Page 41 of Coming Home to Hope Street

‘Oh, don’t! I’ll be having nightmares.’ Hannah shuddered involuntarily. ‘What did you do?’

‘We had to farm out the cakes we’d made to everyone else’s fridges and then one of the builders came to our rescue with a generator. It was noisy, and smelly too, but we managed for the day. The electric finally came back on around two-ish. By that time most of the cakes had gone and we gave out a huge cheer as the lights came on. It was certainly testing.’

‘You’re good in emergencies though,’ Will said. ‘When we had Reuben, I went to pieces and I wasn’t even giving birth!’

‘Whenwehad Reuben?Iwas the one who did all the work once you’d helped out with the creating. It’s not the same thing at all!’

‘I was good at that though, wasn’t I?’

‘Ha ha. He’s right, you know.’ Kate spoke to Livvy and Doug. ‘We decided to try for a baby, thinking it would take time and pow. We got caught the month after I stopped taking the pill.’

‘Super stud,’ Hannah teased, glad they were able to talk about Reuben without it being an elephant in the room.

It had been three years since she’d met Kate. She was thirty-five, and even though Hannah never had the opportunity to become a mum, she didn’t want to have a baby now so late in her life.

People would often think they were offending her if they spoke too much about their child once they knew she hadn’t got any children. It was as if to get to her age and not have any meant she probably couldn’t have them, not because she’d never got round to it, so to speak. Sometimes she’d see a newborn baby and regret not having one of her own, the emotional pull hitting her in the pit of her stomach. But more often than not, she recognised it was no fault of hers that it hadn’t happened. And having a baby at forty wasn’t impossible, just something she wasn’t going to consider.

‘I hope that everything runs smoothly tomorrow morning.’ Hannah glanced at Kate. ‘Thanks for looking after things on Thursdays so I can still volunteer at the community centre.’

‘No problem. I’ll be bringing Reuben in sometimes. No doubt everyone will come and look in then.’

‘How is he? Still teething.’

Kate nodded and screwed up her face. ‘His cries are fierce.’

‘Well, he’s quiet now.’ Doug pointed to the baby monitor. ‘Can’t hear a peep.’

‘Lucky for you that he won’t wake you up at stupid o’clock tonight.’ Kate hid a yawn.

Hannah took this as her cue. ‘Come on you two, off you go. We’ll close up after we’ve finished. Get some kip.’

‘Yeah, I fancy an early night.’ Will raised his eyebrows up and down in a comical fashion.

‘In your dreams.’ Kate laughed. ‘I need my beauty sleep.’

Once on their own, Hannah and Doug stayed there a further half hour while they tidied up their party.

Giving out a huge sigh of appreciation, she stretched her arms into the air when it was finished. All they had to do in the morning was tie the ribbon across the front door in readiness to cut it, remove the cakes from the boxes and the champagne from the fridge, take down the sheeting from the side doors and they were ready for the official opening.

She’d decided to open on Saturday morning, from 10 a.m. until 1 p.m. Three hours would be plenty for a celebration. This would be Hannah’s last weekend at home for a good while too. She and Livvy would work every other one once things had settled.

She clinked her glass with Doug before downing the final mouthful. ‘We did it,’ she said afterwards. ‘I can’t believe I’m so lucky.’

Doug took her into his arms. ‘This business will be a huge success because of you.’

‘I’m glad you have faith, mister. I have permanent butterflies in my tummy.’

‘That’s good nerves. Adrenaline pumping at the excitement. And it is exciting.’

‘It is.’ She grinned at him. ‘From tomorrow, I’m going to be my own boss.’

Chapter Twenty-Six

Hannah opened her eyes and rolled onto her back. The luminous dial on the bedside clock said 05:15. She sighed quietly, determined not to wake Doug who was sleeping beside her.

She was unsure if she’d nodded off at all last night. She’d seen every hour of the clock as it went slowly around to welcome the morning. But today was a big day for her and she wanted to ensure everything was perfect.

And now it was the morning when the book shop finally opened. Well, it would be in another few hours. She spooned into the back of Doug, surprised when she felt his arm drape over her to pull her closer.

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