After a busy Friday stocktaking in the shop, the Willowbury Folk Festival dawned on Saturday with a hazy, midsummer glow. Held on the weekend nearest the summer solstice, Willowfest attracted the weird and wonderful from all walks of life. From her window overlooking the High Street, Holly could already see her fellow business owners polishing windows, sweeping front steps and making their establishments even more beautiful in anticipation of the flood of people from near, far and wide who would descend on Willowbury for the weekend. Further up the High Street, she could see the members of the parish council coning off the thoroughfare to vehicles, as the street was going to be pedestrianised from now until Sunday morning. She’d look out of the window in a couple of hours and see stalls up and running, hear music of all kinds playing and feel that tingle of excitement that she felt every year that so many people were flocking to Willowbury for the atmosphere and the ley lines.

The main musical events and attractions would already be setting up in the grounds of the Priory, and Holly had drafted in Isabella and Chelsea, a couple of students who were home for the summer vacation, to take a shift or two in ComIncense over the weekend so that she could actually get out and enjoy it for a little while. The thought that she would be spending the time with Charlie filled her with both nerves and excitement. They’d texted a lot in the week since they’d last seen each other. Holly reflected that it was like having a long-distance relationship, since he spent half the week in Westminster and the other half at home in Willowbury. It gave their encounters in the flesh an added frisson.