Page 6 of Bookworm
That’s right… I’d talked to the head of the English department. It’d been 11 p.m. here, but only 6 p.m. back in New Hampshire. “Dartmouth,” I whispered. “Dartmouth said yes.”
Daphne nodded. “That’s right. So we called Olsen’s and told them we needed to buy that book ASAP. But only if he came down on the price and?—”
“And threw in the other first edition peacocks he had,” I finished for her.
Oh my God.
I lunged for the bag once more. In my panic and haste this morning, I didn’t bother looking to see if anything else had been in the bag.
I set the copy of Pride and Prejudice aside and dug into the bag to pull out the other books. There were four other first edition Peacock Austen books, but they were in much worse condition than the first. Torn pages. Stained, ink that was rubbing off of the illustrations and text.
Tears filled my eyes as I pulled the receipt out from the bottom of the bag and gulped.
“Seven-thousand dollars,” I whispered, reading it.
Holy shit. We’d haggled Olsen down from the eight thousand dollar price tagandmanaged to get him to toss in a few more valuable books.
I had just enough left in my bank account to buy a plane ticket to New Hampshire and buy the supplies to restore these books.
I blinked back tears as I looked up at Daphne. “This is all thanks to you, Daph.”
She waved me away and shook her head. “Not even close, This had always been your business plan. Your genius idea to buy, restore, and flip rare books. I just gave you the little nudge you needed.” She paused, tears glistening in her eyes. “Consider it my going away gift to you.”
I launched myself at Daphne, pulling her in for a hug and clutching her hard against me as tears spilled from my eyes.“Thank you,” I whispered through my sob. “But I’m pretty sureIwas supposed to getyouthe going away gift.”
We both laughed through our tears, then pulled away from the hug. I wiped at my damp cheeks. “Seriously, Daphne… what am I going to do without you?”
She bit her trembling lip and shook her head. “You won’t be without me. We’ll be across the world from each other, but you’ll always have me. And I’ll always have you. That’s what Facetime is for.”
Facetime. Right. It was how I kept in touch with all my friends and family in Maple Grove.
I didn’t get home nearly enough. I’d only seen my little brothers Coen and Cole a handful of times since they were born six years ago.
“I’ll miss seeing you every day, though,” Daphne said.
“Me, too.”
“And if you ever find a first edition of Little Women, I expect that bitch gift wrapped and delivered to my door!”
“You got it,” I laughed. “What do you say we finish these coffees, then grab some breakfast and I help you finish packing?”
Her brows lifted. “My packing is done, girl. We’ve got to get you packed up, though. Your flight leaves tomorrow.”
“I already booked my flight?! What the hell else had I arranged when I was drunk?”
Daphne laughed. “A lot. Apparently, vodka is like the equivalent to adderall for you. Your mum is arranging for a subletter to take over your apartment next month.”
“Holy shit,” I exhaled. “This is happening. Like, really happening.”
Jules purred and hopped up on the coffee table. I bent and scratched the base of her tail as she arched her back. “Don’t worry girl. I’ll make sure you’re coming with me.”
With a deep breath, I looked around my seven-hundred square foot flat. Luckily, there wasn’t a lot to pack up.
I bent over the first edition of Pride and Prejudice and flipped open some of the pages. “Thank God this one is in great condition, at least,” I said.
Unlike the other books Olsen had included in the sale. This book barely needed any work from me to flip it for a profit. I could easily make a thousand dollars off this book alone… it was well worth the eight thousand dollars Olsen had originally asked for.
I stopped flipping through the pages as I reached an illustrated image of Elizabeth Bennet and Mr. Darcy, admiring the beautiful art from the iconic illustrator.
