Page 101 of The Village of Lost and Found

Lucy just hoped that it would be useful to the village and surrounding community and was keeping everything crossed.

Tom gave her a nudge. ‘It looks great,’ he told her with a warm smile before heading outside to chat with Del.

At least Tom was smiling again, she thought. She wanted to see him happy. And that was what worried her most of all. She liked Tom. Really liked him. When they had kissed, she had felt something pass between them. A connection. All she really wanted to do was kiss him again and properly.

The trouble was, her track record with men was a disaster. And there was no reason to think that if she took a chance with Tom that it would turn out any differently.

54

At exactly 9 a.m. on Monday morning, Tom stood and watched as Lucy stepped forward to cut the red ribbon that had been strung across the front door to the newspaper office.

‘I now declare The Cranbridge Community Hub open!’ she said, somewhat shyly.

The watching crowd cheered and clapped before waiting for Molly to take some photographs on her mobile. Finally, Lucy stepped out of the way to allow everyone inside to see what their hard work had accomplished.

As Molly showed everyone around, Frank headed over to his niece to give her a hug. ‘I’m so proud of you,’ Tom heard him say.

‘Well, let’s see if it gets used first,’ replied Lucy, as ever, deflecting any praise as to what she had achieved.

Tom thought it was particularly poignant that she still had no confidence in herself. She obviously had no idea as to what she had managed to achieve in such a short time.

He yearned to follow Frank’s hug with one of his own, but he just about managed to stop himself in time.

He immediately thought back to their kiss. It may have been a couple of weeks ago but he couldn’t stop thinking about it. He wanted to talk to her about it, but there never seemed to be a spare moment when they were left alone these days. His eyes were drawn to the large poster that Lucy had placed in the front window. ‘Community Hub! Open every day 9-5!’ it read.

He wandered inside to help Molly show people around. Taking a peep inside his old office, he could see that the Mothers and Toddlers group were already making themselves at home. The sound of children playing and laughing filled the air. It was definitely a happy sound and one that was in stark contrast to the almost silent office it had been until a month or so ago. A couple of plastic tubs of donated toys now filled the two shelves on the bookcases and there were blackboards and a couple of paint easels as well.

Molly walked past him with a small group of people. ‘Back here is the kitchen and the toilet,’ she was telling them. ‘We’ve got a kettle and a microwave so you can bring your own food and drink.’

Turning back around, Tom smiled to himself as he saw that Keith had settled into his now familiar spot on the end of the sofa. Every so often he would scout around the floor of the office to see if any kind of food had been dropped. At least it would ensure not much hoovering would need to be done, thought Tom.

He noted that one of the hot desks was already in use by a local businessman.

‘This is great,’ the man was telling the group. ‘It feels like I’m in an office again and seeing actual people and not just, you know, on a screen on Zoom.’

The small daily charge seemed to have been set at just the right amount to encourage others to enquire about how it worked. It felt as if the villagers were already warming to the idea of a meeting place where they could leave the loneliness of their homes for a while. It was a theme that he was using for the editorial in the free paper that Lucy wanted to hand out at the summer fete the following weekend.

He had all sorts of ideas for what he wanted to say, most of them thought up during his morning run. Each day he was running further and as he became fitter, he found that his thoughts were clearer as well. Of course, the fight against the quarry wasn’t over yet so he still had that to concern himself. The writing was going really well, but he was still a little unsure as to what role he might play in the community hub. He was a newspaper man, after all. What could he contribute?

But at least he was writing again. All because of Lucy, of course. The words flowed and he couldn’t stop. He felt so much more positive these days. There was hope now. Something tangible and good to hang on to for the future.

He just hoped Lucy belonged in it as well.

Lucy was so thrilled with everyone’s reaction to the community hub being opened. All the comments had been really positive.

There was just one slight concern and that was Tom.

Despite his enthusiasm and support, she knew that he was feeling slightly set apart from everything with regard to the hub. As she stood next to the window, she could see him standing to one side and looking a little lost.

A woman suddenly poked her head around the open front door. ‘Hi,’ she said, hovering nervously. ‘Is this the, er, hub?’

Tom was nearest to the door so he stepped forward and smiled at the woman. ‘Hi. Welcome along. How can we help?’

The woman bit her lip. ‘I’m not sure if this is anything you could help me with. I was looking for some advice really. I just wondered if someone understood about planning regulations. I’m so confused.’

Tom gave her a warm smile. ‘I’ve got a couple of links on my computer to the council website. Let’s have a look, shall we?’

As he led the woman over to his desk, still chatting animatedly, Lucy realised that Tom would be OK and smiled to herself as she walked away.