about his sculpture commission. I felt my temperature rise at the mention of Finn’s name. If we did end up together, I was going to be in constant danger of combustion!
‘Right,’ I said, reaching into my battered Barbour pocket to check the time on my phone, ‘tell me what I can do to help.’
My phone wasn’t in its usual spot and I realised I must have left it at Finn’s. That gave me the perfect excuse to go back, not that I needed one, but I didn’t want him to think I was hounding him.
‘I reckon a bite of breakfast might not be a bad idea,’ Luke suggested. ‘I bet you haven’t eaten yet, have you, Chloe?’
After a hearty breakfast with the family in the kitchen, Luke left Chloe and me to it and we ran through the schedule she’d drawn up and checked through her supplies again.
‘I know it’s silly, to feel so nervous,’ she told me, as she wiped her clammy hands down her jeans. ‘And I was fine until this morning but then the alarm went off and I realised just what I’d let myself in for.’
‘I was the same,’ I smiled, ‘but once you get into the swing of it, you’ll be fine.’
I left her in peace and went to find Kate to ask if everyone had now collected their preserved leaves which I had rinsed and separated into named bags. There was only one bag left and that belonged to Sara, the young woman who had signed up to do everything.
‘So, how’s it going, Sara?’ I asked her, once Chloe had registered the day’s attendees and we were taking a quick tour of the garden.
‘Really well,’ she nodded. ‘I’ve been keeping up with my nature journal and planning the children’s stories and a group of us met up for our first walk last week.’
‘That’s great,’ I said, thrilled that they were making good on the promise to keep in touch and do things together throughout the winter.
‘We went to Whitlingham Lake,’ she told me with a shudder. ‘It was absolutely freezing, but that said, we did feel better for the fresh air and exercise.’
‘That’s fantastic,’ I smiled, noticing Chloe was waving to get my attention, ‘I’m so pleased you’ve all kept in touch. I’ll have to add the lake to my list of places to visit.’
Finn had already suggested a tour of the cathedral, perhaps he’d fancy joining Nell and me for a walk around Whitlingham too. Or was I getting ahead of myself, imagining us strolling hand in hand, wrapped up in scarves and cosy layers, before settling down to supper in front of a roaring log fire?
‘It’s definitely worth a look,’ Sara smiled, unaware of my fireside fantasy, ‘but do wrap up warm.’
After helping Chloe, who was already feeling more confident, with the tour, which included admiring the hares in the meadow lawn and seeking out the dragons in the fern garden, I then acted as assistant while my friend gave a competent demonstration in the art of wreath-making. I found my helping hands were much appreciated as everyone twisted, formed and secured their wreath bases.
As I rushed around handing out wire and helping to weave willow ends into place, I realised that was the trickiest part of the process and it took a while to get it right.
‘There’s no point skimping on the base,’ Chloe told everyone as she checked their progress. ‘Think of this as your foundation. The tighter and more solid it is, the better the end result will be. Time spent on this now will pay dividends when it comes to longevity and impressing your neighbours.’
A ripple of laughter ran through the group and they carried on with renewed vigour. By the time we were ready to fill up on the lunch Carole, Kate and Luke had been preparing, and the smell of which was making our stomachs grumble, everyone had the firm foundation Chloe had insisted on and were looking forward to embellishing their efforts during the afternoon session.
‘Here’s one I prepared earlier,’ Chloe said, Blue Peter-style, as she handed me another base from her bag. ‘This is for you,’ she smiled. ‘Everyone will be able to manage to wire in on their own this afternoon, so I thought you might fancy making one for your front door.’
‘Oh, thank you, Chloe,’ I smiled back, taking the tight and tidy wreath from her. ‘I’d love to have a go.’
As before, lunch was homemade soup, and bread from Blossom’s, and