Total pages in book: 120
Estimated words: 117740 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 589(@200wpm)___ 471(@250wpm)___ 392(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 117740 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 589(@200wpm)___ 471(@250wpm)___ 392(@300wpm)
Waffles didn’t respond.
He was a terrible therapist.
Which was understandable, given that he was a rooster.
“But I can’t just take this lying down, you know? And actually, Dr Waffles, I’m furious. How dare he investigate me? How dare his snitchy little lackey go around my hometown and ask my people things to get information on me? That’s just playing dirty.”
“Bock-bock-bock,” Pancake clucked.
“You’re right, Nurse Pancake,” I replied, nodding my head. “I won’t accept this. It’s an invasion of my privacy. In fact, it’s practically a declaration of war. Countries have destroyed each other over less.”
Probably not, but I was on a roll. Not to mention I was paying for this weirdo therapy session in bird seed and feed, so I was going to be as dramatic as I pleased.
“Honestly, who cares if he’s handsome? Or rich? Or a duke? Does that give him the right to investigate my personal life? If he wanted to know about me, he should have asked for my name before he bent me over the side of the bed and pulled my hair, don’t you think?”
“Who bent you over the side of the bed and pulled your hair?” George asked from right behind me.
“Jesus Christ Almighty, George!” I jumped, accidentally shoving Waffles off my lap as I lost my balance and fell onto my side. “Announce yourself, old man!”
George chuckled, leaning on the fence. “I couldn’t interrupt your therapy session with the chickens, Rose. It was getting intense.”
My cheeks flushed, and I turned away from him, covering my mouth with my arm. “If you repeat a word of what you heard here today, I’ll throw a cauliflower at you.”
He saluted me. “Your secrets are all safe with me, young lady.”
That didn’t reassure me at all.
“How did the meeting with the duke go?”
I gave him a brief summary, leaving out the personal back-and-forth we’d engaged in.
I didn’t need George of all people knowing about it, no matter how safe he insisted my secrets were.
“Well, at least you didn’t hit him,” George mused, tapping his calloused fingers against the fence. “But we still don’t know how much the land would be worth.”
“I think Colin is working on it. He says he’s retired, but we all know he owns Smith’s Estate Agents, so he can easily bring one of his employees here by stealth to value the land for us. I’m just not sure what good it does us to know. None of us have the money to purchase the land.”
“We could fundraise. We made a considerable amount of money with the calendars last year.”
“Yes, but that was enough to send the Youth Farmers off to North Wales for a week with an organisation. Not enough to buy a few acres of land, George.”
“Could we monetise your social media account? Don’t you have a lot of followers on the allotment page? You’re an influenza, aren’t you?”
I most certainly was not. “I think you mean influencer.”
“What?”
“Never mind.” Choose your battles, Rose. “Utilising the page isn’t such a bad idea, you know. We discussed traditional media with Leah’s friend, but social media is the real powerhouse these days.”
George nodded. “Your chicken adventures and vegetable posts are funny. My great-niece shows me them. You’ve got quite the cult following in the secondary school, you know.”
That was a sentence I’d prefer he never repeated.
“We wouldn’t have raised anywhere near as much with the calendars if you didn’t have that page.”
“But will ‘funny’ help? Is that enough?” I tilted my head to the side. “Not to mention that all started by accident when I was drunk one night.”
“That’s how most exciting things happen in this town.”
“Yes, well, I’ve given up drinking.” Lest I accidentally sleep with a duke and ruin my life again.
“We’ll see how long that lasts.” He snorted. “Funny always helps, Rose, dear. People like to laugh.”
That was true. And that was why the allotment’s Instagram was so popular, but what good would funny actually do when this situation was so serious?
“I think we need to call a meeting with every plot holder and tell them what’s going on. Can you ask Paula to call everyone and have them come to our meeting in the hall this Thursday evening? We’ll likely have the genuine closure notice by then, so we won’t be able to keep it quiet any longer.”
“Not to mention there are already rumours going around that he’s selling some fringe land. Evan asked me yesterday if that includes the allotments.”
“Ugh, okay. We really have no choice. We’re going to have to present some kind of plan, aren’t we? Otherwise, people are going to think we don’t have any clue what to do, and—”
“I don’t think so. Don’t underestimate everyone, Rose.” He reached over the fence and patted my shoulder gently. “You don’t have to do this all alone, you know? We’re a community, and we’re all going to be fighting with you. Just be the Rose that we all know, love, and trust, and everything will be fine.”