Page 62 of Fireworks at Pennycress Inn
‘Oh, sorry I forgot to say…’ Laura hurried back into the hallway, the cake tin still in hand, and lowered her voice as she nodded towards the sitting room. ‘Miss Cooke called a last-minute community hub meeting. Of course you’re more than welcome to go in too, but I thought I should let you know.’
‘Thanks. We’ll head upstairs, I think.’ Zac raised his eyebrows slightly, looking towards Polly for confirmation.
‘Yep, definitely.’ She nodded. Miss Cooke had been welcoming enough, but she wasn’t unaware of the village gossip about Meadowfield’s mayoress and she didn’t fancy trying their luck and interrupting. Or spending the evening being drawn deep into village discussions.
‘Good choice. I’ll bring the cake up,’ Laura whispered before turning again.
As she followed Zac up the stairs, Polly groaned. ‘That’s reminded me. I bet their meeting is about the Bonfire Night celebrations and you know what I haven’t done yet?’
‘What’s that?’ Pausing on the landing, Zac looked back at her.
‘I haven’t designed the posters for the stall and food van. I wanted to put some information up, something to show what we were raising money for.’ How could she have forgotten? Yes, she could probably get them done tomorrow at work, but she’d already planned her tasks for then.
Zac smiled and shrugged. ‘Come on through to mine, we’ll pop a movie on and get designing. It’ll be fun.’
Breathing out a sigh of relief, Polly grinned. She’d hoped he’d offer to help. The last thing she wanted was for this evening to end prematurely and for her to slink back into her own room, cutting their time together short. And besides, he was right, it wasn’t as though they would be filling in spreadsheets or anything, designing posters would hardly feel like work. ‘Okay, sounds good.’
‘I’ll take your drink through whilst you grab your laptop.’ Stepping towards her, he took her takeaway cup before pausing and bringing his lips to hers.
Kissing him back, Polly reached behind his head, pulling him closer before stepping away again. ‘Thanks.’
‘See you in a few moments.’ Keeping his eyes fixed on hers for a while, he then smiled and turned, walking across the landing.
With her fingers wrapped around her door handle, Polly watched as Zac juggled the lattes as he slipped into his own room. After this evening’s discussion, perhaps they might get to a point where they could tell Laura to let out one of their rooms sooner than she’d hoped.
35
‘Okay, are we all set?’ Polly looked at the stall in front of her. Raffle tickets? Check. Prizes? Check. The grand prize of the giant stuffed squirrel? Check. And most important of all the leaflets to hand out to anyone who came within five feet of the stall? Check.
Polly glanced around the school hall. Stalls lined the large room, selling a mixture of home-made crafts, cakes and jewellery.
‘Ah, not quite all set.’ Declan tapped his mobile against his palm as he walked towards them.
‘No? Why not?’ Polly asked, the nerves in her stomach threatening to explode.
‘Jarvis has twisted his ankle and Helena needs to take him to Urgent Care to get him checked over.’
‘Twisted his ankle?’ Polly gripped hold of the edge of the stall in dismay.
‘Ay, that’s right.’ Declan nodded, seemingly unperturbed by the unravelling disaster.
‘Don’t worry, I’ll go and collect the food truck and, all being well, we can rustle up something to sell in time, even if we end up just serving hot drinks.’ Leaning down, Zac pulled his car keys from his coat pocket.
‘No need. The van is here. The person they hired it from has just delivered it and Helena and Jarvis fully stocked it before Jarvis had his accident. Everything’s ready to go.’ Declan pointed his phone out towards the large windows surrounding the hall.
‘Really? Okay, that’s great. That’s great.’ Polly nodded. It would be fine, she reassured herself. Everything would be fine.
‘Why don’t you two go and make a start out in the van and I’ll hunt Art, Vicki and Dennis down and we’ll man the stall?’ Declan looked around the vast hall.
‘Good idea. We’ve got this, Polly.’ Zac grinned.
‘Yes, yes.’ Nodding, Polly followed Zac out of the hall.
‘Hey, it’ll be fine. Disaster averted.’ Pausing, Zac turned to face her.
Polly grimaced. ‘Is it that obvious that I’m panicking?’
‘No, not at all. You might be panicking on the inside, but on the outside, you’re as cool as a cucumber.’
