Page 30 of The Secret Christmas Bookshop
‘Nothing!’ she said brightly. ‘We’d better get going on this festival, hadn’t we?’
‘You think we can do it, then?’ He gestured to the notebook. ‘Plan the entire thing, just the two of us?’
Sophie sat back in her chair. ‘Of course we can. We can give it a good go, anyway. And justimagineif we do a genuinely great job – the village’s black sheep and its temporary outcast, putting on the best Christmas event Mistingham’s ever seen.’ She laughed, expecting Harry to at least muster up a smile.
Instead, he said, ‘Temporary?’ and she cursed herself for using that description.
‘I’ve not been here a year yet.’
‘That’s not what temporary means.’
‘You have a lot of books,’ she said, clunkily changing the subject.
‘I like reading,’ he said with a shrug. ‘Not entirely surprising considering Dad ran a bookshop. When this room is finished, they’ll be a lot more organized.’
‘It’s snug in here. I like it – and I love the books.’
‘What do you read?’
‘Oh, all sorts. Good thrillers, juicy romances, historical fiction sometimes. I like going back to the classics, too.’ She watched him carefully, wanting to see his response, but he was looking at the shelves.
‘Well, you can borrow anything from here – if you want to. It’s not exactly a library, but …’
‘That’s really kind,’ Sophie said. She was genuinely touched by the offer, even if he seemed embarrassed about having such a wealth of stories to share. ‘I’d love to have a look. Afterwards.’ She put her hand on her open notebook. ‘Otherwise we’ll never get anywhere.’
Harry leaned forward and took a long, slow sip of beer. ‘Where should we start?’
Sophie tapped her lips, pretending to think. ‘Oh, I know.’ Her insides skipped, but she decided to say it anyway. ‘Why don’t we move the festival from Perpendicular Street to the village green? There’s a lot more room there, and we could put some lights up in that rickety old oak tree.’ She grinned, her heart thudding.
When Harry’s scowl came – a scowl she had absolutelyexpected – she was surprised, because his eyes shimmered with amusement, and he didn’t point to the door or tell her to leave. Instead, he said, ‘Are you going to be trouble, Sophie Stevens?’ in a way that, if she’d trusted her instincts at that moment, she would have said was flirtatious. But it wasn’t – itcouldn’tbe for so many reasons, especially because of May … At least she’d teased him without him shutting down completely, though. More than anything else that evening, she counted that as a solid win.
Chapter Eleven
Nestled in the cosy study, Harry and Sophie worked their way methodically through every element of the festival – food, drink, decorations and entertainment, logistics and practicalities. She had read out the notes she’d written during their chat with Winnie, and he had offered up more suggestions.
He knew someone in Norwich who could supply them with as many sets of lights as they wanted, and a choir a couple of villages along who would be able to sing carols if the usual group weren’t available. He even suggested they hire a real reindeer, which Sophie thought would be fun but potentially problematic. He wasn’t arrogant or pushy, just calm and considered, as if, now he’d accepted his involvement in the festival, the most painless approach was simply to get on with it.
They would use Mistingham businesses wherever possible, especially as the festival was going to be on Perpendicular Street. Batter Days could provide festival-sizedportions of fish and chips, and Jim and Annie in Penny For Them could hire some Christmassy amusements to have in pride of place in their arcade. It was a relief to have some concrete ideas written down, even if all they had achieved was a list of people to approach.
Once they’d done all they could without picking up the phone, Harry had driven her home. ‘Thank you for tonight,’ he said, idling the Land Rover outside her flat. It was late, and Sophie could see Simon clearing down inside Batter Days, the sign on the door turned to Closed.
They’d picked Clifton up from Fiona and Ermin’s house, Harry waiting in the car while Sophie went to get him. ‘Good night?’ Fiona had asked, eyes sparkling with curiosity, and Sophie had smiled and nodded and thanked her for dog-sitting, without offering any other details.
Now she turned in the passenger seat so she could look at him. ‘Why are you thanking me? We were at your house, eating your food and drinking your beer, and you organized the meeting with Winnie.Ishould be thankingyou.’
He shook his head. ‘It was easy. And we’ve made progress.’
Sophie laughed. ‘You thought I would make it difficult?’
‘After our last few meetings, I wasn’t sure.’ He shrugged. ‘I wouldn’t have blamed you, either.’
‘Well.’ It came out more primly than she’d intended. ‘You made it easy, too. We’ve got a plan, and it was … fun. I had a good time.’ She cleared her throat. ‘Shall we check in when we’ve both got somewhere?’
‘Of course. Night, Sophie.’ He ruffled Clifton’s head. ‘Goodnight, mop.’
Clifton clearly didn’t mind the nickname, because he crawled into Harry’s lap. Harry gave him a more effusivegoodbye, then Sophie took her dog and got out of the car. She heard the Land Rover lingering on the roadside until she’d shut the front door and climbed the narrow flight of stairs to her flat.
‘It’s going well, then?’ Fiona said the next day, when Sophie had given her a brief rundown of their meeting.
