Page 98 of The Village of Lost and Found

‘As long as he doesn’t get doggy drool over my pizza,’ said Tom.

They walked around to the entrance to the apartment before Tom followed her upstairs. Once more, he couldn’t stop himself looking at the smooth, bare skin on her back.

Once at the top of the stairs, he was pleasantly surprised when he saw the decor.

‘Wow, this looks better,’ he said, staring around at the pale walls.

‘It’s great, isn’t it?’ she said, heading over to switch on the oven. ‘Molly’s redone the whole place.’

‘Can I do anything?’ he asked.

‘Just make yourself at home,’ she told him, as she pottered around the kitchen.

He sat down on the sofa, which was surprisingly comfortable. It certainly had a nice feel to the place, he thought. The high ceilings and beams helped, as well as the lack of black and pink, thank goodness.

Keith jumped up on the sofa next to him.

‘If you think you’re sneaking any more food tonight, you’d better think again,’ said Tom, waggling his finger at the dog.

Lucy headed over with some napkins. ‘We’ll eat on our laps, shall we? If you can trust Keith.’

‘I’m not sure I do entirely,’ said Tom, with another glance at the dog, who was now sprawled on the sofa, keeping one eye on the kitchen.

‘I’m a bit overdressed for pizza,’ said Lucy, glancing down at her clothes. ‘Perhaps I should get changed.’

‘Don’t,’ he said, shaking his head. ‘You look really nice tonight. You should wear skirts more often.’

‘Maybe I will.’ She tucked a stray lock of dark hair behind her ear and went back to the kitchen, blushing.

‘So Uncle Frank seemed keen on our ideas,’ she said.

‘Youridea,’ he reminded her. ‘And yes, he did. We both are.’

‘And then there’s the summer fete!’ she told him, biting her lip and looking unsure. ‘I mean, it should be OK if I can get it organised in time, along with everything else.’

‘You’ll be fine,’ he told her.

‘The Summer Fete sponsored byThe Cranbridge Times!’ she suggested, breaking into a soft laugh. ‘You know what? It works really well. And we’ll give out a free copy of the newspaper to everyone who comes.’

‘Now wait a minute,’ said Tom, quickly. ‘I didn’t agree to that.’

She waved away his concerns with her hand. ‘You’ll come round,’ she told him. ‘It’s free advertising for both the newspaper website and the community hub.’

She had a point, of course. It was incredible the way she always seemed to know what the right thing to do was.

As they ate their pizza, they exchanged ideas about the community hub and newspaper. Tom was struck by just how passionate she was about it all. She really did care about making people’s lives better.

Afterwards, Tom helped tidy up the plates and then got ready to leave. Keith had fallen asleep on the sofa after only a small piece of pizza crust and was snoring away happily.

‘So the summer fete is normally held the last Saturday in July from what your uncle told us,’ said Tom, standing in front of her at the top of the stairs.

She nodded. ‘Yup.’

‘So you’re staying at least until then.’

She grinned. ‘Yes, you can’t get rid of me that easily. Besides, it sounds as if I’ve got a community hub to organise in the meantime.’

‘It’s so important,’ said Tom. ‘That’s why the newspaper is so necessary as well. I don’t mean for us, but for the local people. Rural hamlets are so isolated and they need to feel part of something and somewhere. To belong.’ He stopped abruptly and leant back against the bannister. As usual, he’d gone on for too long and had probably bored her. ‘Here endeth the lesson,’ he added, rolling his eyes.