Chapter Twenty-Four
Emery arrived at the bookshop on Friday morning to find Zara practically bouncing with excitement, her phone clutched in her hand as she darted between shelves. The shop was quiet, with only Abe in his usual spot by the window, but Zara's energy filled the space like a caffeinated hummingbird.
“There you are!” Zara said, rushing over. “You won't believe what's happened. It's absolutely brilliant!”
Emery set down her coffee travel mug, already sensing trouble brewing.
Zara's enthusiasm usually meant social media was involved, which lately had been a source of constant anxiety. She wasn’t a social media kind of person and avoided it as much as possible.
But it was looking more and more like she was going to have to go online to keep up with what was happening in her world. “What's happened?”
“The Romance Book Club poll results!” Zara thrust her phone into Emery's face, displaying a colorful pie chart. “I ran it on our Insta last night, and the votes are in. We're reading another Emerald Pearl book for our next meeting!”
Emery's stomach dropped. “Another one?” she squeaked.
“The Woman Without a Past,” Zara said, scrolling to show Emery the cover image. “It's one of her earlier works, but the timing is perfect because there are rumors she might be making an appearance at a London bookshop soon. Isn't that amazing?”
Emery took a deep breath, feeling slightly faint. “Rumors? What rumors?”
“It's all over BookBuzz,” Zara said. “Someone spotted a listing for an Emerald Pearl signing at Harrington's next month. They haven't officially announced it yet, but my friend works there and said it's definitely happening.”
Domi. It had to be Domi who'd set this up. Emery vaguely remembered agreeing to another signing during their recent meeting, but she'd been so distracted by everything with Eveline that the details had slipped her mind completely. She felt like she was slowly losing control of her life.
“That's… wow,” Emery managed. “What a coincidence.”
“I know,” Zara beamed. “I've already ordered extra copies for the shop. We'll need them anyway if she's signing nearby, there's always tons of spillover sales.”
Emery nodded weakly, trying to look appropriately enthusiastic while internally calculating how many excuses she'd need to come up with to get through the next few weeks without her secret being discovered. An unsustainable amount, that was the only answer. Which meant she had a deadline now. Maybe that was for the best. One more weekend, a perfect weekend, with Eveline, and then she’d spill the beans and let the chips fall where they may. Was that too many mixed metaphors?
“Is everything alright?” Eveline's voice came from behind her. “You look pale.”
Emery turned to find Eveline watching her, a stack of poetry books in her arms. After their text exchange last night, Emery had expected things to feel different between them this morning, maybe awkward or intensely charged or something.
Instead, there was the familiar comfortable warmth she felt every time she saw Eveline, which somehow made Emery's guilt even heavier.
“I'm fine,” Emery said quickly. “Just, um, not enough coffee yet.”
“She's just excited about the Romance Book Club news,” Zara said. “We're reading Emerald Pearl's The Woman Without a Past next, and Pearl herself might be doing a signing nearby soon.”
Eveline raised an eyebrow. “Is that so?”
“It's not really confirmed yet,” Emery said hastily, wondering if she could get out of it. “Just rumors.”
“Well, confirmed or not, the club has voted,” Zara said, tucking her phone away. “I need to update our social media with the announcement. This is going to bring in so many new customers!”
As Zara bustled off to the back room, Eveline moved closer to Emery, setting the poetry books on the counter.
“You don't seem particularly thrilled about this development,” she observed.
Emery took a desperate sip of her now-lukewarm coffee. “No, it's great. Really. I'm just… surprised, that's all. Two Emerald Pearl books back-to-back seem like a lot.”
“Perhaps,” Eveline said, her lips curving into a small smile. “But since the woman is almost single-handedly responsible for my coming to terms with romance novels, I can hardly complain, can I?”
The memory of Eveline standing up for her work, for her words, sent a fresh wave of guilt through Emery. “No, I guess not,” she said.
Eveline studied her for a moment longer, then shrugged. “Well, I've certainly read worse. And you seemed to enjoy the last one.”
“Right,” Emery said weakly. “I did.”
The shop bell jingled, announcing a new arrival, and Emery turned gratefully toward the distraction, only to freeze when she saw who it was.
The man standing in the doorway could only be Charles. She recognized him from his book. He wore an expensive-looking overcoat and carried a leather messenger bag emblazoned with his initials.
She felt Eveline stiffen beside her.
“Charles,” Eveline said. “Twice in two days. How unexpected.”
He smiled, and Emery gritted her teeth. There was something too practiced about the expression, too deliberately charming.
“I was in the neighborhood,” he said. “Thought I'd browse your collection. You always did have excellent taste in books, if not in men.”
Emery bristled at this.
“Feel free to look around,” Eveline said coolly. “Emery, would you mind helping that customer in the history section?”
Emery hesitated, reluctant to leave Eveline alone with him, but nodded. “Of course.”
As she moved away, she heard Charles say, “I've been thinking about our conversation last night.”
Emery tried to focus on helping the customer find a biography of Churchill, but her attention kept drifting back to where Charles and Eveline stood near the poetry section, their voices too low to overhear.
Whatever he was saying, Eveline's posture remained stiff, her arms crossed defensively across her chest.
A strange, protective anger bubbled up inside Emery.
Who did this man think he was, waltzing in here after everything he'd done to Eveline?
The hypocrisy of her own indignation wasn't lost on her, but she pushed the thought aside.
This was different. Charles had deliberately hurt Eveline.
Emery's deception had never been intended to cause pain.
But then, would that distinction matter to Eveline when the truth came out?
After what felt like an eternity, Charles finally left, pausing at the door to say something that made Eveline shake her head sharply. The bell jingled again as the door closed behind him.
Emery hurried back to the counter. “Are you alright?”
Eveline exhaled slowly. “I'm fine. He just gets under my skin.”
“What did he want?” Emery asked, fighting the urge to take Eveline's hand in front of customers.
“Heaven knows, he hasn’t worked up the courage to tell me yet,” Eveline said. “He claims he wants to reconnect, to see if we can at least be cordial to each other. As if the past never happened.”
“And you don’t believe him?” Emery asked carefully.
Eveline shook her head. “Charles never does anything without an ulterior motive. I just haven't figured out what it is yet.” She sighed. “He's staying in London for another week. I suspect this won't be his last visit.”
Emery felt a surge of something possessive and fierce. “You don't owe him anything, you know?”
Eveline looked at her then, really looked at her, and a small smile softened her face. “I know,” she said. “Seeing him now, I wonder what I ever saw in him. He hasn't changed at all.”
The rest of the day passed in a blur of customers and cataloging. Emery's anxiety ebbed and flowed, the innocent mentions of Emerald Pearl from excited book club members sent it spiking, and quiet moments with Eveline, a brush of hands or a shared smile, temporarily soothed it.
By closing time, Emery was exhausted from the emotional roller coaster. She glanced at her watch and pulled a face.
“I've got to run,” she said, gathering her things. “I'm meeting Jax for dinner.”
“Ah, your friend from the other day?” Eveline said, looking up from the ledger she was updating.
“Mmm,” Emery said. “It's, um, been planned for ages. Her birthday.”
This wasn't entirely true, they were meeting to go over the contract for Emery’s next book, but it wasn't entirely a lie either. It was Jax's birthday next week.
“Have fun,” Eveline said. She took Emery’s hand as Emery was reaching for her bag, dropping a soft and quick kiss on Emery’s forehead.
Emery’s heart started to race. She put a hand on Eveline’s waist, feeling the curve of her body.
“Shop’s still open,” Eveline murmured in her ear.
“Right, right.” She took a breath, then a step back. “Sorry.”
“Don’t be,” said Eveline. “Perhaps we’ve got nothing to hide.”
Emery gave a sick smile, and then, with a quick wave, she hurried out, the evening air cool on her flushed cheeks.
The decision was made. First thing on Monday morning, she’d tell the truth, the whole truth. No more of this.
She'd made it halfway to the restaurant when her step faltered. Something was missing. She patted her bag, then groaned aloud when she realized what it was.
Her laptop.
She'd been working on it during a quiet moment that afternoon, and when a customer had approached, she’d gotten distracted, walking off to help find a book about diving.
Emery quickened her pace, heart hammering. Maybe Eveline wouldn't notice it, she told herself.
But by the time she reached the restaurant, she wasn’t feeling quite so confident. She spotted Jax at a corner table and rushed over.
“Something awful happened,” she said without preamble, dropping into the chair opposite.
Jax set down her wine glass. “Hello to you too. What's happened?”
“I left my laptop at the bookshop,” Emery said, closing her eyes.
“Well, I suppose you could rush back and get it, but why? You can just pick it up in the morning,” Jax said. “And Eveline doesn’t seem like the type to pry, I’m sure it’ll be fine.”
“You don't understand,” Emery said, eyes still screwed tight shut. “I got distracted helping a customer. My laptop is sitting open on the counter with the manuscript right there on the screen. Anyone walking by could see it. Including Eveline.”