Chapter 19
NINETEEN
brODY
We’re back at the bookstore, and it’s looking good. The floors are fully restored, polished and varnished, and the walls have been painted. I look around, enjoying the feeling of satisfaction at a job well done. Hopeful Hearts indeed. The nickname suits.
I snap a few pictures and send them over to Shannon.
For the first time in years, I feel like I have something worth sharing with her.
Something I’m proud of. It’s not just the renovation work, it’s the way we’ve helped Moira.
She’s here right now, and it’s like she’s come back to life along with the Edge of the World.
She’s now making regular appearances, sitting proudly at her till, often on hand with a piece of gossip or a book recommendation.
She’s been talking about buying new stock, but then backtracking – getting excited about new releases, but then reminding herself that the bookshop might be a hotel this time next year.
I have no idea what will happen with the place, and I have to keep telling myself that it’s none of my business – that I will be gone.
But for now, I am content – more than that, in fact, I’m actually happy.
Things might not have worked out exactly as we’d expected, but there was some truth in the words on that card – I’ve certainly lived fully while I’ve been here, and maybe I’m learning to love the world again.
I just hope that translates into real life as well.
I listen to Moira and Kate chat in the back room as I wait for a response from Shannon, knowing that these women are a big part of how full my life currently is.
The women, this store, this place, all of them bring some kind of magic into my world.
I’m already way more used to it than I should let myself be, having them around, living like this – as though I’m part of it, and not just a visitor. As though this can last.
Shannon replies quickly, telling me how proud she is of me. That also feels good, but still I poke around at it a little, asking myself if she means it or if she’s just humouring me. It’s stupid, but maybe part of me still isn’t convinced I deserve this happiness, no matter how brief it is.
She goes on to tell me she has a break coming up in her experiments, and would I consider staying on a while longer so she can come and visit. With Drew.
The question unleashes a whole flurry of thoughts. I’m due to go home in four days’ time. I’d planned one night in Oxford to see my girl, then home, back to Chicago, and the job that my buddy Miguel says is mine for the taking.
It’s clear cut, and it’s safe. All I need to do is book the flight.
But would staying a little longer hurt? There’s more work to do here, and Rory Callaghan has a couple of old motorcycles he’s asked me to take a look at.
I’d get to show Shannon Bonnie Bay. It’d be possible, but not without risk.
How much harder will it be to say goodbye if I drag it out?
Could Kate even stay, and if not, would I want to be here without her?
Also, how long will it take me to scare the crap out of this Drew guy?
I tell Shannon I’ll get back to her, just as the women emerge from the back rooms, obviously with mugs of tea.
This whole place seems to be powered entirely by tea, and I’ve got to admit, I’m getting used to it.
Just like I’m getting used to waking up to the sound of the sea, with Kate in my arms. The tea I’ll be able to get in Chicago – the rest might leave a gaping wound.
I rub my back, feeling a twinge, and Kate raises her eyebrows at me. She gave me a massage last night, which should have been relaxing, but it ended with a way-too-athletic sex session. I wink at her. It was so worth it.
Moira watches us, missing nothing, a small smile on her face. She’s still in her wheelchair, but now we have the ramp she’s visiting more often. She’s clearly enjoying being here, spending time with Kate, taking book sales. Being part of something again, even if it is only for the summer.
‘Have you been reading this?’ she says, holding up a battered copy of Macbeth.
‘Yeah,’ I tell her. ‘I couldn’t understand a damn word. Is there a kids’ version, ideally with pictures?’
She slaps me with it. ‘Hold your wheesht, man! You’re not as dumb as you look.’
‘That wouldn’t be hard,’ Kate quips. I’m not sure I’m enjoying this any more. ‘Wheesht… that means shut up, right?’
Moira is giving us a lesson in its use when the bell over the door rings, and a middle-aged couple complete with walking poles and a Labrador walk in.
Kate is still working on a few of her projects, and Moira has some crazy official reopening event brewing, but the store definitely looks good enough to attract customers now.
They’ve been wandering in regularly, and Moira says she’s happy to make a few more pennies before it’s potentially turned into a ‘boudoir hotel’, still milking her joke of deliberately getting the name wrong.
Kate chats to the couple, shows them the Doggie Den, and they stay to browse. When they leave, they’re a lot poorer than when they arrived, the proud owners of a pricey history of Aberdeenshire.
‘Just walk down the beach,’ she tells them as they leave. ‘You can look up the cliffs and imagine it all! Bloody Pits!’
‘What the hell are the Bloody Pits?’ I ask.
‘Oh, it’s a local story. Apparently there was a Viking invasion back in the eleventh century, and the villagers fought them off by throwing rocks at their heads!’
‘Aye, and the story goes it was all the womenfolk,’ Moira adds with glee. ‘That they used their stockings as slingshots – the poor Danes never knew what hit them!’
I look at her, small and outwardly frail, and nod. Yeah, I can definitely see that happening around here. My skull feels exposed just thinking about it.
‘We’ve been busy haven’t we?’ Moira asks, her eyes narrowing in thought. ‘I’m not sure how I’ll cope when you’ve gone. Even keeping it open for the rest of the summer might be tricky. I wish I could still run the place, but what with my old legs and all…’
She pats her thighs and tries to look weak, putting an extra wistful tone into her voice.
I know she’s actually started to regain some movement in her limbs, and Joanne tells me she’s attacking her physio programme with renewed vigour these days.
Looks like she’s coming back to life along with the bookstore, and she’s definitely not as frail as she’s trying to appear.
I narrow my eyes suspiciously. ‘What are you up to?’
‘Brody, what a thing to say to an old lady!’
Kate stands with her hands on her hips, head tilted to one side. ‘He’s right,’ she adds. ‘What are you up to?’
‘Och, it’s nothing,’ she replies, waving her hands in front of her face.
‘It’s just… well, this place is looking grand isn’t it?
Brody, I’m sure there are still jobs left for you to do.
And Kate, you’re a natural at this. You have a way with people that puts them at ease, and makes them feel comfortable. That’s when they spend the most!’
She lets out a tremendous cackle, and I picture her lobbing rocks at Vikings with no problems at all.
‘So, I was wondering if there is any way you can stay on for a wee while?’ she finally asks. ‘I know you only agreed to two weeks, but would you consider stretching that out? This might be the last summer at the Edge of the World, and I really would love to share it with you both.’
Huh. Two people asking about extending my stay in the space of a few minutes. Have Shannon and Moira been plotting behind my back?
Kate looks surprised, and leans back against the counter, thinking it through. I realise I’m waiting to hear what she says before I reach my own decision.
‘Moira,’ she says eventually, ‘that’s not what we agreed.
We agreed that Brody and I would spend two weeks getting this place back on its feet, and then you’d find a way to make it work for the rest of the summer.
We have our little opening ceremony coming up, and after that…
well. We didn’t plan for anything after that, did we? ’
‘Aye. That was the deal. And it still could be… but what if it wasn’t? What if you stayed?’
Kate shakes her head and smiles. ‘I’d love to – but I have work!’
‘I thought you were with a temping agency? Can’t you just… I don’t know, come off it for a while?’
‘I could, yes, it’s not like anybody would miss me. I’m like the opposite of Liam Neeson in Taken. I don’t have a very particular set of skills. But I do need to earn money, pay my bills… this has been wonderful, but the real world can’t be ignored.’
She looks sad as she speaks. I know she struggles, working a relatively low-paid job in one of the most expensive cities in the world, and I can’t argue with reality.
I’d like to argue with it, and then stomp the shit out of it, but I can’t.
It’s okay for me, the house is paid off and I’m in good shape financially, but Kate’s situation is different.
‘What if I paid you?’ Moira asks gently.
‘And you could carry on living at the cottage. I’m perfectly capable of affording it, dear, before you protest – selling this place was as much to do with a lack of will than anything.
Like I told you, I lost my love of it. But I feel like that love is coming back, and you two are such a big part of it, I can’t bear the thought of you leaving just yet. ’
Kate thinks about it, and her eyes search me out. I guess she’s wondering what my plans are. Maybe she won’t want to be here without me either.
‘Okay,’ she replies, biting her lip. ‘I’ll do it.’
Huh. So much for that. I’m obviously not as important as I thought I was.
‘I don’t come cheap though,’ she adds, grinning. ‘And I demand perks.’
‘What did you have in mind, child?’ Moira asks.
‘Joanne’s apple cake, at least once a week. As many free books as I like. And Brody… I want Brody to stay too.’
She turns to look at me, and I feel like I’ve been punched in the gut. Her eyes are shining, and I can see her nerves. I want to take her in my arms and kiss her and comfort her and tell her how relieved I am. I do none of that, because as Moira is always reminding me, I’m just a big dumb lummox.
‘Yeah,’ I say, surprised at how calm I sound. ‘Sure. I can stay a little longer.’
One more week, one more month, one more summer. It’s not forever. I can live with that commitment. Besides, what can go wrong between now and September?
Kate slips her hand into mine, gives me a knee-buckling smile. I realise that I’m not so worried about what can go wrong – more about what can go right.