The Lost Garden in Lily Vale Village (Lily Vale Village Book 9): An uplifting, heart-warming and hilarious romantic comedy set in the British countryside by Imogen Payne

Author:Imogen Payne [Payne, Imogen]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2025-03-07T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Fourteen

‘So wait, this woman just upped and left the village without a word?’ Lucy asks, her mouth hanging open. ‘And no one knows where she went?’

Lifting my cider for a gulp, I shake my head. ‘I even asked Victor, since Rosemary would be around the same age as him now. He remembers her, and how she vanished in the night with no trace, but that’s all he had to say.’

‘Wow, weird. I can’t believe this is the first time I’ve ever heard of Rosemary Grey before.’

‘Shh!’ I hiss. ‘Not so loud!’

Eyes darting around the small pub, I shush her, though I needn’t bother. The Pheasant’s Nest is rather busy, especially for a Monday night, but everyone is too occupied with their own conversations to pay much attention to ours, and I’m inclined to keep it that way. Although I’m eager to learn more about Rosemary and her garden, I don’t want to go round spilling the beans about it to everyone, at least for now. The lost garden is my little secret, one I share with Shaun and no one else. Eventually, it would be nice to open it up to the villagers, when it’s safe and back to rights, of course, but for now, I like that we’re the only two people who know how to find it.

‘Okay, okay!’ Lucy clucks her tongue. ‘Still, it is strange, isn’t it? How Rosemary and her garden have been all but forgotten.’

‘I know, and I don’t know where to look for clues to find out more,’ I tell her. ‘I think Shaun has a lead, it’s one of his clients, but I won’t know until he’s spoken to her this week.’

Giggling, Lucy claps her hands. ‘Ooh, this is all so exciting! I’ve never had to solve a real mystery before, I feel like we need to put a team of detectives together. Oh, speaking of teams, I hope you don’t mind, but I invited my friend Lottie to join us. She’s a new girl too, been here less than a year. She used to live in Paris and design for the runways, now she owns her own boutique here in Lily Vale.’

‘That’s great, I’d like to hear what she thinks of this village, I could do with another outsider’s perspective.’

‘Hey, I was once an outsider too!’ Lucy nudges me. ‘But now I’d never leave.’

I roll my eyes fondly. ‘You sound like Victor.’

I’m still not sure if I’ll be leaving or staying put. I definitely want to see our garden project through, but once it’s complete, I can’t say if I’ll be sticking around. My job means I can pretty much set my hat anywhere, but Lily Vale isn’t the sort of place I’d imagined settling down. I wanted the suburbs - near a city, but rural enough that any children I had could play safely anywhere. Lily Vale is rural, alright, I think there’s more cows on the roads than cars!

A slim and stunning woman swans into the pub, drawing many admiring glances as she does.

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