26
They had another call with Antonia the following morning, during which Julia managed to keep her hints about who they’d been seeing at night to a minimum.
Overall, Antonia seemed to be battling between jealousy and happiness over how cheerful Julia was as she talked on and on about loving the shop and London.
But things took a turn when Julia asked if she could stay with Aurelia for an extra week.
“Not an option,” Antonia said firmly.
“But, Mum, things here are… busy. I want to stay and help Aunt Aurelia.”
Aurelia kept quiet. She hated to disappoint Julia but knew she’d want a full week on her own with Oliver before the wedding. Still, she couldn’t help but smile at Julia’s eagerness to spend time with the characters.
“I know you’re having fun, but the deal was one month,” Antonia reminded her, refusing to give in. “Enjoy your last two weeks together, but then Aurelia has a wedding to plan and things to do without you underfoot.”
“I’m not underfoot. And I have things to do, things we have to do together, before I leave.”
Julia looked at Aurelia, silently begging her to intervene.
“I think we’ll get it all done, Julia,” Aurelia said, nodding for emphasis.
Julia put the phone to her hand and whispered insistently, “But I’m not getting anywhere with the characters, and I need to figure it out!”
“You will. There’s still time,” Aurelia whispered back.
“I said no, Julia, so stop pestering your aunt,” Antonia said loudly through the phone, trying to catch her daughter’s attention.
“Mum!” Julia whined.
Aurelia walked to the front of the shop to leave them to it, but she made sure to keep an ear on their conversation.
Julia always seemed on the verge of sharing a little too much with Antonia, and Aurelia wanted to be ready to do some more smoothing over if needed.
After a few minutes, she heard them wrapping up their call and let out a breath of relief that Julia had managed to get through it without any other slip-ups or hints about their midnight visitors.
“She’s being so mean,” Julia said as she tossed the phone onto the desk.
“Honestly, Julia, things are going to be hectic just before the wedding. I’m not sure I’ll be able to get down to see everyone much myself that last week,” Aurelia reasoned.
Julia groaned, leaning dramatically against the desk as though she were about to collapse from frustration.
“There are plenty of nights left before then. I’m sure we can figure it out in time. Although… we’ll have to be a bit more careful once Oliver is back. With two of us going down at midnight, we’re likely to make more noise coming in and out of the flat… We might need to skip a night or two.”
“Skip a night?” Julia pitched her voice high with indignation.
“Maybe. Maybe not. Let’s just focus on the time you’ve got, okay? What have you learned so far?”
“I don’t know…” Julia said, working at her lip. “I don’t have any ideas yet.” Then, with determination she added, “I’m not going home until I work it out.”
“Then we’ll have to keep at it,” Aurelia said, managing not to escalate her own tone in response to Julia’s.
Thinking that a distraction might help, she walked over to the shelves to collect a copy of Emma and handed it to Julia, saying, “Here, you’ll need to add this to your reading list now.”
Julia took the copy of Emma and looked appraisingly at the cover.
“I’m definitely going to read it, but maybe I’d better focus on talking to the characters we’ve already got. Do you think I could take Emma and Harriet’s book off the table? Would it be rude not to say goodbye to them?”
Her face was so sincere and concerned that Aurelia couldn’t help but smile.
“I think it’d be fine. Wise decision, in fact. If you subject them to another night with Miss Clack, they might not want to come back again, anyway.”
“They won’t be upset the next time one of us puts their book on the table?”
“No, I don’t think so. I think the characters get used to the fact that things don’t quite work to a plan around here.”
Julia reshelved the copy of Emma that Aurelia had given her, then walked over and took the copy from the Recommended Reads table and began flipping through it.
“This is it, now,” Aurelia called after her. “No more additions, no more sneaking books onto the table. We’ve got enough on our plates as it is.”
“Promise,” Julia said solemnly. “This is it.”
Later, after dinner at home and a call with Oliver, Aurelia and Julia went for a walk around the city.
Aurelia had planned to work on her book that evening since she’d only managed to edit for an hour or two earlier in the day, but Julia was anxious to keep talking through ideas about the characters before they arrived again.
“A few nights ago, Kitty mentioned wanting to travel. You should ask her about that tonight,” Aurelia suggested.
“You think travel could have something to do with why she appeared for me?” Julia asked doubtfully.
“I don’t know. You’ve done a bit of travel. Maybe you’re supposed to talk to her about what you’ve seen of the world?”
“Maybe…”
At first, they’d been cautious about their conversation, but as they kept walking, they realized there was a certain freedom in being out amongst strangers who would never suspect that the ‘Kitty’ they were talking about was fictional.
The liberation of it, of sharing this thing out in the open, put them both in a lighter mood after Julia’s sulking over not having much time left in her stay.
They kept at it, with Julia pulling out her notebook and scribbling down ideas, until they were ready to head back to the shop to sleep for an hour or two before midnight.