Chapter 6
Seren was scheduled to work in the bookshop the next morning and Carrie had a cup of tea ready for her when she arrived. Tabitha sauntered in as Carrie opened the door for her. The cat took herself off to her usual chair and curled up, barely bothering to give the two women a glance.
Carrie filled Seren in on what had happened the previous evening.
“I’m so sorry I didn’t warn you!” said Seren. “I don’t usually have anything to do with the book club other than to post on social media, so it completely slipped my mind with the date change.”
“Don’t worry about it,” Carrie reassured. “It was a great evening. I’m surprised you weren’t there though.”
Seren’s cheeks turned pink. “I don’t really like group things . . .” she explained.
“Fair enough,” said Carrie. “They’re a bit of a rowdy bunch. Especially when they’re discussing spicy scenes,” she added, making Seren laugh.
“Is there anything you need my help with before I get started on my stuff?” asked Seren.
“I don’t think so. You did a brilliant job explaining everything, and I’ve had Auntie Mary’s notes to help me. Michael left a box of books for you in the office, by the way.”
“Oh, you’ve met Michael then?” Seren said, raising an eyebrow.
“I have.” Carrie tidied a pile of bookmarks on the counter. “His daughter, Layla, is going to be working here on Saturdays.”
“Lovely! She’s such a nice girl. Your aunt really likes her.”
“I think she’ll do well. I’ll work alongside her this Saturday, for the morning at least while she finds her feet.”
Seren took a sip of her drink. “This is good, thanks. So, I usually head into the office first thing and work through the online orders. I’ll also check out some auctions I know your aunt’s interested in. Mary usually gives me a shout if she needs a hand out front. Is that OK?”
“That’s great. Mary’s very lucky to have you.”
“I love working here,” said Seren. “Mary’s a fantastic boss and the shop is beautiful.”
“It is. There are some gorgeous editions, and the paintings all around are wonderful.”
“I’m glad you like them,” Seren said shyly. “I did them.”
“Really? These paintings?” Carrie swept her arm around the shop to encompass all the gorgeous artwork that she found herself repeatedly admiring. “You’re so talented.”
“Thank you. I studied art at college and consider myself a painter, but it doesn’t pay all the bills so working here supplements it.
I started off here ten years ago, when I was about Layla’s age and my family moved here.
I also think I might go slightly crazy stuck at home painting all day.
It does me good to get out and interact with people. ”
“If you have to work somewhere, I’d say this shop is a pretty good choice.”
“Exactly,” said Seren with a little smile. “And your aunt’s been so supportive of me.”
“To be honest, I’ve been wondering how on earth the bookshop has survived. I’m impressed by how busy it is, but the rent and rates will be high, and she must have spent a fortune renovating the shop and the flat.”
“We have a lot of online orders which carry us through the quiet times. Your aunt’s well known in antiquarian book circles.
And she’s a very savvy business woman. After your uncle passed away, she realised she was going to have to specialise if she was going to survive with the growth of online book sales, and she knew what prolific readers romance lovers are.
Plus, she’s a total romantic at heart. She not only rebranded the shop but set up the website where readers can buy direct and we ship worldwide. ”
“Wow,” said Carrie. “I had no idea. I mean the shop is so lovely . . . part of me thought it was a sort of vanity project.”
Seren laughed. “Have you ever googled this place?”
“No, I haven’t. It didn’t have a website when I worked here for the summer, and I didn’t realise how many changes Auntie Mary had made, to be honest. She just said she’d changed the shop’s name and now specialised in romance books.”
“Give it a go sometime.”
Seren went into the office and Carrie checked Poppy was happy; she was making a fuss of Tabitha and drawing.
Carrie returned behind the counter and opened up the laptop.
She typed the shop’s name into Google and hundreds of results came up.
YouTube videos of people coming from as far as Australia, the US and Japan to visit her aunt’s shop, blogs of people recording their visits, lists of the best bookshops with her aunt’s bookshop included.
It seemed there was an especially large influx of people before and after the many literary festivals the county had to offer.
Carrie clicked on the shop’s website. It was really nicely done with what looked like professional photos of the inside and the outside of the shop.
She smiled as she spotted Tabitha in one of them.
She moved on to the section labelled collectable and rare .
. . Did people really spend that much on a book?
She clicked on some of the photos. There was no doubt that these were very beautiful editions, but .
. . wow. And it seemed her aunt sold rather a lot of these books.
She still thought it would be worth her coming up with something for the people of the town in particular to come to, an evening event maybe .
. . She knew how much Auntie Mary valued the community and being a part of it, and it would be a fun way to spend more time with some of the women from last night as well as encouraging people into the shop who maybe hadn’t been in before.
* * *
The morning passed quickly. Poppy was so excited to be going on a boat trip with her holiday club that Carrie ended up leaving early with her to drop her off, taking a long, rather convoluted route during which she was regaled with tales of how wonderful Layla was and requests to see her again soon.
When Carrie returned to the shop, she rearranged a display on one of the tables and sold a whole pile of books to a group of tourists while trying to avoid being in any of the photos they were very sweetly taking.
She’d just finished selling a copy of Jilly Cooper’s Rivals to a very cute elderly lady who said she’d lost her copy, when the bell over the door rang.
She looked up to see Michael coming in. Her heart started to beat a little faster.
He walked over to the counter. “I wondered if you had time to join me for a coffee next door? My treat,” he said.
“Um, I’ll need to check with Seren,” Carrie replied, feeling suddenly hot and flustered.
“Go,” shooed Seren, coming out of the office with a pile of books to put out on the shelves. “I can manage here for an hour or so.”
“OK, great,” Carrie said, suddenly feeling butterflies in her stomach. “Um, thanks. I’ll be back in a bit then.”
Carrie and Michael walked in silence out of the shop and into The First Sip.
The coffee shop smelled amazing — fresh coffee, pastries and toast. It was a lot bigger than it looked from the outside, going back further than Carrie had expected, and was painted a dark green.
Its wooden floorboards gleamed and the walls were covered with framed vintage tea and coffee adverts.
The tables and chairs were mismatched and varied from a velvety sofa to a pine table which would easily sit six.
Cakes and pastries were displayed under large glass domes on the counter with a gleaming coffee machine behind.
“Shall we sit by the window?” Michael suggested, indicating two comfy looking brown leather armchairs with a little table between them at the front of the coffee shop.
“Sure,” said Carrie, taking a seat.
“Are you going to make me order something ridiculously complicated? I should warn you, I’ll probably mess up terribly.”
Carrie laughed. “I wouldn’t do that to you! A cappuccino would be lovely.”
“That I think I can manage,” Michael said and he went up to the counter to order.
Lucy was serving and waved to Carrie before she turned her attention to Michael.
He returned with their drinks and a couple of delicious-looking chocolate brownies.
“They’re still warm from the oven and I couldn’t resist,” he explained.
“I don’t blame you,” said Carrie. “Great call. Lucy’s baking is incredible. She brought some cheese twists last night to book club. They were absolutely delicious.”
She took a bite from one of the brownies and gave a little happy groan. “So good.”
Michael broke a piece off the other brownie and popped it in his mouth. “Agreed,” he announced. “So, how was your first book club meeting?”
“It was quite the revelation!”
“Did they choose something spicy again for next month?”
“They did,” Carrie admitted.
“Interesting. I always suspected your aunt was behind that trend, but it appears I was wrong. Did you have a good time?”
“I definitely did.” Carrie grinned. “Once I got over the surprise! I guess there had to be something that Auntie Mary failed to put in her copious notes. I honestly have no idea how she managed to find the time to write everything down before she went.”
“I wish I could have seen your face when they all turned up out of the blue.”
“Armed with bottles of wine and platters of food.” Carrie giggled.
“They were so welcoming, and I’d already read the book .
. .” She blushed, recalling some of the romantic scenes that featured in the story.
“Thank goodness for Layla,” she said, quickly.
“She was amazing, looking after Poppy. I’m so grateful to her. ”
“She was more than happy to help, and she’s thrilled she’s going to be working in the shop on Saturdays. She’s had a bit of a rough time recently and I think it’ll be really good for her. That’s kind of why I asked you to join me today actually, so that I could thank you properly.”
Carrie wondered whether she should mention what happened in Boots to Michael.
He was Layla’s dad after all. But Layla had said it wouldn’t happen again, and Carrie believed her.
Everyone messed up when they were a teenager and no one’s parents knew everything they got up to.
She really did think that keeping Layla’s confidence was the most sensible thing to do in this case.
Of course, if she had any more worries about Layla, she’d speak to Michael about them straight away, but if Layla was struggling at the moment, having another adult around she knew she could trust would only be a good thing.
She also liked the fact that Layla had obviously spent time with her Auntie Mary, who was an excellent judge of character.
“I’m honestly really pleased she’s available. Auntie Mary left a note saying the shop needed someone and, to be honest I didn’t have any idea how to go about it. I’ve never had to hire anyone before,” she explained.
“I haven’t either,” confided Michael. “I’m not sure I’d be very good at it. Especially if I had to conduct interviews.”
“That would be horrific!”
“Agreed,” Michael said, laughing.
“So you haven’t considered taking on an apprentice?” Carrie asked.
“Bookbinders don’t often get inundated with work,” he said, with a smile.
“Peter only took me on because he wanted to go part-time. I love it though. Thankfully I also love repairing books and buying and selling old books, so I have a few strings to my bow. Your aunt seems to revel in sending me on seemingly impossible quests for the most obscure tomes.”
“That definitely sounds like my aunt.”
“I also rope Layla in to help me if I need an extra pair of hands. I can vouch that she’s a good worker.”
“I don’t doubt it,” said Carrie, taking a sip of her coffee.
They chatted about the town and how it had changed over the years, and about Auntie Mary and what Michael was planning to do with Layla over the holidays. Carrie wondered why Layla’s plans had changed but didn’t feel it her place to ask.
Carrie was enjoying herself so much, that time got away from her. She glanced at the clock on the wall.
“Oh my goodness, we’ve been here for over an hour! I really must get back to the shop and relieve Seren from serving.” Their eyes met briefly and Carrie felt a sudden desire to stay here for far longer with this man. She mentally shook it off.
“Yeah, I also have a business I’m supposedly running,” Michael said with a grin. “Thank you, this has been really nice.”
“It has,” agreed Carrie, fiddling with the strap of her bag.
Michael walked Carrie back next door. “I’d like to do that again sometime,” he said.
“Me too,” said Carrie. “But next time is my treat.”
She stopped as she was going into the shop to watch him go into his own. Turning, she saw Seren looking at her, a smile on her face.