Page 135 of The Romance Library

Jess still occupied my thoughts as soon as I woke up, whilst I was at work and of course at night.

Even here, hundreds of miles away, whenever I saw a bookshop, library or anyone reading a book or eating an apple, I thought of her.

Every day I logged on to the library’s social media page, hoping to see a photo of her.

And ever since she’d started working with the architect I’d recommended, I’d been checking in with him to make sure that everything was running smoothly.

As Nico topped up my wine glass, I went on to explain how I was keeping my distance to allow her to focus on the library opening and that I planned to call her in a few weeks once it was up and running.

‘Wait. What’s the name of the library again?’ Liam frowned.

‘The Romance Library. It’s in a town called Sunshine Bay. Why? Have you heard of it?’

‘It’s opening next week, right?’

‘Yes.’ Now I was the one who was frowning. It wasn’t normal for a world-famous actor to be familiar with the opening of a romance library in a small seaside town.

‘That’s crazy! My girlfriend’s opening that library!’

‘She is?’

I briefly remembered seeing Liam and Mia on the cover of a magazine in the supermarket, but I didn’t read gossip magazines, so I wasn’t aware of what she did for a living. Maybe she was an actress too.

‘Yeah! She loves romance novels and she’s a professional matchmaker, so the woman running the library, who I now know is your Jess, reached out and asked if she’d open it for her.’

‘That’s brilliant!’ I smiled. ‘Jess needs to raise as much awareness as possible to help make the library a success, so I’m really glad Mia’s able to lend a hand.’

‘Do you think it’d help if I went too?’ Liam asked as he picked up his phone and started scrolling through his calendar.

‘Really?’ My eyes widened. Having Mia and Liam open the library would be perfect. Nothing screamed romance better than a happy, loved-up couple. And the fact that they both had a high profile would generate lots of publicity.

‘I have some stuff on that day, but I could make it work. I’d need to check with Mia too, but I’m sure she’d be fine. The option’s there if you want it. I know how happy I am with my lady, so I want to spread the love, y’know?’

‘Thank you! I really appreciate it. And I know Jess will too.’

‘This is wonderful!’ Nico clapped his hands together. ‘I love to see my friends help each other.’

‘Just paying it forward, man. Like you did for me. We gotta get Theo back with Jess!’ Liam slapped my back. ‘But if you really like Jess, you can’t wait until after the library’s opened to win her back. You need to fight for her now. This library sounds like a big deal, so she’ll need you there to support her. To rub her back and tell her everything’s gonna be okay.’

‘This opening is important. But I don’t want to get in her way and distract her.’

‘I hear you, but I don’t think she’ll see you as a distraction. Despite how things ended that night, I reckon she has strong feelings for you too. That’s why she ran to her room. If you’re going through hell right now, I’d put money on the fact that she is too.’

I wondered if that was true.

‘I agree with Liam,’ Nico said. ‘She will be happy that you are there. Your presence will of course be the most important thing, but you could also do something special for her, that you know she will love.’

‘Yeah!’ Liam nodded. ‘You need a grand gesture! Every romance book or movie has them!’

‘You mean the moment at the end where she’s leaving town and the hero runs to the airport to tell her to stay because he loves her?’

‘Exactly!’ Liam slapped the table excitedly.

My face crumpled. I couldn’t think of a grand gesture that would work for Jess. The amount of wine I’d consumed probably wasn’t helping.

‘And if you really want to win her back, when you’re doing the grand gesture, you should wear grey sweatpants and a backwards cap, stand in a door frame and growl!’ Liam laughed.

I understood the growling thing. Men seemed to growl a lot in romance novels, but the rest was lost on me.

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