Page 48 of Winter Nights at the Bay Bookshop
‘Of course! I’m all-seeing, all-knowing. To be fair, I had forgotten. Having kids seriously messes with your brain but, seeing you together earlier, it all came flooding back to me.’
Jared appeared on the screen behind her and calledhelloto me.
‘Hi, Jared,’ I said, waving.
‘That wonderful fiancé of mine has just run a bath for me so I need to go while it’s still hot enough to almost scald me.’
‘Aw, that’s so sweet of him.’
‘Sweet, my arse. I asked him to do it.’ She laughed. ‘No, heissweet and I’m incredibly lucky to have him. He’s luckier to have me, mind, but…’
She squealed as a cushion bounced off her head.
‘Definitely got to go! Cushion fight! See you tomorrow.’
The phone disconnected before I had a chance to say goodbye. I sat back on the sofa, grinning. If Cassie thought there was chemistry, then there was definitely chemistry as she wasn’t the sort to give me false hope. But what a shock to discover she’d known I had feelings for Lars back in school. She’d never said anything. Or had she? Knowing Cassie, she would have done and, knowing me, I’d have denied it. The problem now was what to do about it. Despite my determination not to get involved with anyone, I couldn’t stop thinking about Lars and wondering if our time was now.
27
LARS
I arrived at Bay Books on Tuesday morning with a knot in my stomach, feeling more than a little nervous about seeing Lily again after whatever it was that had happened between us yesterday and my cringeworthy words and actions when I left. Until that point, it really had been a great day and I’d felt closer to her than I had to anyone in a very long time. But what if she regretted sharing so much about her personal life with me? What if she regretted touching me and things were awkward between us?
I needn’t have fretted because, as soon as Lily opened the door, she gave me her warmest smile and a greeting which made me laugh.
‘Good morning, Mr Creative-Plus-Figures, window dresser extraordinaire.’
‘Good morning to you too, although I’m not sure I deserve that title.’
‘Credit where it’s due. You made the Bookmas tree look amazing too so I think you have more of an eye for design than you realise.’
She pulled the door closed behind us and shivered.
‘Ooh, it’s bitter out there again today. I hope you’ve brought your warm hands with you because I might need them later.’
It broke the ice and we both laughed about it although, as I made our morning coffees, I wondered whether that had been her way of sayingyesterday was about warming my hands up and nothing more so please don’t read anything into it.
I sent the drinks up in Jeeves and joined Lily moments later. She had her hands cradled round her mug and mine was waiting on the counter.
‘My hands are freezing,’ she said with an apologetic smile. ‘The mug beat you to it.’
That statement seemed to confirm my earlier conclusion until she added, ‘I really enjoyed yesterday. You’re a good listener, Lars. It meant a lot.’
‘Any time. You’re a good listener too.’
‘We got interrupted. It’s not easy to?—’
The landline rang at that point and she rolled her eyes at me as she reached for the handset. I sipped my coffee as she responded to what appeared to be a cold call about energy bills.
‘I was about to say it’s not easy to chat when you work in retail,’ Lily said when she hung up. ‘As that phone call just proved.’
‘We’ll have to go out for a drink after work one day instead.’ I hadn’t meant to say that but I’d blurted it out before I could stop myself. It wasn’t exactly asking her to go on a date but it was very close.
She smiled. ‘That’d be nice.’
Her enthusiastic response made my heart leap. Maybe she hadn’t regretted any part of yesterday after all. Best to strike while the iron was hot and pin down a day. But the phone rang again. Why? In the three weeks I’d been working at Bay Books, there’d been hardly any phone calls and now there’d been three in the space of two days, all badly timed.
‘Sorry,’ she said, reaching for the receiver. ‘Good morning, Bay Books… Ah, yes! Thanks for calling back. Did my email make sense?… I’ll open it now…’
