Page 91 of The Christmas Fayre on Holly Field

‘It’s good, isn’t it? And he didn’t want any payment for it either, bless him. He said he’d earned enough from selling the article and by the redirects to his blog. But I expect you know that already. Owen is a gem – but you know that too…’ Rowena stopped. Her eyebrows shot up and she stared at Harriet, horrified.

Harriet stared back, guessing that the expression on her face must be giving the game away that she didn’t have a clue about any of this.

‘Oh, blast. You didn’t know?’ Rowena looked mortified. ‘Damn, I shouldn’t have said anything – and Owen did ask me not to, but because you’re together I assumed you must know all about it. Look, forget I said anything.’ She bit her lip. ‘I’m sorry, I truly am, but it’s not as though he’s doing anything wrong, is it? I did wonder at the time why he didn’t want anyone to know that he’s the person behindPlanet B, but I’m sure he’s got his reasons.’

‘Planet B?’ Harriet echoed. She had no idea whatthatwas, either.

Rowena groaned. ‘I’ve really put my foot in it, haven’t I? Me and my big mouth.’

Harriet pursed her lips and said frostily, ‘What isPlanet B?’

Rowena’s smile was faint and apologetic as she said gently, ‘Don’t you think you should ask Owen?’

‘I’m askingyou.’

‘I hate breaking a confidence.’

‘You already have. I’ll find out eventually, so you may as well tell me now and save me some time.’

Rowena inhaled deeply. ‘Planet Bis the name Owen writes under, but I don’t know any more than that, sorry.’

Harriet gave Rowena her phone back. ‘Thank you. I won’t drop you in it.’

She was conscious of Rowena’s eyes following her as she left the shop and hurried home. She was supposed to be on her way to work, but something was going on and she needed to find out what. It mightn’t be anything to worry about, but if that was the case, why hadn’t Owen told her about this article he’d written? And there was also the implication that he had written others. Why was it such a secret? Why hide behind a pseudonym? And why had he led her and everyone else in Foxmore to believe he was an odd-job man?

As she scurried down the road, Harriet phoned Pen. ‘Do you mind if I’m a bit late this morning? Something’s come up.’

‘Oh dear, it’s not Sara, is it?’

‘No, nothing like that.’

‘Anything I can help with?’

‘Thanks for the offer, but no. I’ll be in later; I’ll tell you about it then.’

‘OK, lovely, take as long as you need. I can manage.’

Harriet knew that Pen probably wouldn’t manage, so she would try to be as quick as she could. She didn’t like leaving her boss in the lurch, especially not at this time of year, when the cafe would be crowded with shoppers wanting a spiced latte and a slice of Christmas cake or a mince pie. But she simply had to find out what was going on.

Harriet flew in through the front door and almost fell into the sitting room in her haste to reach the laptop. It was old and slow, but it was better than trying to squint at her mobile’s small screen.

Briefly, Rowena’s words popped into her head, and she vowed that she would ask Owen what was going on, but first she wanted to see if she could find anything aboutPlanet Bonline, just in case there was something she needed to know before she spoke to him. Hiding one’s identity like this wasn’t normal behaviour as far as she was concerned, unless there was something he was ashamed of or he had done something illegal – and if so, she wanted to be in full possession of as many facts as possible before she confronted him.

Maybe ‘confront’ was too harsh a word, but goddammit, she had entrusted him with her kids and if there was anything dodgy about him, she had a right to know.

Typing in the name Owen Loxton didn’t bring up any hits that were relevant to him, but neither had she expected it to. She had already idly looked for him on social media not long after he’d issued his challenge, and hadn’t found him on any of the sites, which hadn’t bothered her, considering his attitude towards consumerism.

However, when she enteredPlanet Binto the search bar, so many pages popped up that she didn’t know which one to read first. Top of the page was some kind of computer game, and below it was a site selling board games, and then a couple more things she didn’t think were relevant… and then she spotted it.

There was a blog calledPlanet B,and as soon as she clicked on it, she knew she had found Owen.

She also knew why he hadn’t told her about it: front and centre was a photo of someone she immediately recognised, even though their back was to the camera.

It was a photo of Harriet herself!

Chapter 20

In disbelief, Harriet scanned the site quickly, scrolling through the blog posts, her anger mounting with every word she read and every photo she saw.

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