As easily distracted as a kitten with a ball of string, she wandered over to the potting bench where I had spread out a selection of leaves which I had gathered throughout the morning.
‘I thought it might not be a bad idea to start collecting some leaves now,’ I told her. ‘If the forecast isn’t great when Lisa and I have our session, then I’ll already have some to hand that haven’t turned soggy. They don’t have to be dried out before they’re preserved, but they do have to be intact – and it won’t hurt to have a back-up plan.’
‘You’re all fired up by the sounds of it, Freya,’ said Carole.
‘I wouldn’t go that far,’ I told her, ‘but I’m hoping I won’t feel quite so stressed about it all, if I’m well prepared.’
‘I’ll share those words of wisdom to the others when Winterfest is officially announced,’ said Carole as I gave Nell her lunch and locked her in the shed, just to be on the safe side.
I didn’t want to take her with me and I couldn’t risk her wandering off unattended and ending up in Finn’s lair again. Not that given her first experience of the place, she was all that keen to go back, but you never know.
‘Let’s go and tell Luke what we’ve arranged then.’ Carole urged. ‘Kate said he’s in his office.’
Luke was in his office, but we couldn’t go straight in to see him because he was already talking to someone. The three of us sat on chairs in the corridor, with our backs against the walls like the three wise monkeys. I wasn’t sure which one I would have been.
Poppy looked at me sitting poker straight and tried to stifle a giggle.
‘I feel like I’ve been sent to the headmaster’s office,’ she squeaked, her shoulders shaking, with laughter.
‘You’ve had a lot of experience of that, have you, Poppy?’ asked Carole, which made her laugh all the harder and set me off too. ‘Why am I not surprised?’ she tutted, adding an eye-roll for good measure, which made Poppy crumple further.
‘What’s all the racket out there?’ came Luke’s voice from the other side of the door.
‘There,’ said Carole, sounding cross. ‘He’s heard you, and how does that look when he’s got someone in there with him?’
The door was suddenly plucked open and Poppy bit her lip, her cheeks turning the brightest shade of red.
‘I might have known,’ grinned Luke. ‘You’d better come in.’
‘Sorry, Luke,’ said Carole, ‘we didn’t mean to disturb your meeting. We can come back later if you like.’
‘No, it’s all right,’ he said, beckoning us in. ‘I’m not in a meeting. It’s only Zak. He’s doing a bit of measuring up.’
‘Only Zak,’ said the man’s voice from inside, sounding offended, ‘that’s nice, that is.’
‘Oh,’ winked Poppy, ‘now we’re in for a treat. Watch yourself though, Freya, he’s trouble, this one.’
‘For pity’s sake,’ hissed Carole. ‘Pack it in, the pair of you.’
Poppy giggled again and we followed our leader into the office. If I hadn’t felt like a naughty schoolgirl before, I did then. Poppy had pulled me down to her mischievous level and as a result Carole had tarred me with the same brush.
‘I might have known,’ said the man who had to be Zak because he was the only other person in the room, ‘don’t you ever go to work, Poppy?’
‘I’m on my lunch break,’ she pouted, ‘and what about you, you hardly sound hard at it.’
‘Oh, I’m always hard at it,’ he grinned, tossing and catching the tape measure he was holding.
It was tricky to make out what he looked like while he was standing in front of the window but when he moved aside to let Luke back behind his desk, I caught sight of a pair of impressive biceps in a slightly too tight T-shirt, sparkling blue eyes and a buzz cut.
‘So,’ said Luke, ignoring Zak’s flirtatious innuendo, ‘what can I do for you three?’
Zak turned back to his measuring but not before he’d winked at Carole. It was my turn to bite my lip and Poppy covered her mouth with her hand. Luke pretended he hadn’t noticed anything, but he must have done.
‘I’m hoping you’ve come to tell me that you’ve had some ideas about filling Winterfest sessions,’ he said, looking between us.
Poppy nodded and Carole, positively glowing with pride, handed him her papers.
‘We’ve got plans for four Saturdays and three Sundays,’ she said proudly.