Page 4 of The Vanishing Bookstore
The door to the luxury penthouse apartment that Lenny owned swung inwards, and she whispered, ‘Got to go,’ then hung up the phone.
Dora walked in and looked at her. Lenny knew that Dora suspected something was going on, it was always this way and had been since the beginning of their time.
‘Evening, Aunt Lenny.’
‘Good evening, Dora, busy day?’
Dora shrugged. ‘Not particularly, how about you?’
Lenny nodded. ‘Chaotic would be a good word.’ She walked over to the huge American-style fridge in the open-plan kitchen and took out a cold bottle of Pinot Grigio, waving it in Dora’s direction.
‘Would you like a glass?’
‘No, thanks. That bad a day, eh?’
Pouring half of the bottle into one of the fine crystal gin glasses that she favoured over a simple wine glass, Lenny took a large gulp and gave her the thumbs up.
‘Did you lose a patient?’ Dora asked quietly.
‘God, no, my patients are all just fine, I had to go shopping when I realised, we were almost out of wine and you know how that stresses me out, all those people it gets too much.’ She kicked off her black Louboutins and shrugged off her Gucci suit jacket, hanging it on the back of one of the bar stools, then, carrying her glass, went and sat on the sofa. ‘Anything exciting happen today at the shop then? Come on, give me something to cheer me up, Dora, you usually have the best snippets of gossip that make me smile.’
‘Not really. It’s Mabel’s birthday so we went for coffee and cake. She asked if I wanted to go to the bingo, but I said no.’
Lenny grimaced at the thought of the bingo hall, it wasn’t her scene. It never had been and never would be. It was too much like a meeting house full of gossiping Puritans ready to point fingers and see innocent people hang for no good reason. It brought back bad memories.
‘Oh, and this really nice-smelling man came in the shop just before closing. I mean, he smelled so good.’
Lenny sat up; this was interesting. Dora had always had a strong connection with smells and memories.
‘Really, who was he, what did he want?’
‘Well, this is the awful part, I was so rude to him. His poor girlfriend died, and he wanted a floral tribute for her funeral.’
‘How could you possibly mess that up?’
‘He didn’t like the standard stuff out of the book, so I asked him what she liked, and he mentioned handbags and champagne. I offered to make him a champagne tribute wreath for her coffin without even thinking of the implications.’
Lenny choked on the mouthful of wine; she started coughing. ‘You did what?’
Dora shrugged. ‘It just came out, then he told me that he didn’t think her parents would appreciate the sentiment and I started to giggle, well actually I was laughing, and it was awful, but you know when you know that you shouldn’t be laughing but then it makes it even funnier, so you laugh harder? Yeah, well that.’
Laughter from her normally serious Aunt Lenny filled the apartment and Dora smiled. It was so bad that it was funny.
‘Dora, what are we going to do with you?’ Lenny replied. She needed to introduce the idea of the trip to Salem, but what would convince Dora? ‘It sounds like you need a break, and I need to go away for work for a few weeks to the States. How do you fancy coming with me? We could turn it into a holiday, drink cocktails,hang out in seedy bars, find us a couple of cowboys to ride, visit Salem, that kind of stuff.’
Dora looked thoughtful. She seemed to react to hearing the word Salem; perhaps it was triggering some memories.
‘What about the shop?’ she said. ‘I can’t just shut it and disappear for a few weeks; things are a little bit tight at the moment. I could have really done with that sale.’
‘Yes, you can, I can float you some cash to make up for your loss of earnings and pay this month’s rent. You always say no to any financial help, which is very honourable of you, but come on, I want to help you and we both need a break. What about your friend Katie, isn’t she between jobs? Couldn’t she cover for you?’
‘She’s not a florist, she wouldn’t know where to begin with orders and deliveries.’
‘Well, this is important, I can’t miss it. I have to leave Monday at the latest, that gives you three days to teach her how to do it. It can’t be that hard, can it, I mean you manage it.’
An expression of hurt filled Dora’s face and Lenny realised she shouldn’t have said that. It was plain mean of her.
‘What I mean is of course it’s not easy, but maybe you could teach her how to make basic bouquets and she could always tell customers there’s no delivery service while you’re away? Come on Dora, we could have such fun. Salem is a wonderful place. There are all these museums and gift shops – you would love it; look how much you love Halloween, we could get lots of goodies to bring back for the shop to display.’
