Page 124 of Bea's Book Wagon
‘Really, what?’ Bea asked, curious.
‘If you can wait five minutes, you’ll see.’
‘Five minutes? Where are we going, then?’ said Bea.
‘Just five more minutes,’ he repeated, eyes focused on the road ahead, smiling.
‘God, you’re infuriating,’ Bea groaned, tapping her hand impatiently against the dashboard.
CHAPTER 37
‘The vineyard?’ Bea said, her forehead wrinkling in confusion. ‘I don’t get it,’ she continued, unfastening her seatbelt and getting out of the car.
‘All in good time,’ Nathan smirked, opening the door to the barn and nodding hello to Phoebe, who was waiting inside.
‘Hey, Phoebe! How are you?’ said Bea, giving her a hug.
‘Good, thanks, you?’ asked Phoebe.
‘You know, coping, but I’m a little confused as to why Nathan’s brought me here and what it’s got to do with the bookshop?’ said Bea, turning back towards Nathan.
‘Ah, he hasn’t told you then?’ asked Phoebe.
‘Told me what?’ Bea said, flicking her gaze between them both.
‘I thought we should wait until we got here,’ Nathan explained.
‘Will someone please tell me what’s going on?’ said Bea.
‘Well, hopefully this should help make things clearer,’ said Phoebe, opening the door for Bea to follow her inside the barn.
‘Okay…’ Bea said, looking around at the display of wines, cheeses and books, expertly decorated with fresh flowers and fairy lights, it looked… beautiful.
‘Go pretty well together, don’t they?’ said Nathan.
‘This looks wonderful, but I’m still not sure I understand…’ said Bea, trying to put the puzzle together.
‘Well, Book Club was such a success, it got us thinking,’ said Phoebe.
‘Remember when I was chatting to Cece at the awards? And she said a farm shop would be a great place for me to sell my cheeses?’ said Nathan.
‘Yeah,’ said Bea.
‘And I’ve got a similar issue here; it’s a trek for people to come and buy from us direct,’ said Phoebe. ‘So—’
‘What if Bea’s Bookshop wasn’t just a bookshop, but we sold cheese and wine, too? cried Bea, realization dawning.
‘Bingo!’ said Nathan, grinning widely.
‘That’s genius! We could pair wines with books, you know, like you do with food? This steamy romance goes perfectly with a full-bodied red—’ said Bea.
‘And a crisp white sauvignon with a thriller!’ added Phoebe.
‘But,’ said Bea, her face falling a little. ‘I didn’t get the lease on the shop, remember?’
‘Correction,’ said Nathan. ‘You don’t have the lease on the shop yet.’
‘I’ll do my best to win Mr Pritchard over, but he was pretty keen on selling to EliteHaven when I saw him. I’ve got more money now, but that might not change anything,’ said Bea.
