Page 35 of All Wrapped Up
‘Far better than I had expected I would be when I first got the call from Mum telling me what had happened,’ he explained.
‘Well, that’s great. How’s your nan doing now?’
‘She’s still in the hospital and will be for a little longer, but my parents are already getting the annexe organised and sorting things at Nan’s house. Ideally, I’d like to be there to help, but obviously I need to be here for work. That said, I’ll go up whenever I can.’
‘You never did say where they lived, but I’m guessing it’s quite a distance away.’
‘Bakewell,’ he said. ‘In the Peak District.’
‘Crikey, that’s even further than I thought.’
‘I can do it in under three hours, if the traffic is kind.’
‘But not so easily with Pixie?’ I surmised.
‘I certainly couldn’t do there and back in a day with her. She doesn’t mind shorter distances, but her owner wasn’t a driver, so Pixie isn’t entirely au fait with the joys of being transported far on four wheels. It’s all quite a challenge.’
‘You really have got a lot on your plate now, Ash,’ I said, biting my lip.
I had been going to tell him that the autumn festival was back on, and properly this time but I didn’t want him to feel pressured into helping when he suddenly had trips to the Peak District to factor in to his already limited free time.
‘That’s life, isn’t it?’ He shrugged. ‘There’s always something waiting in the wings.’
‘You’re not wrong,’ I sighed.
I had come to know that better than anyone.
‘So, what else was your visit about?’ he asked.
‘What do you mean?’
‘You said, your visit was partly a social call, so I take it there was something else?’
I thought then that I’d stick to discussing my decision about Pixie, rather than mention the festival, but Ash was one step ahead of me.
‘I popped into The Cherry Tree for a takeaway lunch earlier,’ he grinned, ‘and Lizzie was looking very pleased with life. You wouldn’t happen to know why, would you? She was tutoring a one-to-one crochet lesson so couldn’t chat, but I could see she was bursting to say something.’
I had no choice but to mention the festival then.
‘I daresay she was still buzzing about the festival,’ I ventured.
‘The festival,’ Ash echoed. ‘I did wonder if that might be it. What’s happened now?’
‘Well, for a start, we now know that the lack of attendees at the meeting last week, was down to a… technical hitch, so we’re having another one tomorrow night to get it back on track.’
Saying it aloud made my tummy churn a bit, but in both a nervousandan excited sort of way. How often those two emotions got tangled up! Rereading Callum’s note really had offered a timely reminder that my feeling jittery actually meant that I truly cared about whatever had caused the collywobbles (one of Dad’s favourite words) and I clearly cared about the festival a lot.
‘Well, that’s great news!’ Ash declared. ‘And I know I’m going to be slightly more time pressured now than when I originally offered to step up, but I’ll still help out.’
‘You don’t have to—’
‘I know,’ he said, cutting me off. ‘But I promised I would, and I want to.’
‘Well, only if you’re absolutely sure.’
‘I am. And I’ll definitely be at the meeting tomorrow.’
‘As long as your truck doesn’t break down again,’ I nudged.
