Page 68 of Winter Nights at the Bay Bookshop
I glanced at Lily and she shrugged, laughing.
Cassie held her hands up to her eyes like a pair of binoculars. ‘As I told you very recently, I’m the all-seeing, all-knowing. I’m going to make some drinks and when I come back up, I expect details.’
I felt my cheeks flushing as she looked back and forth between Lily and me, grinning.
‘Allthe details,’ Cassie emphasised as she ran down the stairs.
‘Aw, you look so adorable with your cheeks all pink like that,’ Lily said, her eyes twinkling. ‘So it looks like that plan to keep things quiet lasted all of thirty seconds. I was daft to think she wouldn’t notice straightaway.’
She returned to the other side of the counter and I ripped open the envelope, removed the invitation and did a double-take at the contents. ‘It’s for the full day. I thought it would just be for the evening do.’
‘You know what this means?’ Lily asked. ‘That friends list of yours is getting bigger. And Cassie’s not the only one on the team who likes you. They all think you’re great.’
‘Really?’
‘Really. People like you, Lars. People like you for being you.’
In my weeks working at Bay Books, I’d never once worn a mask. I hadn’t at the library either and I’d been as welcomed there as I had been here. Why hadn’t I realised before that being surrounded by books and people who loved them as much as me would feel like home? It seemed such an obvious connection now.
* * *
The manager at The White Horse in Little Sandby told me she was expecting a few work parties in but could squeeze in a table for two so I booked that and arranged to pick up Lily from home. Her parents’ house was an ivy-clad Victorian detached property set on a large walled and gated corner plot, although the metal gates were open for me to drive through onto the block-paved drive. The annexe Lily lived in was tucked behind a row of conifer trees to the left of the main house and I parked beside her car, smiling at a wooden pub-style sign with the name ‘Green Gables’ on it surrounded by white flowers.
I was ten minutes early so I’d been planning to stay in the car in case she wasn’t ready, but the annexe door opened and Lily poked her head out and beckoned me over.
‘I might not look anywhere near ready,’ she said, indicating her dressing gown, ‘but I promise I am. Hair and make-up are done so I just need to put on my dress and shoes, but first I need to do this.’
She placed her hands on my cheeks and gave me the gentlest kiss on my lips.
‘I’d better leave it at that,’ she said, ‘or I’ll never get ready.’
‘I like your hair.’ She’d pinned it up at the back but had loose curls hanging round her face and neck.
She gave me a dazzling smile. ‘Grab a seat or have a look around if you like, not that there’s much to see.’
The annexe was L-shaped and I’d entered through the bottom of the ‘L’ with a tidy shoe and coat stand to my left and a bathroom on the right. Ahead of me was a kitchen/dining area with base and wall kitchen units on two sides into the corner, and a square dining table with two chairs. To the right was a lounge area with a two-seater sofa, armchair, a writing bureau and a wall-mounted television, and Lily’s bedroom was beyond that. It was small but perfectly formed and beautifully decorated. Lily had said she’d picked out the colours and furniture herself and she clearly had a talent for it. Nothing really matched yet somehow it all looked like it belonged together.
I wandered over to a tall shelving unit packed full of books and smiled at one shelf completely devoted to the ‘Anne of Green Gables’series with several paperback and hardback versions of each book. A metal sign was propped up against a boxset and I picked it up to read it:
Dear old world, you are very lovely and I am glad to be alive in you.
‘It’s from the first book,’ Lily said, joining me, ‘shortly before Anne admits to Gilbert that she’s forgiven him for calling herCarrotsand they agree to be friends.’
I placed the sign back on the shelf and turned to face Lily, my eyes widening and my heart pounding.
‘Wow!’
She was wearing a pair of high heels and a dark red dress. I’d never seen her dressed up before and she took my breath away.
‘Is it too much for The White Horse?’
‘No, you look incredible!’
She brushed her hands down the skirt. ‘I saw it in a shop window a couple of months ago and it was love at first sight but I refused to buy it because I never go anywhere I can get dressed up. Plus, I was determined I didn’t want to meet anyone, but the dress kept calling to me and eventually I gave in. It must have known that you were going to walk back into my life and that I’d be willing to take a chance on the first man I loved.’
She gasped and her cheeks turned the colour of her dress. It was the first time since our school days that I’d seen her look uncertain.
I took her hand in mine and brushed my lips against it. ‘You didn’t mean to say that, did you?’
