The Big Little Festival

With only weeks until the little Devon village of Rabbits Leap holds its first ever festival, Jody McArthur is desperate. She – more than anyone – wants to raise the funds to rebuild the local swimming pool as, when she fell pregnant with her twin boys, it was the villagers who were there to support her. So, to stop disaster in its tracks, she brings in bigshot London events manager Christian Middlemore to make The Big Little Festival the huge success everyone deserves.

But Jody is totally unprepared for the impact reserved-but-gorgeous Christian has on Rabbit’s Leap – and her heart! Except Jody has avoided relationships for so long, and anyway, she’s sure romance between a country-born-and-bred single mum and a career-focused city boy would be impossible – wouldn’t it?

As tensions rise along with the home-baked scones and miles and miles of bunting, Jody is about to find out!

Join the whole village at The Big Little Festival for the perfect summer day out! The second book set in the picture-perfect Rabbits Leap… perfect for fans of Cathy Bramley, Holly Hepburn and Cressida McLaughlin.

Also by Kellie Hailes

The Cosy Coffee Shop of Promises (Rabbits Leap, Book 1)

The Big Little Festival

Kellie Hailes

ONE PLACE. MANY STORIES

At the age of five, KELLIE HAILES declared she was going to write books when she grew up. It took a while for her to get there, with a career as a radio copywriter, freelance copywriter and web writer filling the dream-hole, until now. Kellie lives on an island-that’s-not-really-an-island in New Zealand with her patient husband, funny little human and neurotic cat. When the characters in her head aren’t dictating their story to her, she can be found taking short walks, eating good cheese and jonesing for her next coffee fix.

To all those who read, blogged, tweeted and showed support for The Cosy Coffee Shop of Promises, thank you, thank you, thank you. Your love for Rabbits Leap means the world to me, and I really can’t thank you enough. Here’s a few more though… thank you, thank you, thank you!

To my husband. Thanks for your continued support, and for putting up with the clickety clack of the keyboard going off in your ear during early mornings and into the depths of night.

Natalie Gillespie. What would I do without you? Every single time I ask ‘how do you say this in England’ you put me right and correct my Kiwi-isms. Bless your cotton socks.

To my wonderful editor, Victoria Oundjian. Your suggestions, your advice, your thoughts are invaluable. You’re a treasure, and working with you is truly a pleasure.

For Daisy,

I love you to the ends of the ever-expanding universe.

Contents

Cover

Blurb

Book List

Title Page

Author Bio

Acknowledgements

Dedication

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Fourteen

Chapter Fifteen

Chapter Sixteen

Chapter Seventeen

Excerpt

Endpages

Copyright

CHAPTER ONE

Let’s have a festival, they said. It’ll be great for the town, they said. You’re head of the PTA, you’ll make a great festival committee head, they said.

Finally, she’d thought, relief easing the ever-present guilt that years ago had settled in the back of her mind, and deep in her heart. The chance I’ve been waiting for to right my wrongs.

Jody sank back into the village hall’s burnt-orange-coloured plastic chair and resisted the urge to bang her forehead repeatedly on the dirty, cream-coloured foldaway table before her. She’d known taking on the festival was going to be a big job, but she’d had no idea just how big. The admin alone was mind-boggling, but it was a walk in the park compared to dealing with the two women sitting before her.

‘People. Won’t. Come. If. We. Don’t. Have. Clowns.’ With every word, Shirley Harper banged the table with the flat of her palm, as if hoping she might knock some sense into her fellow festival committee members.

‘People. Won’t. Come. If. We. Do. Have. Clowns.’ Marjorie Hunter jabbed the air in Shirley’s direction, punctuating her point. ‘Clowns. Scare. People.’

Jody rubbed her temples, hoping to ease the throb that appeared every time they held a meeting. ‘What if we had one clown? A friendly looking one. They could juggle, make balloon animals. Do magic tricks?’ She put the idea out there and prayed it would stick.

‘One clown makes us look cheap.’ Mrs Harper folded her arms across her bosomy chest. ‘And we don’t do cheap in Rabbits Leap.’

Jody stifled a snort. Rabbits Leap didn’t do cheap? Since when? The town had been living on a shoestring for as long as she could remember. That was until her brother, Tony, and his fiancée, Mel, had breathed life into the old pub and attracted the attention of outsiders. Their success had seen the whole town wanting a bit of the action, and they’d decided the five-hundredth anniversary of the Rabbit Revolt was the perfect opportunity to bring people into the village – in the form of a festival. A way to bring money into businesses while fundraising to revive the community pool.