The Garden of Forgotten Wishes - Trisha Ashley Page 0,91
we want paying. We’re a team effort, aren’t we, young Marnie?’
I liked being called ‘young’; it reminded me that I still was. ‘We certainly are,’ I agreed.
‘Well … thank you,’ he said. ‘Marnie, I could do with some help in the office first thing, if you wouldn’t mind – and then perhaps we’d better finally go and distribute the leaflets everywhere we can think of. Or maybe Charlie could? His sister, Daisy’s, taken over helping in the café now it’s her school holidays and he said earlier he could give me a hand with anything I wanted doing, before he starts on that dig.’
‘What about the expense?’ I teased him.
‘Charlie’s coming cheap, as long as he gets cash in hand,’ he said. ‘I wonder what he’s like at putting wooden walkways and bridges together?’
‘They’re all brought up on Lego; it’ll be a doddle,’ I told him.
21
Flower Power
For the next few days I knew I’d have to devote myself to the Grace Garden, so I spent a quiet early morning hour trimming the remaining lavender bushes into pleasant hummocks, ready for the new growth later in the year. One of the bushes had been half-pruned into a sort of Mohican, presumably by Myfy before inspiration made her wander off again.
Ned wasn’t expecting me for a little while yet. He’d rung me briefly the previous night to make sure I really did want to work today. He’d had another word with Gertie, James and Steve, too, and in the end persuaded them to take the day off, in order to prepare themselves for a very busy two days getting the garden as ready as possible for the opening – and all the visitors we hoped would come over Easter weekend.
Of course, I’d given my new, permanent mobile number to Elf and Myfy as well as Ned, since they were my employers … though after the Paranoid Years it felt odd that anyone other than my family and my solicitor should know it.
Ned had suggested that I meet him at the office around nine, when Charlie was also calling in, because he and a friend were now going to distribute the garden leaflets all over the district, which was a much better idea than Ned doing it.
Charlie must have been early, because he was just leaving the office when I got there, carrying three boxes.
‘Hi, Charlie,’ I said. ‘Are those the leaflets?’
‘Yeah, and a list of places to leave them, though I’ve got a few ideas of my own, too,’ he said slightly indistinctly, since he was pinning down the list on the top of the boxes with his chin, so it didn’t blow away. ‘I’m not coming back with any, that’s for sure.’
He headed off towards the visitors’ gate and I went into the office, where Ned was sitting at his desk in front of a laptop, looking slightly harassed.
‘I hadn’t realized Charlie had a car,’ I said. ‘That’s handy.’
‘If you can call it a car, though he swears it has a full MOT.’ He looked at the screen again and sighed. ‘I made the mistake of checking the website inbox and loads of people have been emailing me, mostly with questions.’
‘What kind of questions? Interesting ones?’
‘No, so far they’re all stuff like what the opening times are, how much a ticket costs and how to find us – all the information they can already find under their noses on the website.’
‘There’s nowt so queer as folks,’ I said, going and looking at the corkboard wall, which was now liberally covered on one side of the old garden plan with Ned’s to-do lists, some marked Urgent! There was also a three-phase long-term plan.
He’d already ticked off one to-do list and right at the top of the next was, ‘Lay wooden walkway around top marshy area, then plant up.’
‘Jacob’s here – he’s down by the new water feature, fixing up his kinetic flower sculpture, or installation, or whatever he calls it,’ he said rather morosely, swivelling round in his chair and watching me run my finger down the lists. ‘Myfy spent last night up there, so she helped him carry it down. She said I should be honoured to have it.’
‘So you should! It’ll be a popular attraction and you’ll probably get art lovers making a special trip to the garden to see it.’
But my finger had stopped at ‘The Project – Phase 1: Marnie to complete the restoration and any necessary replanting in the rose garden and open paths to public.’