Page 26 of The Mended Hearts Bookshop

She stumbled out from behind the shelf and then spotted the cat on top of another shelf. “There you are,” she said.

There was another knock. “Excuse me?” said a voice that wasn’t Pen’s.

Ash turned around. She could see three clearly defined shapes through the glass door.

“Oh, just open the door,” said one shape.

“The sign says closed,” said another.

“Yes, closed for customers, but that’s obviously not us, is it?” said the first.

Which was about when Ash remembered that the door wasn’t locked at all. The handle turned and the three shapes materialized into three people, two women and one man. As they stepped inside, another two people came in behind them.

“Um, excuse me?” Ash said.

“Ah, you must be the new owner,” said one of the women. “We’re so glad you’re here.” She looked around. “Haven’t had time to arrange things, have we? Never mind, never mind, I’ll get on that. Sarah, can you get the other end of the sofa?”

Another woman came to help and they began shifting the couch.

“No coffee on yet?” asked the man, circling the counter. “I’ll get the water heating, shall I?” And he disappeared into the kitchen.

“Excuse me?” Ash said again, louder this time.

“Yes?” asked an older lady that barely came up to Ash’s shoulder.

“Who exactly are you all?” asked Ash.

“We’re your bookclub, dear,” said the woman smiling. “Now, shall we get started?”

Ash looked around, there were now seven people in the shop, plus a man in her kitchen. They vastly outnumbered her. She took a deep breath, then another, and there was only one thing she could think of to do.

“Um, actually, I just have… I just… I’ll be one moment,” she said, dashing out of the front door.

“Oh, hello,” Pen said as Ash pushed into the bakery.

Ash took a millisecond to take things in. This was her first time in the place and it looked clean and smelled good. She was iffy about the weird flowers painted on the window, but all in all, it looked cozy.

“Are you alright?” Pen asked, coming out from behind the counter.

“No,” said Ash. “No, not at all. There’s a group of people in the shop and they’re moving furniture around and making coffee and I don’t know who any of them are.”

Pen’s face wrinkled into a smile. “Oh, you brought the bookclub back, how lovely.”

“No, no I didn’t. I had nothing to do with this.”

“Hmm,” said Pen, putting a hand on one hip. “Well, I suppose everyone heard you were here and just assumed that the club would go on as normal.”

“Well, it can’t,” Ash said. “I don’t know the first thing about bookclubs.”

“I’m sure they’ll forgive your inexperience,” said Pen. “We’re an understanding bunch.” She untied her apron. “I’ve got the book around here somewhere, it was a nice little one this time.” She started to hunt behind the counter.

“No,” Ash said. “You don’t understand. They have to leave.”

Pen popped her head up. “No, no, that’s a terrible idea. You’ll have all sorts of gossip if that happens. And people will start avoiding the shop, that’s the last thing you need.”

Which was a fair point. And left Ash with only one choice. She cleared her throat. “I, um, I don’t suppose…” She trailed off because she really didn’t want to ask for this, she didn’t want to be indebted in the slightest.

“Give me two minutes,” Pen grinned. “I’ll bring some buns too, that’ll keep them too busy eating to talk much.”

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