The Great Allotment Proposal by Jenny Oliver Read Free Book Online

away.
    For some reason she felt like he should have told her. But why would he? It felt odd to hear his whereabouts from someone else. She’d kind of got it into her head that he was a boat-dwelling loner – hers to pop by and visit at the end of her garden – not a bona fide member of the community who had friends. ‘You know Jack?’ Emily asked as nonchalantly as she could.
    ‘Yeah, a bit. Not massively. I live on a houseboat on the other side from here, along from the pub.’ Jane pointed across the allotment, ‘It was my mum’s. She died a couple of months ago. That’s why I came to live here, actually. To look after her. Ten years. It just went in a flash. I don’t know—’ Jane stopped mid-sentence, realising she’d gone off point. Feeling awkward, she blew her fringe up out of her eyes. ‘Anyway, my boat started taking on water recently and Ed, you know Jack’s brother, he told me that he’d be the best person to help. So I only know him because he fixed my boat. I know his brother better. Why d’you know him?’
    Emily watched her for a moment, realising that it was entirely possible that this woman knew absolutely nothing about her. Nothing at all. The idea was almost addictive. ‘I only know him from when we were kids,’ Emily said with a shrug. ‘Did you say you’ve been looking after your mum for ten years? And now she’s passed away? That must be awful.’
    Jane had stood up and was walking towards the sloping, half-collapsed shed. ‘It was awful. It was especially awful for the last two years because she shouldn’t have been living at home but she refused to do anything else. So, to be honest,’ she bit her lip and paused before attempting to open the skewiff shed door. ‘It’s sort of a relief. But I don’t really tell people that because it sounds too dreadful.’
    Emily watched her as she winced. ‘I think it sounds completely understandable. I’m not even sure I could have my mother live in the same house as me now,’ she said, then pointed to the stuck door. ‘There’s a knack to the door. I fell on the shed which is why it’s all broken.’
    Jane laughed. ‘Well we just need to get the hoe and the fork.’
    As the door finally opened a crack and Jane stepped sideways into the precarious shed, Annie appeared beside the cherry tree. ‘How’s it going? I’ve brought the last slices of cherry pie and a bottle of Martha’s homemade lemonade,’ she said then, nodding towards the vegetable patch, added, ‘It looks good, doesn’t it?’
    Emily shook her head. ‘It’s all weeds.’
    ‘What?’
    Jane came out the shed with the garden tools. ‘Hey, Annie.’
    ‘Jane?’ Annie frowned, then looked at Emily and whispered, ‘Why is she here?’
    ‘Holly sent her to save us.’ Emily made a face. ‘We’ve been deceived, Annie. By your own brother. None of these big bushy things are plants. They’re weeds.’
    ‘Shit.’ Annie bit her lip.
    Jane looked pityingly at both of them. ‘Don’t worry, we can save some of it,’ she said, trying to detangle the sweet peas and runner beans, twisting both back round their respective canes. ‘OK, the smaller weeds you can hoe, Emily. The bigger ones we’re going to have to get out with the fork. Annie, do you want the fork? Dig right down because the roots of that stuff–’ She pointed to some bindweed. ‘They go deep.’
    Emily scratched the back of her neck, her eyes resting on Annie’s bags of cherry pie and lemonade. ‘Do you think it’s worth it?’
    Annie saw her looking at the pie, then up at the harsh afternoon sun, then back to the lemonade, appealing dots of condensation sliding down the bottle. They both looked at the deckchairs Emily had set up. ‘Yeah, maybe it’s not even salvageable,’ said Annie.
    Jane glanced up from where she was retying a cane and narrowed her eyes at the two of them. ‘Aren’t you meant to be doing this for Enid?’
    Annie looked down at the ground. Emily nodded.
    ‘If it’s