Farmhouse restaurants are typically busy on holidays and quiet the rest of the time.
As it happened, today was a Tuesday. Besides the table Ivy Holden had booked, the only other customers were two employees from a construction company working out in the suburbs.
After Nathan Rowan entered, he first went to politely greet the two diners who had arrived earlier. Then, in exchange for covering their bill, he asked them to move to a small private room.
Ivy Holden walked into the courtyard with her arm linked through Julia Xavier's, taking a seat under a hawthorn tree laden with clusters of red berries.
"Oh, the countryside is so much nicer. The air is fresh, and the scenery is beautiful." Now that Julia Xavier was getting older, she had grown especially fond of pastoral life.
