Page 4 of All Wrapped Up
‘Oh, I’m sorry,’ she said, shaking her head. ‘I’m guessing you haven’t heard about it. Let me fill you in and then I just know you won’t be able to resist saying yes! You’re the online queen of autumn, for pity’s sake!’
I already had the impression that Lizzie Dixon was the sort of woman who could talk anyone into doing anything, but she was definitely barking up the wrong tree with me. I wouldn’t be saying yes to anything, no matter how temptingly or cleverly she framed it.
‘So,’ she began, sounding only a trifle more together, ‘simply put, the town is supposed to be hosting some events this year to celebrate the ber months.’
I hadn’t expected her to snag my interest with any of what she was going to say, but she had managed it with just those few words.
‘You mean, Wynbridge is going to have an autumn festival?’ I gasped, immediately drawn in, even though I didn’t want tobe. ‘There’s going to be a specific festival to celebrate the season?’
‘That’s it.’ Lizzie nodded, clearly delighted by my reaction. ‘I guessed right then? You haven’t heard about it?’
‘No,’ I confirmed. ‘No, I haven’t.’
Given that I barely left the cottage, that was no surprise, but Lizzie didn’t know that.
‘It was supposed to be a proper autumn festival,’ she then further elaborated for my benefit, ‘because thanks to the efforts of one farmer in particular, this area is fast becoming known as the pumpkin patch of East Anglia—’
‘Well, of course it is,’ I interrupted her, having momentarily forgotten that she now had the knowledge to send my world crashing down and that I was supposed to be resisting whatever she had to say. ‘The fields were full of them last autumn and there seems to be even more given over to them this year.’
The orange orbs were growing by the day and I couldn’t wait to see them at their peak ahead of harvesting. I had filled my grid with gourds last year and the response had been spectacular. I already had plans to post again as soon as they were ready.
‘I’ve noticed there are more fields planted up this year, too.’ Lizzie nodded. ‘And, as a result, autumn in the region has the potential to be even more spectacular than usual.’
‘You’re right,’ I agreed, knowing I couldn’t deny that. ‘But what’s that got to do with me?’
‘Everything!’ she announced. ‘Well, potentially everything, because I’m hoping you’ll agree to help out!’
‘With what?’ I frowned.
‘The festival, of course,’ she said, rolling her eyes as if it wasobvious while she glanced around my sitting room again. ‘There isn’t going to be anyone within a five-hundred-mile radius more qualified to get stuck in with it than you, Clemmie.’
Her kind words would have been flattering had she not un-expectedly just outed me as the face behind AutumnEverything, but now they, and the terrifying prospect of her sharing her discovery, were pushed to the forefront of my mind and filled me with a sense of panic and dread that made me want to rush to lock the cottage door again.
I might have just started thinking about the possibility of visiting the town and meeting some people, but I had no intention of revealing my online persona or throwing myself in at the deep end and getting involved in some huge community project. My reintroduction to living a more sociable life needed to happen slowly and be carefully managed if I was going to make a success of it.
‘Well,’ I hedged, in a desperate bid to put her off, ‘I’m sorry but I don’t actually have enough free time to help with the festival this time around, but I’ll definitely visit it when it’s happening.’ Lizzie looked disappointed. ‘Maybe I could sell some raffle tickets or something,’ I conceded in the face of her faded enthusiasm, ‘but only if you agree to—’
‘But I’m not asking you for that sort of help!’ she butted in again and with a fine disregard for what I’d just said about having no time. ‘I’m asking if you’ll actually run the thing, Clemmie! With your credentials and love of the season, there won’t be anyone better. This is what I was getting at when I said my finding you at home today was meant to be.’
‘You’re asking me to run the festival?’ I gasped, feeling slightly hysterical.
‘That’s it.’
‘Even though we’ve literally just met?’
‘A technicality.’ She shrugged as if that was the most minor detail of all. ‘Your love of the season is what counts.’
‘But—’
‘Are you working at the moment, Clemmie? Do you have a job?’
‘Well, no, but—’
‘So, you must havesomespare time then, which is just as well, because you’d actually need to set it up and organise it pretty much from scratch,’ she confessed. Her smile faded and her shoulders slumped. ‘I do appreciate that it’s a big ask…’
‘It’s an impossible ask,’ I said firmly. When she’d first described it, I had assumed it was already in the offing, but clearly not. ‘Who was it who came up with the idea in the first place?’ I asked. ‘Why can’t they do it?’
Her former buoyancy completely deflated then.
