Page 34 of The Cornish Cream Tea Bookshop
Ollie’s gaze flicked to Becky. She’d said it calmly enough, but there was something about her posture, the way she was holding her coffee cup – the coffee that Olliehad bought her – so precisely.
‘We’d be there, though,’ she replied. ‘We could get a pull-up banner for events we host elsewhere. Or maybe wecoulddo it here? It will depend on the recipe, but it doesn’t need to involve ovens or fancy hobs. You can get so many plug-in options these days. Why don’t we do that, instead?’
Thea rubbed her cheek. ‘It could be messy, and overcomplicated.’
‘I bet Marcus wouldn’t let us sell any cookbooks that weren’t his,’ Becky chipped in. ‘Which limits us a lot.’
Ollie swallowed down her frustration. ‘He wouldn’t be able to stop us selling anything. The point of every event is that, alongside whatever books we’re actually promoting, customers always end up buying a book they saw reviewed online, or one their friend told them about. Marcus couldn’t prevent that happening.’
‘He might try,’ Becky said.
‘How are the Book Wars plans coming along? And the book club?’ Thea asked brightly.
‘I’ve promoted the November choice for the book club on our Facebook page, and I’ve put up a post about Book Wars, to find some willing competitors. I’ve ordered thechairs for upstairs, and I’m going to the wholesalers with Max later this week to buy the coffee machine.’
‘That all sounds great, Ollie.’
‘I’m also going to have the details of the first quiz locked down by the end of the week. I’ll start easy; general knowledge with some book questions thrown in.’
‘Sounds perfect,’ Thea said. ‘And don’t discount the Marcus Belrose idea. If he can come up with something easy that we could cook here, we’ll go ahead. Let’s have a look at those banners you mentioned, too. Ten minutes after work – the three of us?’ Thea turned to Becky. ‘Is the after-school club back on this week?’
‘Yeah,’ Becky said. ‘I can spare ten minutes, but no more than that.’
‘Wonderful. Right, let’s get back to it. It’s publication day for a big chunk of pre-Christmas titles this Thursday, so let’s think about rejigging the window display. We could start to bring in some Christmassy bits, too. Ollie, are you happy to look into that?’
‘Of course.’ She thought of her growing pile of book-themed paper chains at home. She would need to bring them in on a day when it wasn’t raining, or her hours of slicing and stapling would be for nothing.
‘Not from Selfridges though, OK?’ Becky grinned at her and Ollie smiled back. She didn’t know if it was a good-natured joke, or a barb meant to sting her. Whatever it was, she realised she still had a long way to go before she and her colleague could be considered amicable, let alone on genuinely friendly terms.
Chapter Fifteen
‘Is that Yule log bunting?’ Ollie asked, even though Max was busy behind the counter and had his back to her.
They hadn’t seen each other since theirmomentat the bookshop after the ghost walk. She’d been hoping to see him in Sea Brew after bumping into Marcus Belrose, had planned how to defuse the tension between them, but he hadn’t been there. For a ridiculous moment Ollie had thought that he’d decided she was too difficult to deal with, and had left the café in the capable hands of his staff so he didn’t have to see her.
But it was Wednesday morning and here he was, in all his curly-haired, broad-shouldered glory. She had breathed a sigh of relief as she’d stepped through the door, then grinned at the sparkly, festive bunting: Christmas puddings alternating with robin-topped Yule logs and mince pies, all with a healthy dose of glitter. The problem with Yule logs, however, was that they were an indistinct shape.
Max turned, his smile widening when he saw her. ‘Are you questioning my decoration choices?’
‘It’s just that they could beactuallogs, especially with the robin on top.’
‘I’ll pass that onto Jasmine, the young girl who made them. I’m sure she’ll be delighted.’ He raised an eyebrow, and Ollie laughed.
‘I’m not trying to be cruel. Forget I said anything.’
‘Something else we both need to forget?’ His voice had dropped, and he looked faintly embarrassed. ‘Look, Ollie, what I said the other day—’
‘Please, Max. It’s done. You’ve already apologised, and you really didn’t need to in the first place. Marcus Belrose has more reasons to say sorry to me, and I was only in his company for ten minutes.’
‘Marcus Belrose? What did he do to you?’
‘Not a whole lot. He’s a pompous dickhead, though, isn’t he?’
Max pressed his lips into a thin line, a look of displeasure on his face that Ollie had never seen before. It was like the lamp you always keep on at home, even when it’s bedtime or you’re going out, being unexpectedly switched off.
‘Unless he’s your best friend?’ she hedged.
‘Not at all,’ Max said immediately. ‘We’ve crossed paths a few times. We were judges for a barbecue competition in the summer, but we’re certainly not bosom buddies. Are you sure he didn’t do anything to upset you?’
