Page 46 of The Village of Lost and Found

He felt even more guilty as she was being so kind to him.

‘About yesterday when I saw you in the lane,’ he began.

She instantly wrapped her arms around herself in her usual defensive gesture. ‘It doesn’t matter,’ she mumbled, suddenly avoiding eye contact with him by staring at the floor.

‘It matters very much,’ he told her. ‘I apologise. I said it all wrong, as per usual.’

Lucy shrugged her shoulders. ‘Expectations,’ she said, still looking down. ‘I always fail to meet them.’

‘That’s not true,’ he said quickly. ‘You’ve worked really hard and I’d hate for you to leave just because I can’t keep my big mouth shut. You’ve made a huge transformation to the place.’

‘But will it make any difference in the bigger scheme of things?’ she said, suddenly looking up at him.

He blinked, trying to understand her words. If only he didn’t feel so fuzzy-headed, he thought. ‘I don’t know what Dodgy Del’s put in that gin,’ he said, with a groan.

‘Whatever it was, it was highly flammable,’ said Lucy, with a grim smile.

Tom frowned. ‘Was there a fire?’ He was horrified. Had he caused it?

‘More of an explosion really,’ Lucy told him. ‘It’s OK. Nobody was hurt. Del placed a couple of bottles next to the fire pit and they sort of blew up.’

‘Oh my God,’ muttered Tom. ‘What happened?’

‘Del and I got pretty much covered in sticky liqueur,’ said Lucy. ‘And Belle’s going to have one hell of a clear-up on her hands in the pub garden because the stuff got everywhere!’

Tom ran a hand through his hair. ‘Where was I when all that happened?’ he asked.

‘You’d already gone home,’ Lucy told him. ‘But when I came back a little while later, I found you in the office trying to work.’

‘Work?’ said Tom.

‘Although you were in a bit of a state,’ she carried on. ‘I think you’d have passed out in your chair within minutes.’

Tom felt what little blood he had left in his face drain away. Lucy had found him drunk in the office. What a mess!

‘I thought you could probably do with a coffee to try and sober up, but by the time I got you upstairs, the gin was hitting home and you fell asleep on the sofa,’ said Lucy.

Tom glanced down and realised that there was a blanket and pillow next to him. Lucy had obviously placed them there. He automatically checked but, yes, he still had all his clothes on, so at least he hadn’t stripped off or anything really awful. Her long legs on the other hand were looking fabulous in all their bare glory as she sat opposite him.

‘Thank you,’ he said and looked back up at her. ‘I’m so sorry. I hope I behaved myself.’

‘You did behave,’ she said, sounding as if she was trying to reassure him. ‘Honestly, you were fine. You just wanted to go to sleep.’

Pass out, more like, he thought. It had been very kind of Lucy to put up with him in that state and after everything that he had said.

‘What about you? How are you feeling?’ he asked, leaning forward to take another sip of coffee. He had a splitting headache and was hoping that the pills would start working soon.

‘Not too bad,’ she told him. ‘I didn’t like the gin so didn’t have very much.’

‘There’s nothing worse than a smug person without a hangover,’ he said, with a smile.

Lucy gave him a smile in return, which lit up her pretty face. ‘How about that toast?’ she asked. ‘Do you think you can stomach some?’

‘If you’re sure,’ he said.

‘I’m starving, so I’m putting some on anyway,’ she said, standing up to head back into the kitchen.

He looked at her long legs for a moment and then deliberately looked away, finding himself starting at the ghastly colour combination of the lounge. ‘These colours are awful,’ he said.