Julia Williams 3 Book Bundle

‘Blimey, that’s impressive,’ said Kezzie. ‘Tell you what, I’ll see if I can persuade some of my guerrilla gardening pals to come down for a few days. I did ask them if they would when I saw them last. They’re pretty good at turning a barren patch of land into something that looks halfway decent.’

‘And we should really start Neighbourhood Watch patrols,’ said Lauren. ‘The local police aren’t going to do anything.’

‘I bet it’s bored kids,’ said Kezzie. ‘They probably just need something to do. When I was younger I used to get a buzz out of breaking into parks at night. Me and my mates didn’t cause much damage, but we caused enough. I got tired of being so destructive, but enjoyed the buzz of breaking in. So I became a guerrilla gardener instead.’

‘And now you’re a landscape gardener. How did that happen?’

Kezzie paused. She still felt uncomfortable talking about the reasons why she’d come here. And now that Richard appeared to have completely closed the door on their relationship, she was even more reluctant to come clean. She liked Lauren, and didn’t want her to think badly of her.

‘Richard persuaded me that I had a God-given talent that could be put to better use. I was pretty disillusioned with my job at the time, and then I got made redundant, so it seemed like a good idea.’

‘Why did you split up? If you don’t mind me asking.’

Kezzie pulled a face. As ever, when she thought about her last meeting with Richard she felt sick to the pit of her stomach. How could a moment of such stupidity have caused such a catastrophe? If she could have one wish in life it would be for that evening to replay differently, for her not to have had Emily that day, for Emily not to have done what she did, for Richard to still be in love with her.

‘I – well, let’s just say I cocked up big time,’ said Kezzie. ‘I did something really stupid and now Richard doesn’t want to see me any more.’

‘What on earth did you do?’ said Lauren. ‘It can’t have been that bad.’

‘It was in his eyes,’ said Kezzie, blinking back tears. ‘Sorry, I shouldn’t be so wobbly about it after all this time. It drives me nuts that I still am.’

Lauren reached over and gave her a hug. ‘Come on, Kezzie, we’re mates. Talk to me about it, it looks like you need to get it off your chest.’

So reluctantly, Kezzie told Lauren the story she’d told Flick. With Flick she had been fairly sure that she wouldn’t be judged, but Kezzie had heard Lauren go on about how much she hated drugs; she wasn’t sure Lauren wouldn’t be offended.

To her relief, when she’d finished Lauren snorted, ‘Is that all?’

‘What, you mean you wouldn’t have been cross if I let the twins eat magic muffins?’

‘They’re four years old,’ said Lauren. ‘That’s different. You know I don’t agree with drugs. But it wasn’t as if you told Emily to help herself. She shouldn’t have just assumed she could eat whatever she wanted without your permission. And frankly, she does sound quite obnoxious. Which is fair enough, she’s a teenage girl. I hated one of my dad’s girlfriends so much, that I put pepper in her tea. It wouldn’t surprise me at all if Emily knew exactly what she was doing and ate those muffins just to cause trouble between you and Richard.’

This was more or less what Kezzie had thought. ‘Do you really think so?’ She felt hugely relieved that her friend was being so supportive.

‘I sure do,’ said Lauren. ‘And if you ask me, Richard’s an idiot, letting his teenage daughter dictate his love life like that. I mean, he could have cut you some slack, couldn’t he?’

‘Do you know, you’re right,’ said Kezzie, wiping away her tears. ‘He damned well could have. He doesn’t deserve me.’

‘No he doesn’t,’ said Lauren. ‘Sorry, I hope you didn’t think I was interfering.’

‘Not at all, you’ve made me feel much better about it,’ said Kezzie, in control of herself again. ‘So come on, how are we going to go about patrolling the playground?’

‘Patrolling the playground?’ Joel said, when he came to pick Sam up. ‘Yeah, I’m up for that, so long as I can get a sitter.’

‘I can always have Sam overnight when it’s your shift, if you want,’ said Lauren. ‘From what we can tell, a lot of the damage occurs around 10 p.m. That does make it rather late.’

‘That would make life easier,’ admitted Joel. ‘Have you got many other takers?’

‘Quite a few,’ said Lauren. ‘I’ve even persuaded Sally and Andy behind the bar to do a stint, by promising to do a couple of extra shifts for them.’

‘And don’t forget, I’m doing one.’ Troy emerged from the kitchen, holding a spanner and looking very dishevelled.

‘How could I?’ said Lauren drily. ‘Joel, you remember Troy?’

‘Of course,’ said Joel. What was he doing here? For some reason, Joel felt put out. He knew Troy visited the girls, but Lauren had been very specific about the fact that he only came to see them, not her. He hadn’t realized that Lauren had started asking Troy for help around the house. He had no right to let it bother him, but he couldn’t help it, it did.

Troy was rubbing the spanner with a cloth.

‘That’s all fixed for you, Lauren,’ he said. ‘You shouldn’t have any problems with that pipe now. I don’t think it will leak again.’

‘Thanks, Troy, that’s brilliant,’ said Lauren. ‘That leak has been driving me mad for ages, and my landlady keeps promising to do something about it, and never does.’

Joel had no idea that Lauren had had a problem with a leaky tap. In fact, he realized he had very little idea of any problems Lauren might have. She never confided in him any more. He suddenly wished she would.

‘You should have said, Lauren,’ he said. ‘I’d have fixed that for you.’

‘Would you?’ Lauren looked at him in surprise. ‘It never occurred to me to ask.’

‘No job is too small,’ he said, wondering why he was so determined to prove his usefulness to her.

It was something about the way that Troy was arrogantly strutting around the place that he found frustrating. Troy had dumped Lauren in it, left her to it, and now seemed to have slotted straight back into her life, as if nothing had happened. It didn’t seem right, and Joel liked and respected Lauren too much to want to see her being hurt again.

Who are you to judge? a little voice in his head said. You were no better with Claire.

But at least I stayed, he thought.

‘It’s OK, mate,’ said Troy, whispering in a conspiratorial manner as Lauren busied herself getting Sam’s things ready. ‘Now I’m back on the scene, I can do all Lauren’s little jobs for her. I appreciate your concern for her, but you don’t need to worry about Lauren any more, she’s got me to help her now.’

‘I think Lauren’s managed pretty well on her own so far,’ said Joel bluntly. ‘You’re not the only one looking out for her, mate.’

He took Sam from Lauren’s arms, feeling more furious than he could remember ever feeling before in his life.

‘Thanks, Lauren,’ he said. ‘Please don’t feel you can’t ask me for help, you always can, you know.’

‘Bye, mate.’ Troy sat down on the sofa and picked up the paper. He really was making himself at home. Joel was seething when he got in the car. Who did he bloody well think he was? Lauren deserved so much better. But, depressingly, it was clear which way the land lay and Joel couldn’t understand why that made him feel so edgy.

Chapter Nineteen

‘Right, buckets and mops at the ready,’ said Lauren to the crowd who had gathered outside the Memorial Gardens as they posed for a photo for the local paper. She had been amazed at how easy it had been to get people galvanized to come and clean up the mess that the vandals had made. She’d put the word out with the school-run mums, and once the jungle drums began to roll everyone was keen to get involved. Lauren felt a renewed sense of vigour and optimism as she looked at the number of people who’d come to help. Even the newly appointed local MP, who had a young family of his own and a keen eye for good PR, was eager to be seen at the playground. This was great from Lauren’s point of view as it brought the added bonus of the local TV covering the story.

‘We could do with more of this sort of community spirit in Chiverton, where I live,’ the MP was saying. ‘It’s exactly the sort of thing the government want to promote.’

He was so enthusiastic he was even prepared to take the mop and bucket he’d used for his photocall and put it to use. His minders had to persuade him to stop scrubbing before getting him to his next appointment.

‘Well, look at you,’ said Kezzie, who was taking a break from working on her website to offer her services. ‘Hobnobbing with MPs and appearing on national telly.’

‘Hardly national,’ said Lauren, ‘we’ll be lucky if we get a minute on the local news bulletin.’

‘Whatever. I’ll make a campaigner out of you yet!’