Page 60 of The Mended Hearts Bookshop

George stared at her. “We went to school together.”

“Of course you did,” said Ash.

“Here’s Arjun now,” said Pen. “He’ll settle things.”

THREE HOURS LATER, the sun was higher in the sky, a mist was coming off the sea, and Arjun was draining his cup of tea and bidding them all farewell.

“I’ll be in touch if there are any developments,” he said, as he put his cup down. “But, to be honest, I wouldn’t hold your breath. There’s been a lot of it about lately. They’re clever enough to wear gloves, so I doubt we’re going to find much in the way of evidence. Luckily, they seem more intent on mischief than actual robbing.”

“You’re lucky that they didn’t get upstairs,” said George to Ash.

“Nor down in the cellar,” added Pen.

“And you’re sensible enough to have insurance,” Arjun said. “I’ll get you a case number so that you can file. The stock damage and door should be covered. If you want, I’ll pop around in a couple of days and give you some advice on new locks and theft prevention strategies.”

Ash nodded. “Yes, thank you. And thank you for coming, you’ve been very… helpful.”

Pen showed him out, carefully picking her way over books to open the door, then turned back to Ash and George.

“This is going to take days to clean up,” said Ash miserably.

For a second, Pen saw her as she was last night, relaxed and unbound, laughing, kissing. She hadn’t quite had time to process what had happened, but she knew that she’d liked it. More than liked it. She knew that Ash was something special. She could feel herself burning at the memory of her.

“Leave it to me,” she said, grinning at Ash. “Give me five minutes and a telephone.”

THE WOMEN LOOKED at the shop. Kashvi Gupta nodded. “The same happened to us last month,” she said. “You should have seen the state of the place, magazines everywhere.”

“You’re lucky it’s a Saturday,” said Elspeth Gray. “No school means we can help clean up.”

“And no work means Mikey can stay with the kids for once,” agreed Moira Hadley.

Pen grinned at them. “Thanks for helping out.”

“Of course,” said Kashvi. “Why wouldn’t we?”

“Because you hardly know me,” said Ash, stepping in. She looked from one woman to the other. “Um, I very much appreciate the help, I just… Well, there’s a lot of shelving to be done, so everything’s going to have to go past George to make sure it goes into the right spot, and…”

Elspeth Grey laughed a big, round laugh. “Oh dear, my love, I think between the three of us, four if you count Pen, we’ve read every book in the place. We could shelve them with our eyes closed now, couldn’t we?”

“Except those reverse harems,” said Kashvi, pulling a face. “Not my thing.”

“Oh, I can handle those,” said Moira, blushing slightly. “As long as you take the rom-coms, that’s not my cup of tea at all.”

“Deal done,” said Kashvi, rolling up her sleeves.

“See? There’s something for everyone,” Pen whispered to Ash as the women started picking books up off the floor. “That’s the nice thing about romance, there so many different kinds, we can all find something that fits.”

“You didn’t have to do this,” Ash whispered back as the women around her started to chatter.

“None of us have to do any of this,” shot back Pen. “We’re a community, this is what we do. We help each other. Not because we have to, but because we want to.” She eyed Ash. “Even when the person who needs help is a misanthrope who thinks she’s better off alone.”

“Oooo,” said Elspeth, holding up a book. “Have any of you read this?”

Moira looked up and cocked her head to one side. “Is that the one where his, um, endowment is so big he can’t find a woman to fit him?”

“And in the end he finds that alien girl who fits him like a glove,” cackled Kashvi.

“Which reminds me of the alien in that Sarah Whatsit book with the five dangly bits that needs a condom like a glove,” laughed Pen.

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