Page 78 of The Mended Hearts Bookshop

The bakery bell rang as the door opened. Moira Hadley came in, trailed by all four of her children. “Hi, Pen,” she grinned. “I’m helping set up the bake sale. I thought I could pick up some boxes for you and help out, take them over to the school.”

“Amazing,” Pen said. “Thank you so much. Anyone want a bun?” All four of the children nodded and Pen started handing out buns. “You’re not taking this lot with you to set up are you?” she asked Moira.

“Mikey’s at the football until after lunch,” she said. “So there’s not much else I can do.”

“Leave them here,” Pen said, looking at the kids quietly eating their buns. “You can pick them up later. Or I’ll bring them over when I come. It’s not a problem.”

Moira looked at her children, then back at Pen. “Are you sure?” she asked.

“Definite,” Pen said.

“It’s just…” Moira looked a little more closely. “You do look a bit pale, Pen. You’re not coming down with anything are you?”

“I’m strong as a horse,” Pen said. “Just a bit lacking in sleep what with all these fundraisers we’ve got going on.”

“It is a lot,” Moira agreed. “Mind you, we should have enough to get the shop up and started again, and that’s what counts, isn’t it?”

“George is putting the proposal together as we speak,” Pen said. “I can’t believe how many people have come together to help.”

“Why wouldn’t you believe that?” Moira asked. “You help so many of us, Pen, of course we want to help you. Anyway, the shop is for the community, not just for you. We’d all rather it stay in the family, so to speak. Who knows what a new owner would be like. Even renting it is better than having a whole new person move in and potentially change it into a massage parlor.”

“I wouldn’t mind a massage parlor today,” Pen laughed. “There’s cake boxes in the back, Lucy’s back there to help. Don’t worry about the kids, I’ve got them.”

THE OVEN ALARM rang and Pen rushed to get it, almost tripping over Lea Hadley, who was sitting on the floor chewing on something that Pen really hoped was part of a croissant. She grasped hold of Harley as he chased after Fabio. “No running in the bakery,” she said.

“Sorry!” said little Harley. “But I wanted to play with Fabio.”

Fabio was sneaking out of the cracked front door and Pen hurried over to close the door before one of the children went after him. Her muscles weren’t responding properly, and she was slower than she thought she would be.

She took a breath, her head spinning a little with the effort, and then the oven alarm rang again and she ran off to the kitchen to pull out the brownies she’d baked before they burned.

Her breath seemed not to be filling up her lungs properly and by the time she’d pulled out the brownie tray, she was almost panting.

She walked slowly back into the shop, where the kids were pressing their noses up against the window, breathing and then drawing pictures in the mist clouds.

Harley leaned in and breathed, then Lea joined him and the cloud they created started to spread up and over the window until Pen realized that the mist was impossibly big, until the window was completely covered, until the edges of it began to go dark until…

“I’M FINE,” PEN said, struggling to sit up.

“You’re lucky that those Hadley children have the sense to pay attention when I do school talks,” said Arjun Gupta, helping Pen up so that she could sit on a chair. “Harley ran straight to the police station when you collapsed, knew exactly what to do. Good lad,” he said to the boy approvingly.

“I’m just a bit tired,” said Pen.

“I’ve heard all about it from George,” Arjun said. “You’ve been overdoing it. I’m sure you just fainted, but we’ll get you to the doctor just in case.”

“No, no, I’ve got too much to do. Anyway, I can’t leave these four by themselves,” protested Pen.

Arjun looked doubtfully at her. “I think we should see the doc.”

“I’m fine,” Pen said again.

“Don’t believe her,” said George, rushing in.

“Ah, you got here fast,” said Arjun.

“I wasn’t far away,” said George. “And I was on my way here anyway.”

“Then I’ll leave all this in your capable hands,” said Arjun. “Pen, I think you should see the doc, but I’m not going to force you. At the very least, you need to get some sleep.”

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