Page 6 of Moonlight Kisses at Willow Tree Hall

It was a tiny English hamlet nestled amongst the hills in a valley. In the centre was the ancient church of St Barnabas, its wobbly spire high above anything else in the village. Along the main street was the infant school, a couple of shops and a pub.

Willow Tree Hall could just be seen peeping through the trees beyond. Normally it was surrounded by lush green fields and, out of view, the river. But after a hot, dry summer, the fields were golden as the grass had died, leaving only the baked, scorched earth.

She smiled, as she always did whenever she saw the view. She had been so determined to escape Cranley when she had been a teenager, but ever since then she had yearned to be back there and missed it terribly whenever she was away for any length of time. Especially as somewhere in the valley her parents and grandad were waiting for her in a tiny cottage.

Her grandad had moved into the family home after he had been diagnosed with heart problems a year ago. He had taken Lily’s old bedroom and that was fine, because she was never going to move home again. Or so she had thought at the time.

Lily glanced in her rear-view mirror but couldn’t see out at all, such were the number of bags and suitcases that she had packed into her Mini. She had spent all morning traipsing up and down the three flights of stairs, to and from the room she had rented in a shared flat, to cram her belongings into her car.

She had been hoping to move out and straight into Mark’s flat once she was engaged. But she hadn’t even heard from him since that night at the Natural History Museum. She sighed heavily. A failed relationship. And now she was jobless too. So much for her life plan.

But at least she was still in control. There was no way that she was going to even consider living in yet another dodgy flat. She would take stock in her lovely home village for a week or so and then start again. She really couldn’t afford to take any longer than a brief holiday, but it would be so good to see her family again.

She pulled up the car outside No. 1 Cherry Tree Avenue. The road was wide and tree-lined, bathed in the warm sunshine on a mid-August late afternoon.

As she got out of the car, she noted how dusty the ground was. It had been weeks since it had rained properly.

She straightened up from grabbing her handbag from the passenger seat, and the front door to the neighbouring cottage was suddenly flung open.

‘Hiya!’ said Megan, popping her head around the corner. ‘I thought it was you. Welcome home!’

‘Thanks,’ said Lily.

Megan’s family had lived next door, at No. 2, for as long as she could remember. When Megan’s parents had moved up to Scotland a few years previously, Megan and her husband Neal had moved in to make it their own family home.

‘I’m sorry about your job, though,’ said Megan. ‘Your mum told me. And about the breakup as well.’

‘Good news sure travels fast,’ said Lily, with a grimace.

‘I think your mum’s secretly pleased to have you back for a while,’ said Megan, with a wink.

‘I know she is,’ said Lily, blowing out a sigh. ‘It’s just, you know, having to move back in with your parents when you’re nearly thirty…’

And the only spare bedroom was now a tiny box room.

‘Think of the cheap rent,’ said Megan, with a grin.

Lily didn’t have the heart to tell her that it wasn’t so cheap – she had been sending part of her wages to her parents each month to keep a roof over their heads.

‘Oh! I nearly forgot,’ carried on Megan. ‘I’ve got a parcel for you.’

Lily headed around the path and up towards No. 2. The grass was overgrown on either side and, inside, the sounds of a hectic family home filtered into the evening air.

‘It’s a big one today,’ said Megan, reappearing with a large cardboard box. ‘Thankfully, it’s lighter than it looks.’

Lily took the parcel and checked the label. She wasn’t surprised to see her dad’s name on the label, despite the box appearing to be from a baby food company.

‘Another day, another win,’ said Megan, with a smile.

‘I guess so,’ said Lily, looking down at the box. ‘If it’s age appropriate, you can have whatever’s in here.’

‘Thanks,’ said Megan. ‘Little Sam really enjoyed last week’s free rusks.’

Lily rolled her eyes. ‘I don’t know why Dad insists on entering all the competitions for children as well as all the other stuff,’ she said.

‘I’m not complaining,’ said Megan.

Lily understood. Times were hard and her dad’s obsession with entering competitions at least meant that everyone stood to gain from his surprisingly frequent winning entries.