Page 4 of Falling in Love at Pennycress Inn

‘I can imagine that must be difficult.’ Nicola herself sometimes found it difficult to keep up with everything and there was just her and Trixie at home. She could imagine how much mess and chaos four young children and a husband would cause. She swallowed. Although, if she was honest, she’d trade places with Jill in a heartbeat. All she’d ever wanted was to have a big family of her own. She’d loved her childhood, living at Pennycress Inn and helping her mum with the business had given her wonderful memories, but she’d often wondered what it would have been like to have had a sibling, and she’d always dreamt of marrying and raising her own family. Of course, that wasn’t going to happen now, not when she was just shy of thirty-six and newly dumped. Thanks, Nathan.

‘I just thought that once the youngest was at nursery, I’d have all this time free. But what with my new gardening business, as well as children being off school all the time…’ She shook her head.

‘Sorry, Mummy.’ Willow wrapped her arms around her mum’s waist.

‘No, no, don’t be sorry, sweetie. I like having you around.’ Leaning down, Jill kissed her daughter on the top of her head. ‘Although today you really should have gone into school, you’re absolutely fine.’

Looking up at her mum, Willow’s face grew serious. ‘I still have bellyache, Mummy.’

‘Uh-huh.’ Sighing, Jill turned back to Nicola. ‘This time last year, I’d have been finished with most of the organising. We’d just be ironing out a few creases. But this year I still have a list as long as my arm – no, as long as both my arms, quite literally, to work my way through. Of course, if the other members of the community hub took the commitment seriously, instead of ducking out of meetings for the smallest reason or booking holidays when they know we’ll be busy…’

‘Is there anything I can do to help?’ She hated seeing her friend look so frazzled. Jill was normally the calm and collected one of the two of them so to see her getting flustered meant that she really did have too much on her plate. The least Nicola could do was to offer to help.

‘No, it’s fine.’ Jill shook her head. ‘You’ve got your job here, plus after Nathan… No, I’ll get it done.’

‘Hey, now me and Nathan are over, it means I have more free time.’ Nicola pasted a smile on her face. She didn’t really have more time. She’d had plenty of free time whilst Nathan had been off wining and dining his mistress. ‘Let me help.’

‘Are you super sure?’ Jill tilted her head, a hopeful expression on her face.

‘Of course I am. I wouldn’t have offered otherwise. Besides, it would be good to have something to focus on outside of work.’ Anything to keep her from spending every weekend sitting in front of the TV watching reruns ofFriends. Which she loved, but as her mum kept saying, she really should try to find something to do outside of the home, to socialise and begin to rebuild her life.

‘Okay, thank you.’ Instantly relaxing, Jill placed her hand on Nicola’s arm. ‘I mean that.’

‘No problem. Just tell me what I need to do.’

‘Well, is there any way you could contact the farms and double-check they’re happy to provide their tractors and trailers for the floats again this year, please? They do so every year, but I don’t want to just take them for granted.’

‘Yes, of course. I can speak to them after work.’ Nicola grinned. It would be good to catch up with the local farmers and their families. Having grown up in the village, she knew most of them from her childhood, either playing with their children, visiting farmers’ markets with her mum or simply seeing them around Meadowfield. ‘Right, what would you like to eat, Willow?’

The little girl glanced around the kitchen. ‘Can I have some of the cake, please?’

Laughing, Nicola nodded. ‘Of course you can. Shall we go back through, and I’ll get you some?’

Willow nodded before leading the way through to the sitting room.

‘She changes her mind about what she does or doesn’t like every three seconds, it seems. Dinners are a nightmare.’ Jill chuckled. ‘I’ll get the list of farmers for you.’

‘Thanks.’

Back in the sitting room, Nicola began cutting up and serving the Victoria sponge, making sure to cut a smaller slice for Willow.

Sitting back down, Jill flicked through her notebook before looking around the group. ‘Nic has offered to give us a hand and check we can still borrow the tractors and trailers.’

‘Already done.’ Taking her plate of cake, Miss Cooke settled back against the sofa cushions.

‘Oh, really? You’ve checked already?’ Jill slowly closed her notebook.

‘I have. I thought it was getting a little late in the day, so I thought I’d give you a little head start.’ Miss Cooke took a bite of her cake, crumbs dropping from her mouth and landing in the creases of her cerise shirt.

‘Right, yes.’ Jill shifted position on the sofa. ‘I know I’ve been a little lax with the planning this year…’

‘It’s not a criticism, dear. I just didn’t want us to end up having to cancel the carnival. It is only four weeks away now.’ Miss Cooke brushed the crumbs from her shirt to her lap.

‘Yes, of course.’ A pale shade of pink coloured Jill’s cheeks.

Nicola passed Willow her plate. ‘Here you go.’

‘Thank you, Auntie Nic.’ Taking the plate, Willow rested it on her knees before taking a big gulp of orange juice.

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