Ivy Lane: Summer: Part 2 by Cathy Bramley

Author:Cathy Bramley [Bramley, Cathy]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781473509696
Publisher: Transworld
Published: 2014-07-03T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 7

Despite being visually unappealing, my gooseberry fool made with Greek yogurt was a triumph. In fact, I thought, licking the spoon one more time, if I ate any more I might not fit in to my dress. That was the problem with experimenting with recipes when you lived alone, you ended up eating every bit. I popped the bowl into the fridge to present to Alf later on and ran upstairs to get ready.

My new dress was hanging on the wardrobe door.

This would set tongues wagging. I’d lost count of the number of times people had told me to get my legs out on the allotment over the last few months.

I flung my T-shirt and leggings off and slipped the soft jersey fabric over my head. Round necked, short sleeves and hemline just below the knee; on anyone else this dress would be demure, but it was the most revealing outfit I had worn in . . . I did a mental calculation . . . almost two years.

I took a step back to get the full effect in the mirror and felt tiny bubbles of nerves fizz away in my stomach.

It was time.

At Easter Gemma had compared me rather unflatteringly to an onion, with layers and secrets as yet still unrevealed. I preferred to see myself as a flower unfurling under the nurturing care of the Ivy Lane community. And today I was finally ready to turn my face to the sun.

It was the first Sunday in August and the day of the annual show, the climax to what had been a tense few weeks and a chance for everyone to show off their produce. It was the highlight of Ivy Lane’s social calendar, so Christine informed me; the gates would be thrown open to the public and people from all over Kingsfield would be coming to visit.

And so would Aidan.

Four weeks had passed since the fire in the shop, when the Green Fingers team had last been on site. A professional company had been hired to clean up the fire damage, new doors fitted and the committee was awaiting an insurance pay-out to arrive before replenishing the stock. The fire was well and truly over.

However, there was still a tiny flame burning. Not brightly, or fiercely, but nonetheless, it was there. And it brought heat to my face every time I thought about Aidan.

The trouble was that I appeared to have developed a bit of a crush on a man who plainly wasn’t interested. Someone who had simply being doing his job. I couldn’t get that last filming session out of my head; he had truly seemed to care. And when I’d confronted him, he claimed I didn’t understand. I was confused and needed Gemma’s advice. Hence the dress, which would be the catalyst for a major heart-to-heart. Goodness only knows what she would make of all my news.

I glanced at my watch: eleven a.m. Only one hour left for any exhibits to be entered. I needed to get my skates on.

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