The House Sitter by Elizabeth Drummond

Author:Elizabeth Drummond [Drummond, Elizabeth]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780008520076
Publisher: One More Chapter

Chapter Fourteen

The month of June advanced relentlessly and Pippa’s days were full of caring for the house and garden as well as organising the fair. She was grateful. It stopped her from dwelling too much on Alex’s unilluminating voicemail. But today, she’d checked the calendar and realised that he’d called on the anniversary of their first ever date. Coincidence? She wasn’t sure. But just as she’d felt she was turning a corner; Alex had reared his head again, threatening the peace she’d so valiantly created for herself. Those four words on the voicemail strummed through her mind, mocking her. Months without contact and that was all she got? An instruction to call like she was some kind of employee.

Her phone buzzed and she checked it anxiously, sighing with relief that it wasn’t Alex, just a text from Frankie. She had hoped that it was Mr Rogers from Pigs in Clover. She had been pursuing the upmarket butcher to purchase a stall for the Summer Fair, with little luck so far. They would be a perfect candidate for a premium spot on the green, but Mr Rogers wasn’t returning her calls. Pippa couldn’t deny a twinge of guilt though, as Juniper was fast becoming one of her favourite sights around the garden. The sassy swine had taken a liking to breaking into Squires’s Garden and was especially fond of rootling around Pippa’s fledgling vegetable garden for treats. Pippa was tackling it as best she could; however, there was scant advice out there on how to protect them from half-ton rare-breed pigs, even in the dusty old gardening books she’d rescued from Squires’s library. She’d ended up cobbling together something from old chicken wire found in the shed and fallen branches harvested from the wreck of the maze.

So far, it was working. Hilariously, it seemed like Juniper had taken her efforts to protect the vegetables as a personal challenge and visited more often than not, butting her snout into the wire mesh petulantly. Whilst the vegetable patch was doing very well, the maze was another story. Pippa had attempted to clear the weeds there several times, but the task seemed never-ending, with the weeds regrowing quicker than she was able to keep on top of them.

Wolfie hadn’t been around much in the past week either. The last time they’d spoken, he’d muttered something about being needed in London and Pippa could only presume that he was with his girlfriend, the one he was selling this place off to please. So, it was a little surprising to hear Wolfie’s voice that morning as she knelt in the dirt, pulling up the pesky weeds that had sprung up overnight. Wolfie emerged into the garden, accompanied by a short, ruddy-faced man in a shiny suit.

“…so, yes, on a good day you can see clear across the moors,” Wolfie was saying as they approached Pippa.

“Simply stunning,” the man commented. “You can’t buy a view like that. Well,”—he elbowed Wolfie with a wink—“obviously someone can.”

“Quite.” Wolfie agreed. “As you can see Clough Hill is nearby.

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