Page 29 of The Village of Lost and Found

Nearby, Molly peered at her screen. ‘It seems that Bernie wants to place a small ad for an upcoming psychic fete in Cranley.’

‘Shouldn’t the attendees be able to find it on their own?’ said Tom, rolling his eyes. ‘And on that note, I need a coffee.’

As he left, he could hear Lucy’s soft voice as she chatted away with Molly. She’d certainly brought a bit of much-needed life to the place, he thought. The office had grown so quiet over the past year.

Tom bought his coffee and headed back into the newspaper offices. To his surprise, he found Lucy sitting at his desk looking at his screen.

She jumped up guiltily as soon as she realised he was back.

‘Oh! Sorry,’ she said, blushing. ‘I was just looking in the corner to check the dates on that other stack of papers when I caught a glimpse of your editorial.’ She looked sheepish. ‘I couldn’t stop myself reading it.’

‘And?’ asked Tom, holding his breath. Deep down, he began to panic that she had uncovered his deception over his writer’s block.

‘It’s great. Really good,’ she told him. ‘You’re so lucky having a gift like that.’

‘Thanks.’ Tom felt himself relaxing slightly that his secret hadn’t been discovered and then immediately felt guilty for deceiving her.

Lucy moved around the desk. ‘Must be nice,’ she said, as she brushed passed him. ‘You know, to achieve your dream job as a journalist.’

He gave her a wry smile. ‘I had this dream that I wanted to make the world a better place.’ He hesitated before carrying on. ‘But these days, I’m not so sure. I used to advise people. Help them out. I miss that.’

‘I’m sure a lot of people find the newspaper helpful,’ she told him, before giving him a small smile and heading out of the office.

Tom went and sat at his desk, where Lucy’s soft perfume was still lingering in the air. He didn’t know why he had been so honest with her. The truth was that he felt awful. He was living a lie. And, for some reason, he didn’t want to lie to Lucy.

She had a genuine warmth about her personality and seemed easy-going and enthusiastic. Tom sighed. But she was also Frank’s niece and couldn’t know about the state of the newspaper, nor the state of his writing.

Because the truth would bring everything crumbling around him and the newspaper was the last concrete piece in his life that he had to hold on to these days.

16

Later on in the week, Lucy had once more been invited to meet Molly, Amber and Belle for a drink. But now that Molly was feeling better, they had agreed to meet at The Black Swan.

Lucy was a little nervous at meeting everyone again, but the summer’s evening was bright enough to lighten her mood. The sun was still warm as she walked along the river. The water was clear and low enough at that point in the year to see the pebbled riverbed below. The grass on the riverbank had been left long, causing the wildflowers to burst into colour. White cow parsley looked like lace in the dappled evening sunshine and the water sparkled as the sky grew a darker shade of blue and pink.

In the soft evening sunshine, The Black Swan pub looked even more run-down than ever before. Its faded sign was missing quite a few letters so that it actually read The B ack Sw n. It could be quite a pretty building if it were ever renovated, she thought.

She pushed the door and went inside, finding it equally shabby in there as well. The oak beams certainly gave it some charm but were heavily outweighed by the peeling wallpaper and all-round sense of decline and decay. The years had not been kind to the pub.

The lack of clientele didn’t help. Where was everyone? Lucy looked around, but it was completely empty. There wasn’t even anyone behind the bar. However, there was laughter and conversation floating in from somewhere outside.

So she headed across the faded oak floorboards and went through a semi-glass door which had a Pub Garden sign in faded letters written on it.

For a second, she was blinded by the warm sunshine after the dimly lit pub, but then the garden came into view.

It was much larger than she had thought it would be, narrowing to a point at the far end. And prettier too, she realised. Somebody had lavished care on many beautiful hanging baskets and pots of overflowing flowers. It was mainly lawn with a white picket fence running along one side, on the other side of which she could see the river through the gaps. Some well-worn wooden picnic benches and tables were scattered around, mainly nearer the pub, but some were alongside the fence for the best view of the river.

Lucy headed over to the two tables where everyone was sitting. One table was made up of Tom, Josh and a few others. The other had Molly and the other women seated around it.

‘Hi,’ said Molly, looking up at her as she reached the table. ‘How’s Frank?’

‘Yes, he’s fine, thanks,’ said Lucy. ‘Sorry I’m late. There was a long wait for the pharmacy to deliver his pills.’ She looked down the table. ‘So who wants a drink?’

‘No need. Tom just bought us all some Pimms,’ Molly told her, gesturing at the two large jugs on the table.

‘Well, I’ll buy the next round,’ said Lucy, swinging her leg over to sit on the very end, narrowly missing a couple of ducks who were waddling around, hoping to catch any crisps which may have been dropped.

‘We’ve ordered some pizza and chips to share,’ Amber told her, as she poured out another glass of Pimms.