Page 47 of Coming Home to Crumbleton

CHAPTER 20

RUBY

Ruby wasn’t due to arrive at the bookshop for at least another hour… or two, even… but she couldn’t bear hanging around in her parent’s kitchen a moment longer. She was too amped up for that!

Instead, she’d made a mad, early-morning dash to the bakery and then begged Mabel for the largest takeaway cups of coffee she could manage. Her old friend had gently suggested that perhaps chamomile tea might be a better choice, considering Ruby was practically vibrating with nervous energy already.

Ruby had won, though, and now she was standing in front of the gorgeous green and gold frontage, staring through the windows of the bookshop. It wasn’t open yet, but she could see Oli moving around inside, tidying piles of books, shifting the wooden ladders out of the way, and wafting a feather duster around.

She could stand there and watch him all day - he looked both at home and slightly out of place at the same time. It was impossible to miss the coiled power in his movements. Oli might have kicked sports out of bed in favour of a life with books, but all those years of training were still evident in the hard lines of his muscles - his arms taught beneath his rolled shirt sleeves.

Ruby shivered as memories of their date the previous day flooded back - all those warm, stolen kisses on the blanket had been everything she’d tried not to dream about for the past six years. She’d loved every second of their picnic in Crumbleton Clump - but the rest of the day had felt even more intimate, somehow - even if they hadn’t been alone for one second after leaving the woodland.

The day had disappeared in a wonderful muddle of laughing with Caroline over food, walking her mum up to the museum and then - on the spur of the moment - dragging her father out of his book cave as they made their way back down the hill to join Brian Singer for a night of darts at the Dolphin and Anchor. It had felt like they were… family.

‘Get a grip!’ she laughed.

What on earth was she doing, standing on Crumbleton High Street, ogling Oli through the bookshop window and being a soppy idiot? For one thing - she really needed to stay calm ahead of today’s event and not send her blood pressure skyrocketing. For another - their coffee was getting cold.

Ruby shifted the cardboard tray containing the two cups so that she could tap lightly on the window with one finger. Oli glanced over his shoulder and the moment he spotted her, a huge smile split his face. It was as much as Ruby could do not to dissolve into a puddle of mush on the spot

‘You’re keen!’ he said as he unlocked the door and took the tray of coffee from her.

‘Not really,’ said Ruby, wrinkling her nose. Her stomach had been in nervous knots ever since she’d woken up, and there was no point pretending otherwise - but there was something about admitting it out loud that instantly made her feel better.

‘It’ll be grand,’ said Oli, leading the way inside. ‘Blimey - I’d have thought you’d be more than used to this kind of event by now.’

‘The difference is, none of those people knew me,’ she said, flopping down into the armchair as Oli dropped into the bentwood chair behind his desk. ‘They had no idea that I worked summers in the local café, that I failed my German GSCE or that I spent my spare time tutoring the cutest guy in town.’

‘Thanks!’ said Oli, giving her a huge grin. ‘But… why does any of that make a difference?’

‘Because everywhere else, readers came to the event because of the book,’ she said. ‘Today they’re coming because of me.’

‘That’s pretty special, if you ask me,’ said Oli with a shrug.

‘And terrifying at the same time!’ said Ruby, eyeballing the oh-so-familiar embossed titling on a stack of her books sitting on the table nearby. ‘Anyway - I wanted to repay your lovely picnic yesterday with some breakfast… before the chaos starts.’

‘You mean you couldn’t sleep and had to get out of the house before you went mad?’ said Oli, raising an eyebrow. ‘I remember exactly what you were like before an exam, Ruby Hutchinson!’

‘Okay fine,’ pouted Ruby. ‘You’ve got me. But you do make a very good distraction!’

Oli winked at her and held her eyes for a long moment. Ruby felt her cheeks grow warm. Somehow, she knew he was thinking about the kisses they’d shared on the blanket the day before… just like she was thinking about the way they’d held hands as they’d ambled down the high street, chattering to her parents. Ruby still couldn’t quite wrap her head around the moment her mum had peered down at their interlaced fingers and breathed the words “at last”. They’d sounded very much like a sigh of relief.

‘So, about today…’ said Ruby.

She paused. Was she really going to say this?

Yep. Yes she was. After all, she’d waited long enough.

‘It’ll all be fine,’ said Oli slowly. ‘As long as you don’t plan on doing a runner!’

‘That’s just it,’ said Ruby, shifting uncomfortably.

‘You’re not going to disappear on me… are you?!’ he said, his eyes going wide.

‘Quite the opposite, actually,’ said Ruby, shaking her head. ‘I was wondering… what would you say if I told you I didn’t want to leave this afternoon… that I wanted to stay in Crumbleton a bit longer?’

‘I’d say stay forever,’ said Oli, giving her an easy shrug.

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