The Little Village On The Hill (Book 2: Love Is In The Air): A laugh-out-loud romantic comedy

by Alice Ross

  ‘It’s going to be a bloody nightmare spending the winter in there,’ Luke had chuntered, as he’d poked his head inside. ‘It doesn’t have any heating and it isn’t double-glazed.’

  ‘Our budget didn’t stretch to such luxuries.’ Lily had nudged him playfully in the ribs. ‘It’ll be fun. Where’s your sense of adventure?’

  ‘In the flat, along with central heating, a proper loo and broadband.’

  Lily had to admit - but not to Luke, obviously - that her romantic notions of the two of them cosily snuggling up under the (one) duvet every evening, watching black-and-white movies, eating cheese on toast and playing nostalgic board games, had lasted only until a) the temperature had dropped to single figures, b) they discovered the grill didn’t work and c) there wasn’t actually anywhere to put the board games so they’d been packed up and shipped off to the storage unit, along with the other ninety-nine percent of their possessions. And that lack of space was now grinding them both down. Precisely why, she reasoned, she was furious at Luke for not making the most of the positive moments; the moments when they could start putting the cottage together again; the moments they could begin shaping their new home. Moments like today – when they were supposed to be choosing the new kitchen. But, while Lily’s vision for Hollyhocks remained as sharp as ever, Luke’s, it seemed, was fading at a rate of knots.