Chapter 29
‘How about this one?’ Zac called across the aisle of the toy shop as he threw something towards her.
Polly screeched as she caught the large, hairy stuffed spider toy. ‘Jeez, for a moment I literally thought that was real!’
Placing his hands on his knees, Zac let out a belly laugh. ‘Your face was priceless!’
‘Haha, thanks so much!’ Polly tried her best to keep her voice serious before her own laughter broke through her scowl. ‘You know what, I think this one might actually be a good shout. It looks pretty realistic, which the kids will probably love.’
‘As realistic as a thirty-centimetre fluffy spider can look, you mean?’ He chuckled.
Holding it up, she stared back at the eight large eyes looking at her. ‘I think I’d run a mile or burn the place down if I found a real one of these.’
‘Nah, I’d protect you.’ Walking across to her, he took the spider from her before putting it into the trolley he was pushing.
‘I believe you, thousands wouldn’t.’ She grinned as she watched him continue to the next shelf and pick up toy after toy, inspecting them.
They’d come straight from the office and after hurrying to the local shopping precinct only to find the toy shop had closed down months ago, they’d driven past a retail park with one of those giant supermarket-sized toy shops and forty-five minutes later they had chosen the majority of the toys they’d need for the raffle.
‘I remember one of your first days working at the trust when you screamed because you’d found a spider’s nest by your desk. ’
‘Oh, I’m sure I wouldn’t have screamed.’ Zac grimaced.
‘Haha, it was definitely a scream.’
‘Wasn’t it more like a tiny, terrified exclamation?’ Zac paused in front of her, turning so his back was against the trolley, his lips twitching as he tried not to laugh.
She grinned. ‘You can call it that if you like. Yes, a terrified exclamation, but not tiny. It was loud. In fact, I wouldn’t be surprised if Mr Bob almost called the police.’
‘Okay, a terrified exclamation it is then.’ Chuckling, he wrapped his arms around her, pulling her closer. ‘Is that when you first realised you wanted to get into a relationship with me?’
‘Haha, nice try. It was when I realised how much fun it would be to hide a plastic spider in your drawer.’ Polly laughed at the memory.
She’d spent almost an hour searching through the nursery classroom at school for a plastic toy spider after teaching one day, but it had been worth it.
His reaction had been almost as priceless as his reaction to the spider’s nest.
Dropping his arms, he covered his mouth with one hand. ‘That was you?’
‘It was.’ She nodded.
‘I blamed Mr Bob for that. For almost two years I blamed him.’ Shaking his head, Zac grinned. ‘Wow, my respect for you has just multiplied by a million or so.’
‘You forgive me, then?’ Batting her eyelids, she tilted her head.
‘Umm, let me see.’ Tapping his cheek with his forefinger as he walked backwards, pulling the trolley along, Zac looked at her. ‘Perhaps I will, if you play your cards right.’
‘And what might that look like?’ Stepping towards him, she took his hand in hers as she tried to keep her tone serious.
He lowered his voice, talking softly, the laughter and fun of a few seconds ago dissipating. ‘You forgive me for acting like a complete eejit and making the worst mistake of my life by pushing you away?’
Scrunching up her nose, Polly nodded. ‘I’ve already forgiven you.’
‘Then let’s call it a truce.’
‘A truce it is, then.’ Polly leaned forward and kissed him before spotting a large soft toy squirrel on the shelf behind him. Stepping away, she pointed. ‘Look, a super-sized Nutkin! How perfect will that be for the main raffle prize?’
‘Now, Vicki will love that.’ Zac turned.
‘She definitely will.’ Picking up the large stuffed squirrel, Polly laughed as the bushy tail tickled her nose. ‘This will be our main attraction at the raffle.’
Zac began pushing the trolley again. ‘Time for some dinner?’
‘Yes please, I’m starving. I think I still need to make up for all the calories I used up painting over the weekend.’ Pushing the other toys to one end of the trolley, Polly sat the squirrel down, facing Zac.
‘At least it was worth it. The viewing went well.’
‘Absolutely. I think I’d have cried if it didn’t.’ Pulling her hair over one shoulder, Polly ran her nails over the blobs of paint in her hair. ‘I’m still covered in the stuff.’
‘You still look beautiful. Paint or no paint.’ Zac grinned before raking his fingers through his own hair. ‘I think I got splattered too, but then again, I might just be greying.’
Shaking her head, Polly stood on her tiptoes to take a look. ‘Umm, maybe a mixture.’
‘Oi!’ Turning to her, he tickled her under the arm.
Flinging her arms down to her sides, Polly pursed her lips, trying her best not to screech as a parent and toddler walked by. ‘Nope, nope, nope. Don’t you dare tickle me, not unless you want me to go round the reserve tomorrow and find a real spider to stick in your drawer.’
‘Haha, fair enough.’ Smiling, Zac led the way to the cashier and joined the small queue. ‘Everything’s sorted for Bonfire Night, then?’
‘Yes, I think so.’ She began counting on her fingers. ‘The leaflets will be ready to pick up on Thursday, the raffle tickets will be delivered tomorrow, Helena and Jarvis have secured the food truck and now we have these.’
‘Great. You’ll have nothing to do but sit and relax for the rest of the week until your first event, then.
’ Zac began placing the soft toys on the conveyor belt.
‘You’ve done great with this. I’d never have even thought to use a village event like this to raise awareness of the reserve and to raise some money, too. ’
‘Ah, I know it won’t raise much. I mean, the sales from the food truck have to cover the product costs, the hire as well as Helena and Jarvis’ overtime, so I’m guessing we’ll break even at worst, or else make a small profit at best, but I’m hopeful the raffle will raise something.
I mean, everyone loves a raffle, don’t they? ’
The young boy standing in line in front of them tugged his mum’s hand before pointing behind them towards the toys. ‘Mum, look at how cool that spider is.’
‘Wow, it is, isn’t it?’ The mum smiled and mouthed at Polly, ‘It looks very realistic.’
‘We’re from Meadowfield Nature Reserve and if you’re coming to the Bonfire Night celebrations at the school, we’ll be giving this scary spider’ – Polly raised her eyebrows at Zac – ‘and the other toys away in a raffle.’
‘Aw, can we go, Mum? Can we?’ The boy looked up at his mum.
‘We certainly can.’ The mum ruffled her son’s hair as they were called to be served.
‘That’s one definite customer, then.’ Zac leaned in closer as he spoke.
‘Yep.’ Polly took a deep breath. Now everything was planned, the nerves over whether this would work were beginning to creep in.
From what Jill had said, there’d be lots of stalls, mostly craft stalls and the like, so theirs might be easily overlooked.
And as for food trucks, well, if she’d learned anything about events like this, then there would likely be an abundance of those. If Helena and Jarvis lost money…
‘Evening, folks. Wow, someone likes our cuddly wildlife selection.’ The cashier smiled at them as she began scanning the toys.
‘Haha, they’re prizes for a raffle in aid of Meadowfield Nature Reserve.’ Placing her tote bag on the end of the counter, Polly rummaged inside, looking for her purse with the reserve’s payment card inside.
‘Ooh, now that’s exciting. It’s not for Jill’s Bonfire Night celebration she’s organising, is it?
’ The woman tucked her hair behind her ears as she totalled up.
‘Of course, I know it’s not just Jill on the Community Hub team, but, hey, everyone knows she’s the driving force behind the Meadowfield events. ’
Pulling the card out, Polly smiled. ‘Yes, it is. We’ve got a stall and a food truck too.’
The woman nodded. ‘Fantastic. It’ll be a great place to drum up awareness of the reserve.’
‘I’m hoping so. Do you go to the reserve a lot?’
‘I sure do. Me and my dog, Pebbles, absolutely love it up there. It’s always so quiet, though, and I often think it’s quite sad people seem to forget about the place.
After all, it’s right on their doorstep, if not a short car journey away.
’ The woman held out her hand. ‘I’m Freda.
I live in Meadowfield and I can see you work at the reserve?
’ She pointed to the embroidered motif on Polly’s sweatshirt peeking out from under her open coat.
‘Hi, Freda. It’s lovely to meet you and great to know you utilise the reserve.’ Polly turned to Zac. ‘This is Zac. He works there too.’
‘Fantastic.’ Freda shook Zac’s hand, too. ‘Well, I’ll be sure to come along to your stall at the weekend.’
‘Thanks.’ After tapping the card against the machine, Polly began to bundle the teddies into her arms.
‘Do you want a bag for those?’ Freda began pulling a large paper bag from beneath the till.
‘No, we’re good. Thanks though.’ Poking her face through the mound of teddies, Polly said her goodbyes before following Zac, who was carrying the enormous squirrel back to his car. Well, that was two confirmed customers they’d have at the stall at least.