Page 93 of All Wrapped Up
‘I’m not sure that’s the sort of thing you say to a friend,’ I pointed out and then wished I hadn’t because it caused a blush to bloom.
‘Oh crikey,’ said Ash, also turning rosy. ‘Not friendly territory at all. While I go and recycle these boxes, you can completely forget I said that.’
I was more than happy to oblige.
We’d printed certificates and had them framed for the winning shop owners to either add to their window displays or hang in the shops. Second and third place had been awarded to the delicatessen and jewellers respectively, and the overallwinner was Hardy’s, the art supplies and stationery shop which had used Keats’s poem, ‘To Autumn’, as its inspiration.
All of the windows were beautiful, but that one was especially lovely with a wonderful display of many of the seasonal treasures Keats described and the poem copied out on a piece of parchment in the most exquisite calligraphy, and suspended amid flying paper swallows, at its centre.
Quite a crowd had gathered to follow Ash and I about as we did the rounds and unbeknown to me, Jemma’s husband, Tom, had called the local press and a photographer turned up to listen to what was being said and take photographs.
Again, I hoped I wouldn’t get a mention, but as festival organiser I supposed it was inevitable that my name was going to feature more at some point. The photographer certainly seemed to being taking a lot of photographs in my direction, but perhaps I was just being paranoid. Given the invasive media interest following Callum’s death, I still wasn’t much of a fan of the press and was very aware of him as a result.
Between us, when we had finished in Hardy’s, Ash and I took the opportunity to explain to everyone who had gathered about why the public vote couldn’t also be announced. In the face of my reprised anger and frustration over the ballot box, I forgot about the photographer and wasn’t nervous about addressing everyone either.
‘But who would do that?’ someone at the front of the crowd asked angrily and lots of other people joined in. ‘Who would be that mean?’
‘That’s what we’d like to know,’ Ash sighed. ‘So, if you have any information at all, do please let either myself or Clemmie know.’
Happy smiles had been replaced with furrowed brows and, as furious as I still was about what had happened, I quickly moved the announcement on in the hope that it wouldn’t bring down everyone’s mood and spoil the day.
‘But not to worry,’ I said robustly, ‘because we’re having another vote to make up for it and today’s winners have agreed to not be included, so all of the other shops are in the running for this one.’
‘And we’ll be keeping the ballot box somewhere else,’ Ash added. ‘We’ll let you know where as soon as we can.’
‘Jemma has said you can put it in the Cherry Tree!’ Tom shouted from the back.
‘Fantastic!’ Ash called in response, giving him a thumbs up. ‘Thank you.’
We hadn’t had a chance to talk to her yet, but Tom obviously had and she had kindly stepped up.
‘Let’s not let one naysayer spoil everyone else’s fun!’ someone else piped up.
‘Hear! Hear!’ was the rousing reply and I felt delighted to see everyone coming together to make the most of the horrible situation.
Once the crowd had dispersed, Ash insisted he was hungry again, so we headed over to the café to fill him up on cake and thank Jemma personally for offering to keep the ballot box.
‘Can we come in with Pixie?’ Ash asked, as we lingered on the threshold.
‘Of course you can,’ Jemma insisted. ‘Get in quick. It’s freezing out there today. How did announcing the winners go?’
Both the café and the gallery hadn’t been included in mine and Ash’s deliberations. They both had stunning seasonal displaysset up, but Jemma and Lizzie had asked not to be considered as they had both been involved with the festival’s inception and felt they had a vested interest.
‘Really well,’ I told her. ‘Though, as you know, we couldn’t announce the public vote.’
‘Yes,’ she said, with a shake of her head. ‘Fancy stealing a ballot box! I told Tom it should be reported to the police. You won’t have to worry about me losing sight of it in here, because I’m chaining it to the counter!’
‘Thank you, Jemma,’ I gratefully said.
‘How long is the vote going to be running for?’ she then asked.
‘How about a week?’ Ash and I said together, then smiled.
We hadn’t discussed it, but both had the same timeframe in mind. It felt good to be on the same wavelength as my deputy and now we were back on a proper footing, I wouldn’t feel awkward if I needed to call on him for support. With so much of the festival still to take place, that would be more of a possibility than ever.
‘That should be long enough,’ said Ash. ‘We can’t really leave it any longer, because the winners won’t have time to make the most of it.’
‘I’ll have to quickly get more ballot papers printed…’ I said, pulling out my phone to make a note. ‘If we find out who the culprit is for stealing the first lot, we’ll bill them for ink, paper and wasted time.’
