Page 35 of Coming Home to Hope Street

‘I’ve always wanted one, but we never had much spare money for gadgets, nor paperbacks.’

Hannah realised Livvy was offering her a bit of background information, but she had to defend authors first.

‘There’s always the library. You can borrow a lot of books in one go nowadays. E-books too. Although I wishsomereaders would think of the authors when they download pirate copies to read for free. It must take a long time to write a book from start to finish, and then idiots think it’s their right to get them free. Not all, I hasten to add but, yes, that’s what libraries are for.’

Hannah checked her watch to see they’d been in the loft for over an hour. The dust was starting to get to her, her nose feeling sniffly.

‘Time to go back to reality.’ She pushed the books she’d taken out back in the box. ‘Let’s get this downstairs and we can set up a display in the shop tomorrow.’

‘You want your Doug time, you mean?’ Livvy teased.

‘Was I that obvious?’

‘You’re blushing.’ She grinned. ‘It is rather sweet.’

‘How long were you and Kieran married?’

‘Nine years, but we stayed together on-and-off for twice as long as that. He’d leave on a regular basis but, like a bad penny, he’d return after a few months swearing his undying love.’

‘Did you always want him to come back?’

‘No.’ Livvy dipped her eyes.

There was a loaded silence that Hannah realised she couldn’t break in to. It seemed that talking about Livvy’s past was a no-go no matter how much she wanted to know exactly why she’d come back.

Chapter Twenty-Two

Livvy couldn’t help but smile when she heard Pip bounding down the stairs at the sound of the doorbell.

‘I’ll go.’ Pip raced past her to answer the door.

‘I wasn’t moving anyway,’ she replied.

Livvy was sitting on the settee, the TV on for background noise. A mug of coffee stood waiting on the side table. She had her nose in a book. That morning, Livvy had told Hannah to choose something for her, resulting in another lengthy conversation about their favourite novels. Hannah had picked one Livvy had seen as a film, but she didn’t mind knowing the ending. She was several chapters in toMe Before Youalready.

Pip came back into the room, Tilly following behind her. Livvy smiled a welcome.

‘Hi, Tilly, how are you?’ she asked.

‘I’m good, thanks. How about you?’

‘Oh, mustn’t grumble.’

‘I think there’s something wrong with you, Mum,’ Pip announced. ‘Are you sure you don’t have a temperature?’

As Pip came towards her to put a hand to her forehead, Livvy batted it away playfully. ‘I’m fine. Why?’

‘You seem much happier since we came to Hope Street. And that in itself is a miracle.’

‘Thanks a bunch, young madam.’ Livvy rolled her eyes at Tilly. ‘Are you this cheeky to your mum?’

‘All the time.’ Tilly laughed.

‘We’re going to my room to listen to some music,’ Pip said, walking past her to the stairs.

‘Me and Hannah shared that one. We used to pretend we were in a band, using our hairbrushes as microphones and learning some epic dance routines. You should have seen us swivel our hips in those days.’

‘Mum, you make it sound as if you’re ancient. I know our music is different but you’re still not too old to pop some dance moves.’

---