Page 26 of Fireworks at Pennycress Inn
‘Many thanks. Very happy to be here.’ Zac straightened his back and looked around the packed hall, smiling.
Drat. That was everyone tuned into Zac’s charms then. She should have been on the ball, she should have thanked Miss Cooke first instead of floundering. Once again, Zac had got the upper hand and, once again, everyone would think he was the friendly one and she the stand-offish one.
Polly opened her mouth to speak before clamping her lips together again as Miss Cooke continued. It was too late now. She’d missed her chance.
‘And now I’ll hand over to Jill, who would like to speak to you all about Meadowfield’s upcoming village bonfire.’ Miss Cooke stepped back as Jill and her children clambered onto the stage.
‘Thank you, Miss Cooke. And to begin my chat with you all about Bonfire Night I have four very excited children who have worked very hard to practise this dance for you. I’m told it’s called “Pop, Fizzle and Bang”.’ Jill leaned down as her young daughter, Willow, ran across the stage to her, tugged the hem of her mum’s jumper and whispered in her ear. Straightening her back again, Jill grimaced. ‘I’m sorry, it’s called “Bang, Fizzle and Pop”.’
The group of children took their places in the centre of the stage as the youngest, Kasey, still strapped securely in his buggy, began banging a wooden spoon against an upturned saucepan. His siblings pranced and danced their way across the small stage, jumping up and down to the beat. The teenager, clearly coerced into participating by his younger brothers and sister, spent the time half-heartedly joining in whilst trying his hardest to avoid eye contact with his audience.
As the group finished and the children took a bow, a round of applause erupted and filled the cavernous hall.
‘What a wonderful surprise. Thank you, children.’ Miss Cooke rose her voice as the applause subsided. ‘What a lovely way to begin your mum’s talk.’
As the children filed off, the eldest rolling Kasey’s buggy to the edge of the stage where Gerald lifted him, buggy and saucepan included, down with ease, Jill beamed, her face full of pride. ‘Thank you. Right, so now you have an idea of what to expect, I’ll continue and would like to share that we’re once again having the bonfire and fireworks on Guy Fawkes Night on the primary school playing field.’
A cheer sounded from the front of the hall and Jill paused before continuing.
‘We’ll be having food trucks and stalls around the perimeter of the playground, weather permitting of course, so there’s no reason for any of you to be slaving away over a hot stove before coming to enjoy the fireworks. We’ll have stalls inside the school hall too for you to peruse at your leisure before the fireworks.’ Jill looked around the hall before indicating towards where Laura, Jackson and Nicola were sitting. ‘Plus, this year we’re very lucky as the lovely Laura, Jackson and Nicola from Pennycress Inn will be handing out free sparklers to all attendees and will also be serving mulled cider and toffee apples, so be sure to pop by Pennycress on your way to the school.’
‘Thank you, Jill. It sounds as though it will be a wonderful night, as always.’ Miss Cooke began walking back towards the lectern where Jill was standing. ‘And I for one shall look forward to treating myself to a nice warm mulled cider.’
‘Thank you, Miss Cooke.’ Jill turned back towards the hall. ‘Oh, one last thing, we do have a little more room for a few more stalls, so if you’d like to join us and haven’t spoken to me, please do catch me sometime this week.’
‘Fabulous.’ Miss Cooke took over, Jill now dismissed.
Polly felt Zac shift in his chair next to her and looked across at him. He was leaning forward, his elbows on his knees, his head dipped and his mobile in his hand. She opened her mouth to say something to him before thinking better of it and turning back to the stage again. If he got caught, then let him take the punishment, whatever that might be, but the way Laura and Jackson had been talking about the infamous mayoress, she wouldn’t like to be in his position if he was caught not paying attention.
She picked at the cuticle on her thumbnail. Although, this was Zac, the golden boy, the man who had everyone fooled by his charms. He wouldn’t get caught. And if he did? Well, he’d only go and talk himself right back out of it again. Pulling on her skin a little too forcefully, she winced as it began to bleed. Drat.
‘Take this,’ Zac whispered as he held out a pale blue handkerchief, folded precisely into a small square, his eyes still fixed on his phone as the screen lit up with a new message.
Looking at the handkerchief in his hand, Polly widened her eyes. Of all the people she’d expect to step in and offer her help, Zac was the last on the list. No, in fact, he wasn’t on the list at all.
‘Thanks.’ She grunted back at him as she took it. Looking down at the pristinely clean handkerchief in her hand, she glanced back across at him. What if she stained it? That would only give him something else to hold against her, wouldn’t it?
Zac glanced up and nodded at the hankie as if indicating she should use it, before turning his attention quickly back to his phone.
Shrugging, Polly wrapped the soft fabric around her thumb. She needed to put him out of her mind. Not that it was easy being as he physically filled every space she went, the office, the inn, even here in a random village meeting.
She unwrapped the handkerchief from around her thumb and peeked at the damage she’d caused. She knew one thing, and that was that she’d be omitting a few details from tonight’s tale when she recounted it to Stacey. Her friend would only read something completely ridiculous into the fact Zac had retrieved Polly’s bottle for her and passed her a hankie. Knowing Stacey, she’d embellish it to the point that Sir Zachary was riding into the hall on his white horse to rescue her from a pit of snakes or something equally deadly.
Besides, she wasn’t thinking about Zac. Not from now on, so she wouldn’t be talking to Stacey about him anyway.
17
Pausing in front of the office door, Polly pushed the hood of her coat down and watched the rainwater drip onto the tiled floor of the large foyer. She was late. She’d decided to take the bus again this morning because of the downpour, but the bus had broken down at the stop before the reserve and so faced with the prospect of waiting ages for a replacement, she’d braved the rain and walked the rest of the way. But at least it had given her time to think a little and she might just have thought of a way to speed up raising awareness of the reserve.
With her hand on the door handle, she jumped back as Declan’s cheery voice boomed through the door before it opened.
‘Ah, Polly! There you are. We’d begun to think you’d run out on us.’ Declan chuckled as he held the door open for her.
‘Sorry, bus trouble,’ she muttered as she began to walk through into the office. Thinking better of it, she turned to him. ‘Actually, I was wondering if I could have a quick word at some point today, please?’
Pausing with his back against the open door, Declan hitched the sleeve of his coat up and glanced at his watch. ‘Ah, any other day I’d be all yours, but I’ve got a meeting at HQ to go to this morning and will be out all day. Can it wait?’
She hopped from foot to foot. With the idea fresh in her mind and with the limited timeline, she really wanted to get back to Jill today if there was an any possible way she could pull this off.
