Page 36 of Match Point in Crumbleton
‘Wow,’ breathed Andy.
‘Wow doesn’t cover it, lad,’ said Harold with a smile. ‘I don’t have the heart to tell her I prefer marmalade!’
Cath snorted and her laugh was echoed by Harold.
‘Sorry,’ she muttered.
‘You young people apologise too much!’ he said in amusement. ‘Anyway, I’m guessing you’ve come to see me about my strawberries?’
‘We have!’ said Andy in surprise. ‘But how did you…?’
‘I had a feeling you might be after some the minute I heard you were bringing back the Cheswell Cup,’ he said. ‘Good news for you is—being this side of the hill—mine are always on the late side to ripen up. So I’ve not picked the blighters yet.’
‘And you’d be willing for us to have them for the event?’ said Andy.
‘Willing? You’d be doing me a favour,’ said Harold with a decided nod. ‘Annie’s already started to mither about me picking them at the weekend so that she can make this year’s jam… but there’s no way she’d deprive a good cause! They can be my donation… and you might just be saving the house from a giant jam explosion.’
‘Wow, thank you,’ said Cath, coming to sit next to Andy.
He could feel the warmth and excitement coming off her in waves. He only hoped she wasn’t getting her hopes up for nothing. They might have seen a few plants through the gap in the hedge, but the fruit they’d seen would barely be enough to feed the pair of them, let alone half the town.
‘Erm… do you think there might be enough for several portions?’ said Andy, not quite sure how to ask the question without offending the elderly gent.
‘Enough?’ hooted Harold. ‘Why don’t you come outside and see for yourselves?’
CHAPTER 15
CATH
‘So, how’s it all going? Feeling ready?’ asked Caroline from the depths of Cath’s patchwork sofa.
Cath grinned at her as she poured a generous glass of red wine for them both. ‘Define ready…’
‘Everything in place. No imminent disasters. World domination ensured,’ said Caroline accepting her glass with a nod of thanks as Cath sank down next to her.
‘Well then… I think I’m royally feckered!’ said Cath, raising her glass in a mock toast.
Caroline snorted. ‘Excellent. Loving that confidence. Seriously, though?’
‘Seriously, I think everything is as in place as it can be,’ said Cath. ‘It’s way too late to sell tickets or anything like that, so there’s no way of knowing how many people are going to turn up… or if anyone’s going to turn up, for that matter.’
‘Don’t worry, they’ll come,’ said Caroline.
‘I hope so,’ said Cath, feeling the now familiar flutter of nerves as she just about managed to hold off crossing her fingers around the stem of her glass. ‘Anyway, if they do, we’ll be ready for them. We’ve got plenty of wooden rackets now, thanks to Evelyn Barker’s donation.’
Caroline nodded and scribbled Evelyn’s name down in her notebook next to the word “rackets”. ‘Who else goes on the list?
This was the real reason Caroline was in Cath’s flat, after all. She was there on official newspaper business, collecting the names of everyone who was pitching in to make the event a success. Of course, the fact that the official business happened to coincide with Cath’s invitation to drink wine and eat cheese made the whole thing far more fun.
‘The WI are running a cake stall and providing jugs of Pimms and mocktails—with Fergus’s blessing of course. Obviously, I want to thank Fergus and the staff at the Hotel. Then there’s Stuart at Bendall’s—he’s donated the cream to go with the strawberries, and Milly at the flower shop is making little posies as gifts for the winner of each round. She’s donating a big bunch as a raffle prize too. Actually, I’ll just give you a copy of the list of the prizes and everyone who’s donated, because it’s about a mile long.’
Caroline nodded, still scribbling hard and Cath paused to let her catch up.
‘Anyone else?’ said Caroline. ‘I mean, I’ll make more notes tomorrow, but I don’t want to miss anyone.’
‘Annie Pottinger is doing a jam sale to raise money, Harold is donating the strawberries, and I guess I’d better thank the council for lending us the deckchairs from Crumbleton Sands.’
‘Those lovely stripey vintage ones?’ said Caroline.
