Page 88 of The Village of Lost and Found

‘Changes all round,’ she murmured, as he closed his eyes and fell asleep on her lap.

As she carried on gently stroking his grey fur, one thought went around in her head. I don’t want to leave Cranbridge, she thought. I want to stay.

47

Tom, Lucy and Molly were gathered around his computer on Monday morning, all staring at the screen.

‘I like it,’ said Molly, nodding and smiling.

‘Me too,’ said Lucy. ‘It looks so much better.’

Tom could smell her soft perfume, making his head reel.

‘Good,’ he said, trying to concentrate. ‘I’ll let Del’s nephew know that we approve the new design.’ He looked back at the screen, pleasantly surprised. The new website was much better. It was far easier to use and looked far more modern.

Upon hearing the phone, Molly looked up. ‘I’d better get that,’ she said, rushing out of the office towards the reception desk.

Lucy straightened up at the same time as Tom and he realised how close they were standing to each other. He could see the individual dark sooty eyelashes which highlighted her emerald eyes.

‘Well, I’d better get back to it as well,’ she said, smiling at him. ‘Although I’ve pretty much finished all the tidying out there.’

Her voice trailed off and Tom was left with the horrifying thought that with nothing to do, she might leave the newspaper.

‘We’ll find you something,’ said Tom. ‘And don’t forget, there’s always my office to work on.’

She grimaced. ‘Don’t remind me.’

But she was smiling as she headed out.

He watched her go, her dark ponytail swinging from side to side as she went.

He was about to try to concentrate on work when he saw Frank come into the main office. He headed out of his office to find Frank was already fussing over Keith.

Lucy was looking at her uncle and shaking her head. ‘He’s going to get terribly fat,’ she said.

Tom looked down to where Keith was settling down to munch on a large rawhide bone.

‘He runs it all off,’ Frank said. ‘He’s a bag of energy.’

‘Talking of which, what are you up to today,’ asked Lucy.

‘Just heading around the block to stretch my legs,’ said Frank. ‘It’s time for me to start to do a little walking. I’ll be fine,’ he added, holding up a hand. ‘Don’t fuss.’

‘Perhaps I could join you?’ asked Tom. ‘I could do with a bit of fresh air for five minutes.’

‘Of course,’ said Frank, looking pleased. ‘The company will be most pleasant.’

They left Lucy and Molly in the office and walked slowly alongside the river.

‘Beautiful day,’ said Frank, as they went.

‘It certainly is,’ said Tom.

The sky was an endless blue which was reflected in the slow-moving river beside them.

‘Going to be a hot one this week,’ said Tom, relishing the warmth from the sun. The weather forecasters were predicting a heatwave over the next couple of weeks. ‘How’s the foot?’

‘It’s fine,’ said Frank, glancing down at his boot. ‘I’ll be glad to get rid of this thing though. It’s warm enough without the summer temperatures.’