6. Chapter 6
‘You finished your shift in the café, then?’ said Oli, quickly recovering from the shock.
She was here!
He couldn’t help the grin that slid onto his face.
‘How did it go? Mastered your latte art yet?’
He watched as Ruby’s jaw dropped, and it was as much as he could do to stop himself from laughing out loud. She looked… indignant. Clearly, the idea that he still hadn’t twigged who she was was driving her a little bit nuts.
Not that he felt too bad about it. After zero contact from her since the moment he’d boarded his flight to America all those years ago - Oli was surprised to find that he was more than happy to wind her up a bit.
‘So… how can I help?’ he said, raising his eyebrows and doing his best to look as innocent as possible.
Ruby just stared at him for a long moment, not saying anything. She looked like she was having to rein in the desire to grab him and give him a good shake. Oli picked up his cup of stolen coffee and took a long, leisurely sip, not taking his eyes off her.
‘If this is a joke,’ Ruby growled at last, ‘it’s not funny.’
Oli swallowed the mouthful of coffee and returned the cup slowly to his desk. When he looked back up at her, he couldn’t stop himself from smiling.
‘Sorry,’ he chuckled. ‘Hello Ruby.’
‘You son of a-’
‘Now, now, now!’ he said. ‘You’ll embarrass the books.’
Ruby folded her arms and looked around her, clearly trying to get her temper back under control. Oli had always adored this side of her. Ruby Hutchinson might come across as a sweet little introvert, but he knew all too well what a firecracker she could be.
‘You knew it was me all along, didn’t you?’ she huffed eventually, not meeting his eye.
‘I wasn’t one hundred per cent sure on the stairs,’ said Oli. It was an outright lie, of course, but she’d never know that. ‘In my defence, though, I was doing my best not to give birth to my intestines at the time. That stupid trunk weighed a ton. But in the café? Yeah - of course I knew. I mean, I wouldn’t have stolen a coffee from a complete stranger, would I? Anyway, there was no mistaking you in that cute little apron.’
The squeak that came from the woman in front of him was probably enough to summon a bunch of bats into the shop. Or dolphins. Dolphins would probably have a harder time navigating the steep high street, though.
‘Brings back memories, right?’ chuckled Oli, wiggling his eyebrows.
‘I’m not doing this with you.’
Oli looked at her and instantly felt bad. He thought she’d been enjoying the joke… at least a little bit. But now all traces of high dudgeon had deserted her, and her voice had come out in a wobbly whisper instead of a snap.
‘Rubes - I’m sorry,’ he said. ‘I didn’t-’
‘Where’s Reuben?’ she said, cutting across him.
‘Erm… the Cotswolds I think,’ said Oli, cocking his head in surprise.
‘When’s he back?’ said Ruby.
‘He’s… not?’ said Oli.
Uh oh… didn’t she know…? Surely someone had told her…
‘Unless you’ve invited him to your signing?’ he said, hoping that’s what she meant.He paused, waiting for her to answer, but Ruby just stood in front of him, her eyes wide. She looked lost, and it was as much as he could do not to reach out and give her a hug.
‘He fell in love with a wonderful guy,’ said Oli, as soon as he realised she wasn’t going to say anything. ‘He moved away to be with him.’
‘You’re not telling me he just left this place behind,’ said Ruby quietly. ‘There’s no way…’
‘Well - yeah, he did!’ said Oli. ‘He sold it to me and danced off into the sunset with his very own romantic hero. From what I’ve heard on the grapevine, he’s really happy. Turns out Rhodders - his beau - is basically landed gentry. We’re talking family pile and a huge library.’
‘Sounds like Reuben’s version of heaven,’ she said quietly.
Oli nodded. ‘I like to imagine him in his best waistcoat with his feet up in front of the library fire and a book open on his lap.’
Ruby smiled softly for the briefest moment, and Oli felt it knock the breath right out of him.
‘So,’ she said, clearly trying to pull herself together. ‘So… this place is yours now?’
Oli nodded again. ‘Didn’t your publisher tell you it was me who’d booked you?’
‘No,’ said Ruby, letting out a long sigh. ‘But to be fair to them, that’s my fault. When my editor told me I’d be finishing my tour here, she said she’d forward the contact details to me, but I told her not to bother. I told her I knew the owner. I told her we were old friends…’
‘Ruby - all those things are still true!’ laughed Oli. ‘You do know the owner, and we are old friends.’
‘Friends?!’ squeaked Ruby.
‘You know what I mean,’ said Oli tightly. She did have a point though. Friends didn’t come anywhere close to describing what they’d been to each other.
‘But… but…’ spluttered Ruby, taking a tiny step backwards.
‘But what?’ said Oli, watching her face closely, trying to gauge what was going on in her head.
‘But… this means you knew I was coming,’ she said, shaking her head in confusion. ‘You must have known my team had booked me in here. You must have known!’ she said again, shooting a glance at the life-sized cut out of herself in the window.
‘Known?!’ laughed Oli. ‘Of course! I was the one who contacted your publishers. I sent the invitation and then convinced them it’d make the perfect end to your tour.’ He stopped and ran his fingers through his hair. ‘I set up that ridiculous thing in the window, too. Oh - and I bought as many copies of your book as my budget would allow. So yeah - I knew you’d be here.’
Ruby stared at him, looking like he’d just slapped her across the face with a wet haddock. This wasn’t right. This wasn’t the way he’d planned for this meeting to go.
‘Ruby, look-’ he started, wanting to go back to the beginning and explain everything.
‘I’ve got to go!’
Before he could even react, Ruby tossed the little key for the collectables cabinet onto the desk, turned on her heel and darted from the shop. The door slamming closed behind her sounded like the most damning full-stop he’d ever heard.
‘Well… shit!’ he muttered, leaning both hands on his desk. ‘That was definitely not the plan.’