Andrew couldn’t help smiling as he nodded. ‘I’m well aware how it sounds, there’s just something different about this girl. We even talked about having children last night.’
Jacob groaned and Andrew laughed, having only added that little titbit to wind his brother up.
‘In the general sense, not ‘“Let’s make a baby now.” Just… I told her about Sophie and she was horrified.’
‘Well, most decent human beings would be. I never knew what you saw in Sophie anyway. In fact, most of your girlfriends have been questionable. Remember that one, the over-enunciator?’
‘Tammy, yes that did get annoying,’ Andrew said as he remembered how she would carefully pronounce each word for him and overexaggerate all of her lip movements to help with his lip-reading. He did try to explain that with his hearing aids in it was unnecessary, and that when he had them out her excessive lip movements actually made it a lot harder, but she didn’t seem to comprehend.
‘And the one that shared her bed with hundreds of cuddly toys,’ Jacob said.
Andrew laughed as he remembered Beatrice. The cuddly toys had gotten everywhere which always made having sex a bit of a challenge. She had been a sweet girl but not someone he could hold a decent conversation with.
‘And Saskia, she was into all that kinky stuff, wasn’t she?’ Jacob said.
‘Trust you to remember her name.’
‘Why did you let her go?’
‘If I’m honest, she was more than a little scary,’ Andrew said.
‘You couldn’t handle her, you mean?’
‘Something like that.’
They approached the crossroads with the pub and he smiled to see Willow’s shop window filled with all manner of candles in different colours. She certainly brightened up the place.
‘And then there was Morgan,’ Jacob said, scathingly.
‘Morgan was never my girlfriend. Not really.’
He’d known Morgan for a long time. Her brother was deaf and Andrew had been friends with him. Morgan sort of came with the package. They’d kind of grown up together and then lost touch over the years. They’d bumped into each other a couple of years before and somehow ended up in bed together. Neither of them had wanted something serious, although they had slept together four or five times over the next few months. But it had never been more than just sex between two friends. He hadn’t seen her for nearly a year now and last he’d heard she had been dating a pilot. She had seemed delighted to hear from him when he’d called her a few days before to ask her to do the screens. He just hoped she wasn’t coming here in the hope of rekindling their friendly arrangement.
‘And why do you say her name like that?’ Andrew asked.
‘I always felt she used sign language around hearing people because she loved being in this secret club they weren’t privy to.’
Andrew didn’t agree with that. Sign language had always been such a big part of Morgan’s life. With her mum and her brother being deaf, sign language had been Morgan’s first language so she would often lean towards that in a conversation.
‘Morgan doesn’t switch to sign language to annoy or exclude hearing people. She constantly flicks between the two in the same way that a person who is raised in a bilingual family might switch between the two languages in a conversation,’ Andrew said, feeling the need to defend her.
‘No, I get that,’ Jacob said. ‘But I always got the feeling that wasn’t what it was for her. She had a bit of a nasty side sometimes. I never liked how she would use sign language to take the piss out of hearing people, knowing full well they wouldn’t understand what she was saying. There was something a bit cowardly about that. And I’ve never liked bullies.’
Andrew suppressed a smile. Jacob had been like a bodyguard when they were at school, standing up for him against anyone who would dare say anything derogatory about him. Jacob had landed himself in detention many times after getting into fights. He wasn’t the only person his brother had stuck up for, it was safe to say he was champion of the underdog. But Jacob was right, Andrew hadn’t really liked that side of Morgan either. After being on the wrong side of insults and jokes growing up, he didn’t like to see other people being exposed to that, whether they knew it or not. But whenever Andrew stopped her from doing it she always insisted she was only joking. And Morgan did have a lot of good qualities; she raised a lot of money for charity, spent a lot of time fighting for more accessibility for deaf people, and Poppy adored her. Morgan was great with his niece, she always had a lot of time for her.
‘She’s coming here today actually, so try to be nice,’ Andrew said.
‘Whoa, why is she coming here?’
‘She’s doing a big backdrop for the entrance to the village.’
‘Your old girlfriend and your new girlfriend together, is that wise?’
‘Morgan was never my girlfriend. She dated other people while she occasionally came to me for no-strings-attached sex. We’re friends. I’m sure it’s going to be fine.’
Jacob didn’t look so sure. ‘Does Willow know?’
‘Yes. Well, no. She knows Morgan is coming here to do the backdrop. She doesn’t know that we…’
‘Were friends with benefits?’ Jacob helpfully supplied.
‘Yes, if you like. She doesn’t need a detailed rundown of all the women I’ve been with just like I don’t need to know a potted history of all her ex-boyfriends.’
‘OK, you keep telling yourself that. Personally I think if you want this to work with Willow then you need to be honest with her.’
‘OK, OK. I’ll tell her. Jeez, I just hadn’t given it any thought. It’s been a year since I’ve seen Morgan, she’s not exactly been uppermost in my thoughts.’
‘Just tell Willow. I’m going for breakfast, I’ll catch you later.’
Andrew nodded and watched Jacob disappear inside the pub. Well that was a conversation he wasn’t really looking forward to. Suddenly his day looked a little bit duller.
* * *
Willow was busy working in her shop when Liz and Roger came in.
‘Hello,’ Willow said in surprise. Apart from Andrew and Jacob, they were the first visitors in her shop. Although something told her they weren’t there to buy anything. ‘Are you here to buy or…’
‘There were more presents delivered last night,’ Liz said, almost bursting at the seams with the exciting news.
‘What?’ Willow asked in confusion.
‘Kitty came down to the village this morning to buy some milk and she said she had been left a parcel last night, a beautiful hand-knitted pink scarf. Kitty loves scarfs and this one had lovely little flowers all over it,’ Liz said.
‘Well who left that for her?’ Willow asked. Were there secret members of the Secret Society that she didn’t know about? Seeing that her and Andrew were the only members, that was unlikely.
‘Well that’s the question, isn’t it?’ Roger said, bouncing on his toes and fixing Willow with a look.
‘It wasn’t me,’ Willow laughed and for the first time she could be completely honest about it.
‘Julia did say she saw you and Andrew eating in his kitchen when she walked Colin and Rufus past the back of his house early evening,’ Liz said.
Willow made a mental note to close the curtains whenever they were in Andrew’s house or hers from now on, especially at night time.
‘Well there you go, we were busy. It was actually our first date,’ Willow said, trying to deflect the conversation away from their possible guilt.
‘Talk about shutting the stable door after the horse has bolted,’ Roger muttered.
‘I’m sorry?’ Willow said.
‘Well, you’ve already slept with him, seems a bit late now to have a first date.’
‘We haven’t slept together. We’ve been—’
‘Getting to know each other,’ Liz and Roger echoed.
‘Umm yes, exactly. Anyway, it wasn’t us, we were together all night and then Andrew walked me home.’
‘Aha, so you could have delivered the scarf then. Or Andrew could have done it after he dropped you off,’ Liz said.
‘It was very late and we were both very tired. Andrew has been so busy helping with the renovation of the village. I doubt he went home after dropping me off, hand-knitted a scarf and then walked all the way up to the castle to deliver it.’
Liz and Roger looked at each other as if they might actually believe her.
‘There was another present too,’ Roger said.
‘Oh my god, who?’ This was getting more and more bizarre.
‘Joseph. He found a book about roses this morning on his doorstep. It was gift-wrapped.’
At least Willow had a good idea who that might be from. Dorothy had probably left it there to thank him for the cake she was so convinced he had left. But did that mean that she had left the present for Kitty too?
‘Well this is getting a bit mysterious,’ Willow said. She certainly needed to talk with Andrew about it over lunch. What did this mean for her list if Joseph and Kitty had already received a present? ‘Maybe it’s the fairies.’
‘Hmm, we’ve got our eye on you, young lady,’ Roger said, which sounded a bit too stern considering her only crime was to give presents to people.
Willow smiled. ‘I’ll keep that in mind and if I see the fairies, shall I give them a message?’
‘Yes, tell them we don’t like it,’ Liz said.
‘Aw Liz, I bet the fairies will give you a present too, I’m sure they will make sure everyone gets one,’ Willow said.
Liz snorted her disapproval and left the shop. Roger watched her go and then turned back to Willow with a glint of excitement in his eyes.
‘Chocolates, she loves chocolate,’ Roger said. ‘Just in case you are in contact with the fairies. Or tea. Liz loves flavoured tea. She has hundreds of different flavours in our kitchen. I gave her some cheese-flavoured tea once, she wasn’t so keen on that but most flavours she loves.’
Willow grinned. ‘I’ll be sure to pass that along… if I see them. And is there anything in particular that I should tell the fairies that you would like? No guarantees of course.’
‘Ah no, I’m fine. A calendar with half-naked men or that Chris Hemsworth, or a half-naked Chris Hemsworth. Something like that would go down a treat.’ He winked at her and left the shop.
She smiled. Well this was getting interesting.
Twenty
Andrew leaned against the door frame of Willow’s shop as he watched her engrossed with her work. She looked like she was doing a very weird version of KerPlunk with this latest candle, sticking kebab sticks into a large paper cup at different angles so their ends came out the other side.
He approached her from behind and slid his hands round her waist, placing a little kiss on her neck. She immediately turned round and wrapped her arms around his neck, kissing him deeply. He gathered her close as the kiss continued. God, he could keep kissing this woman all day.
‘Hello,’ she whispered against his lips as she pulled back slightly.
‘Well that’s the nicest greeting I’ve had in a very long time,’ Andrew said.
‘Let me just finish this and I’m all yours,’ Willow said, turning round in his arms to face her candle. His hands, which had been at her hips, were now resting on her bum. He didn’t move them away and she didn’t seem bothered by it either. In fact as he stroked his thumbs down her bum, she gave a little wiggle against him that drove all sense and any coherent thought from his mind.
He cleared his throat and tried to focus on something else instead.
‘What are you doing?’ he asked.
‘It’s a bit of an experiment really. I kind of wanted a Swiss cheese effect with these holes all the way through the candle. Once it’s hard, I’ll take the sticks out and the holes should still be intact. If it works, I’ll try thicker sticks to make the hole bigger. The only problem I have is the wax might seep out of the holes in the cup so I’m going to use this melted wax which has been cooling for a while and I’ll pour a little bit into the cup first to try to seal the holes around the sticks.’
His hands were still on her bum and he was having trouble concentrating on anything she was saying. He decided to step away so he could listen to her properly. She flashed him a smile.
He watched as she poured a bit of the wax into the cup and rotated the cup in her hands so the wax sloshed around its sides. Once she was happy, she poured the rest of the wax inside and filled the cup to the top.
‘There, that should do it. We’ll see how it turns out later,’ Willow said, turning back to him. ‘Now I’m all yours.’
‘Well, would you like to accompany me to lunch?’ Andrew said, offering out his arm.
‘I’d be delighted. Are you taking me some place grand?’ Willow said, locking the door behind her and linking her arm through his as they left the shop.
‘Yes, the finest eating establishment in the whole of the village.’
Willow giggled. ‘Oh, I have some interesting news. There were two more presents delivered last night.’
‘What?’
‘I know, that was pretty much my reaction. Have you been sharing that secret handshake with other people?’
He laughed. ‘No, I promise, you’re the only one I’m… shaking hands with.’
She grinned up at him. ‘Glad to hear it.’
‘So go on then, spill. Who got the gifts?’
‘Kitty got a scarf and Joseph got a book about roses.’
‘Well, that is interesting.’
‘That’s what I thought.’
‘People who have received the gifts are trying to pay back the people who they think gave the presents to them,’ Andrew said.
‘Yeah, maybe. Or, they are paying it forward: “I’ve received a nice gift, I want someone else to have a nice gift too.”’
‘Yeah, it could be that.’
‘Although personally I think Joseph’s gift was from Dorothy,’ Willow said.
He nodded. ‘I was thinking that.’
‘Great minds.’
He pushed open the door of the pub which was a lot busier than normal. There was a steady hum of happy noise as people sat and talked. Andrew and Willow walked up to the bar where both Tabitha and Connor were busy serving.
‘What’s going on?’ Andrew asked Connor.
‘I don’t know, but it’s been like this ever since those gifts have started to appear. They all want to come here and catch up on the latest news surrounding the gifts. Of course the two of you getting together has also added to the excitement. So for god’s sake, don’t break up,’ Connor said.
‘We’ll try not to,’ Willow said, looking up at Andrew with a smile.
Andrew gave her a kiss on the forehead and to his surprise there was a little cheer of appreciation from behind him. He looked around to see that almost the whole pub was watching them. Small communities were not all they were cracked up to be.
‘What do you have on the menu today?’ Andrew asked.
‘We have lasagne.’
‘That sounds great.’
They ordered their drinks and took them over to a small booth.
Willow looked around to see if anyone was listening to them, but they were all too busy with their own conversations to bother with them any more.
‘So what do we do about Joseph and Kitty now?’ Willow asked quietly. ‘Do we go ahead and give them a present anyway, which will mean they get two presents, when everyone else will get one? Or do we cross them off the list now they have received a gift, regardless that it wasn’t from the Secret Society?’
Andrew thought about this carefully. It didn’t seem right that some people in the village didn’t get a present from the Secret Society, but they had at least received a present, even if it wasn’t from them. ‘I think, for now at least, we cross them off the list. It will look suspicious if they get two, like you said, and lots of people haven’t even had one yet.’
Willow nodded. ‘OK. So who sho
uld we do next?’
Andrew looked around. ‘How about Tabitha and Connor?’
‘Excellent idea. And I have just the thing for Connor too.’
‘Oh yes?’
Willow leaned across the table. ‘Ken was saying the other day that he wished that Connor was a bit more adventurous with his cooking, especially with his fish. I have a huge fish cookery book my brother bought for me when I was on a bit of a fish health kick a while back. I never made any of the dishes, it pretty much sat untouched on the shelf in my kitchen for the last few years, but I brought it with me as it was from Luke and it seemed wrong to throw it out. Now I think it would be much more appreciated by someone else.’
‘Great idea,’ Andrew said, taking a sip from his drink. He watched her pull the list out from her pocket and flatten it on the table.
‘What should we give Tabitha?’ she asked.
‘What did we put down on the list?’
Willow pulled a face. ‘I think hers was one of the ones we filled in towards the end of the night. We put chocolates, but that’s a bit lame.’
That was a bit rubbish. ‘The Secret Society can do better than that.’
‘Well, you know her better than I do. What kind of things does she like?’ Willow asked.
‘Cliff Richard.’
‘Really?’
‘She loves him,’ Andrew said.
‘Yeah, I can’t see us getting Sir Cliff to come down here for a pint,’ Willow said.
‘No.’ Andrew thought about this for a moment. ‘But there’s a young lad who lives in the next town. He does a tribute act of Cliff Richard. Apparently he’s really good. Looks like him too, in his younger years. He used to do all the local pub gigs over the last few years. I think he’s stopped lately because he’s at university, but he did a gig a few weeks ago for charity. Maybe we could convince him to come here and do a small set in return for free fish and chips.’
Willow broke into a smile. ‘That’s a great idea.’
‘OK, let me see if I can make a few phone calls, see if he’s willing and what his availability is like.’
The Little Village of Happiness: A gorgeous uplifting romantic comedy to escape with this summer Page 16