Free The Great Allotment Proposal by Jenny Oliver Page A

looked at Jack for back-up that what she had said wasn’t weird or out of line, but Jack was staring resolutely down at his perfect lines of plants.
    ‘Emily, you know Ed, don’t you?’ Alan said, pointing from Ed to Emily and back again.
    ‘Yeah. The annoying younger brother,’ she said with a smile and a wink. ‘You’d always be like “Jaaaack, it’s your girlfriend” when I rang and then you’d giggle down the phone. D’you remember?’
    Ed nodded and blushed a touch as he held out his hand to shake. When Emily’d last seen him, he’d been a scrawny, geeky little thing, into building balsa wood models with his brother and model aeroplanes and generally following along after Jack with big doe eyes. Now he was still fairly scrawny but in a city banker kind of way: pink low-slung shorts, a cream striped casual shirt, a woven belt and deck shoes.
    ‘And this is Monty,’ Alan said, pointing to the toddler who had clearly softened Alan in his dotage. ‘And Josephine.’
    ‘Hi,’ Emily said, reaching round Ed to extend her hand to his wife.
    Josephine smiled shyly as she shook Emily’s hand, said hi, then lifted Monty off Ed’s shoulders and went to look at the chickens on the neighbouring plot.
    ‘So how did you two meet?’ Emily asked Ed, who was taking off his rucksack and opening it up to get stuff out for Monty.
    They all seemed to pause for a second, stiffen at the question.
    Emily swallowed. Wishing suddenly that she’d left it at the earlier comment to Alan. She didn’t know what the problem was, but it was clearly some unspoken balloon above them that she was unwelcomely prodding.
    ‘Hey, guys!’ Annie arrived, saving the moment, and everyone relaxed, letting Emily’s question disappear into the afternoon. ‘I’ve got vanilla sponge and cherry pie and some chocolate muffins. All leftover from the cafe and it has to be eaten by the end of the day. Monty, I see a chocolate muffin with your name on it,’ she said, smiling at the toddler. Next to Annie was her little niece Gerty, dressed in a red tutu, pink boots and a black and white striped T-shirt, around her neck was a camera and she was snapping shots of the allotment’s decrepit shed.
    ‘Don’t go too close to that, Gerty, that thing’s a death trap,’ Annie said as she unloaded packages from the cafe.
    ‘But it’ll make a good photo,’ said Gerty, going closer, kneeling down for a shot of the rotten, lichen covered door.
    ‘Well just be careful,’ said Annie, then looked over to the others and said, ‘She’s going for that Young Photographer of the Year Award.’
    ‘Get a good shot of that shed, Gert, and you’ll be in with a chance,’ Ed said with a smile as he went to join his wife, handing Monty his cup and bending down with them to look at the chickens. Alan went over to give Jack the tray of plants he was carrying as Emily lay her rake down next to the sweet peas and wandered over to Annie.
    When she got near she made a show of helping her undo the cake packets while whispering, ‘Why are they all so funny about Ed’s wife?’
    Annie looked furtively over at Ed and Josephine and then towards Jack and Alan. Jack had glanced up, clearly aware of what they were talking about. ‘I don’t think I can tell you here,’ Annie whispered back, trying to keep her lips still like a bad ventriloquist.
    ‘Just tell me,’ Emily muttered.
    ‘Gerty, mind the shed,’ Annie called over to her niece. Then really quickly under her breath said to Emily, ‘Because she was married to Jack.’
    ‘What?’ Emily said, a touch too loud, and she heard Alan cough behind her and knew it was a warning.
    Annie made a face and nodded.
    Emily stood open-mouthed for a second, but before she had a chance to glance over and stare at Ed, Josephine and Monty looking at the chickens, the shed collapsed with a giant bang.
    ‘Gerty!’ Annie yelled as the whole structure toppled to the left, the supporting side wall hitting the ground with a smack