Page 8 of All Wrapped Up

It was no wonder she hadn’t volunteered to take on the role of festival coordinator with so many fairies to make.

‘And for lots of other people around here, too,’ she said, confirming what Lizzie had said about Wynbridge being big on Christmas the day we met.

If I made a success of the new venture, the town would hopefully be known going forward as being big on autumn, too. By this time next September, we could have almost a third of the year wrapped up in seasonal celebrations!

‘Do you think you might possibly be able to spare just a little time to pitch in if it becomes certain that the festival will go ahead?’ I asked Bella.

‘I’ll certainly try,’ she evasively said.

‘All along I’ve had my heart set on there being at least an autumn themed market day or two, so I could perhaps help out with that.

I have this whole bolt of tiny leaf patterned fabric and I’m already turning it into fairy clothes.

I’ll be adding autumn fairies to my website, but selling them here in town would be great, too. ’

I rather liked the sound of the fabric and the market. That gorgeous scene in You’ve Got Mail where Tom Hanks takes his young relatives around the autumn fair was one of my favourites in the entire film.

‘Don’t talk to Clemmie about autumn fabric,’ Lizzie then laughed. ‘Because she’ll be pinching it to put up in Rowan Cottage.’

‘You’re a proper fan of the season then?’ Bella asked and I watched Lizzie turn red.

‘Well, of course she is,’ said Jeanie as she moved our drinks across the bar, ‘otherwise she wouldn’t be thinking about taking the festival on, would she?’

‘I’m sorry,’ Lizzie groaned, once she’d paid and we had sat down. ‘In my excitement, I let my mouth run away with me a bit there. I promise I won’t let it happen again.’

‘No harm done,’ I charitably said, because I could see she was genuinely upset. I clinked my glass against hers. ‘Let’s forget about it. Here’s to the festival.’

‘To the festival,’ Lizzie echoed, ‘and to you and Ash making a huge success of it.’

‘I’m pleased you’ve mentioned him,’ I said, having taken a drink, ‘because we really need to let him know that his offer to deputise is about to be taken up, don’t we?’

‘I’m going to leave that to you,’ Lizzie said, reaching for her phone. ‘I’ll give you his number and you can call him. Consider that your first task as event organiser.’

‘Don’t you think it will be better coming from you?’ I asked, even though it did appeal to my organised nature to be able to tick something off the to-do list so quickly.

‘Your circus,’ Lizzie said mischievously as she showed me her phone screen with Ash’s number lit up. ‘Your monkeys.’

‘That sounds like chaos already,’ I tutted and she laughed.

While I keyed his number into my mobile, Lizzie went back to the bar to talk to an older woman who had joined Jeanie.

‘That’s Evelyn,’ Lizzie said, when she came back again and I had put my phone away with Ash’s number added to my contacts list. ‘Jeanie’s aunt.

She owns this place with her husband, Jim.

’ I looked over at her and she waved, so I waved back.

‘She’s said we can meet in here Wednesday night to rally the troops and officially launch the idea. ’

I let out a long breath. The wheels were properly in motion now. It was really happening and not just in my head.

‘That’s just four days away,’ I breathlessly said as I counted the days off on my fingers.

‘It would have been sooner, but we wanted to give you some time to prepare,’ Lizzie kindly said. ‘And Evelyn knew that a few of the people who I’m hoping will come onboard aren’t available to get together before then, either.’

‘It’ll already be the third of September on Wednesday,’ I puffed, feeling slightly panicked.

‘Don’t worry,’ she soothingly said. ‘It’ll be fine.

You just come up with some ideas that will involve more than pumpkins and the general idea Moses had and I’ll make sure this place is packed out to hear them.

I have every faith in you, Clemmie, and I reckon by the end of the meeting you’ll have more volunteers than you know what to do with and the festival schedule will be halfway complete. ’

I hoped her faith in me was going to be proved right, because having now become more familiar with the market square I could easily imagine it decked out in autumn hues, with the smell of pumpkin spice filling the air.

I was determined to take the idea that Moses had come up with and make it even grander.

‘Not exclusively my circus then,’ I smiled, feeling very appreciative of the fact that it didn’t sound like Lizzie was going to leave me and Ash entirely alone to get on with it.

‘I’ll help crack the whip until you’ve met everyone and you’re feeling ready to wear the ring-mistress outfit,’ she winked.

‘Great,’ I laughed. ‘I’ve always wondered how I’d look in a top hat.’

That evening, I lit one of my favourite autumn scented candles, draped a fleecy blanket over my lap and cracked the spine on a brand-new notebook.

I had tried calling Ash, but he hadn’t picked up, so I whiled away the time listing ideas because what I had to tell him felt far too important to send in a text.

By the time I went to bed, I had a healthy-looking list of festival possibilities, but it was nowhere near enough to fill the whole of the season.

I had floated the idea of a long weekend of events set around the school half term and Halloween when I was in the pub, but Lizzie, Bella and Jeanie had all wrinkled their noses and said that wasn’t what they envisaged for the festival at all.

Like me, they’d clearly got bigger aspirations than what Moses initially had in mind, too.

It had been on the tip of my tongue to ask them to precisely describe what they had all imagined, but decided to save that question for the meeting the following week. I would doubtless be nervous, and opening the floor up for everyone to chip in would mean I’d hopefully have to talk less.

‘Hello?’

The voice that answered the last of my many calls to Ash on Monday morning, sounded husky and thick with sleep, even though it was well after nine.

‘Ash?’

‘Yeah. Who’s this?’

‘It’s Clemmie. Clemmie Bennett from Rowan Cottage.’

The line went quiet, aside from some rustling and I wondered if the call was about to be cut off. I had discovered that both Wi-Fi and phone signal could be a bit temperamental and patchy in certain parts of the windswept Fens if the mood took it.

‘Clemmie,’ Ash then said, sounding marginally more alert as he cleared his throat. ‘Sorry, I didn’t know this was your number, and I can see now that you’ve called loads. Is everything okay?’

‘Yes,’ I said, feeling embarrassed to have already rung so many times, but I had been keen to have him confirm his commitment before I got too carried away. ‘I’m fine. Are you?’

‘Yeah,’ he sighed. ‘Well, sort of. I was on call over the weekend and had an emergency to deal with both nights, so I’m a bit tired today.’

‘And now I’ve rung and disturbed your sleep.’ I grimaced, then imagined him in bed and went hot. ‘I’m so sorry.’

‘You’re fine,’ he kindly said. ‘I needed to get up to see to Pixie anyway. She’s patiently waiting to be let out and for me to get her breakfast.’

I imagined the little dog with crossed legs.

‘In that case, I’ll let you get on.’

As keen as I was to tell him about my involvement in the festival which would hopefully secure his, I didn’t want to ruin his opportunity to catch up on some sleep, or keep Pixie waiting longer than she already had been.

‘No, you’re fine,’ he insisted. ‘You must have had a reason for ringing.’

‘I did, I do, but honestly, it’ll keep. I’ll catch you later. Go and see to Pixie.’

‘All right,’ he said, sounding disappointed. ‘I’ll be in touch and I promise I’ll be more awake when we talk again.’

We ended the call and I fell to wondering if Ash was really going to have any spare time to help out with the festival after all. His work was clearly full-on and then there was his house-hunting. And Pixie, of course.

‘You might end up flying solo after all, Clemmie,’ I sighed, as another event idea landed and I eagerly jotted it down.