Page 54 of The Village of Lost and Found

Lucy gulped. ‘OK. I’ll give it my best shot,’ she told him.

But she really wasn’t sure what an editor with a confidence crisis and a person with no skills could possibly achieve. She just had to hope that whatever they did would be enough to keep the newspaper in business.

29

Tom was sitting at his desk, somewhat stunned by the turn of events so far that day. So much for a peaceful, relaxing Sunday, he thought.

Well, he certainly hadn’t been thinking straight the previous evening. He had finished off an awful lot of Dodgy Del’s gin liqueur after his conversation with Andrea. He wasn’t sure he would ever feel well again, such was the level of his hangover. Finally, to add insult to an awful evening, he had passed out on Lucy’s sofa. And in his shame he had finally let her know how bad things were at the newspaper and of his own writer’s block.

The sound of the front door to the office banging open made him sit a little straighter in his chair. He rubbed his forehead, desperately trying to see off the headache that was still bearing down on him.

‘Right,’ said Lucy, striding into the office and placing two cups of coffee and quite a few delicious-looking pastries between them. ‘I got Amber to put in an extra shot of coffee for us both. I think we need it.’

‘Thanks,’ said Tom, as Lucy sat down opposite him. ‘Look, I want to apologise again for my behaviour yesterday both before the gin night and afterwards. I didn’t mean to upset you and intruding on anyone’s personal space isn’t my style.’

‘Yeah. I know,’ said Lucy, reaching forward to pick up one of the coffees. ‘We’ve moved on from that now.’

‘We have?’ he asked, startled.

‘Look, you messed up, but hey, been there and got the scars to prove it,’ she told him, before taking a sip of coffee. ‘Mmm, that’s good.’

‘I really am sorry,’ he repeated. It was important to him suddenly that she didn’t think the absolute worst of him.

‘Look, we’ve got bigger problems than who stuffed up the most, don’t you think?’ she said, fixing him with a long look with her green eyes. ‘Like saving the newspaper?’

He nodded. ‘Right. Absolutely.’

‘I’ve talked to Uncle Frank,’ she said.

Tom suddenly felt ill again. ‘You have?’

She nodded. ‘Yup.’

Tom ran a hand through his hair. ‘And?’

She surprised him by breaking into a soft smile. ‘I’m not sure you’d have made a very good spy. He already knew how bad things are.’

Tom leaned back in his chair with a heavy sigh. ‘I should have been there with you when you talked to him.’

Lucy shook her head. ‘That’s OK. We’d been to church together. The Pet Service was really sweet, actually. Remind me to send you the photos that I took.’

‘What if I can’t write up the piece?’ He couldn’t believe that he was able to voice his innermost doubts to Lucy of all people.

She looked at him in amazement. ‘Of course you can! You’re a great writer, regardless of how much you’re struggling at the moment. I’ve read loads of your pieces. To be honest, I think you’re wasted down here where only seventy people or so will read it.’

‘Quality not quantity. At least, that’s what I told my ex-girlfriends,’ he said, breaking into a large smile.

She shook her head. ‘So the being serious moment has passed? Why do you always have to make a joke?’

‘Oh, believe me, you don’t want to go down that rabbit warren,’ he told her quickly, leaning forward again. ‘It’s easier to joke than to face the truth that you’re a wash-up.’

Expecting her to agree with him, he was surprised to hear her say softly, ‘You’re not a wash-up.’

‘Maybe I’m not the right man for the job,’ he told her.

She looked at him for a beat. ‘Uncle Frank isn’t a stupid man,’ she said. ‘He wouldn’t hire you if he didn’t think you were up to the task. We can do this. I truly think we can save the newspaper. But it needs you as its editor.’

‘Why me?’ he asked.