Page 40 of The Village of Lost and Found

‘Bridget!’ said Molly, looking mortified.

Lucy blushed bright red. ‘I think I’ll eat my toast in my bedroom,’ she said, picking up the plate and pointedly ignoring Bridget. ‘I’ll see you over at the pub.’ She gave Molly a small smile before heading into her bedroom.

Back in her room, she sat on her bed with a sigh.

Bridget’s jibe about Jamie had hit home. Nobody understood. He had told her that he was separated from his wife. The marriage was over, he had said. Like an idiot, she had believed him. He had wined and dined her over three months and she had even begun to fall a little in love with him. And then she had bumped into his wife in his apartment and the whole shocking truth had come out. She had decided there and then not to shed any tears over him. He wasn’t worth it. In fact, she had made a promise to herself not to cry over any man ever again. But even now she couldn’t escape her past as people just wouldn’t let her forget her mistakes.

Feeling wretched, all she could hear was Bridget’s screeching through the door.

Bridget was truly awful. What on earth did sweet Molly see in her?

All Lucy knew was that right now a lot of gin appeared very tempting. And that the fact it was the longest day of the year very much felt like it.

22

When Lucy headed into the pub, there was a small increase in the normal amount of people than she had seen last week. But it was still pretty quiet in the pub garden.

If you didn’t include Bridget, of course.

‘Of course, I shouldn’t have to pay for a drink!’ Bridget was saying, as Lucy wandered up to the makeshift bar outside.

Belle gave Bridget a glare, which, for most people, would be enough for them to head for the hills. But not Bridget, who obviously had the thick skin of a rhinoceros.

‘After all, I’ve got thirty-six people following me on Instagram now,’ carried on Bridget. ‘And if they know that I’ve been to this pub, then they’re going to follow me here. So you’ll have an increase in customers, thanks to my social influence.’

‘Well, I’ll just have to take my chance,’ said Belle, holding out the card machine in front of Bridget’s nose.

Bridget gave a huff, snapped to Molly, ‘You can buy this round seeing as you were the one who wanted to come to this dive,’ and then walked off.

Belle growled under her breath before looking at Molly. ‘I thought we’d talked about having yourfriendback,’ she said.

‘She means well,’ said Molly, looking desperate.

‘Does she really?’ drawled Belle before noticing Molly’s worried face. ‘Go on,’ she said, a little more softly. ‘Try the elderflower flavour. It’s one of the nicer ones.’

‘Thanks,’ said Molly, paying by card before heading back to sit with Bridget at the far end of the garden.

Lucy looked at Belle. ‘How’s it going this evening?’ she asked.

Belle shrugged her shoulders. ‘Not bad, so far,’ she said, looking around.

Lucy followed her stare. As the sun was beginning to sink lower in the sky, the whole garden was bathed in a golden light. Lucy thought it looked very pretty, with the river sparkling in the sunlight just beyond the fence. It was just a shame that it was only a quarter full of people.

‘I’m sure more people will come along later in the evening,’ she said.

‘I hope so,’ said Belle. She looked down at the dozen or so bottles in front of her. ‘So, what’s your choice?’

Lucy eyed the various coloured bottles of liqueur in front of her. ‘This is all the flavoured gin that Del made?’

Belle nodded. ‘Don’t worry. We’ve done a tiny taste of each and they’re actually better than expected.’

Lucy made a face. ‘The thing is, gin’s not really my choice of drink,’ she confessed.

‘It doesn’t really matter,’ whispered Belle. ‘To be honest, from what I could tell, they’ve put so much flavouring and sugar in each that you can barely taste the gin anyway. And I’ll fill it to the top with soda water.’

Lucy smiled. ‘Excellent. So what’s on the menu?’

‘Elderflower, strawberry, rhubarb, orange or blackberry,’ said Belle.