Chapter 24 #2
She stepped inside and the warmth embraced her. She knew it wasn’t possible, but the smell reminded her of Howard. Perhaps it was the aroma of books, a scent she’d always associated with the man she’d loved so dearly. A man she missed so much.
Margot closed the door behind them and over in the story corner laid out the blanket Bonnie had thought to pack around the plates. Faye was sorting out the food and Bonnie, well Bonnie was taking it all in until Midas shuffled and she realised she still hadn’t taken off his lead.
‘Sorry, boy.’ She removed it. ‘There you go, you’re free. But no eating the food.’
‘I’ve got the bag of treats,’ said Margot emerging from the back. She pulled one out for Midas so he had something while they sat down to their takeaway.
‘I feel bad eating in here,’ said Bonnie, daring to look around them as they began to enjoy their food. She hadn’t thought she was hungry what with the guilt over her phone call, the dread of tomorrow.
‘Let’s think of ourselves as part of an adventure,’ Faye suggested, ‘like Howard did when he came to book club.’
‘That sounds like a good idea,’ Margot agreed. ‘And we won’t make a mess, we’ll be careful.’
‘He wouldn’t be happy with me,’ said Bonnie.
‘Bonnie, let’s just enjoy the food for now, shall we.
’ Margot’s smile put her at ease and her thumping heart gave way to satiety and good conversation.
Thinking of this as an adventure was exactly the right thing to do, and it was really, wasn’t it?
This was adventurous compared to the way Bonnie had been closing herself off to the world lately.
Forget the developer for now, focus on tonight, focus on being here with these two very special women.
‘Did Iris leave a number so you could call him?’ Bonnie asked once they’d finished eating and cleared everything away. Neither Margot nor Faye had grilled her about selling up as they ate and for that Bonnie was grateful.
‘Call who?’ Margot asked, a paperback in her hand. She and Faye had both been looking at some of the titles on one of the book tables.
‘The locksmith,’ said Bonnie.
‘Oh yes.’ Faye took out her phone. ‘Good point. I’ll message Iris and get it.’
Margot started talking about the book she had a hold of – Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine. ‘I’m reading this one at the moment.’ She read the wording on the back out loud, presumably for Bonnie’s benefit.
Bonnie patiently listened. It did sound like a good story. She’d have to let Margot down gently. ‘I don’t really fancy it.’
‘We have to do something while we wait,’ said Faye.
And then Margot pulled her phone from one of her back pockets and from the other took out a small rose-gold case.
‘What’s in there?’ Bonnie asked.
‘Headphones.’
‘Oh, those fancy sort. Earbuds, that’s what they’re called, isn’t it?’
‘They’re brand new actually.’
‘Very nice,’ said Bonnie.
‘Try them.’
‘Whatever for?’
Margot turned her phone to face Bonnie and the same title – Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine was on the screen. ‘This is the audiobook version. I’ve been listening to it on my walks.’
‘I thought you said you were reading it.’
‘I am, but audiobooks are a type of reading.’ She held the case out again. ‘These earbuds are new. I got them in case I lost the others, so you’ll be the first to try them.’
‘But you’re listening to it.’
‘I know which chapter I’m up to – I’ll use the paperback copy. I’ll buy it. I wouldn’t mind having it anyway.’
‘I don’t know, I don’t think it’ll keep my interest.’ And she was still getting used to simply being in the bookshop after all this time.
Margot ignored her. ‘I’ve paired the headphones with the phone but didn’t get the chance to try them out yet.’
‘Paired them?’
Margot rolled her eyes. ‘Would you just put them in.’
Margot was so determined that it made Bonnie realise that sitting around doing nothing but think about how Howard was no longer here any more, or how she’d alerted the developers to a potential sale, wasn’t necessarily a good thing. She needed a distraction.
Bonnie pushed each earbud into her ears.
‘Volume okay?’ Margot asked.
‘Volume is fine.’ The narrator was going through the opening credits.
Margot laughed. ‘You’re shouting.’
Bonnie removed an earbud. ‘What?’
‘Just put them in, go sit in the armchair and give it twenty minutes.’
‘Very well.’ Bonnie was pretty sure she shouted that too given Faye’s look across the room from the window where she was probably looking out for the locksmith.
Bonnie did give it twenty minutes. In fact, before she knew it, almost an hour had passed.
Midas sat by her side. She fussed over him, and she got absorbed in the story as he went to sleep.
The book was riveting. It wasn’t long before she was fully immersed; the locksmith could’ve come and gone without her even realising.
She was about to take her headphones out and stop so she could go to the toilet, but she realised she didn’t need to. She could keep listening.
She used the toilet out the back and when she went back into the bookshop both girls were sitting just like Howard would have done, each with a book in their laps, looking up briefly and then straight back down at the page.
There was something comforting about doing this among friends.
Reading was a solitary activity, but there was companionship and a connection.
And even though she might never appreciate books in the same way as Howard did, with darkness surrounding the shop and the time creeping towards the midnight hour, on an adventure herself, it struck her why he’d loved the Midnight Book Club so much.
It was a shared love of something and the bonds of friendship that did it.
She settled back down to listen to more of the story and when she eventually noticed Faye moving about, her watch told her that it was almost midnight.
‘It’s good, isn’t it,’ said Margot when Bonnie took out the earbuds and went over to where she was sitting.
‘I’m hooked.’ The book was quirky, sometimes sad, but filled with hope. ‘I need to know what’ll happen next.’ And she’d quite forgotten how uncomfortable she’d felt first stepping inside the bookshop.
‘You can get the audiobook on your iPad at home. I’ll help you sort it out.’
‘Thank you.’ Howard would be delighted she was even interested and to have found the joy of listening to a story right here in his bookshop felt like a sign that maybe everything was going to be okay.
‘Where is the locksmith?’ Bonnie asked when she remembered the real reason they were here hadn’t been to eat or to enjoy the books. She’d been quite distracted, hadn’t she? ‘And whatever is Faye doing?’
‘It’s Wednesday,’ Faye called out from the story corner. She’d set up a laptop on the low table that usually had kids’ books spread out on it. ‘I’ll put everything back as it was afterwards, don’t worry.’
She caught her breath. ‘You’re holding the Midnight Book Club here, tonight?’
‘Any second now,’ said Faye.
She was about to ask more questions, suggest she got out of the way, when suddenly a voice came from the laptop.
Bonnie peeked tentatively around the side of the screen. There was a woman there, then someone else popped up in another rectangle.
‘Hello, Sarah. Hello, Joel,’ said Faye.
‘How many tonight?’ the woman who must be Sarah asked.
‘Six of us,’ said Faye.
‘You can sit here.’ Margot ushered Bonnie to one of the three chairs they’d sat in earlier to eat.
‘We have Bonnie with us tonight,’ said Faye to the other attendees.
‘Hello, Bonnie!’ came Sarah’s greeting followed by another, the man this time, and then the next person who popped up, someone called Winston. Each name was beside the person on camera.
‘Hello.’ Bonnie didn’t want to be rude, but this was so odd, so unlike anything she’d done before.
Faye smiled brightly. ‘Bonnie, tonight is a very special Midnight Book Club, because we decided that rather than focusing on a book, tonight’s session is especially for you.’
It was clear from the faces on the laptop screen and Margot’s expression that everyone else knew this already.
‘It’s wonderful to see you all!’ said Faye, taking the heat off Bonnie but not for long. She rested a hand on Bonnie’s shoulder. ‘As you know Bonnie was the love of Howard’s life.’
‘Apart from books and his beloved bookshop!’ Winston announced and it had a few people open-mouthed but Bonnie started to laugh.
‘That is so true,’ she told him, tears in her eyes.
‘Your Howard was one of a kind,’ said Sarah, who was quite a bit older than Bonnie. ‘When I lost my husband, Howard didn’t give me the usual platitudes, he gave me his phone number in case I needed to talk.’
‘I’m sorry for your loss,’ said Bonnie, who knew how this woman had probably felt. ‘I appreciate that that’s what everyone says, but I am.’
‘Thank you, Bonnie.’
‘Howard thought a lot of you. All of you.’ She took in each of the faces, including those beside her in the bookshop now. ‘He loved this book club.’
‘Howard always cheered me up,’ Sarah told her.
‘I’m wheelchair-bound now and some days I feel so sorry for myself.
I can’t leave the house. Howard would make me laugh when he turned up in different pyjamas every time.
I would make sure my carers put me in a top that looked like a shirt but he said it was more fun in PJs.
’ She laughed. ‘After that I put on my best nighties for book club.’
Bonnie felt a warmth spread through her that Howard had touched these people’s lives.
She listened to Joel talk about Howard’s passion for books, how he was quite convincing when he felt strongly that a story was important to read, how some of them had read books they never would’ve picked up if it hadn’t been for Howard.
Winston talked about how Howard had looked into local libraries in his area and sent him an email with all the information, including step-by-step instructions on how to join when he hadn’t been able to do it quite as easily as he’d thought he would.
‘I hear you’re not much of a reader,’ Winston said to Bonnie after he told her that he and Howard had the most disagreements about what made a good book than any others in the group.
Bonnie found herself responding with: ‘I’m not, but this evening I started an audiobook. Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine…’
And for the next half an hour all the talk was about that book, Sarah piping up with comments about it because she’d loved it, Winston was adding it to something called a Tbr pile, and Joel said it sounded like they should all tune in next week having given it a go.
Not only was she in the bookshop right now but Bonnie felt drawn in to this group in a way she’d never seen coming.
And when the session came to an end and Faye closed down her laptop Bonnie wrapped her in a big hug, then the same for Margot.
‘You two are wonderful human beings. Thank you from the bottom of my heart for what you did not only tonight but ever since you knocked on my door.’
‘You are so very welcome,’ said Margot.
‘Thank you for not telling anyone about this place,’ said Bonnie. ‘Selling it, I mean.’ She didn’t miss the look of disappointment on both their faces.
‘Will you come and meet the developer in the morning then?’ Margot asked. She was being kind, accepting things the way they were, letting Bonnie know that this would be her decision.
‘We could be here with you,’ Faye offered. ‘Howard always found them a bit overbearing. I think I’d feel better if we were with you.’
Margot agreed. ‘Yes, definitely. Howard would want that. If only so they don’t try to low-ball you.’
‘I’d appreciate that, both of you, thank you.’ But being here, in the bookshop, actually participating in the Midnight Book Club, made her feel closer to Howard all over again and she knew he wouldn’t want her to rush into anything. And he definitely wouldn’t want to let the locals down.
She took a deep breath before she said, ‘You can both help me tell them to… go to hell!’ She pumped her fist in the air at the powerful words she wouldn’t usually use.
‘Really?’ Margot leapt up. ‘You mean it?’
‘Wait,’ said Bonnie, palms out in front of her to halt the excitement.
‘I still might sell, eventually, but I’ve decided that if I do then it will be to someone who wants to run this as a bookshop.
So tomorrow we tell the developer that it’s time to stop visiting, to stop sending letters.
I always feel it’s better to tell someone to their face, don’t you?
’ And already she felt more powerful that they were going to do this although she didn’t want to do it without her new friends by her side.
‘That sounds like a really good plan,’ said Faye.
Margot told her, ‘I’ll get Eleanor Oliphant onto your iPad first thing tomorrow.’
‘Oh no, you can come to my cottage and do that now. I’m going to need to listen while I lie in bed. I’ll need to find out more and I shall carry on when I wake up in the morning. Unless, of course, you need to wait for the locksmith to fix the door that doesn’t really need fixing.’
She enjoyed the way their mouths fell open as they prepared to leave the shop via the front entrance.
Halfway through book club, she’d nipped to the downstairs bathroom again and as she did so she’d checked the back door, wondering whether to perhaps move something in front of it in case somebody came inside without them hearing.
And the lock had worked perfectly. She’d known then that these girls and Iris and Theo as well as Midas had hatched this plan to get her out of the cottage and here to Driftwick Bay Books.
It was another thing that convinced her she shouldn’t rush into getting rid of the shop.
She’d take her time, make the right decision.
Because she was a part of this town; she really was.
And she couldn’t have been more grateful for their subterfuge.
‘No?’ she asked, still amused by their guilty and flabbergasted expressions. ‘Come on then, up to the cottage we go.’ She took Midas on his lead and with a big smile on her face, left the bookshop to walk up the hill.
And as they did so the stars up above seemed to twinkle that little bit more.