Page 55 of Fireworks at Pennycress Inn
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‘Zac, what do you think of these for the new display in the foyer?’ Wheeling her chair across to Zac’s desk, Polly placed her laptop on his desk.
‘The information boards?’ Zac began scrolling through the photographs on the screen.
‘Yes. I found them in the trust’s archives and thought they might be a good focus. I was trying to find the most interesting examples of how the reserve has changed and big events here.’ She’d spent the last two days trawling through photographs and articles about the reserve, struggling to find anything much to write about. That was until she discovered a huge fire had taken hold in the visitor centre fifteen years ago and destroyed much of the natural habitat around the building. Not that anybody would realise if they visited now, as the ranger and team had done an amazing job of bringing the reserve back to life.
‘Well, these are certainly interesting, for sure. I wasn’t aware of half these things – the fire, the rewilding scheme of native trees, the fact the Queen had visited.’ Zac widened his eyes. ‘I think they’re fab. I can’t wait to read what you write about them.’
‘You definitely don’t think these topics will bore visitors?’ Polly chewed on her bottom lip. This was her chance –theirchance – to help the reserve come alive to the visitors, their chance to instil pride in the local community, and she really didn’t want to mess it up. ‘I know not everyone who comes in here will read them, but I’m just hoping a few will glance at the photos and want to find out a little more.’
Zac smiled. ‘I think they’re great. Really great. You’ve definitely got an eye for this, and I think the majority of people will want to read more.’
‘I hope so.’ Taking her laptop back, Polly closed the screen but stayed where she was. ‘How about you? How are you getting on?’
‘Good, thanks.’ He shrugged. ‘Well, okay anyway. I had two “thanks but no thanks” this morning but have set up a telephone conversation tomorrow with another firm. I used to work closely with them when I was in my marketing job, so I’m hopeful.’
Polly crossed her fingers. ‘That’s great. You’ll get it.’
‘I hope so.’ Zac nodded.
Leaning forward, Polly kissed him before pulling back quickly and glancing around the office, relieved to see that everyone else had their heads buried in their laptops. ‘Sorry, I completely forgot where I was then.’
Grinning, Zac raised his eyebrows. ‘No need to apologise to me. I’d be happy to shout it from the rooftops.’
Smiling, Polly tapped her laptop. ‘Best get back to it.’
After wheeling her chair back, Polly opened her laptop again, pretending to concentrate on the screen in front of her whilst she glanced at Zac. Maybe she was being paranoid. Perhaps there wasn’t any reason their relationship would be frowned upon by their colleagues. Besides, they were working and basically living together, being as they were both staying at Pennycress, so spending their whole time together, there were bound to be more slip-ups like that one. It was only a matter of time before one of their teammates found out.
‘No, no, no.’ Wheeling her chair back from her desk, Vicki began pushing her collection of photo frames to the side of her desk.
‘Everything okay?’ Art called across the office.
‘No, I can’t find Rolo. He was here, literally just sleeping in my sleeve as he always does, and now, I can’t find him.’ Vicki dropped to her knees and crawled under her desk.
‘Don’t worry, we’ll find him. He can’t have got out.’ Polly glanced behind her, checking he wasn’t behind her chair, before pushing it back and standing up.
‘Dennis and Declan went out a few minutes ago, though, and I don’t know when he went missing.’ Vicki scraped her dark hair back into a ponytail before crawling around the floor.
‘I’ll go outside and see if he’s in the foyer. He’ll be scared if he’s got out and I’m sure he won’t have got far.’ Zac stood up and headed for the door, cautiously pulling it open and slipping through.
Slowly walking around the edge of the room, Polly ducked her head to look beneath the desks and bookcases. Rolo could be anywhere. Literally. He was fast, super-fast, and he could climb too.
‘I can’t believe I let this happen.’ Vicki placed her hands over her face. ‘They trust me at the sanctuary and now I’ve gone and let them down, but, more importantly, I’ve put a defenceless baby in danger.’
Making her way across to Vicki as Art continued searching the office, Polly knelt down and wrapped her arms around her colleague. ‘Hey, you’ve let no one down. What you do for those animals is amazing. This is just a glitch and something we’ll all be laughing about in a few minutes when he’s found.’
‘But he’s so fast. And sneaky too. I caught him on top of one of my kitchen cupboards yesterday evening after I’d let him out of his enclosure for a little runaround. I thought he’d be safe in there and now, now I’ve not even learned from that mistake. I’ve let it happen again. I can’t be trusted.’
‘You can. You can be trusted more than any of us here.’ Polly rubbed Vicki’s back.
‘She’s right. Can you imagine how long Dennis would last looking after a baby rat?’ Art chuckled as he ran his hand over the tops of the books on the shelves. ‘He’d have lost Rolo in a day, and I wouldn’t have done much better.’
‘Nor me. You’re doing a fab job with him, with all the animals you care for, and it’s only a matter of time before we find him.’ Polly leaned back as Vicki wiped her sleeve across her eyes.
‘Okay, okay, let’s find him.’ Standing up, Vicki began searching again.
Polly walked across to the meeting room door, slipping through it before looking beneath the table and chairs and behind the small refreshment table. There was no sign of the small furry creature.
