Read The Red Book of Primrose House: A Potting Shed Mystery (Potting Shed Mystery series 2) for Free Online Page B

better than a Council job? Had she stolen food out of a baby’s mouth?
    She sat at the kitchen table reading when Davina and Bryan returned late that evening. They’d had a lovely time on the beach in the Seychelles, but, as Bryan put it, “There’s nothing like a roaring fire on a cold English night,” and he went off to light one in the library.
    Davina poured them all brandies and sat down at the table, giving Pru the opportunity she needed.
    “I want to thank you again for choosing me for this job,” she began. “I’m sure you had many others apply, and probably you had a few local gardeners who thought the job was right for them.”
    Davina tossed her head back, sweeping her gray bobbed hair out of her face, and adjusted a few of the many thin layers of fabric that made up her outfit. Her face lost its color and her reply was sharp. “So, Ned’s been talking, has he?”
    “Ned?”
    “I will not be bullied,” Davina said.
    Pru had lost the thread of the conversation. “Ned is trying to bully you?”
    Davina sniffed. “He’s a gossipy old man, Pru,” she said, “and you should not pay him any mind.”
    “But, I didn’t talk to Ned. I met Jamie Tanner.”
    “Oh Jamie,” Davina said, exhaling with a sympathetic cluck. “How is he? Where did you meet him?”
    “He was standing outside when I got back this afternoon. He sends his regards.”
    Davina was quiet for a moment, as if assembling her thoughts. “Pru, has Ned spoken to you about the head gardener post? That is, how we chose you as the best candidate?”
    “No,” Pru said.
At least not since the day I interviewed, and Ned told me I didn’t get the job,
she thought. But Davina’s comments confirmed what Pru had suspected—Ned had been talking about Jamie when he said someone had been chosen already.
    “If he does,” Davina said, looking down into her brandy as she swirled it around in the glass, “I don’t want you to worry a bit about what he says. He isn’t the boss around here.”
    Ned had yet to try to boss Pru. He wasn’t the most talkative or congenial of workers, but for his age, he worked hard and she had no complaints. “Is there a problem with Ned? You hired him to work on the grounds.”
    Davina picked up Bryan’s brandy and walked out of the kitchen as she said, “It isn’t as if we had a choice.”

Primrose House
    29 December
    Dear Pru,
    We’ve had the most amazing offer—Hugo Jenkins, a young reporter from the
Courier,
has asked if he could follow the garden restoration with a blog. Posts would appear every week online, all about Primrose House, Repton, and you. Isn’t this exciting?
    Of course, it’s entirely up to you to say yes or no. I wanted you to make the decision, although I’m sure you are as thrilled as we are to be able to share this story with the world. Just give Hugo a ring when you’re ready.
    Best,
    Davina
    P.S. I had a sudden thought last night—we could create a “ruin” in the oval bed with broken castle walls and maybe even a tiny moat. Wouldn’t that be charming?

Chapter 6
    Pru found the note on the kitchen table the next morning—Davina’s usual MO, dropping something in Pru’s lap and then leaving town; the Templetons had gone up to London for New Year’s. Pru thought it safe to dismiss any thought of a ruined castle. She said yes to the blog, even though the idea of being interviewed about a Humphry Repton landscape for which she was now responsible seemed audacious. But when she talked with Hugo, she found it easy to extol the virtues of a historic garden while also explaining that so much had happened in the ensuing two hundred years that it wouldn’t be possible to put it back exactly as it was.
    —
    The day after Bryan and Davina left, six large Maigold roses appeared at the house, lined up just where they should be planted, spaced out three on each side of the front door. They would require large planting holes—Robbie would be happy—and copious amounts of manure,