Page 37 of Right Place, Right Time
‘Customers!’ Barney says, wheeling himself back to our doorway. ‘See you in a bit.’
‘I’d better go too in a minute,’ I tell Adam. ‘I’ll take a look online later if I get a chance. You need to get on with sorting your shop out if you want to open next week.’
‘Next week? I want to be open by Monday if I can.’
I look behind Adam at all the boxes of books still to be unpacked. ‘Good luck with that! You’ll have to go some today and tomorrow to achieve that goal.’
‘Ye of little faith,’ Adam says, grinning as usual. ‘Just watch me!’
I smile and leave him to it, heading back to my own shop. But I can’t help looking at the brick wall between our two shops as I pass and wondering what might be behind it …
With a busy bank holiday Saturday, and an even busier Sunday, the shops on Clockmaker Court have been full of customers, and even better, all our tills have been constantly ringing too. So my fellow shopkeepers and I are hopeful for once that we might actually make a profit this weekend if the good weather continues into tomorrow.
‘It’s looking great,’ I tell Adam as I call in at his shop late on Sunday afternoon to find him still working away. ‘You’ve done really well.’
Although Adam has completely overhauled and redecorated Gerald’s quite dated second-hand bookshop, he’s not gone too far. He’s managed to retain the look of a traditional old bookshop with dark wooden shelves and a delicate neutral wallpaper. But he’s added touches of green and red in the form of Tiffany-style lampshades and a few green bankers’ lamps with brass bases perched on little side tables, to allow people to browse the books with ease in comfy leather chairs, and I’m actually quite impressed.
‘Not well enough to open up tomorrow, though,’ Adam says, his back to me as he empties a box of books onto the shelf in front of him. Unusually for him, he sounds quite deflated.
‘But that might be for the best,’ I say, trying to find a positive spin. ‘You want to open when you’re properly ready, not when you’re still in a bit of a pickle.’
Adam puts the final book from his box on the shelf and turns around, and I’m shocked to see just how exhausted he looks.
‘Gosh, you do look tired,’ I say without thinking.
‘Thanks. You might as well say I told you so.’
‘How do you mean?’
‘You told me I wouldn’t be ready to open on Monday and you told me it would be harder work than I realised. You were right on both counts.’
‘Why don’t you stop for today and carry on tomorrow?’ I say gently, realising this is not the time to agree with his statement. ‘You really do look exhausted.’
‘Why are you being so nice?’ Adam looks at me suspiciously. ‘It’s not like you at all.’
‘Gee, thanks! Any more of that and Iwillsay I told you so.’
Adam grins. ‘There it is.’
‘Fine, if you want to be like that.’ I turn towards the door and I’m about to stomp out of the shop when I catch my foot on a yet-to-be-emptied cardboard box. I stumble and topple to the floor.
‘Are you all right?’ Adam asks, rushing over.
‘Yes, yes, I’m fine,’ I reply, humiliated.
‘Let me help you up.’ Adam offers me his hand.
I’m about to take it when I notice something. ‘What’s that?’ I ask, squinting across the floor.
‘What’s what?’
‘On the wall over there. Some of the wallpaper has peeled away under the shelves. It looks like something metal.’
‘I thought that decorator had finished quickly. If the paper is peeling away already, he must have done a shoddy job. Where exactly are you looking?’ Adam bends down to try to see where the paper is peeling.
‘He might have done us a favour, actually,’ I say, pointing. ‘Look, under the shelves just above the skirtingboard. It looks like there’s several layers of wallpaper that are all peeling off, not just the latest one. But behind them it looks like there’s some metal.’
‘So?’ Adam is now down on his hands and knees, trying to see what I can see.
