‘I thought it might not be a bad idea to start collecting some leaves now,’ I told her. ‘If the forecast isn’t great when Lisa and I have our session, then I’ll already have some to hand that haven’t turned soggy. They don’t have to be dried out before they’re preserved, but they do have to be intact – and it won’t hurt to have a back-up plan.’

‘You’re all fired up by the sounds of it, Freya,’ said Carole.

‘I wouldn’t go that far,’ I told her, ‘but I’m hoping I won’t feel quite so stressed about it all, if I’m well prepared.’

‘I’ll share those words of wisdom to the others when Winterfest is officially announced,’ said Carole as I gave Nell her lunch and locked her in the shed, just to be on the safe side.

I didn’t want to take her with me and I couldn’t risk her wandering off unattended and ending up in Finn’s lair again. Not that given her first experience of the place, she was all that keen to go back, but you never know.

‘Let’s go and tell Luke what we’ve arranged then.’ Carole urged. ‘Kate said he’s in his office.’

Luke was in his office, but we couldn’t go straight in to see him because he was already talking to someone. The three of us sat on chairs in the corridor, with our backs against the walls like the three wise monkeys. I wasn’t sure which one I would have been.

Poppy looked at me sitting poker straight and tried to stifle a giggle.

‘I feel like I’ve been sent to the headmaster’s office,’ she squeaked, her shoulders shaking, with laughter.

‘You’ve had a lot of experience of that, have you, Poppy?’ asked Carole, which made her laugh all the harder and set me off too. ‘Why am I not surprised?’ she tutted, adding an eye-roll for good measure, which made Poppy crumple further.

‘What’s all the racket out there?’ came Luke’s voice from the other side of the door.

‘There,’ said Carole, sounding cross. ‘He’s heard you, and how does that look when he’s got someone in there with him?’

The door was suddenly plucked open and Poppy bit her lip, her cheeks turning the brightest shade of red.

‘I might have known,’ grinned Luke. ‘You’d better come in.’

‘Sorry, Luke,’ said Carole, ‘we didn’t mean to disturb your meeting. We can come back later if you like.’

‘No, it’s all right,’ he said, beckoning us in. ‘I’m not in a meeting. It’s only Zak. He’s doing a bit of measuring up.’

‘Only Zak,’ said the man’s voice from inside, sounding offended, ‘that’s nice, that is.’

‘Oh,’ winked Poppy, ‘now we’re in for a treat. Watch yourself though, Freya, he’s trouble, this one.’

‘For pity’s sake,’ hissed Carole. ‘Pack it in, the pair of you.’

Poppy giggled again and we followed our leader into the office. If I hadn’t felt like a naughty schoolgirl before, I did then. Poppy had pulled me down to her mischievous level and as a result Carole had tarred me with the same brush.

‘I might have known,’ said the man who had to be Zak because he was the only other person in the room, ‘don’t you ever go to work, Poppy?’

‘I’m on my lunch break,’ she pouted, ‘and what about you, you hardly sound hard at it.’

‘Oh, I’m always hard at it,’ he grinned, tossing and catching the tape measure he was holding.

It was tricky to make out what he looked like while he was standing in front of the window but when he moved aside to let Luke back behind his desk, I caught sight of a pair of impressive biceps in a slightly too tight T-shirt, sparkling blue eyes and a buzz cut.

‘So,’ said Luke, ignoring Zak’s flirtatious innuendo, ‘what can I do for you three?’

Zak turned back to his measuring but not before he’d winked at Carole. It was my turn to bite my lip and Poppy covered her mouth with her hand. Luke pretended he hadn’t noticed anything, but he must have done.

‘I’m hoping you’ve come to tell me that you’ve had some ideas about filling Winterfest sessions,’ he said, looking between us.

Poppy nodded and Carole, positively glowing with pride, handed him her papers.

‘We’ve got plans for four Saturdays and three Sundays,’ she said proudly.

I decided not to pay further attention to Zak, who was flexing and stretching more than was probably really necessary for someone simply wielding a tape measure. Carole and Poppy, but particularly Carole, had put a lot of work into the proposed Winterfest schedule and I wasn’t about to be distracted by some silly bloke’s behaviour.

‘This is all amazing,’ gasped Luke, flicking through the pages. ‘Far better than anything I could have come up with. I knew I was doing the right thing handing it over to you guys. There’s a fantastic mix of stuff here and, Freya, you’ve only just arrived and your name’s down twice. That’s wonderful.’

‘Well,’ I said, trying to sound blasé, ‘it was the least I could do… hang on… twice?’

‘There’s so much variety,’ Luke enthusiastically carried on. ‘We can have some of the nature-based sessions in the Grow-Well and gardens, depending on the weather of course, and the cooking in the kitchen here. If the weather really puts a spanner in the works, I suppose we could even have some of the crafting inside too, after the initial foraging and gathering.’

‘That’s what we were all thinking,’ Carole keenly agreed.

Clearly the discussions had continued after I’d added my contribution to the cause. I wondered what else I’d been signed up for in my absence. I was about to ask, but Poppy spoke up first.

‘So, when are you planning to make it all official?’ she asked Luke.

‘Well there’s no time to hang about,’ he said, reinstating what he had said on Saturday. ‘I’ll ring the radio this afternoon and if you could ask Ryan to come over when he gets back from college, Poppy, then we’ll set a page up on Facebook and share the details on Twitter.’

‘He should be home by three,’ said Poppy, looking at her watch. ‘At this rate you could have everything online by teatime.’

‘With less than three weeks until Freya and Lisa launch the project,’ grinned Luke, making my stomach roll, ‘that’s no bad thing.’

‘Finn was talking about all this at dinner yesterday,’ said Zak.

My eyes flicked back to him.

‘Finn and Zak are brothers,’ Luke said to me, filling in the blanks.

‘Half-brothers,’ Zak was quick to point out. ‘And your name came up too, Freya,’ he added, pinning me with his blue eyes and making me blush.

‘Is that right?’ I swallowed, determinedly meeting his gaze.

I would have paid good money to find out what had been said and Zak’s wide grin told me he knew it too.

‘Mum and Dad weren’t sure if he’d turn up yesterday,’ he carried on, ‘what with the fallout from him moving in here, but he arrived just as Mum was getting ready to serve up. He said he’s going to be making bird boxes or something, is that right?’

His tone was a little too amused for my liking.

‘Yes,’ said Carole, with a sniff. Clearly, she’d picked up on Zak’s tone too. ‘He’ll be making hedgehog homes as well. He’s very talented, your brother.’

I was relieved that Finn had agreed to take part and that my unenthusiastic response hadn’t put him off. Not that it should have done, but Chloe had made me feel guilty and I could hardly tell her that my lacklustre response to his plan was borne out of jealousy at seeing the pair of them together, rather than a dislike of his big idea, could I?

‘If you say so,’ said Zak, flipping and catching his tape measure again. ‘Dad says he should be building houses instead of fannying about making bijou boxes for blue tits.’

‘Well,’ said Luke, sounding cross as I caught an echo of someone walking along the corridor, ‘your dad always has had a way with words, hasn’t he?’

Finn had said his half-brother was very much like his dad. If that was the case, I wasn’t sure I’d like him. Zak struck me as a troublemaker and a mouthy one to boot.

‘Gift of the gab, Dad’s got,’ Zak proudly said. ‘Must be where I get it from. Finn’s more arty-farty, like his mother was.’

I looked at Zak again. He was obviously aware someone was outside too and it didn’t take a genius to work out who he thought it was.

‘Well,’ said Luke, ‘I think that covers everything. I’m going to double-check the rules the council have about this sort of thing and then it’ll be all hands to the pumps.’

It certainly wasn’t my place to, but I wished he had said something to shut Zak up as opposed to ignoring him, but then perhaps Zak was the sort who just wouldn’t quit if paid any attention, negative or otherwise.

‘Super,’ said Carole, ‘I’m pleased it’s all working out.’

She didn’t sound quite as thrilled as she had before and I guessed that presenting her and Poppy’s weekend of hard work in front of Zak wasn’t quite what either of them had had in mind.

‘Me too,’ Luke said. ‘Is there any chance you could do me a favour this afternoon, Carole?’

The two of them walked out through a different door, leaving Poppy and me in Zak’s somewhat overblown presence and the other visitor still waiting in the corridor. Luke obviously hadn’t realised he’d got someone else waiting and I wished I’d said something.

Poppy and I stood up to go and Zak came around the table and leant against it. He put his tape measure down and crossed his arms, making his muscles ripple in the process. I don’t know who he was trying to impress, but the posturing did nothing for me.

‘So,’ he said, looking squarely at Poppy, ‘when are you going to let me buy you a drink then?’

‘Never,’ she said firmly.

Zak really did think a lot of himself if he was making a play for a woman who was already in a rock-solid relationship.

‘Excellent,’ he nodded. ‘There’s nothing I like more than a challenge.’

‘Is that right?’ she tutted.

‘Hell yeah,’ he laughed. ‘I’ll wear you down in the end.’

Poppy laughed and swatted him with the back of her hand and whoever was outside strode off.

‘Come on, you,’ I said, pulling at her sleeve, ‘isn’t it time you were getting back to work?’

‘Bugger,’ she said, looking at her watch, ‘you’re right. I’m going to be late.’

‘I’ll give you a lift in the van, if you like,’ Zak offered. ‘I’m heading that way.’

‘No thanks,’ said Poppy, following me to the door.

‘Sure?’

Poppy rolled her eyes and shook her head.

‘You’re incorrigible,’ she tutted.

I didn’t think he’d know what that meant.

‘She’s sure,’ I told him. ‘She can jog.’

‘And what about you, Freya?’ he asked, turning his baby blues back to me. ‘Can I tempt you to an afternoon in the pub?’

‘Absolutely, one hundred per cent not,’ I told him. ‘Some of us have work to do.’

My eyes quickly scanned the corridor but the only evidence that someone had just been in it was the swinging door at the end.

‘Damn,’ I muttered.

‘What’s up with you?’ frowned Poppy as she followed me out. ‘I thought that went very well.’

I raised my eyebrows.

‘I meant with Luke,’ she added, as we headed outside. ‘Don’t take any notice of Zak. He’s like that with everyone. You’ll soon get used to him. He even flirts with Mark and Neil if he gets half a chance. He thinks he’s God’s gift, but he’s harmless really.’

I didn’t think Finn would agree and, to be honest, I didn’t either. I got the distinct impression that Zak’s mouth and cocky manner had the potential to cause plenty of harm.