Page 84 of The Village of Lost and Found

‘I don’t want to marry you.’

There was a shocked intake of breath at Molly’s words. Lucy looked around at Belle and Amber, but they seemed as equally stunned as she felt. She turned back to look at Molly, who had a strange, blazing look on her face.

‘What are you talking about?’ said Bridget, barging between the two of them. ‘Of course you want to get married. You’re going to have a wedding six months after me, just like we planned.’

Molly turned her head to look at her friend. ‘No.Youplanned it. Just like you plan everything without even considering my feelings.’

‘Don’t be daft,’ said Bridget, rolling her eyes. ‘You’re just overwhelmed by the proposal. Come on, you know it makes sense.’

‘Yeah, come on,’ chimed in Gary. ‘I mean, you wanna be my wife, don’t you?’

‘You’re not listening to me!’ shouted Molly suddenly. ‘You never ever listen to me. This is not what I want!’ Molly’s face was bright pink from the effort of shouting to made herself heard.

Immediately, Lucy, Belle and Amber all leapt up from the table and moved forward as one unit.

‘Oh, here they come!’ sneered Bridget as she saw them approach. ‘Your new friends. Making trouble again.’

‘Us? Trouble?’ said Lucy with an innocent look on her face. ‘I’ve never made trouble in my life.’

Even Molly had to smile a little bit at this.

‘Come on,’ said Amber, reaching out to pull Molly away. ‘Let’s get back to celebrating your birthday.’

But Bridget stood in front of them. ‘She’s not yours.’

‘She’s not yours either,’ said Amber, hotly.

‘That’s right,’ said Gary. ‘She’s mine!’

Lucy rolled her eyes. ‘She’s not anybody’s, you stupid man! She’s a grown woman with her own mind who has decided she doesn’t want to marry you.’

‘She should do,’ he said, a sullen look on his face.

‘Just how thick are you?’ Lucy said. ‘Look, I can’t believe that this is a new thing for you to comprehend. People must find you very annoying all the time. I mean, I’ve wanted to slam my knee into your groin since the first time I met you. Don’t take it personally. I’m sure everyone feels the same way when they meet you.’

‘Leave him alone,’ said Bridget.

Lucy glared at her. ‘And as for you. Leave. Leave now and forever hold your peace because Lord knows we don’t get any all the time you’re around. So take your lack of design skills, your overwhelmingly bad fashion choices and your huge loud mouth and push off.’

‘Are you going to let her talk to me like that?’ said Bridget, glaring at Lucy before turning to look at Molly. ‘Your oldest friend?’

Molly looked down for a moment, silent as she bit her lip.

‘I see,’ sneered Bridget. ‘You’ve changed since you got your new friends. I suppose you think you’re better than me nowadays.’

‘I have cockroaches in the back of the pub that are better friends than you,’ said Belle, standing next to Molly and putting her arm around her.

‘I’m so sick of being told what to do,’ said Molly suddenly. ‘I know what I want and I don’t think it’s you as a friend any more.’

Bridget looked astounded. ‘You can’t talk to me like that.’

‘I can talk to whoever I want,’ said Molly, sounding a little stronger now. ‘Because it’s a free country and I’m a free person. So I can choose who I want to talk to and who I don’t. Now please leave me alone. Both of you.’

Bridget glared at her. ‘You’re nothing without me,’ she began, obviously building up to a tirade.

But with one look at Molly’s upset face, Lucy decided to cut her off. ‘Leave,’ she said, getting right in Bridget’s face. ‘Now.’

Bridget opened and closed her mouth a few times, reminding Lucy of a bloated fish. Then she abruptly spun around to walk away, shaking her head as she went to storm off. Unfortunately, she lost her shoe again in the grass and had to come back a few steps to pick it up. Swearing, she snatched it off the ground and limped off, holding her head high as if she wasn’t hobbling off with any dignity.