Chapter 14 #2
Flick’s phone buzzed and she checked the screen hopefully.
‘Liam?’ I asked.
‘Sadly not. The boss nagging me for this week’s prospects list. I thought I was going to have something really good to present him with, but it’ll have to be the usual dull council fodder. And now that makes me sound even more awful, like I was only interested in Liam for the exclusive.’
‘I know that’s not the case, and I’m sure he does too. He’s probably busy with his socials and it won’t have occurred to him you might be worried he’s not replied.’
She pulled a face. ‘I’m afraid it’s another classic Flick scenario. You know me, it’s always all or nothing. It’s just … I really like him, and so I went too hard trying to fix the situation for him.’
‘Classic Flick,’ I said with a smile. ‘That’s why I love you, and if he’s got any sense, he’ll love you for it too.’
Hilda showed her agreement by resting her head on Flick’s lap. Flick scratched her behind the ears and smiled as she was rewarded with a rumble of pleasure.
‘There’s no beating doggy therapy. And best friend therapy too, of course,’ she added quickly.
I laughed. ‘It’s okay, I know where I fit in the hierarchy. Hilda’s deservedly at the top. You’re very welcome to borrow her for the day, if it would help cheer you up.’
‘If only I could. The newsroom would be much improved by the presence of a news hound, but the boss doesn’t like animals. Massive red flag, obviously.’
‘Huge red flag. You should complain to HR.’
Flick checked her watch. ‘Speaking of which, I should dash. There’s a full team meeting later this morning and I need to get some writing done before then.’
‘Don’t worry about Liam. I’m sure it’s all a misunderstanding,’ I tried to reassure her.
I went the long way round back to the Oxford Bookship, hoping to accidentally on purpose bump into Liam so I could clear up the Flick situation, but there was no sign of life on the Lydia.
Unfortunately, the peace of Castle Mill Stream was not replicated on my section of the canal where half the members of the high-vis gang were busy using a collection of extremely noisy tools to batter and chop pieces of wood, while the other half faffed around trying to untangle various lengths of power cable.
I pointedly ignored them as I swept past and opened up the Bookship for business.
Mondays weren’t always the busiest of days, but thankfully today proved to be the exception with a steady succession of student visitors looking for some much-needed escapism from exam revision.
I sold my entire stock of adult colouring books to a pair of undergraduate welfare officers who promised to send their friends along to the Bookship, then I encouraged a sallow-faced individual in a college hoody to curl up on one of my squishy beanbags with Hilda and a copy of The Things You Can Only See When You Slow Down.
I gently steered a shaky-looking med student towards Wintering, then prescribed a stack of second-hand Beano annuals for the Blues rower whose spirit was clearly crushed by her arm being in a sling.
As I was putting them in a bag, the college hoody guy leapt up from his bean bag, the colour rushing back into his features as he offered to carry them back to town for her.
‘I see your matching skills aren’t confined to your Blind Date with a Book nights,’ said Liam, climbing on board soon after the pair had left chatting happily.
‘Call it my bookseller’s alchemy,’ I said. ‘Speaking of which, how do you fancy this one?’
I pointed at a copy of The Man Who Didn’t Call. Hilda backed me up by raising her hackles and delivering a disgruntled bark.
Liam frowned. ‘Hmm, I think I know where this is going, and before you give me a hard time, I dropped my phone in a sink full of washing up last night as I was about to reply to Flick. I can see how tight you two are, so I’m sure she must have told you about the chat we had and the fact that I’ve been MIA since.
I promise it was unintentional.’ He pulled a sealed bag full of rice out of his messenger bag and waved it at me.
‘Exhibit A, phone in recovery, another sorry victim of Jack Siddall.’
‘I agree with Flick. He shouldn’t be allowed to get away with how he’s treated you. But she would never write about you without your permission, you know,’ I said. ‘She’s a good journalist, but more importantly, she’s a good human being too. Believe it or not, the two are not incompatible.’
Liam chuckled. ‘Flick and I may have only had a couple of dates so far, but you’re preaching to the converted.
I was really touched by her offer to write about what happened to me, but putting aside the thorny issue of the NDA, I’ve always promised myself to find a better way of dealing with Jack Siddall’s behaviour than going to the press.
And if you’d be kind enough to lend me your phone, I’ll give her a call and explain all that myself.
I’m not letting Jack mess this up for me too. ’
I winked at Hilda as Liam went off into my cabin to speak to Flick. At least one problem seemed to have resolved itself. If only my financial situation could be sorted as easily.