Page 39 of The Mended Hearts Bookshop

“Must be a London thing,” said Pen.

“Could be,” Billy agreed. “Alright, I’ll be off then. See you later.”

“See, even the postman likes her,” Lucy said when he was gone. “So Ash can’t be that bad. She’ll come around.”

Pen smiled, she was feeling better than she had earlier that morning anyway. “Well then, let’s see if your sandwich making skills are up to scratch, shall we?” she said. “And no more talk of soul-mates.”

“Things’ll turn out for the best,” Lucy said. “I mean, look at me, all warm in a bakery with a job and everything.”

“Things always turn out for the best,” Pen said with great certainty. It was the one thing she always held onto. But somehow she couldn’t see herself hugging Ash ever again and that thought made her sad.

Chapter Seventeen

Ash was nose-deep in her book when George came through the door bearing coffee. “Thanks,” she murmured, turning a page.

“Like it, huh?” he said.

“Mmm.”

“Yeah, I thought that might be more your speed,” said George. “You know we have an entire shelf devoted to the genre.”

At this, Ash finally looked up. “A whole shelf devoted to…?”

“Lesbian romance,” he said, pointing to a shelf close to the door. “All that your little heart could desire, and we can always order more in if there’s something that you fancy. That’s definitely one advantage of owning a bookshop.” He paused. “Temporarily owning.”

“Right,” Ash said. Her head was trying and failing to make connections. It wasn’t as though she hadn’t known the book was a lesbian romance. Of course she had. She just hadn’t quite processed that information. “Um, can we just back that up for a second, you thought this would be more my speed?”

“Yes,” said George, putting both coffee cups down on the counter. “I mean, not that gay people should only read gay romance and straight people should only read straight romance, that’s ridiculous. But you said you didn’t feel a connection when you were reading that straight book, so I thought lesbian romance would maybe hit more of a nerve, so to speak.”

The connections were starting to get there, fuzzy and tenuous. “Lesbian romance,” Ash said slowly. “Because… because you think that I’m… Because you think I’m gay.”

George’s mouth dropped open and his face went as white as the page that Ash was currently not staring at. “Um, uh…” he stuttered.

And Ash tried very hard to take all this in. Was it something she’d said? Something she’d done? Did she accidentally get the word lesbian tattooed on her forehead?

“Uh, Jesus, Ash, I mean… Oh God. I’m really, really, truly sorry. I’ve fucked up.” George had passed the white stage and was now heading toward crimson. “I should never have assumed and… I just… I thought. Oh God. I don’t know what I thought. Christ, I feel awful. I’m so sorry.”

Ash closed the book carefully. “No,” she said quietly. “No, there’s nothing to be sorry for. It was an honest mistake, I’m sure.” An honest mistake.

“Really?” George asked. “I mean, how rude could I be? Assuming like that was horrible. I hate it when people do it to me, and I’m a hundred percent gay, so I should never have done it to you.”

“No,” Ash said. “No, seriously, really don’t worry about it. It’s nothing.” She cleared her throat. “The book’s good by the way. Definitely more my speed.”

A curious look passed over George’s face. “It is?”

“Yes,” said Ash, because it was true.

“Oh, um, I guess that’s good.”

“Uh-huh.” All sorts of things were starting to swirl in her brain, starting to piece together and make coherent thoughts. And Ash wasn’t at all sure she was ready for any of those thoughts. Except… except maybe the world made a little more sense than it did ten seconds ago.

“I still feel terrible, Ash, if I could take it back…” George started.

And he looked truly devastated. So much so that even Ash took pity on him. “Don’t feel bad,” she said carefully. “You’re not... I mean... It’s not…” She blew out a breath. “I just hadn’t really thought about it before.”

George narrowed his eyes. “You mean, um…?”

Ash shrugged. “I mean, maybe?”

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