She was so tired that her body ached and her heart ached even more. Alun had left everything as perfect as possible, the orders had been placed, the cellar clean and organized ready to receive them. He had whitewashed the walls, the floors were spotless and she wondered vaguely when he had done these things. While she was at the guest house helping Ed probably – or more truthfully – doing Ed’s work for him! She had told Ed she no longer needed him and now Alun had gone and she was once more without help. She went out and put a vacancy notice in the window of the post office and wondered whether Bob Jennings and Kitty would help for a while. Neither were really experienced, but Bob had helped out once or twice and a lot of the work entailed tidiness and muscle rather than know-how. ‘Why don’t you ask your brother to help for part of the day?’ Stella asked when the post office was clear of customers. ‘You can manage the bar as long as someone brings up the bottles and sees to the deliveries, can’t you?’ ‘I can’t.
