Page 41 of The Village of Lost and Found

‘Right. I’ll take a strawberry,’ said Lucy.

Belle nodded. ‘Wise choice. The rhubarb one is revolting.’

Belle spooned some ice into a cocktail glass before pouring in some of the bright red gin liqueur.

Lucy made her contactless payment before taking a tiny sip. ‘Hey, that’s not too bad,’ she said.

‘Told you so,’ replied Belle.

Lucy glanced around and saw Tom, Amber and Josh sitting on a long table, along with a couple of other men she didn’t know. She hesitated. She really didn’t want to talk to Tom that evening.

‘Go on,’ said Belle, with a knowing look. ‘Amber will need some respite from all that male testosterone she’s surrounded by.’

Lucy took a deep breath and carried her glass over to the table.

‘Hi,’ she said, in an overly bright tone.

‘Hi,’ said Amber, looking pleased to see her.

‘Hi,’ said Josh, looking at her drink as she placed it on the table. ‘I hope you chose better than I did, flavour wise.’

‘Hey!’ said Dodgy Del, who was sitting on the next table. ‘I’ll have you know that’s quality rhubarb, that is!’

Josh made a face. ‘I’m not even certain that it is actually rhubarb,’ he said, pushing away the drink.

Lucy sat down next to Amber and willed herself to look at Tom at the end of the table. Expecting his usual jokey self, she was surprised to see him looking down at his glass and appearing very morose.

She took a large sip of her drink and gave a small choke. ‘Wow,’ she said, tears appearing in her eyes. ‘That’s pretty strong.’

At this point, Tom appeared to come to life. ‘Yes, it is, thank goodness,’ he said, taking his yellow-coloured liqueur and downing it. ‘I’m off to get another one.’

As soon as he had got up and wandered over to see Belle, Amber and Josh exchanged a heavy sigh.

‘What on earth is wrong with him tonight?’ asked Amber.

‘I don’t know,’ said Josh. ‘He’s been miserable since he arrived.’

Lucy glanced over to where Tom was standing silent as Belle poured him yet another drink. He downed it in almost one gulp and then held out his glass for another. She watched as Belle hesitated before pouring another gin liqueur for him.

Tom was obviously very intent on getting absolutely steaming drunk that evening. She wondered if she should try to help him in some way.

But then the anger flared inside her once more. He had insulted her and hurt her. Why should she care if he was upset?

When Tom returned to the table, he sat down at the other end next to Dodgy Del, far away from Lucy.

So she had her answer, thought Lucy. Tom obviously didn’t want to spend any time with her either, such was his low opinion of her.

She took another sip of her drink but it didn’t make her feel any better.

Tom knew that he was acting like a miserable fool that evening but couldn’t seem to shake himself out of his bad mood.

He had upset Lucy with his thoughtlessness and then hearing from Andrea had pretty much tipped him over the edge. Of course he had known it was their wedding anniversary, but he had tried to forget about it throughout the day.

But hearing her voice had brought all the pain back to him. Their wedding should have been a day that gave him fond memories. But the only thing he kept focusing on that evening was how many people he didn’t know at his own wedding reception. They were all people of use to Andrea’s career, she had told him later. Looking back, apart from the moment when they had exchanged their vows, it had been a normal business day for Andrea.

‘Glad to see you’re enjoying my liqueurs,’ said Del, looking pleased.

Tom wasn’t sure that he could even taste the flavouring. As far as he was concerned, the gin was only necessary to dull the pain inside.