Page 119 of Bea's Book Wagon
They were hollow words, she knew that.
‘Right, yes…’ replied Bea, despondently. She knew there was no way she’d be able to compete with Lochlan’s cash offer, whatever it was.
‘And for what it’s worth, I’m sorry, Bea. That’s why I wanted to keep our appointment. I wanted to tell you in person, not over the phone,’ he said, shuffling his feet. ‘I felt I owed you that much at least.’
‘It’s fine,’ said Bea, quietly.
It absolutely wasn’t fine. It was far from fine. But what else could she say?
‘I appreciate you telling me face to face.’
As Mr Pritchard locked up the shop behind them, Bea was focused on just one thing: Lochlan had betrayed her, and she had to know why.
CHAPTER 35
Bea hurried away from the shop, tears flowing freely down her face. She wiped them away with the back of her hand and took a deep breath. Lochlan had done this? Her shock turned to anger. How could he? And why had he sent her flowers if he was just going to go behind her back and buy the building? She shook her head. It made no sense. She sat heavily on one of the benches by the duck pond and tried to calm down.
‘Bea?’ asked a hesitant voice. ‘Are you okay?’
She looked up to see Katerina standing in front of her, cup in hand.
‘Oh, Katerina, hi,’ Bea said, in a wobbly voice. The last person she wanted to see, mid-meltdown, was a world-famous author.
‘Is everything all right?’ Katerina asked, her face full of concern.
‘Oh, I’ve just had a bit of a bad news, it’s nothing really, but thank you,’ said Bea, trying, and failing, to smile.
‘It doesn’t look like nothing,’ said Katerina, sitting down next to her.
‘No, actually, it isn’t,’ Bea sniffed, ‘it’s pretty catastrophic,’ she sobbed, unable to hold back the tears, covering her face with her hands and letting them fall.
‘Here,’ said Katerina, pulling a pack of tissues from her bag and handing one to Bea. ‘Is there anything I can do?’
‘Not unless you can find out why the guy I’m seeing has gone behind my back and scuppered my plans to open a bookshop?’ said Bea.
‘You were going to open a bookshop? Here in the village?’ Katerina asked.
‘I was, yes,’ Bea nodded. ‘I went in today to sign the lease, but…’ she hesitated. ‘It turns out the company he works for has made a cash offer to the landlord, so the deal’s off.’
‘Oh, Bea, that’s awful. I’m so sorry,’ said Katerina, patting her hand. ‘God, men are shits sometimes,’ she added.
‘Yeah, they really are,’ agreed Bea.
‘But a bookshop, though? That sounds exciting!’
‘I know, it would have been great,’ said Bea, mustering a weak smile.
‘Will be great,’ Katerina cut in, a determined look on her face. ‘This is a setback, it’s not the end. There’ll be other shops, other men, too, for that matter.’
‘Well, I suppose I do still have the loan…’ Bea muttered. ‘And you’re right, the old Pink Ribbon isn’t the only shop in the only village in Sussex.’
‘Exactly. You’ve had a shock, of course, finding out what this man – and I use that word loosely – did,’ said Katerina, a look of disdain on her face. ‘What’s his name, by the way?’
‘Lochlan,’ said Bea. Even saying his name made her angry all over again.
‘Terrible name,’ said Katerina, twitching her nose. ‘I’ll name my next villain after him.’
Bea couldn’t help but smile at the thought of Lochlan appearing in K. L. Fletcher’s next bestseller.
