Page 3 of Fireworks at Pennycress Inn
‘Oh, thank you.’ Beaming, Laura positioned the suitcase against the wall next to the door. ‘I’ll let you get settled in. In half an hour, we will have finished the party, so you’re welcome to join me and Nicola, who also works here, in the kitchen for a well-earned cuppa as we recuperate!’
‘Haha, that would be lovely.’ Polly watched as Laura closed the door behind her before walking towards the large window overlooking the back garden. Even though it had begun to rain, she could imagine it would be a great place to sit and enjoy a coffee in the warmer weather, and with the flowerbeds still teeming with seasonal flowers and greenery, she could tell Jill was a talented gardener. A large willow tree sat in the middle of the vast lawn, a wooden bench positioned perfectly to allow the canopy to keep anyone sitting beneath it dry. Maybe she could enjoy a coffee beneath it in the morning before work. It could become a tradition of hers whilst she stayed here. Whatever the autumn weather decided to throw at them.
Slowly turning, she rummaged in her bag for her mobile before leaning against the window ledge and bringing the phone to her ear. She’d promised her best friend and former colleague a call to tell her she’d arrived safely.
3
‘Polly! I was wondering when you’d call. Are you in Meadowfield? What’s it like? How are you feeling about starting your job tomorrow? Quick, tell me all the details before Freddie gets back from the pub.’ Stacey’s voice reached Polly’s ear at such a speed that she was forced to take a moment to decipher the torrent of questions.
‘Yes, I’m in Meadowfield. I’ve just got to the inn I’m staying at and it looks every bit as lovely as it did online.’ Polly looked around the room. Maybe after a walk into the village centre, she’d treat herself to a short nap before dinner. That bed…
‘Is that the one Mr Bobby set you up with?’
‘Mr Bob, yes. The Cotswold Wildlife and Wilderness Trust are paying for me to stay here so I can be close to the reserve.’ Stacey always called him Mr Bobby, said he reminded her of an old infant teacher or somebody. Polly knew it was odd calling him Mr Bob rather than Bob, but everyone did it, everyone who volunteered at the trust headquarters or worked with him. She didn’t like to take a guess at his age, but he was definitely from the era when calling people by their titles and surnames used to be a thing. ‘Anyway, back to your original questions. I’m excited about starting my new job. If everyone is as lovely here as they are back at the trust HQ I was volunteering at, then I know I don’t have anything to worry about.’
‘And you’ve forgotten something… Another reason why this job is going to be great for you.’
‘What? What have I forgotten?’ Polly wracked her brain. ‘You mean because I don’t have to deal with our wonderful headteacher any longer or because, hopefully, any children I meet through my new job will actually be interested in what I have to say rather than me trying to entice them to learn about a million and one things they’ll never have to encounter again once they’ve grown up?’
‘Haha, that’s rubbish. I use Pythagoras’ theorem every single day of my life.’
‘Sure you do.’ Shaking her head, Polly grinned. Stacey might have always been a mathematics buff, but she, Polly, most definitely was not and that was one subject she wouldn’t miss teaching. ‘You do remember it’s not actually on the curriculum until secondary school, right?’
‘I know. I may be slightly exaggerating.’ Stacey laughed. ‘Anyway, the beautiful and intricate subject of maths aside, there’s still something else you’re forgetting.’
‘The beautiful…’ Polly snorted. ‘You can keep your maths, Stacey. I’ll take the flora and fauna of the nature reserve over brackets and indices any day of the week. But enlighten me. What am I forgetting?’
‘Zac Sinclair.’ Stacey paused before adding with a dramatic flair. ‘Your arch-nemesis. The one person you’ll be glad to be free of now you’re no longer volunteering at the trust’s HQ.’
Polly shuddered. Two words, that was all they were, but two words and the name of the man who was a master at getting under her skin, the king of sarcasm and making her feel as though she were two inches tall. The very man who had belittled her volunteering role at the trust time and time again, mostly just to get ahead himself. A man who had seemingly had everything passed to him on a silver plate: his job, his money, heck, probably even his good looks… Nope, nope, he wasn’t even good-looking. Not with that arched eyebrow of his and the way his lips curled in that permanent sneer. Plus, the way he spoke, talking to everyone besides her with all the charm of a man on a first date but all the intention of a measly slug. Yuck.
‘Polly? Are you still with me? Or have you been swallowed up by the daydream of you and Zac Sinclair’s wedding and subsequent eighty-four children?’
‘What? Eurgh. You’re really gross, Stacey. Do you know that?’ Polly pulled the phone away from her ear and looked suspiciously at the screen, where Stacey’s name stared back at her. How did she do this? How did she read her with such accuracy? Yes, they’d worked together at the same school and in the same year group for twelve years, had shared a flat for seven of those before Stacey had moved in with her partner, Freddie, and Polly had briefly moved in with her ex-fiancé before then moving back into her childhood home to take care of her grandma, but that didn’t explain how Stacey knew her so well. Polly couldn’t read her. She shrugged. Spy camera? Secret microphone? Or maybe Stacey was just a better judge of character than she was and Polly an open book.
‘Uh-huh.’ Stacey’s giggle erupted down the phone before she spoke again, her tone becoming a staged seriousness. ‘And methinks you doth protest too much.’
‘No. Just no. Zac Sinclair has made my life a living misery for the past four months. I most certainly will not be missing him.’ Polly pushed herself off the windowsill and turned to look back outside, where the thin, stringy branches of the willow tree were being pulled in all directions by the wind. It was almost as though the tree could sense this conversation was heading into tricky territory and was trying to warn her. ‘In fact, if I’d had a moment to think about things, I should have thrown a party just to celebrate the fact he’s now out of my life for good.’
As soon as Stacey’s guffaw met Polly’s ear, she regretted ever letting the word ‘party’ escape her lips. Why had she said that? Had she secretly wanted to mull over this topic for the thousandth time? Nope, she did not. She silently cursed the willow tree for not making the warning a little more obvious.
‘I knew it! That fateful night is still on your mind,’ Stacey said between fits of laughter.
‘Stop it. It is not. You know I wish it had never happened.’ Polly traced the pad of her forefinger across her lips. Her leaving party, a night she’d supposed to have spent celebrating the end of her old teaching career and the beginning of a new one at Meadowfield Nature Reserve, the job she’d be starting tomorrow. And she knew exactly what Stacey was referring to. That two-second snog she and Zac had shared. Four whole months ago. A moment of drunken madness that she’d regretted ever since. And the moment things had changed between her and Zac. She’d noticed the difference the first time she’d seen him after the party, that first day back at the trust headquarters where she’d continued to volunteer until her new position here in Meadowfield began. He’d been different with her, aloof, sarcastic, all the damning characteristics she now described him as having, whereas before she’d been shown the charming, friendly side of his personality, the side he portrayed to others. ‘Besides, you’re making it sound as though it was something more than it was. It was just a kiss. A measly, tiny, short-lived kiss.’
‘Uh-huh.’
‘It was and you know it.’ Yes, it had been nice and, yes, even though she’d rather pull her teeth out than admit it, that evening, in that moment, she’d let herself think there might just be more to it than there had been. But Stacey would be the last person she’d admit that to.
‘Aw, I’m sure he’ll be missing you just as much as you’ll miss him,’ Stacey continued, her voice laced with sarcasm.
‘And what’s that supposed to mean?’ She’d never outwardly retaliated to his indifference. And she’d never spoken to him about the kiss they’d shared either. They were both adults and she’d got the message he wasn’t interested loud and clear.
Yes, she’d said a few choice words in her head when he’d said something to suck up to the management – not that he needed to, not with his parents being huge benefactors to the trust, up until a year ago anyway when that had stopped for some reason, perhaps because they felt with their son working there they were still contributing without dipping into their bottomless pockets – but she’d always maintained her professional, friendly persona around everyone she’d worked with, whether or not she’d liked them. A skill she’d perfected whilst teaching at Daisy Chain Primary and answering to Mrs Jedd, the headteacher.
‘Nothing. Just that…’ The phone line became muffled before Stacey’s voice returned. ‘Sorry, I’m going to have to run. Freddie’s back and he’s a bit worse for wear. I believe a long liquid lunch has been had.’
‘No worries. Speak to you soon.’
