Summer Nights in Lantern Square

by Helen Rolfe

Genres: General Fiction

Synopsis

This is Part One in the charming new four-part serial from Helen Rolfe, author of The Little Café at the End of the Pier - perfect for fans of Holly Hepburn and Cathy Bramley Step into the cosy community of Lantern Square... Since moving to the charming Cotswold village of Butterbury, Hannah has found her true home in the heart of the little community. Previously a high flyer in the city, she now runs her small business, Tied Up With String, from her cottage in Lantern Square. Her handmade gifts and care packages are the perfect way to show someone you care, and while her brown paper packages bring a smile to customers across the miles, Hannah also makes sure to deliver a special something to the people closer to home... But as Butterbury glows with the sunshine and sparkling lights of the Summer Fair, Hannah finds herself facing old memories, familiar faces, and perhaps even a new romance... *** The Little Cottage in Lantern Square is a delightfully heartwarming novel told in four parts. This is the first part. Readers are enchanted by The Little Cottage in Lantern Square : 'I immediately felt at home in Lantern Square . . . such clever writing, and quite beautifully done' 'It's warm, inviting and full of intriguing characters . . . I can't wait for the next instalment of this outstanding book' 'I was hooked on this storyline from the first page . . . full of summer fun, friendship, community spirit and a whole lot more' 'I couldn't put this book down once I'd started'

Release date: August 6, 2019

Publisher: Orion

Print pages: 83

Sample

‘We’re here!’ Hannah announced to Smokey and Bandit as she pulled up outside Lantern Cottage. There was no reply – of course – from her two feline friends, who’d resisted getting into the cat baskets a few hours ago but had since accepted their imprisonment and settled down to sleep in the footwells of the back seats. The next two weeks were going to be fun, keeping them inside the cottage so they’d get used to their new territory. Smokey and Bandit hated being confined anywhere. Rain, hail, or shine, they liked to be free and explore. Hannah got that. She’d waited a long while to feel like her old self and it had taken way more than two weeks.

She climbed out of the car and stretched after the long drive from Whitby, fanning her T-shirt to circulate some air. She must look like a crazy woman, smiling so broadly standing here on her own, but she couldn’t help it – because here she was at last, in Lantern Square, the heart of the cosy Cotswold village of Butterbury, in front of her new home. Named on a weathered sweet-chestnut plaque next to a soft-green ledged-oak front door that showed its age, Lantern Cottage was the home she’d saved diligently for. Buying her own place had been a long time coming and, with everything in her life being so spectacularly thrown up in the air, it was as though it had all come down to the ground again, settled, and marked a fresh start.

Beautiful spring blossom from the trees in the square carried a subtle scent her way as Hannah turned and waved at the sound of a loud toot-toot. She’d managed to fit plenty into her tiny car along with the cats, but her dad had followed her in a van filled with the rest of her belongings, and here he was pulling up behind her. She checked her bumper, but she couldn’t move any closer to the car in front unless she wanted to touch park. She spoke to her dad through his open window because four doors down the charmingly named Honey Cottage had a driveway and the van was so long that it well and truly blocked access. ‘Let me go and have a word with one of my new neighbours. I’m sure they won’t mind us being here to unload.’ Hannah had already seen a curtain twitch when she’d used hand signals to guide her dad, who was out of his comfort zone in this van, being used to his modest Golf that shunted him and Hannah’s mum from A to B.

‘Right you are.’ Crunch. Bless him, he drove an automatic car and the van had gears which he wasn’t used to, though he’d announced it was going to be fun reverting to a manual.

Hannah knocked on the door of Honey Cottage, noting its plaque was in much better repair than hers. Well-tended window boxes, filled with purple and white blooms that looked as though they’d escaped the April storms that had battered every other inch of the country a few short days ago, flourished in front of pristine glass.

The door opened a crack.

‘Hello, I’m Hannah, and I’m moving into Lantern Cottage today.’ She beamed a smile at the occupant when the door opened some more. ‘I wonder if you’d mind us parking here while we—’

Hannah didn’t get any further before the women said, ‘You’re blocking my drive.’ She looked older than Hannah’s dad, perhaps mid-seventies, with beady brown eyes flecked with glimmers of gold. She was keeping the door ajar just enough that she could engage in conversation, and closed enough that she could slam it quickly if she didn’t like who was on the other side.

‘I know and I’m very sorry. There doesn’t seem to be anywhere close enough to park other than here and we have furniture to unload.’

‘That’s not my problem, young lady.’

‘It’ll only be for an hour. I’d really appreciate it.’

‘Fine, one hour. Then I’m calling the police if you don’t move.’ And with that she shut the door.

Hannah stood on the path of Honey Cottage and took a deep breath. The estate agent listing hadn’t remarked on a crotchety old woman four doors away and she hoped not all of the residents were as unwelcoming.

‘Good to go?’ Her dad had already opened up the rear doors.

She chose not to elaborate about her awkward neighbour in case her dad worried. ‘I should’ve taken up weight training before I insisted I didn’t need to pay removal men to do this,’ she joked as she climbed into the truck after him to take one end of the tabletop.

‘Don’t make me laugh or I’ll be too weak to lift,’ he said, smiling, and with a surge of necessary energy, they got going. Hannah would let the miserable neighbour stew inside her cottage. Nothing was going to ruin moving-in day for her if she could help it.

It took over an hour and another knock on the same woman’s door to make sure she didn’t follow through and call the police before Hannah and her dad were done with the unloading. Hannah’s arms were probably stronger than some, but this was one job she’d readily admit needed a couple of big strong men.

‘I hope your neighbours make you welcome.’ The worry lines on her dad’s forehead deepened as he set down the last of the boxes by the door to the kitchen.

‘It’ll take time to settle in, but I’ll get there.’

‘It’s different from London, that’s for sure.’ He held up his hands in defence. ‘I’m not criticising.’

‘Mum is, though.’

‘She worries, that’s all, but doesn’t always show it in the same way as I do.’

‘Mum doesn’t seem to understand this is what I need.’ She didn’t understand that Hannah didn’t need her boyfriend Luke any more either, or that she’d chosen to change career. Big changes didn’t come along in her mother’s life and in some ways she was treating Hannah’s recent decisions as a personal slight. All Hannah wanted was for her mum to see things the way she did, or if she really couldn’t, then maybe keep her opinions to herself. Surely that wasn’t asking too much? ‘Are you sure you won’t stay for a cup of tea?’

‘And upset Mrs Busybody four doors down?’ More curtain twitching had given the game away. ‘And you know I’m more of a coffee person – at least, when your mother isn’t looking. I’ll grab one at the services, might even sit and read the paper for a bit before I take the van back.’

‘It’s a long drive up to Whitby.’

‘I’m not past it yet, love. I’ll be grand. And your mum gave me enough sandwiches to cater for a town picnic. I’ve still got those to keep me going.’

‘At least have a cold drink. I know this box has glasses in.’ She wasn’t going to take no for an answer and produced a glass from between sheets of newspaper, gave it a rinse and filled it at the tap. From the speed at which he glugged it back she knew she’d made the right choice.

He set his empty glass down by the sink, narrowly avoiding tripping over Bandit, happily released from the cat carrier, who had been weaving in and out of their ankles. ‘You cats are going to like it here,’ he said to him.

‘These two are going to hate being shut inside, more like.’ She watched Smokey go off on the prowl, most likely upstairs.

‘Only two weeks, guys. Two weeks to settle in to your new home.’ He hugged Hannah tight. ‘I’d better leave you to unpack and organise yourself.’

They’d got everything in and, aside from the big items put in their proper places – the bed upstairs, the table which Hannah had struggled with even though the legs had been taken off for transport and her dad had taken most of the weight, the sofa and armchair in the sitting room – there were boxes cluttering every available bit of floorspace. Hannah had never been one for pristine living quarters, but even she couldn’t wait to get it sorted.

‘Do you need anything before I go?’

‘I’m fine, Dad. Stop worrying.’

‘It’s in the job description.’ And with a characteristic wink he scooped Bandit up and gave him a cuddle. He put him down to exchange him for Smokey but couldn’t see him. ‘Where’s the other one gone?’

It was then Hannah felt a cool breeze lick around her bare arms. ‘Keep hold of Bandit!’ she yelled, running down the hall towards the sunlight blasting through the door she’d been forewarned could be temperamental and down the pa. . .