Page 36 of Winter Nights at the Bay Bookshop
My heart lifted at the mention of him living with his nanna as that must surely be the Aileen Bridges registered against his email address.
‘You don’t live with your nanna anymore?’ I asked.
‘No. Her two best friends were moving into the new apartments at Bay View and she decided it was time to downsize and do the same. She’s been there for about six weeks now and she’s loving it. I see her several times a week but it’s strange not seeing her every day, although I suppose, at my age, moving out and getting a place of my own was long overdue. My ex-girlfriend called me a saddo for still living at home, which was rich when she was crashing at her sister’s.’
I widened my eyes at the rudeness of that, while my heart leapt once more at the revelation that he was single. Or was he? Just because he’d mentioned an ex, it didn’t mean he didn’t have a newer girlfriend.
‘Just as well she’s your ex, then,’ I said. ‘I don’t think anyone has any right to judge someone’s living situation. Age has nothing to do with it. Sometimes it’s just the way life works out. I still live at home.’
‘You do?’
‘Yeah. I bought a house with an ex years ago, but the relationship ended before we got to live there together. I couldn’t have afforded the house on my own and the shine had gone off it anyway so we sold it and I moved into a one-bedroom annexe at my parents’ place on a temporary basis and I’m still there. Living at home at my age isn’t what I expected but the plans I had didn’t pan out soc’est la vie!’
I wondered whether Lars was going to ask me to expand, but one of our best customers, a voracious crime-reader called Bernadette, burst through the door breathlessly.
‘Wow! It’s hideous out there,’ she exclaimed, depositing her umbrella in the bucket and wiping her feet on the mat.
‘We’re not used to seeing you mid-week,’ I said. Bernadette typically visited every Friday and left with four or five paperbacks to see her through the week.
‘I’m having a tooth out on Friday morning so I’ll be spending the afternoon at home drooling and feeling sorry for myself. Thought I’d better come in early to get stocked up.’
‘We’ve got the new K. D. Baines thriller in.’
‘Yes! I’ll definitely buy that today. Time to explore…’
As Bernadette headed over to the new-releases table, I turned to Lars. ‘We’re up to date with everything and I doubt we’re going to get a flood of customers, excuse the pun, so I’m thinking the best plan is for you to spend some time in here or in the children’s section really getting to grips with the backlist titles we have. See which authors have lots of titles in stock, read some of the blurbs and check out any customer reviews we’ve got displayed. It’ll help you for when the Christmas rush starts, especially as we get some customers who come in and thrust a list at us of everything they want, sometimes with the wrong titles or authors.’
Lars glanced across to where Bernadette was reading a blurb on the back of a new psychological thriller. ‘I’ll head out the back. Shout me if a boatload of customers arrive.’
* * *
Darkness had fallen, not that it had got particularly light all day, and the rain was still coming down heavily. It was approaching five o’clock and we hadn’t had a single customer in since Bernadette and she’d left before three. Talk about dead! Bernadette’s purchase of five novels had taken us into three figures but the sales report for today would be as dismal as the weather.
I’d kept myself busy preparing December’s newsletter. I emailed one out to all our subscribers at the start of the month with details of some of the big releases, special offers and any events coming up. With only being five days into November, it would be some time before December’s was sent out but it made sense to get ahead with it while I had the time.
Stepping back from the computer, I yawned and rolled my stiff shoulders. Lars had made us both a mug of tea about an hour ago but I hadn’t seen or heard a peep out of him since then so I ventured into the children’s section where he was sitting on one of the colourful tub chairs, side on to me, with a picture book open on his knee. I opened my mouth to ask him how he was getting on but stopped when I spotted a tear trailing down his cheek. He tilted his head back and looked upwards for a few moments before wiping his cheeks and returning his gaze to the book. Feeling as though I was intruding on an intensely private moment, I sloped back towards the front of the shop, cursing myself as I stepped on the one creaky floorboard between the sections. Lars’s head snapped up and he closed the book.
‘Sorry,’ I said, wincing. ‘I didn’t mean to intrude.’
‘No, it’s, erm… Sorry, I need to apologise for reading at work.’
‘No need. It’s part of the job. Are you okay?’
He gave me a weak smile as he rose from the chair and held up the book. ‘Have you read this one?’
I looked at the title –Anna and the Snow Dragonby Sigrid Hansen – but it didn’t ring a bell. The cover didn’t look familiar either – an adorable friendly looking white dragon flying over a volcano and a little girl with white plaits sitting on its back. That said, the children’s section was more Dad’s domain than mine so there were definitely books in there which weren’t on my radar.
‘You know, I’m not sure I have,’ I told Lars.
‘It was my little sister’s favourite.’ He lowered the book. ‘She was an early reader but she still loved it when she got read to, especially by me because I did the voices.’
He smiled, presumably recalling reading that specific book to his sister. I wouldn’t have had him down as someone who did all the voices and the little snippet of information was endearing.
‘I didn’t realise you had a sister,’ I said. ‘Would I have met her?’
He shook his head. ‘She wasn’t with me any of the times I saw you. If she had been, we probably wouldn’t have had a chance to chat as she’d have been excitedly dragging me from shelf to shelf.’
‘Big book fan?’
