Page 36 of The Christmas Fayre on Holly Field

‘Leave him alone,’ his companion said with a roll of her eyes.

‘I’m merely doing God’s work,’ the vicar replied loftily.

‘You’re doing work for the church roof,’ the woman said. ‘I apologise for my husband – Terry will grab any opportunity to drum up funds. It’s in dire need of repair, you see.’

‘Oh, I’m sorry. Let me give you a donation.’ Owen reached into his pocket for his wallet. But at the same time as the vicar began, ‘That’s awfully good of you—’ the woman said, ‘Don’t you dare. I won’t let you be guilted into it.’

Owen hesitated, looking from one to the other.

‘Seeing as you’ve got your wallet out,’ Aled interjected, ‘you might as well get some more drinks in.’

‘I haven’t finished this one yet,’ Owen objected; besides, he’d only been planning on having the one.

The woman let out a loud tut. ‘Aled, buy your own pint. Terry, wind your neck in. Honestly, this poor bloke has come in here for a quiet bit of lunch, and you two are haranguing him. I’m Betsan, by the way, and this lummox is Terry, otherwise known as the Reverend Terrence Pritchard. I take it you already know Aled, although I wouldn’t put it past him to tap up a total stranger for a pint.’

Aled’s face fell. ‘You’re like a bloody elephant, you are; you don’t forget. It was only going to be a small supermarket, not one of those ruddy huge ones.’

‘It doesn’t matter how big or small it was supposed to be – Foxmore didn’t want it.’ The vicar’s wife turned to Owen, who was rather bemused at the exchange. ‘Not so long ago, Aled was trying to get a Cornerstone store built on his field without any of the villagers knowing.’

Owen wondered how that would have worked, because it wouldn’t have been an easy thing to hide, but he didn’t ask, fearing what sort of answer he might get.

With relief, he saw the landlord approaching with his meal: now he would have a legitimate excuse to not engage in conversation.

Aled had the grace to get up from the table to allow him to eat his meal in peace, but he did give him a parting shot. ‘About that gravel, we’ll speak later, when there’s not so many nosy parkers around. There’ll be something in it for you,’ he said, but couldn’t resist adding, ‘I can’t afford to pay you much, mind.’

‘Ignore him,’ Betsan advised, but she couldn’t resist adding a little something of her own. ‘If you’re still in Foxmore and you fancy coming to the service on Sunday, we’d love to see you. We’re a friendly bunch.’ She glared at Aled’s retreating back. ‘Mostly.’

Owen, who had just popped a mouthful of piping-hot roasted cauliflower into his mouth, nodded an acknowledgement.

He loved places like this, full of odd characters and where everyone knew everyone else. It was comforting, somehow, and for the second time today he wished he had someone to share it with.

Unbidden, Harriet popped into his head again, and he slid his mobile out of his pocket.

Then slid it back in.

Harriet would not want to receive a message about his encounter with the vicar and his wife.

He didn’t know whether she would want to receive another message from him at all.

But when his phone pinged a short time later with a WhatsApp notification, and he read who it was from and saw the photo accompanying it, his heart lifted and he spent the rest of the afternoon with a great big smile on his face.

Chapter 9

It was more than a week before Owen saw Harriet again, and when he spotted her outside the shop selling soaps and candles, his heart skipped a beat and his mouth went dry.

‘Caught you!’ he said, creeping up on her and making her jump.

She let out a squeal and whirled around to face him. ‘Gosh, you gave me a fright!’ She put a hand to her chest. ‘For your information, you didn’t catch me doing anything. I was just looking.’

‘You were thinking about it,’ he teased.

‘I was trying to get some ideas.’

‘For a present for the birthday girl?’ he guessed.

Harriet nodded. ‘I haven’t a clue what to buy her. Sara says Darlene has asked for a Pandora bracelet.’

Owen wasn’t particularly au fait with women’s jewellery but even he had heard of Pandora and he knew it wasn’t cheap. He raised his eyebrows.

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