Page 124 of The Romance Library

Once I got the champagne, I stopped at Candace’s. She gave me two portions of fish and chips to take away in a hamper to make it easier to carry.

When I arrived at our bench, Jess was already there.

‘Thought I’d be the early one for a change!’ She smiled and my heart swelled. God, I was going to miss her smile.

‘Ah! I wanted to get everything set up before you got here, but you know what it’s like in this town. You can’t just get what you want and run. Everyone likes to stop and have a chat.’

A few weeks ago, that would’ve been my idea of hell. I hated making small talk. But the people here had grown on me.

‘Yeah! So different to London, where most people like to keep their heads down and avoid making eye contact. Anyway, what you got in there?’ She pointed to the hamper.

‘Firstly’—I opened it and pulled out the first container—‘for dinner we have fish and chips.’

‘Oooh!’

‘And to toast your incredible achievement, we have a bottle of Sunshine Bay’s finest champagne.’ I took out the bottle, then handed her a glass.

‘So fancy!’

‘Nothing less than what you deserve. How are you feeling now? Has it sunk in yet?’

‘It’s starting to, but I’m shitting bricks.’

‘I know it must be daunting, but you’re going to be fine. Cecil will take care of all the legal stuff, and if you need any help with the building works, then just tell me and I’ll help you too.’

‘Really?’ Her eyes widened.

‘Of course. I want to see you succeed. And I want to be your first library member.’

‘Aww.’ She beamed as I popped open the champagne, then poured it into our glasses.

‘To you and your fantastic romance library.’ I raised my glass and clinked it against hers.

‘To both of our future successes,’ Jess said.

The evening flew by. Once we’d finished eating, we talked for hours, only pausing to marvel at the beautiful orange-and-yellow sky as the sun set.

I couldn’t even remember all the different things we’d spoken about.

Of course we’d started off discussing her plans for the library, but then the conversation quickly turned to Office Delight, which we’d finished a couple of nights ago but hadn’t had a chance to dissect fully because we were both so tired.

As we headed back to the B&B hand in hand with only the moonlight and street lamps to illuminate our path, Jess gushed about the fact that she’d heard the author of Office Delight was writing a sequel and how excited she was to read it.

‘It’s funny,’ Jess said. ‘A few weeks ago I couldn’t even bring myself to read a book, and now listen to me counting down the months until the next book in the series comes out!’

‘That’s been one of my favourite parts of this whole experience.’ I wrapped my arm around her back. ‘Seeing you get your reading mojo back.’

‘Ditto.’ She smiled. ‘Seeing you fall in love with reading again has been lovely to see. If someone had told me that first day we met that you’d become a romance fan, I would’ve laughed in their faces!’

‘I probably wouldn’t have believed it either,’ I chuckled. ‘But I’m glad you introduced me to it. Romance books are shockingly underrated. I completely understand now why they’re so popular. In my opinion, they should be available on prescription. They make you feel happy and uplifted. They show how people overcome obstacles and how perseverance pays off. They demonstrate how the world becomes a better place because two people came together. And the spicy scenes are also very enjoyable… romance reader for life!’ I patted my chest proudly.

‘Couldn’t have said it better myself! So,’ Jess said, ‘shall we read again together tonight? I missed you last night.’ As she beamed, my face fell. ‘Sorry, didn’t mean to get soppy.’

‘I missed you too. But I… I need to go back to London. Tonight.’

‘What?’ Jess’s jaw dropped and my stomach clenched. ‘Why?’

‘I have to go to Paris first thing on Sunday morning and I need to be at the office at the crack of dawn tomorrow to catch up on everything, so it’s better if I go tonight. And I think it might make things easier.’

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