Page 35 of Crazy in Love at the Lonely Hearts Bookshop
‘I have,’ Tom said and again his voice caught on the last syllable. ‘I mean, it’s no big deal.’
‘It’s a huge deal,’ Posy said, her voice catching too because she really was the softest of touches.
‘It’s, like, three whole years of your life in that bag,’ Nina said and she couldn’t imagine working on just one thing for one tenth of your entire life. Well, apart from having a full sleeve tattooed but that was hardly the same thing.
‘Four years actually,’ Tom pointed out.
‘Four years! Well done, you!’ Verity gently punched Tom on the arm, which was hardly an appropriate way to celebrate this monumental event.
‘I’m going to have to hug you,’ Nina announced and though Tom tried to wriggle away, Nina quickly had him pinned against the counter so she could put her arms around him and squeeze.
It was like nestling up to reinforced concrete. ‘Nina, please, I can feel your breasts,’ Tom moaned faintly. ‘I’m sure this counts as sexual harassment.’
‘I’m pretty sure it doesn’t,’ Nina said but she released Tom from the prison of her embrace and tried to make a grab for his carrier bag, but this time he was too quick for her. ‘Come on! Let us have a peek! At least show us the title.’
‘Pfffftttt! You don’t need to see it. Really, it’s too boring for words,’ Tom demurred. He straightened up. ‘And not to be rude or anything, but unless you know anything about critical theory, with particular reference to Lacan, it will probably go right over your heads.’
Nina felt that familiar pang at her lack of education but even Posy and Verity, with their degree apiece, flinched at the mention of critical theory.
‘I hope that you’re not going to be so pompous when you actually get awarded your doctorate,’ Posy snapped. Then she made a shooing motion. ‘Go! Get bound, before I change my mind!’
Of course, even though he could be very annoying, they couldn’t let the fact that Tom had finished his four-year-long thesis pass without a celebration. Not that they knew any of Tom’s other friends, or indeed if he had any, but later that afternoon Mattie baked a cake and Posy nipped out for a couple of bottles of something sparkling and Nina made a card. It was the least they could do and everyone was so busy making a fuss of Tom that nobody asked any questions about Nina’s date the night before. Or even thought to wonder why Nina wasn’t oversharing all the gruesome details like she usually did.
Creating a 3D card, which featured a pop-up Tom in scholar’s gown and mortarboard, in between serving customers, was a great distraction for Nina too so she didn’t have to think about last night’s date.
Scratch that. Last night’s non-date.
It meant she didn’t have to think about Noah either. About her last sight of him: shoulders hunched against the chill of the night, his joyful grin, hair aflame. It wasn’t an image that repulsed her. It was so far away from her memories of gangly, gawky Know It All Noah with his spots and his Coke-bottle glasses and pocket protector. Now, Noah was actually quitepleasingto look at, though he really needed to leave his navy-blue comfort zone.
Nina shook her head to dispel all thoughts of Noah. They’d had one non-date and now they were done. She’d worked off her guilt so it was time to move on and go on a date with a guy who lived next door to Stefan and Annika from the Swedish deli.
Stefan swore Nina would love him but it turned out that Stefan had even worse taste in men than Nina did. Josh addressed all his remarks to Nina’s cleavage and as he did nothing but talk about himself for the forty-seven minutes that Nina sat there, she was sure he’d be able to pick out her boobs in a police line-up.
He didn’t ask Nina one single question about herself and said nothing to make her laugh or want to stay for a second drink to find out more about him.
He was also wearing tight jeans (which normally she liked) rolled up to show his hairy ankles because he was also wearing loafers with no socks (which Nina always hated, always). In fact, it was such a lacklustre date compared to the high points of the non-date the night before that Nina didn’t even bother with her usual subterfuge. Instead of excusing herself to powder her nose then escaping into the night through a side door, she just stood up and put her coat on. ‘This is never going to happen again,’ she told Josh. It was the first thing she’d said in thirty minutes.
‘So you don’t fancy coming back to mine for a quick bang?’ he asked hopefully.
‘Not while I have breath in my body,’ Nina said grandly before she swept out and went back home to not think about Noah and the non-date. And to text Stefan and tell him that he owed her at least a week of free lunches.
Nina was still not thinking about Noah the next day, enough that she asked Posy casually when he might be in the shop again.
‘I don’t know. Maybe next week. Maybe the week after,’ Posy said vaguely. Her keenness that they all start working smarter thanks to Noah’s business solutions had fizzled out in the way that it so often did after Posy’s initial burst of enthusiasm. ‘Why? Do you need him for something?’
‘Just curious,’ Nina said and they had a peculiar ten seconds of staring at each other as Nina wondered if Noah had mentioned to Posy, his good friend’s wife, that he’d been on a date with her employee. And Posy was probably wondering why Nina was staring at her without blinking. Nina forced herself to look down at the Post-it she was holding. ‘Anyway, we don’t really need a business analyst, do we? I was thinking … all that stuff we talked about before we relaunched, the special events and a book group and things, when are we going to crack on with it all?’
‘I haven’t forgotten about any of that,’ Posy said, her eyes wide, her brow creased. ‘It’s just that it’s all I can do to keep on top of the day-to-day things. Ordering stock, talking to reps, managing my staff.’
‘Still seems a shame to let it all slide,’ Nina said casually. She had no experience in organisingthings, but it would be something new, something challenging. It might not be creative but she’d be dealing with creative people: authors, bloggers …
‘Of course, now that Tom’s finally finished his thesis, and I still don’t understand how it takes four years to write a really long essay, then he might be up for taking more of an active role in the shop,’ Posy mused. ‘I mean, he’s been teaching while he’s been doing his PhD so he has experience in telling people what to do … though I guess he might become a full-time academic now.’
‘Yeah, Tom would probably be pretty good at that side of things though he knows sod all about romantic novels,’ Nina pointed out. ‘Or—’
‘Ha, not that our customers of a certain age care about that,’ Posy interrupted. ‘They just treat Tom like a tweedy book god.’ She shook her head in disbelief then went into the office and shut the door behind her so she couldn’t see Nina’s shoulders slump. Normally Nina had no trouble asserting herself but then she so rarely expected anyone to take her seriously. Especially not Posy, who tended to treat Nina as comic relief from the stresses of being a small-business owner rather than as a valued employee. But then it was hardly Posy’s fault when Nina spent so much time playing the fool.
‘Excuse me, do you work here?’
