Page 41 of Falling in Love at Pennycress Inn

‘In truth, I don’t know whether I’m coming or going – and please don’t ask me the day of the week or the month. I don’t think I’d be able to answer.’ Jill held her hand over her forehead.

‘Oi! You just hit me with that.’ A young boy shouted at the girl in front of him, who was holding a piece of card roughly the same size of her.

‘No, I didn’t.’ The girl turned towards Jill and, as she did so, the card whacked the boy against the arm again.

‘Oi!’ the boy cried out again, rubbing his arm furiously. ‘You did it again. Mrs Davies, she did it again.’

‘It’s Jill, Sebastian. I’ve told you that before.’ Jill glanced at Laura and Nicola and lowered her voice. ‘Every time one of them calls me Mrs Davies, I automatically look around, expecting to see Gerald’s mum.’

‘But it hurts.’ Sebastian pouted.

‘I know, I know.’ Hurrying across to him, Jill rubbed his arm before ushering the young girl with the card forward a little. ‘That’s it, Issy. Just try to make sure you’re standing away from anyone else.’

‘Uh, is there anything we can do to help?’ Laura asked cautiously.

‘I was hoping I could plead with you to see if we could borrow the sitting room. We’d be quiet. And not for long either, a couple of hours or so.’ Jill walked back towards the desk, holding her hands together in a pleading motion. ‘We’ve just been chucked out of the village hall because there’s a private function there this evening and they need to get the hall ready.’

‘We’ve got the bridge club in the sitting room at the moment.’ Nicola looked at the bottles of paints and chalks, all being held a little precariously. ‘But why don’t you come through to the garden? The weather’s nice and it’s not supposed to rain. What do you think, Laura?’

Relief washed across Laura’s face at Nicola’s suggestion. ‘Yes, the garden. What a great idea.’

‘Are you sure? That would be amazing, thank you. It’s just typical, isn’t it? But with only another couple of weeks left until the carnival, we can’t really lose any time at the moment.’ Jill began ushering the children through into the kitchen towards the glass doors which led out onto the decking. ‘Mind that paint, Willow. Put the salt shaker down right now, Freya. That’s it, Ruby, straight through the doors and head right down the steps to the grass.’

‘Thank you for letting us do our important painting here.’ Issy, the girl holding the large sheet of card, smiled up at Laura and Nicola before turning towards the kitchen. The large piece of card she was dragging behind her clipped Laura on the shin.

‘No problem,’ Laura called after her as the last of the children disappeared through the doorway and Laura bent down to rub her leg. ‘That was quick thinking about the garden, Nic.’

‘Haha, I saw your face when Jill asked about them taking over the sitting room and then noticed the bottles of paint.’ Nicola grimaced.

‘Yes, and that sort of washable paint never comes out, however many stain removers you use.’ Laura curled her index fingers around the word, ‘washable’.

‘Exactly.’ Nicola looked over as the sitting-room door opened and old Mrs Pritchard peered out.

‘Did I hear children’s voices?’

‘Yes, that was Jill, with the forest school children. They’re trying to work on props for their carnival float but have had to leave the village hall, so we’ve sent them out into the garden.’ Nicola waved towards the back of the inn.

‘Oh, how lovely. Was my little granddaughter Issy with them? She was chatting to me about the float they were designing when I babysat her the other day.’

‘Yes, she’s here.’ Laura smiled and rubbed her shin again.

Old Mrs Pritchard glanced over her shoulder to address the rest of the bridge club. ‘Who fancies some arts and crafts? The children’s forest school are painting for the carnival in the garden.’

‘Now that sounds fun.’ Mrs Pierce’s voice rang through the inn. ‘Come on, people, let’s go and give them a hand.’

Soon enough, the bridge game was forgotten, and the group of avid card players were heading out towards the garden.

Vivienne paused as she walked through the hallway and placed her hand on Nicola’s arm. ‘I’ll go and take a look and then be back in to bring out our drinks.’

‘Don’t worry, Mum. I’ll get those.’ Nicola smiled as the words her mum always used to say on the rare occasions they’d had a holiday for themselves came to mind, ‘you can take the innkeeper out of the inn, but not the inn out of the innkeeper’.

‘Are you sure, Nicola?’

‘Of course I am. Now go and help poor Jill.’ Nicola laughed as she closed her open tabs on the computer.

‘Right, I’m going. You don’t need to tell me twice.’ Vivienne chuckled as she followed the last of her club outside.

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