Page 114 of The Village of Lost and Found

For Keith that meant a rub-down with a towel and some hot dogs to snack on. For Lucy, it meant warming up in Tom’s loving arms. She and Keith had spent the night at Tom’s, although only one of them had slept on the bedroom floor.

Lucy couldn’t help but smile to herself as she sat down in the garden of The Black Swan the following evening. All of their friends, as well as Uncle Frank and Stanley, were gathered together for a post-fete celebration.

Belle placed her drink down on the table and rolled her eyes as she sat next to Lucy. ‘Stop grinning like that. I can’t believe you’ve left me and Molly as the only single people left in Cranbridge.’

‘Yeah. Sorry about that.’ Lucy tried to look sheepish, but she couldn’t help but grin. She knew that her friends were overjoyed that she and Tom were now a couple. All day long everyone had been telling her and Tom that they had known all along.

Belle shook her head. ‘And I thought you were my friend.’

‘I still am,’ Lucy told her, laughing. ‘Anyway, you’ll be next.’

‘Oh push off,’ said Belle. ‘You’re making me sick.’

Lucy leant over to give her friend a kiss on the cheek.

Molly and Amber, sitting on the other side of the table, giggled. They all knew that Belle’s hard words weren’t really how she felt. But still, they really would have to put on their thinking caps as to what could be done about Belle.

Lucy glanced over at the next table, where Tom was chatting with Josh, Frank and Stanley. As if sensing her eyes on him, Tom glanced over and gave her a ghost of a wink before resuming his conversation.

It was love. Pure, wonderful love.

Lucy wondered how she could ever have even considered Henry or even Jamie Watkins as a partner when Tom was so wonderful in comparison.

‘So love is all around,’ drawled Belle. ‘Shame you can’t stop the quarry whilst you’re on a high.’

Lucy’s good mood suddenly grew sadder. ‘I know. The petition might still work. But other than that I think we’re all out of options,’ she told her friends.

‘We know you and Tom tried your best,’ said Amber, looking downcast.

‘We’ll think of something,’ said Lucy. But her own words sounded uncertain even to her own ears. She just had no idea what they could do.

‘It’s going to take a miracle,’ said Molly, with a teary smile.

‘Come on,’ said Belle. ‘Let’s talk about something else. It’s too depressing otherwise.’

As the evening wore on and the temperature dropped, Belle lit the fire pit for them all to gather around and keep warm. Nobody seemed in a great hurry to head home. Except Lucy, who was desperate to be back in Tom’s arms. Keith was sitting next to them on the ground, catching any crisps that happened to fall out of anyone’s packets.

‘So the final tally for the summer fete was £8,543,’ announced Uncle Frank with a proud look on his face as he checked his phone.

Everyone cheered and clapped.

‘That’s amazing,’ said Molly.

But despite the pleasant atmosphere, everyone was still a little sad.

Lucy sighed, despite now having Tom’s arm around her shoulders. ‘It still doesn’t feel as if we’ve done any good,’ she said.

‘Of course you have,’ said Molly, giving her a tearful smile. ‘The community hub is going to be great and the future of the paper is safe as well.’

‘Molly’s right,’ said Tom, squeezing her tight. ‘Besides, everyone’s going to keep protesting the quarry and I’ll be right there reporting on it.’

‘It won’t do any good,’ said Lucy, shaking her head to see off the impending tears. ‘Well, they can keep their horrible mini dinosaur thing,’ she said, trying to muster a bit of anger and fight. ‘I hope it breaks into their nasty quarry and scares them as much as it scared me.’

Tom turned his head to look at her. ‘What on earth are you talking about?’

‘You know,’ she told him. ‘When I fell over in the field that day. When the bull was loose. I came face to face in a muddy pond with some great big ugly lizard thing. Scared the living daylights out of me.’

Everyone began to laugh.