Chapter 28
28
I took a deep breath and turned the sign on the door to ‘open’. I couldn’t believe my eyes when I saw a line of people snaking up the street. Only a small snake of around fifteen people, but a snake nonetheless.
‘Welcome to Books In The Bay. Thank you so much for coming along today.’
The first person who introduced himself was Tim who said he was from the local paper and asked if it was OK if he took photos during the day and covered the story for not only the paper but also a local county magazine. It just so happened that Dennie was walking past the door at that time, so I grabbed him and asked him to keep an eye on Tim. I had a hunch that if we looked after him well, he might just look after us and write lots of gorgeously favourable things about the shop.
Next, were two lovely book bloggers that had seen the advert on the shop’s Facebook page and couldn’t wait to come down to Cornwall, saying they were making it into a long bookish weekend, going to go and visit some of the places they’d read about in a lot of books they’d read. They’d shared the event with a number of their followers who had also said that they’d be along sometime during the day.
Feeling a tap on my shoulder, I spun round to see James from the B&B.
‘Hey, James, thanks for coming along. I wouldn’t have thought that this was your cup of tea.’
‘Ah, if only I had the time. Lucy has sent me up to tell you that we have two rooms left just in case anyone asks about somewhere local to stay. This event hasn’t just been good for you, Nancy. We’ve had an influx of people booking in over the last few days and we’ve been rushed off our feet. Thank God for Meredith and Lydia who’ve been wonderful helping with Taran, so we could get ourselves sorted. We thought we’d be having a quiet lead-up to Christmas but that’s not been the case! And there’s a queue at the bistro too. Gemma is running around like a woman possessed, barking orders at the staff. The whole village is a hive of activity, Nancy. Well done you.’ He reached forward and gave me an awkward hug. ‘Right! Best get back before she thinks I’m skiving off.’
My heart was bursting with joy. To think that I’d created this, with Dennis’s help of course, was quite amazing. I knew the bookshop would be a lovely idea and my dream come true, but to know that everyone was enjoying it as much as me was remarkable.
Looking around, I saw a number of familiar faces. It was purely delightful that many of the locals had also come along to support me. I had a feeling, and rather hoped in fact, that they’d be staggering their visits throughout the day as the room was filling up quite quickly, but it warmed my heart to hear the oohs and ahs of all these book lovers who were finding my shop as wonderful as I did.
We were hosting an author panel at midday and I wanted to prepare myself for that too. As a former teacher, I wasn’t particularly nervous about hosting it, but I did want to find some time to go over the questions so I wasn’t reading from a script.
Mum walked past at one point and whispered in my ear, ‘Look at your shop, lady. I hope you are happy because I’m beside myself with pride. You are amazing.’
‘Thanks, Mum, but so are you. I feel like you, Dennie, Dad and Dan are doing all the hard work while I’m just floating around being nice to everyone.’
‘That’s because you are a slave driver!’
Dennie grabbed me by the waist and squeezed past, giving me a wink as he went by. I did everything I could not to melt into a little puddle. He had such a heady effect on me.
I needn’t have panicked about the day at all, because the panel event went incredibly well, with conversation flowing, and in fact, I had to try really hard to wind it up because, goodness me, those authors could go on for ages. I had to wrap it up as we needed to start the first of three workshops, the paper-folding, even though it broke my heart a little bit to see books being used in that way. After that was a wizard workshop for children, which went down really well. My favourite was the final one of the day, where we made Christmas tree book baubles. I’d been practising for days and been having the time of my life experimenting with lots of different styles and designs, utilising materials from both the beach and my craft box. I couldn’t wait to get started on that one.
‘Excuse me, Nancy, but the lady behind the counter said that you’re the owner. Firstly, I’m so sorry that I approached her first. I thought it was her shop.’
I turned towards the voice and was met by a handsome, tall man with grey hair and a beard to match. He had one of those faces that just looked happy and made other people smile in return.
‘Oh, it’s an easy mistake to make. It happens all the time. I know I look quite young and people don’t expect me to be the owner at my age.’
‘Well, doesn’t that just go to show that you should never judge a book by its cover?’
We both laughed.
‘I don’t suppose you might be interested in hosting some murder mystery parties at all, would you? My name is Roger and I’m the owner of a company that runs these types of events.’
Bizarrely, this was something that I’d already been pondering but hadn’t mentioned it to Dennie because I didn’t want him to think that it was a daft idea. I was going to try to work it all out in my head first before I presented a fully formed plan to him. It was really important to me that he knew I’d been listening and learning from him and thought everything through rationally.
‘Roger, this is amazing. I think I’ve been looking for someone like you but didn’t realise that companies like yours existed. I was trying to work out how to go about organising one.’
Maybe manifesting wasn’t the rubbish that Dennie thought it was after all, I thought. I must remember to tell him later.
‘Well, let’s hope that this is a wonderful partnership in the making. Your shop would be absolutely perfect. I can just see it all decorated up and looking glorious. And you don’t have to do anything but enjoy it. We’ll do all the hard work for you. Oh, hello there.’
Vi had sidled up to Roger and started flicking her hair with her hand, a bit like Miss Piggy.
‘I know you’re busy so I’ll catch you soon, Nancy. Perhaps you could give me a call and we can chat.’ He handed me a business card, which I put into my cleavage.
When he raised an eyebrow, I replied, ‘Just so I don’t lose it.’
He laughed as he walked away.
‘What a saucepot he is,’ came a voice nearby. I turned to see Vi fanning herself with her hand. ‘I’d roger Roger if I was twenty years younger.’
‘Nan, you can’t say that.’ Dennie was floating past again with a couple of books in his hands. ‘Also, make that thirty years, if you don’t mind me saying.’
She clipped him on the arm playfully.
‘Sorry, darling, but I’m only human.’ Vi cackled. ‘And to be frank, it’s been a while since I?—’
‘Naaaan. Not for your grandson’s ears.’
‘Be off with you. After what you and this one probably got up to last night, I can’t believe you’ve turned into a prude now. Coming in at eight o’clock in the morning…’
Dennie tried to quieten his grandmother at the same time as I said, ‘Viiiii!’
She laughed and tapped the side of her nose.
‘Your secret is safe with me. I’m off to chat to Rog! I’m having such a lovely day. I might even buy a book.’ She winked and scampered off to follow Roger to the other side of the room. Poor man.
A phone was practically thrown in my face.
‘Smile, you’re on a TikTok live!’
The Booktokker, as I learned they’re apparently called, went off filming all around the shop and I could hear her shouting ‘Oh! Em! Gee! Look at all this fabulous merch! You can buy this all right here in the shop or order online. I’ll drop the link in the comments, book lovers! Come and get it before it all sells out.’
I’m not sure if poor old TikTok was ready for this very bewildered bookshop owner but I was so incredibly grateful to everyone that had come from near and far to be with me today. I knew that book bloggers and book influencers were book mad, but I had no idea how much they would love my little bookshop.
The event finished with a reading from a bestselling thriller author, who happened to also be local, and who, somehow, a friend of a friend knew. They’d very kindly offered to come and read from their latest blockbuster and do a meet and greet and signing. I’d bought a lot of copies of her books on a bit of a whim and luckily had got them on a sale or return basis, but I needn’t have worried because the shop was swamped with her fans and the books sold out entirely.
‘Your shop is stunning, Nancy. A proper little treasure trove. Thank you so much for having me. I hope you don’t mind but I’ve shared some pictures on my Instagram page. I couldn’t resist.’
‘I’m so grateful to you for coming,’ I said after she’d finished. ‘Your fans have not just bought your books, but others too. It’s been amazing to have you here.’
‘Yeah, they can be a bit overzealous where books are concerned. But it’s good for business. We have to support local bookshops like you, my dear. I’d love to chat to you about maybe a launch event next year if you fancy it. We could get my publisher involved and they could give you some promotional material and all sorts. Have a think and perhaps we can have a chat when it’s not quite so mad. I know lots of other authors too that might be interested. We’re always looking for somewhere we can show off our latest books. Some of us have huge egos that need pandering to, you know.’
She couldn’t have been further from a diva if she tried. I always put authors on a pedestal but the ones I’d met today were wonderful and down to earth and so complimentary about Books In The Bay. I honestly couldn’t believe that they had loved my shop as much as I did.
The day had absolutely flown by, and by the time I closed up, I’d made so many friends new and old, the till was fit to bursting with cash and Dan said that the card machine had been ‘battered’. There were so many promises from people that they’d be back, book onto future workshops and I’d given away a whole bunch of fliers with our details on and the dates for the next book club. My book shells had also gone down a treat, with the authors asking if I could do some for all of their titles as a little memento that they could keep to recognise their achievements.
I would have to do a huge restock tomorrow. A lot of the shelves were showing big gaps and the shelving unit with the stationery and book-related jewellery was completely out of stock. It was a good job I had a couple of days before the shop opened up again to place some orders and get the shelves replenished.
I couldn’t have been happier with the results of our relaunch and I literally could not stop grinning. Dennie was right. It was a bloody good idea! A huge success.