up on the offer."

Please do.

Caroline looked at her watch, they had been at the patch for the best part of 3 hours, and she needed to go food shopping, she hadn't intended on being there so long.

"Come on Flora, I think we best leave Gillian and Emily to it, we've got to go shopping and Granny is out for dinner tonight, so she needs dropping off."

"Mummy can we go to Emily's Halloween party?" Flora looked to her mother.

"What Halloween party?" Gillian looked confused; she didn't know anything about a party.

"Ummm, I told Flora we were having a Halloween party…you said it could be a party!" Emily looked down.

"Yeah, just us lot to celebrate Halloween and the closing of the patch."

"But Flora's never been to a Halloween party!" Emily looked at her Gran with pleading eyes.

"I'm really sorry Gillian, she's going through a phase where she keeps saying she's never done something or been somewhere. I have to keep reminding her." Caroline wanted the ground to swallow her up, why did children always paint their parent in a bad light.

"Emily, they might already have plans. I've told you before you have to ask the adults." Now Gillian felt bad, Emily had probably got Flora's hopes up. In fairness, Gillian's house was an open one anyway, always people stopping by, stopping over. It wouldn't make much of a difference having Caroline and Flora there she thought, it would give Emily someone to play with instead of trying to drown the adults in apple bobbing. Although it wasn't an issue for her, she wasn't sure how comfortable Caroline would feel, they had only just met that day and although they seemed to hit it off well, she didn't know if Caroline was just being polite. Sometimes it could be awkward trying to be friendly with a guardian after the children make friends. Eventually she decided to ask. "Are you doing anything on Halloween?"

Caroline thought about it, they hadn't made any real plans, probably end up baking a cake with the pumpkins they'd picked, answer the door to any trick or treaters and watch an age-appropriate Halloween movie. "No not really, but we wouldn't want to inconvenience you."

"You wouldn't be, it would be nice actually to have a conversation with someone of a similar age, I don't often get the opportunity to meet new people." Gillian smiled, having the farm and now the extra land she didn't get out much at all, far too exhausted most of the time.

Caroline returned the smile, she was in a similar position herself, she had some friends from Oxford, but they lived there, a couple from her old school but they were in Harrogate, and she didn't like to mix socially too much at her current school, so her social life was pretty much non-existent since moving. "If you're sure then we would be happy to come, thank you."

Both girls cheered at the thought of seeing each other again so soon. "I can show you around the farm Flora, yay!"

"Give me your number so I can send you the full address, I know it's only over there but end up on one wrong road around here and you'll get lost." Gillian chuckled.

Or just an excuse to get your number.

Caroline typed her number into Gillian's phone and Gillian rang her so Caroline had hers.

Caroline stood up to gather the rubbish and threw it in the bin. Walking back over she stood at the bench. "Gillian, do you know where Connor has got to? He said he would help me with putting the pumpkins into the car." Caroline looked around but couldn't see him. Gillian stood up and did the same but couldn't see him either.

"Don't worry, I know where your pumpkins are, I'll go grab them." Gillian walked further up the field and retrieved the wheelbarrow of pumpkins.

"Come on then." Gillian walked past Caroline and the girls towards the exit where an elderly gentleman was taking the money for the pumpkins.

"Do you want your picture taken?" Gillian put the wheelbarrow down and gestured for Caroline and Flora to stand at the backdrop with a 'Happy Halloween' banner, pumpkins dotted around and hay for people to sit on.

Flora pulled her mother towards the backdrop and Caroline gave Gillian her phone. Caroline didn't really like having her picture taken, she didn't feel like she was the most photogenic, but again, the pictures would be nice for Flora to look back on, just as she did with the her childhood photographs. She made a mental note to get the pictures she had taken over the summer printed. Flora sat on her mother's lap and both of them looked in Gillian's direction.

"Say pumpkin!" She grinned.

Both of them said it but Caroline less enthusiastically than Flora while Gillian snapped the photo. Flora jumped down from her mother's lap while Caroline stood up and wiped down the hay that had attached itself to her, they walked back over towards Gillian and Caroline retrieved her phone. She looked at the photograph, which was a nice one of the two of them, they both looked really happy.

"Thank you." She smiled and replaced her phone in her hand with her purse while Gillian picked up the wheelbarrow once more, heading to the exit.

"Alright dad, how has it been going?" Gillian walked through the exit and Caroline followed, pulling out a fifty-pound note, handing it to Alan.

"Very well love…let me just get your change." Alan opened the tin.

"No, please accept it as interest for me not paying our entry fee when we came in and for such a lovely time. You've been more than welcoming to us." Caroline smiled to Gillian.

"Caroline that's way too much, we can't accept that."

"Well, if you put all of the pumpkins in my boot, we'll just call it a tip." Caroline smirked.

Gillian wasn't going to argue, and she had picked up on the smirk.

So, she was checking me out earlier.

"Dad this is Caroline, her daughter Flora goes to school with our Calamity, she's coming over on Halloween so you we can thank her then."

Alan held his hand up and waved to both of them. He picked up a basket full of chocolates and sweets and held it in front of Flora.

"Here you are love, take a sweetie for all your hard work picking the pumpkins."

Flora politely picked out one on the approval of her mother. "Thank you, sir."

Alan chuckled; it was nice to hear a young girl have such sweet manners. "You're welcome, but you can call me Alan. We'll see you both on Tuesday." Alan waved them off as Gillian led the way to the car.

"Bye Alan, nice to meet you." Caroline smiled at him before pressing the button on her keys to unlock the boot.

Gillian made quick work of putting the pumpkins in the boot while Caroline opened the back door for Flora and made sure she was strapped into the car, closing the door, she turned to watch Gillian bend down and lift the last pumpkin into the boot.

"There you are." Gillian wiped her brow as if she was sweating. "We here at Gillan's Pumpkin Patch hope you had a satisfactory day and would recommend us to a friend, only don't do that as we're only open for another 2 days and we're nearly out of pumpkins."

Caroline couldn't help but laugh, she had actually, surprisingly enjoyed her day. "Yes, we have, thank you and thank you for being such a great hostess."

"Well, I don't give all the girls this treatment, only the pretty ones." Gillian blushed realising, what she had said.

Shit.

Caroline smiled and tucked her hair behind her ear before turning to press the button on the boot that made it close.

"I'll see you on Tuesday then?" Caroline turned the conversation, she could see Gillian hadn't meant to slip the last part out, not that she minded.

"Yep. Tuesday. I'll text you over the address tonight. See you then." Gillian turned on her heel away from Caroline and picked up the wheelbarrow.

"Bye Caroline." Emily waved and followed her Gran.

"Bye Emily!"

Caroline watched as Gillian walked off and found herself checking her out once more.

Gillian could feel Caroline's eyes on her, she smirked and swayed her hips a little more, knowing Caroline was watching her.

Caroline bit her lip as she continued watching, she figured Gillian knew she was looking because her hips had slowed down as she put one foot in front of the other. Once Gillian was out of view Caroline got into the car, turned on the engine and pulled off from the patch.

"Have you had a good day, Flora?"

"Best day ever!"

Caroline smiled, her day had certainly been a good one too, she found herself excited thinking about Tuesday.