Page 104 of The Village of Lost and Found

‘Hi,’ said Molly, coming up to them with a wide grin. ‘Isn’t it wonderful? I’ve got so many photos to take. And everyone’s so enthusiastic about the hub! Somebody’s already asked me about hiring the big office for their craft club once a week.’

Lucy hugged herself. ‘It might just work,’ she said, more to herself than the others.

‘Of course it will,’ said Belle. But her face suddenly dropped. ‘I don’t believe it,’ she muttered, severely irritated.

‘What?’ Lucy spun around to see what trouble was afoot.

‘Dodgy Del, that’s what!’ said Belle, marching off.

Lucy rushed after her and soon saw what was troubling Belle. Dodgy Del had set up his own stall and appeared to be selling bottles of liquid.

‘Gin!’ hissed Belle, as soon as she was in front of him. ‘I don’t believe it after everything that happened last time!’

‘Now, don’t panic,’ said Del, putting his hands up in defence. ‘I haven’t filled them to the top, OK?’

‘What about the heat from the sunshine?’ asked Lucy, aghast.

‘I’m keeping them under cover,’ Del told her, waving a tablecloth at them both. ‘Don’t fret.’

‘If there’s any kind of explosions at this fete…’ began Lucy, waggling a finger at him.

‘I know!’ said Del. ‘Josh and Tom have already warned me.’

Belle rolled her eyes as they walked away. ‘Well, it should be a successful day if we all survive without any more explosions,’ she said with a sigh.

Lucy glanced up at the banner that ran across the whole of Riverside Lane proclaiming it to be the ‘Cranbridge Summer Fete sponsored byThe Cranbridge Times’. She just hoped that the only publicity they would be getting today would be good publicity if the gin bottles remained intact.

She spent most of the day handing out free copies of the newspaper to absolutely anyone and everyone who would take one. The reaction from everyone who read the editorial on the front page was the same.

‘This is marvellous!’ Uncle Frank told her, with tears in his eyes. ‘It really is.’

But it wasn’t just the reaction from the residents that gave Lucy hope. The reaction from the visitors to the fete as well was equally supportive.

‘They can’t put that nasty quarry next to Cranbridge,’ said one woman. ‘It’s not right.’

‘I agree,’ said her husband. ‘Now, where’s that website address for the newspaper?’

Molly whispered to Lucy later that the website had had its biggest number of hits ever.

Maybe, thought Lucy, this might just be enough to save both the newspaper and the village.

Having spent most of the day apart surrounded by people, Lucy finally had a moment alone with Tom late in the afternoon.

‘What do you reckon?’ she asked him.

‘I think that the proceeds from the fete should keep us in business for at least another year,’ he told her, smiling. ‘Maybe even two.’

Lucy’s shoulders relaxed for the first time that day. It had worked.

‘So what do you think?’ he asked her, studying her with those blue eyes which she knew so well by now.

‘About what?’

‘I can’t run the hub and the newspaper by myself,’ he told her. ‘Perhaps you should think about staying on indefinitely.’

She was about to reply when Tom’s attention was caught by a couple of local farmers who had wandered over to talk to him.

Lucy thought about what he had asked her. Could she stay on in the village?