Chapter 39
‘Can I kiss you, Nelly?’ His voice is soft and smooth. ‘Lenny is fine… before you ask.’
Without hesitation, I nod, and our lips touch.
There is no vision, but I am too wrapped up in him to care.
It’s a slow and tender kiss. As he pulls me closer and our kiss intensifies, I can’t help but compare his style to Sam’s.
If I am honest, Sam’s kiss was more like a fast spin on my washing machine, whereas Oliver takes his time to kiss me properly.
We both come up for air and exchange shocked looks.
‘Wow, Nelly,’ he gushes, ‘that was some kiss.’
I cast him a nervous smile. ‘You’re not so bad yourself.’
‘Happy birthday.’ He beams and strokes my hand.
What happens now? Anxiety is coursing through my veins.
‘Don’t worry,’ he says, sensing my worry. ‘I’ll stay behind my pillow wall tonight.’
‘Really?’
He nods. ‘I sense you’ve been badly hurt in the past and I’m not going to rush you.’
Relief floods through me.
We change into our pyjamas in separate rooms. Once finished we get into our respective parts of the bed either side of the pillow wall. ‘Have you seen Alfie today?’
‘I saw my little boy earlier,’ he gushes. I can hear the excitement in his voice. ‘Rory was at work.’
‘How was he?’
I hear him chuckle. ‘Kept showing me his new truck. We played with his toys for ages.’
Hearing this makes my heart swell. ‘That’s nice.’
‘It is different when Rory isn’t there. I can relax and focus on Alfie.’
I position my pillow next to the wall. ‘Alfie is your priority.’
‘I never feel like I am a good father to him.’
‘You’ve moved here to be close to him. You do bedtimes, bath times and you play trucks. You talk about wanting to share your life with Alfie. That’s the important stuff.’
I can feel him edging closer to the pillow wall. ‘Yes, you’re right.’
‘You could have stayed in London.’
‘I know. I need to stop getting triggered by Rory.’
I pause and wonder whether I should say what’s on my mind. Taking a deep breath, I decide to go for it. ‘Think about Alfie. He doesn’t need arguing adults around him. Kids pick up on that sort of thing.’
He goes silent for ages, and I nibble on my thumb. Have I said the wrong thing? I’m about to open my mouth when he says, ‘You’re right. I should think of Alfie.’
I smile at the pillow wall. Oliver might be starting to listen to me.
‘Shall we talk about—’
I interrupt him. ‘John and Mary.’
He chuckles. ‘Okay. John and Mary have been meeting in the private communal garden to kiss after dark. John is falling hopelessly in love with Mary.’
‘Really?’
‘As I’ve said before, she’s different. One night, under the light of a silvery moon, he begs her to tell him her secret. At first, she remains guarded and tight-lipped.’
‘That’s how she’s survived,’ I whisper into the darkness.
Oliver pauses and then continues. His voice softens. ‘She says to John, “There’s something I need to tell you. I’ve lied to everyone here.”’
I gasp.
‘“They think my wages are for my mother,”’ Oliver says in Mary’s voice. ‘“But it’s for my boy. If I’m lucky, I see him once a year. He’s growing and I miss him. I can’t go back as I have nothing to offer him.”’
‘How does John react?’
‘He cups her cheek with his hand and says, “You’ve carried that alone?”’
My heart is beating so loud in my chest.
‘Mary tries to pull away as she thinks she’s unlovable. John takes her in his arms and says, “You’ve shown more courage than anyone in this house. How could I not admire that?”’
I wipe away a stray tear. Would Oliver admire me for carrying my secret?
* * *
He’s standing outside the bathroom when I emerge after my morning shower. Luckily, I have found the cord for my robe, and there’s no danger of it coming apart this time.
His hair is tousled, his dark eyes are shining and he’s ditched his pyjama top, which means his muscular, tanned chest is back on show. I can feel myself being drawn to his sexy smile. He’s like a powerful magnet, and I am a helpless little paper clip.
‘Good morning,’ he says, taking my hand.
It makes me hold my breath in case a vision appears, but there is nothing.
We gaze at each other, and the chemistry between us sizzles up my arm.
He pulls me towards him and tilts my chin up to meet his coffee-coloured eyes.
They dazzle with affection as he kisses me.
The kiss is sensuous and ignites a fire within me.
We both start to giggle and he kisses me on the forehead before going into the bathroom.
After getting changed we sit at the kitchen table and have coffee. He holds my hand, which still feels odd. ‘Did you have a nice birthday?’
‘One of the best,’ I murmur before he leans over for a kiss.
When we come up for air he asks about Aunt Polly. I explain she’s struggling with the effects of the chemo. He strokes my hand. ‘Did you find out about what happened between your aunt and Hilary?’
‘I’ve been so wrapped with helping her and going swimming.’
His face lights up. ‘Swimming? Really?’
I nod. ‘Margo Lane’s book worked. I love being back in the water.’
He kisses me again and I must tear myself away from him or I will never get to work.
* * *
Today, Miranda is wearing a denim mini dress and strappy brown sandals. After I have complimented her outfit, she reaches down behind the counter and, to my amazement, pulls out a book-shaped wrapped gift. ‘Happy birthday, Nelly.’
I open it and let out a silent groan.
Miranda giggles. ‘It’s time you read your new boyfriend’s novel… I mean, flatmate.’
‘Thank you, I appreciate this.’ Perhaps Miranda is becoming a nicer person?
She points over to the romance section. ‘You need to use your feminine charms on him as I could do with him hosting a regular book signing event here. Now that I am a single woman, I need all the financial help I can get.’
I feel a prickle of irritation. I thought she was being thoughtful for my birthday, but she has not changed.
Alice appears at the counter. Her cheery smile helps calm me down.
‘I’ve been doing some thinking,’ she says, fiddling with one of the glittery pens on the counter. ‘About the message in the balloon. You were right to warn me about his kids, but…’ She pauses. ‘I like the sound of Amber’s dad, and I have been getting weird signs.’
‘Signs?’
She sighs. ‘You’ll probably think I am mad, but I keep seeing adverts for Monopoly and last night I watched a film about a man who found a message in a balloon.
He didn’t know who it was from, but it turned out it was from the new love of his life.
The universe is telling me something and I need to give—’
Oliver’s words fly out of my mouth. ‘Give love a chance?’
Alice’s eyes grow bigger in surprise. ‘Weird – that’s what I was going to say. That’s another sign.’
I smile at her. ‘Good idea. I can help you.’
She casts me a puzzled expression. ‘Last week, you were not so sure.’
I recall the way she and Ben looked at each other that day.
There was a definite spark of attraction.
Kate’s face flashes up inside my mind. She loved a good romance book when she was part of Miranda’s book club, especially plots where the characters were brought together in the most unlikely of situations.
The idea of a woman responding to a message hidden inside a balloon and wanting to contact the sad, widowed father sounds like something out of a romance book.
If Kate is looking down on us, she would love this.
I take a deep breath. ‘I think you and Ben will make a great couple. His kids are lovely.’
She frowns. ‘I thought you said they were a handful.’
I can’t mess this up. ‘When you saw me, I was having a bad day. I am sorry.’
Her face softens. ‘No worries. What shall we do?’
‘Leave it to me. Are you around today?’
‘I am.’ She takes out her phone. ‘This is my number. Do you think I will like him? Is he good-looking?’
I don’t want to give the game away. I know she will be more than impressed. ‘He’s okay.’
I make a note of her number. ‘Right, let me get to work.’
She’s about to go when she turns back. ‘Did you know Kate, the mum?’
‘Yes, I did. She came to the book club here. Kate was lovely. She loved a good romance novel. She would have raved about that film you saw.’
Alice smiles. ‘That’s another sign.’
I watch her leave the bookshop and glance at the romance section. A woman who has the same red hair that Kate had is flicking through a pink novel. I smile to myself and tidy up the box of glittery pens on the counter.
An hour later, I’m serving a customer when Amber walks in, chewing her gum, AirPods slotted into her ears and inspecting her silvery nails. Once I’ve finished with my customer, I go to find her in the young adult section.
‘Amber,’ I say as she flicks through one of the books on the display table. ‘I have news.’
She whirls around to me.
‘A woman brought in your balloon, and she wants to meet your dad.’
Amber’s face falls, which is not what I was expecting to see. ‘Oh no.’
My heart grinds to halt. ‘What’s happened?’
She shakes her head. ‘Dad met someone a few days ago, and he’s been talking non-stop about her ever since. I don’t think he’ll go out with anyone unless it’s this mystery woman. He even turned down Sue, the neighbour.’
‘Sue – the neighbour? The one he was confiding in about his loneliness?’
Amber nods. ‘It was a ploy on Sue’s part. She wanted a date with him. Anyway, he turned her down and told her he only had eyes for someone else. Sue was gutted. We won’t be getting an invite to her dreadful summer barbeques, though, which is a bonus.’
‘Who is this mystery woman?’
She shrugs. ‘I don’t know her.’
I think back to when Ben was in here a few days ago and how he couldn’t keep his eyes off Alice. Is there a chance he could be referring to Alice?
Amber sighs. ‘I spoke to him last night. He said he would only consider dating someone else if it was this stranger.’
‘Did you get any details?’
‘Brown hair.’ Amber rolls her eyes. ‘He’s useless at noticing things. Oh… I think he said her name was… Alice.’
I gasp and clap my hands. This is perfect. Ben and Alice are in for quite a shock. ‘Oh, wow, Amber.’
She looks at me with teenage suspicion. ‘Are you okay, Nelly?’
‘I know who Alice is,’ I say, feeling giddy with excitement. ‘She’s the one who wants to meet your dad. They met in here the other day.’
Amber’s eyes grow wide and she starts to dance on the spot. ‘OMG, Nelly. Was she the one who found the balloon and read my message?’
‘Yes,’ I gush, as my body is engulfed with excitement. In a moment of madness, I mirror her dance moves. She raises her eyebrows. ‘Nelly, you need to stick to selling books. Your dancing is cringe.’
I ignore her comment. ‘We need to get them to meet.’ I can’t believe how excited I feel at the prospect of bringing two people together. What has happened to me? ‘Amber, Alice lives next door,’ I squeal.
Amber starts to dance again but this time I remain still. ‘Is she nice? Does she give you evil stepmother vibes?’
‘What?’
Amber ignores me and taps her long nails on the spine of the book. ‘There’s only one way to find out. Dad is up a big tree today. I’ll have to persuade him to come down from it.’
‘Can you do that?’
‘He doesn’t like to be disturbed.’
‘Amber, I will leave that with you. Let me know when he can pop in, and I’ll tell Alice to turn up at the same time.’
Amber is looking troubled. ‘I don’t know how to get him to get down from that tree and come here.’
‘Use your imagination.’
I restack a few shelves, tidy up the children’s section, answer several queries on books about insects and rearrange some of the history books when I hear Miranda gasp.
‘Nelly,’ she shouts, ‘Ben’s here, saying Amber has called him to say she’s been taken hostage in this book shop.’
I let out a groan. Why the hell did I tell a fifteen-year-old to use her imagination?
‘I’ll go find her,’ I shout.
I head for the young adult section to find Amber hiding behind the armchair. ‘Is my dad here?’
‘You told him you’d been held hostage,’ I hiss.
She nods. ‘I had to get him down from that tree. My father doesn’t respond to most of my texts.’
I roll my eyes and take out my phone to message Alice. I quickly tap out:
Come now. He’s in the bookshop.
‘Let’s go see him,’ I say to Amber. ‘You can tell him what you’ve been up to.’
She groans. ‘I can’t do that.’
‘Amber – you have to explain.’
We walk over to the counter, and Ben glares at Amber. ‘What is going on? I thought you’d been taken hostage?’
Amber grins. ‘I had to get you here quick.’
He runs a hand through his brown hair and casts her a bewildered look.
‘Amber, you better explain,’ I say, seeing Alice enter the bookshop out of the corner of my eye.
‘Dad, I did something bad.’
Ben lets out a loud groan. ‘Oh, God, Amber, what have you done now?’
‘I put a message in Mum’s balloon.’
‘A message? What sort of message?’
She’s about to answer when Alice interrupts. ‘It was one of the nicest messages I have ever read. I am Alice by the way.’
Ben stares in amazement at Alice. She looks amazing. Her brown, glossy hair hangs in loose curls, and she’s wearing a yellow dress and sandals.
Amber grins. ‘I said that my dad needs a girlfriend.’
He looks at Amber. ‘You wrote that?’
She nods. ‘I told whoever found the balloon to contact me. Don’t worry, I told them you were miserable a lot of the time, but also that you like Monopoly, coffee and you have three kids.’
His face softens, and he turns to Alice. ‘Did you find this message?’
She smiles. ‘I did. Are you Ben?’
He nods. ‘Yes, I am, Alice.’
I watch Alice’s smile get even bigger. ‘Well, Ben, I would love to beat you at Monopoly.’
‘Is this a challenge?’ he asks with a wry smile.
Amber grins at me and gives me the thumbs up. The same warm feeling I experienced after seeing Mr Ellis reading Barbara Plum’s cookery book and Juliet walking out hugging Miguel’s book rushes back to me.