Page 66 of The Village of Lost and Found

Grandma Tilly gave another giggle before looking down at her paperwork.

‘I’ll join you,’ said Lucy quickly.

As they headed outside into the hot sunshine, they both burst into laughter.

‘Never a dull moment these days,’ said Tom.

But Lucy’s laughter had faded quickly as she realised that Henry’s dog was underneath the veranda of the shop again.

‘Oh no,’ she murmured. She headed over and crouched down next to where he was sitting.

Tom came over to stoop down next to her. ‘Shall we encourage it out from under there?’ he said. ‘Do you know its name?’

Lucy shook her head. ‘It doesn’t have a name.’

‘A dog with no name?’ Tom made a face. ‘That’s pretty sad. He should have a name.’

Lucy shrugged her shoulders. ‘That’s what Henry said.’

‘Well, everyone should have a name,’ said Tom, looking at the dog. ‘What have we got? He’s a bit wild-eyed and messy. Grey shaggy fur. A bit of a wrinkly face. He looks like he’s lived a pretty wild life so far. I know! We’ll name him Keith after Keith Richards!’

Lucy looked at him in amazement. ‘A dog called Keith?’ She laughed, before turning back to hold out her hand to encourage the dog out of there. ‘What do you say? Do you like the name Keith?’

The dog immediately thumped his tail on the ground and began to shuffle out from under the shop veranda.

‘Well, that settles it,’ said Tom laughing. ‘Keith, it is!’

Lucy broke into soft laughter as the dog came and sat on her feet, leaning against her legs as usual.

‘I’ll have to tell Henry later,’ she said. ‘He can’t keep letting the dog run wild. What if it gets hit by a car or something?’

Tom turned to look at her. ‘You’re dropping off a newspaper to him?’ he asked, his smile fading.

Feeling awkward, Lucy straightened up. ‘Actually, we’re having a drink later.’

‘I see.’

‘He asked me the other day,’ she said quickly.

‘Hey, you’re entitled to have a life, you know,’ he told her with a smile. ‘Not everyone wants to just work for a newspaper and have nothing else outside that.’

‘You do have a life outside of the newspaper,’ she told him, bending down to stroke the dog’s head.

‘Glad somebody thinks so,’ he replied. ‘Well, I’ll go and get us our coffees and a bowl of water for Keith here as well.’

As he headed up the steps and into the shop, Lucy couldn’t work out why she felt so unsettled that Tom knew about her date. To combat her confusion, she reached down and ruffled Keith’s head once more.

36

Early Wednesday evening in the apartment, Lucy dressed carefully for her date with Henry. She chose a dark khaki jumpsuit which was light silk and fussed about with her hair until it lay flat on her shoulders. She then put on her favourite pair of flat silver sandals and headed out of her bedroom.

‘Wow! You look lovely,’ said Molly in a wistful tone as she sat curled up on the sofa. ‘I can’t wear jumpsuits.’

‘Why not?’ asked Lucy, perplexed. Molly had a great figure.

Molly shrugged her shoulders. ‘My legs are too short.’

Lucy stared down at Molly’s long legs which were tucked underneath her and then back up again. ‘You’re nuts. You’ve got a fantastic pair of legs.’