Page 45 of The Battle of the Bookshops
“Such fun to find out more about an ancestor,” mused Flo. “To imagine she actually sat in this room!”
“Has the shop really been in the possession of the Capelthornes all that time?” asked Jules.
“Probably,” said Flo. “My mother always told me the Capelthornes had loads of property in Portneath, although now it’s just this shop and flat, and, of course, the Montbeaus have even got their grubby hands on this too, if this funny payment I have to make every year is anything to go by.”
“Is it much?”
“Heavens no, just a hundred pounds a year, not proper rent in the wayIunderstand the term,” said Flo vaguely. “Which reminds me, Iwillgo and see our lovely solicitor to look at this boring lease thingy soon. He sent me another email about it a while ago. I keep forgetting, and it’s getting embarrassing.”
“You’re too busy thinking about lover boy,” teased Jules.
Flo patted her hair self-consciously. “I don’t know what you mean. Graham and I are just friends, united in our love of books and food.”
“And booksaboutfood. Talking of which, that copy ofThe Little Library Yearyou told him to buy? It came in yesterday morning, I forgot to say.”
“Perfect!” exclaimed Flo happily. “I can take it to him when I go for lunch tomorrow. It is all right to be away from the shop for an hour or two, isn’t it?”
“Of course!” said Jules quickly. “You don’t have to ask. It’s your day off and it’s only an admin day. Charlie’s going to be in too, so don’t worry, we’ll be having a great time without you.” She shot Flo a cheeky grin.
“Thank you, darling. I’m being promised beef kofta meatballs with roasted vegetables and gooseberry fool to follow.”
“Ah, the food of love,” Jules said with a smirk.
“Hmph. Too old for all that nonsense,” Flo insisted unconvincingly. “He’s just a very nice, kind man. Good company.”
Chapter 19
Jules was reluctant to leave Flo with all the admin the following morning, but Flo more or less pushed her out the door to have coffee with Roman. She went, promising to be back in good time for Flo’s lunch date.
As always, once they had their coffee in front of them, business was what preoccupied them the most.
“Aunt Flo’s going great guns with our book subscription service,” Jules told him, taking a sip from her perfectly constructed flat white. It was valuable intelligence, telling him that, but all the details were on the website anyway, and she couldn’t resist showing off. She briefly described how the plan worked.
“Genius!” Roman declared. “Can I nick it?”
“Nope.”
“Fair enough.” He grinned. “But you’re going to be well jel when I tell you aboutmylatest brainwave. Portneath Books has turned publisher.”
“Go on,” said Jules, intrigued but trying to pretend not to be.
“So, we’re running a poetry competition. All ages. There are loads of poets around here, and there’s even a poetry appreciation society in Portneath library.”
“I didnotknow that,” admitted Jules.
“Ha!” replied Roman in triumph. “We’ve got thirty-two entries already. Jess is coordinating the kids from her schools—it’s a separate competition, the best one from each year group,” he explained.
“And then what?” said Jules impatiently, incidentally a little hurt that Jess had decided to work with Roman. “The winner gets a copy ofThe Golden Treasury of Poetryor something?”
“Better than that,” said Roman, smiling. “We get all the entries together and publishThe Portneath Poetry Anthology! All of it print on demand, obviously—the quality is so good these days.” He leaned back with satisfaction, awaiting her praise.
Jules nodded with feigned reluctance. “Yeah, that isquitea good idea,” she admitted. “You’d sell a copy to all the entrants plus their friends and family for a start.”
“Exactly. And we’ll do a big book launch, get the local media in, all that jazz. Plus, we pick an overall winner, and they get—oh, I don’t know—a stack of our latest bestsellers. We can get our favorite publishers to donate.”
“Neat,” said Jules, grinning in genuine approval now. “And you could make it an annual thing.”
“Good thinking.”
