Page 77 of The Village of Lost and Found

They cleared the front room first. Dodgy Del and Frank both knew of people who would benefit from the equipment, so it was carefully loaded up into Del’s van.

The room looked much bigger than Tom remembered. It had been so long since it had been an actual living room.

Lucy and Belle began to dust, clean and rearrange the furniture so that it could become a room to relax and watch television in.

Later on, Frank insisted on helping pull out all the weeds from the front garden. Stanley brought over some plants that he had grown from seed and the two of them began to plant them up in the pots either side of the front door.

In the back garden, Dodgy Del and Mike were hacking down the tall grass ready for its first mow in a year or two.

Josh left to go to work in the shop, so Amber appeared for a couple of hours, sweeping the hall and polishing the wooden balustrade until it shone.

By mid-afternoon, the cottage was transformed. The front room was now a comfortable place to relax and felt like a proper lounge. The hallway was bright now that the glass on the front door had been cleaned. The back garden was looking far more manageable, with Frank and Stanley offering to come back to sow some wildflower seeds the following day. Best of all, the kitchen was no longer a gloomy throwback to a different time. Lucy, Belle and Amber had spent the afternoon rearranging the cupboards and shelves. Instead of dusty bakeware that had been a daily reminder of his mum, there were pretty plates gleaming clean and lined up along the wooden dresser. The kitchen table had been scrubbed and a jug with some sweet peas had been placed in the middle.

‘Nothing’s been thrown away,’ Lucy told him. ‘It’s just tucked away safely in a cupboard for when you’re feeling ready to face it.’

It felt so different, Tom could hardly believe it. It felt like a home again. One that he was proud of and that he knew his mum would have been as well.

‘Thank you so much,’ he told his friends when they were all in the garden. ‘You’ve all worked so hard in this heat. I don’t know what to say.’

‘Then say that you’re going to buy us all an ice cream,’ said Dodgy Del, grinning.

‘You’re on,’ said Tom.

So they all headed across to Cranbridge Stores, where he bought them all an ice-cream cone and everyone sat on the grass bank and enjoyed their treats.

Later on, everyone began to drift off to make their way home, leaving just Tom and Lucy on the riverbank.

He reached down to stroke Keith, who looked as exhausted as he felt and was closing his eyes in the warmth of the sun.

Lucy was sitting next to Tom, her bare feet dangling in the river to cool off.

‘Thanks,’ he said, giving her a nudge with his shoulder.

‘You’re welcome,’ she said, giving him a nudge back. ‘I hope you were OK with everyone turning up like that. I know that I’m too bossy.’

‘Actually, I needed the push,’ he told her, noting her guilty look. ‘It was just what both me and house needed. You’ve helped make it back into a home again. Hopefully it’ll sell quite quickly when I put it on the market.’

‘Sell?’ She looked shocked.

‘I racked up quite a few debts with mum’s medical care,’ he told her. ‘Hopefully the house sale will cover those.’

‘Where will you go?’ she asked, suddenly looking at him concerned. ‘You won’t move too far from Cranbridge, will you?’

He shook his head, unable to tear his eyes away from hers. ‘Not if I can help it.’

‘Good,’ she said, before turning back to look at the river. ‘You belong here.’

He watched her for a moment, thinking that she belonged here too.

With him. The words added themselves to his thoughts all by themselves.

Tom caught his breath. The thought of being rejected again by another woman made him truly fearful. And yet he didn’t believe in his heart that Lucy could be that cruel.

But still, he hesitated, wondering how he could even begin to tell her how he felt. So when Molly appeared on the riverbank beside them, he realised that he had missed his chance to speak up.

Perhaps it was for the best, he thought. But he couldn’t stop himself stealing another glance at Lucy whilst she sat so close to him for a while longer.

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