Page 81 of The Mended Hearts Bookshop

The keys dangled temptingly in front of her and Ash eyed them, biting her lip. “I… I shouldn’t.”

Amanda reached out, took her hand, and planted the keys directly in it. “Nothing stands in the way of true love,” she said. “Nothing.”

“Who’s at the door?” Jason’s voice floated through from the living room.

Amanda gave Ash a secret smile. “Go on then. I’ll deal with him. The car’s in the parking garage, just press the unlock button and you’ll find it.”

And Ash fled, the keys in her hand.

Her phone rang again as she was running down the stairs.

“Ash? It’s George.”

“I know. I’m coming. Pen’s fine,” she gasped, lugging her bag down yet another flight of stairs.

“Oh. Yes. Right.”

“I’ll be there as soon as I can.”

“Good,” said George.

“You’re the third person to call me.”

“Huh. Well, we’re worried.”

“About someone that three people have assured me is absolutely fine?”

“We can still be worried,” George said. “Just… drive safe.”

THE CAR DROVE like it was floating on air but Ash didn’t have the time to truly appreciate it. What she did have time to do was thoroughly chastise herself for ever getting into this mess in the first place.

“If I hadn’t been stubborn, if I hadn’t been stuck in my ways, I’d never have left,” she said to the empty car. “And then Pen wouldn’t be alone.”

Well, Pen wasn’t exactly alone. After Moira, Lucy, and George had called she’d had another call from Mr. Gupta and then one from someone called Elspeth, who apparently worked at the school. All in all, half the town seemed to have got her phone number from somewhere and she was beginning to suspect Arjun Gupta of leaking official police information.

It was after eight by the time she was pulling into a parking place on the high street. She’d hit every traffic jam between here and London. She grabbed her bag from the car and walked down the street, past the shuttered bookshop, to the bakery where the lights still gleamed from the window.

George and Lucy were sitting at a table, coffee cups and empty plates in front of them.

“Oh thank god, we thought you’d never get here,” George said, jumping up as Ash came in.

“Actually, we thought you’d changed your mind and decided to stay in London,” said Lucy, as George turned the bakery sign to closed and locked the door behind her.

“Why would I do that?” Ash asked, stung.

Lucy shrugged. “Changed your mind, like I said.”

Ash felt a prickling of heat on the back of her neck. “Changed my mind about what? About Pen? About the nicest, best, most decent person any of us will ever have the chance to know? About the most beautiful, loving, generous person I’ve ever met? Why would I do that?”

“Well, you did leave,” pointed out Lucy.

George shook his head. “This isn’t helping anything.”

“Where is she?” asked Ash.

“Upstairs, asleep,” said George. “Which is exactly where she needs to be.”

“Tell me what happened,” Ash said.

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