42
“We’re very sorry.”
Antonia was the first to speak.
“It’s alright,” Aurelia said, flipping on the light switch and locking the door. “None of us realized there was a slight kink in the plan.”
“Were they upset?” Oliver asked.
“No, not at all.”
“I was,” Julia muttered.
Antonia walked over and drew her in for a hug.
“I’m sorry. We forgot we’d have to get back in eventually.”
“Did it work, at least?”
Julia looked mildly hopeful, but sighed as Antonia told her, “No. We couldn’t see anything.”
“The streetlamps outside were reflecting off the glass no matter where we stood,” Oliver explained.
“He went all the way across the square, and still nothing.”
“What about upstairs?” Aurelia asked. “Could you see into the mezzanine? Miss Clack and Mrs. Jamieson were up there.”
“No—it was bizarre. Every angle reflected back the light from the streetlamps.”
“Couldn’t you see the lights inside the shop?”
Antonia shook her head.
“Interesting,” Aurelia mused. “I always thought I must look strange up there, sitting on the window seat in the middle of the night, chatting with—well, either someone or no one, depending on what people walking by might be able to see.”
“Now you have your answer,” Oliver said. He gave a wry smile, as though he wanted to keep things light, but Aurelia felt disappointed by another failed attempt to connect them with the characters.
She put her arm around him, and they followed Julia and Antonia up the spiral staircase and back to their flat.
Aurelia came out of the bathroom after a shower the next morning to find Antonia and Oliver in the kitchen. Her heart skipped for a moment, remembering a similar scene a few days ago. She relaxed, however, when she saw that they were both smiling as they assembled tea and toast.
“Good morning,” Aurelia whispered, peeking into the living room to be sure she wouldn’t wake Julia.
“You’re fine,” Antonia said, speaking at normal volume. “I shifted her into the guest room once I got up.”
Aurelia turned back toward them and reached out to take the mug of tea Oliver was handing her.
“It feels like a holiday, having you here.” She nodded to Antonia.
“Not for you. You’ve got a deadline,” Antonia admonished her. “I thought I’d meet a friend for lunch and have a wander. I’ll take Julia with me so you can write.”
“And I need to go to the office to catch up on a bit of work,” Oliver said, taking a last sip of his tea.
“Ooh, really? I’ve been itching to get back to it and I’m nearly finished now. I should be able to make some progress with you lot out of my hair.”
“And Julia and I will do dinner on our own tonight, give you two a night off from us,” Antonia added.
“You don’t need to do that,” Oliver began as he headed toward the stairs.
“But that would be great, thanks,” Aurelia finished for him as she grinned at her sister.
Aurelia managed to get a good bit of writing done, even with a busy hour or two of greeting and helping customers in the shop that morning. Julia had gone out with Antonia, but by the afternoon they were back and she was tucked up on the window seat with her copy of Pride and Prejudice.
That evening, Aurelia left Antonia and Julia to fend for themselves while she walked to Oliver’s office to meet him for dinner.
He seemed happier as they chatted about what the coming weeks would bring.
She hadn’t noticed that he’d seemed weighed down exactly, but there was a distinct difference now that they were both outside the flat and shop.
But back at home several hours later, that heaviness returned slowly—perhaps it was in his shoulders or his eyes.
She noticed it even through his smiles as Julia told him about all the things she wanted to ask Kitty that night.
Aurelia couldn’t be sure what it was, and it was hard to get a minute alone with him to ask.
Sensing that something was wrong, or at least not quite right, put her slightly off kilter, too.
“We have a plan for tonight,” Antonia announced as they settled around the living room.
“We do?” Aurelia asked.
“I mapped out a few more experiments. Tonight, Oliver and I are going to hide in the back room.”
“In the shop? That’s not going to work,” Julia said, shaking her head. “You can’t be in the shop.”
“We won’t be. We’ll be tucked away. But maybe with the door to the back room cracked open, we’ll be able to see them. And maybe hear them a bit better than we could on the stairs.”
Antonia turned to Aurelia as if waiting for her to give her opinion, though it was clear from Antonia’s expression that her mind was made up already.
“I think it’ll count as part of the shop, but you could try it. I suspect if the door to the back room is open, the characters won’t appear at all.” Aurelia repressed a smile at the thought that she sounded just like Sergeant Cuff. “Who knows, though. We can see if it works.”
“Mum, this isn’t fair. I’m going to lose an entire night with them—again.”
“Maybe not!” Antonia said cheerfully. “Anyway, you have a lifetime to spend with them, Julia.”
“Yes, but only another week and a half for right now.”
“I have a few more ideas to try, but I promise—after that, you can get back to spending time with them on your own.”
Aurelia looked at Oliver, who had been sitting silently next to her. As Antonia and Julia continued discussing the plan, Aurelia asked him quietly, “Everything okay?”
“Everything’s fine,” he said, smiling.
It looked like one of his genuine smiles, but Aurelia felt a twinge of doubt that she couldn’t shake for the rest of the evening. With no real chance to push him on whether he really was ‘fine,’ Aurelia was left to cross her fingers that this latest experiment would work.